Rand Paul Didn't Correct Interviewer Who Mistakenly Said He Graduated From Baylor (VIDEO)

Kentucky Republican Senate candidate Rand Paul was caught in a now-familiar campaign mishap on Thursday when it was revealed that he has failed to correct mistaken assumptions about his educational achievement.

Contrary to popular belief, the Tea Party favorite never received a bachelor's degree from Baylor University, reports the Lexington Herald-Leader reported. Paul attended the school but left for Duke University after being accepted into its School of Medicine.

The mistake, the campaign insisted, was made by the press. "I guess many people and some in the media have assumed Dr. Paul had a bachelor's degree, but he has never said that," Doug Stafford, a consultant for Paul's Senate campaign said.

As for why the Paul campaign never asked publications to run a correction, Stafford insisted that the candidate and his aides were not aware that the erroneous assertion had ever been made.

Naturally, video was bound to surface testing that claim. And by Thursday afternoon, Paul's opponent Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway had unearthed footage of Paul sitting through an interview with the Louisville Courier Journal editorial board in which his bio was read to him as follows:

"Dr. Paul is the chairman and founder of Kentucky Taxpayers United. A native of Pennsylvania he is a graduate of Baylor University and the Duke University School of Medicine."

Paul, noticeably, never claimed he graduated from Baylor during that sit-down (and it says something that the Conway campaign couldn't immediately find a video clip or newspaper quote of him doing so). But the candidate didn't protest or correct his interviewer either.

Comments

[YouDontWantMeHere]

01:56 PM on 08/07/2010

sos he went ta Duck University?

[Dan Kushner]

11:06 AM on 08/07/2010

To be fair, he's an eye doctor, not a real doctor. In my experience with eye doctors, all they ever do is hit your eye with a puff of air and spend 30 minutes saying "Better, or worse?"

I joke, I joke.

[montestruc]

01:32 AM on 08/07/2010

So he did not lie, but he did not correct a mistake by the media. So?

When he tried before to explain how the left is in the wrong about aspects of the civil rights laws, (which you are) and you attack.

The one thing that is consistent about how you treat him is you aren't interested in his message, or the justified anger of voters he represents, your only interest is shutting him up. Which is not going to happen.

[NeoConsAreFinished]

04:15 AM on 08/07/2010

His message is delusional. He makes about as much sense as Angle or Palin.
He is dangerous to the USA.
He is a loon as are most of the reps that are currently in the running for positions of power in our government.
Huckster: Thinks the bible should rule the land.
Palin: Thinks, uhh no she doesnt think nor have a one coherent thought.
Angle: American Taliban High Priestess.
Romney: The others actually make him look stable.

[NeoConsAreFinished]

04:15 AM on 08/07/2010

His message is delusional. He makes about as much sense as Angle or Palin.
He is dangerous to the USA.
He is a loon as are most of the reps that are currently in the running for positions of power in our government.
Huckster: Thinks the bible should rule the land.
Palin: Thinks, uhh no she doesnt think nor have a one coherent thought.
Angle: AmericanTaliban High Priestess.
Romney: The others actually make him look stable.

[Steve249]

04:31 PM on 08/06/2010

It needs to be pointed out here that this particular interview was livestreamed on the internet with a set time limit and watched by many people, so perhaps Dr. Paul didn't think it was the time or the place to interrupt his introduction to nitpick a small technical point and possibly sound like he was bragging about being let into medical school early cuz he was so smart. Or perhaps it slipped right by him and he didn't even notice. Who knows, and who cares! Another manufactured controversy. Give us some real news!

[DoctorDoctor]

05:01 PM on 08/06/2010

you're assuming he "was let into [admitted?] medical school early cuz he was so smart". i don't recall seeing that in the article, so do you cite your sources, or just declare what you've decided are "facts"? Second, I spent 5 years on a medical school admissions committee. Nepotism is common, but never (not once) without a BA/BS of some type from somewhere. I challenge the assumptions underlying your point. Besides, I've never detected one iota of civility in this Rand Paul person. Just another ignorant lout making it up as he goes along.

You're entitled to your own opinions, you just aren't entitled to your own facts.

[Steve249]

05:24 PM on 08/06/2010

You didn't see it cuz HP omitted important information from their article once again so as to portray Rand in a less positive light. And it used to be more common in the 70's and 80's to admit exceptional students like Rand into med school early.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Paul was in the honors program at Baylor and scored about the 90th percentile on the national Medical College Admission Test, Stafford said. He could not immediately provide documentation to support that claim.

Michael J. Schoenfeld, vice president for public affairs for Duke University in Durham, N.C., said his school's records show Paul received his medical degree from Duke in 1988 and completed his residency there in 1993.

"At the time he was admitted to our medical school, Duke sometimes did admit students of exceptional abilities. Other professional schools have done that," said Schoenfeld, noting that Duke now requires its medical students to have bachelor's degrees.
...

It's the norm today for most medical schools to require applicants to hold a bachelor's degree, but exceptions are made, said Henry Sondheimer, senior director of student affairs and programs with the Association of American Medical Colleges in Washington, D.C.

More medical schools in the 1970s and 1980s admitted students without bachelor's degrees, he said, but he was not able to immediately provide specific numbers. The association represents 113 accredited medical schools in the United States and 17 in Canada.

http://www.kentucky.com/2010/08/05/1377392/contrary-to-some-media-reports.html#ixzz0vnfQSUlY

[Advocatus Dei]

07:23 PM on 08/06/2010

How you could have served on a medical school admissions committee and have never heard of exceptional candidates being admitted without completing their degrees, I don't know. The practice certainly was not uncommon.

How you go straight from stating that YOU have "never detected one iota of civility" in Rand Paul, to employing that as explanation for his "making it up", to telling Steve249 that he's entitled to his own opinions, but not his own facts, I also don't know. Do you see how ludicrous that sounds?

[senatortruth]

04:01 PM on 08/06/2010

SlyPhox 18 minutes ago (3:38 PM)
14 Fans
Become a fan
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If you knew a single fraction about his dad you would know he didn't pay a dime! He taught his children about working hard for their luxuries.
****************************

Yeah, like Daddy Buhs and Georgie at Yale AND the National Guard, wink wink...

Dean Martin (Ned Beatty) in "Back to School" when Rodney Dangerfield gets into his son's college:

"Well, gee Phil, in his defense, it WAS a REALLY BIG CHECK"

LOL!

[Tkevan]

09:26 PM on 08/06/2010

Exactly how did someone doing 'blow' through college make it to Harvard?? Why have we not seen the transcripts, like we did with Bush and Kerry? Maybe because the grades weren't really what everyone thinks they were?

[evangelicalchimp]

03:56 PM on 08/06/2010

a day without Rand is like a day without a fine needle biopsy of the prostate!

[BlackJAC]

03:47 PM on 08/06/2010

Isn't a bachelor's kind of a prerequisite for getting into med school?

[Steve249]

04:05 PM on 08/06/2010

Duke Medical School used to let people in early if they were exceptional students.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Paul was in the honors program at Baylor and scored about the 90th percentile on the national Medical College Admission Test, Stafford said. He could not immediately provide documentation to support that claim.

Michael J. Schoenfeld, vice president for public affairs for Duke University in Durham, N.C., said his school's records show Paul received his medical degree from Duke in 1988 and completed his residency there in 1993.

"At the time he was admitted to our medical school, Duke sometimes did admit students of exceptional abilities. Other professional schools have done that," said Schoenfeld, noting that Duke now requires its medical students to have bachelor's degrees.

http://www.kentucky.com/2010/08/05/1377392/contrary-to-some-media-reports.html#ixzz0vlqSQFLN

[senatortruth]

03:28 PM on 08/06/2010

SlyPhox

Um, that's JohnS Hopkins.
******************************************

Um, DUH to YOU...

It was a play on words on the Beverly Hillbillies.

Anyway, HOW BIG A CHECK DID HIS DADDY WRITE to get him into Duke???

LOL!!

[SlyPhox]

03:38 PM on 08/06/2010

If you knew a single fraction about his dad you would know he didn't pay a dime! He taught his children about working hard for their luxuries.

[BlackJAC]

03:48 PM on 08/06/2010

More like how much did Daddy pay the diploma mill to print up a bogus Duke Medical School diploma?

[senatortruth]

04:03 PM on 08/06/2010

Yep.

And President Obama has produced his Birth Certificate.

Rand needs to produce his diplomas/certifications.

No Bachelor's degree, starts his OWN "certification board"...

[William Munny]

03:06 PM on 08/06/2010

I don't get this. If he graduated from medical school at Duke what is the problem? I don't even like the guy and can tell this is some BS story (and i don't mean Bachelor of Science).

[SlyPhox]

03:39 PM on 08/06/2010

Anything to make the Paul's look bad.

[SlyPhox]

02:31 PM on 08/06/2010

Ron.Paul- "I think the party has lost its way, the conservative wing of the Republican Party always advocated a noninterventionist foreign policy. Senator Robert Taft didn't want to be in NATO. George Bush won the election in year 2000 campaigning on a humble foreign policy –no nation-building, no policing of the world. Republicans were elected to end the Korean War. The Republicans were elected to end the Vietnam War. There's a strong tradition of being anti-war in the Republican party. It is the constitutional position. It is the advice of the Founders to follow a non-interventionist foreign policy, stay out of entangling alliances, be friends with countries, negotiate and talk with them and trade with them."

He was then asked if 9-11 changed anything. He responded that US foreign policy was a "major contributing factor. Have you ever read the reasons they attacked us? They attacked us because we've been over there; we've been bombing Iraq for 10 years. We've been in the Middle East –I think Reagan was right. We don't understand the irrationality of Middle Eastern politics. So right now we're building an embassy in Iraq that's bigger than the Vatican. We're building 14 permanent bases. What would we say here if China was doing this in our country or in the Gulf of Mexico? We would be objecting. We need to look at what we do from the perspective of what would happen if somebody else did it to us. "

[Steve249]

04:03 PM on 08/06/2010

One of Ron Paul's greatest moments, here is the tube for anyone that hasn't seen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AD7dnFDdwu0

One can only hope Rand Paul will be 1/10th of the courageous man his father is in congress.

[jazzboy]

02:17 PM on 08/06/2010

Rand Paul is a extreme right-wing hack, not a principled leader. Progressives and Dems should be offering their support to his Dem rival Jack Conway like many of us did to Sestak and Halter. This KY race is neck and neck.

[Steve249]

03:58 PM on 08/06/2010

Rand Paul is starting to pull away. Latest poll has him up by almost double digits now (9.2%).
http://politics.mycn2.com/2010/08/05/cn2-poll-rand-paul-leads-jack-conway-40-6-to-31-4-with-27-undecided/

And thank God. We can't afford another rubber stamp for the neocons in the senate.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-13-7Aj2ks

Rand Paul on the other hand will demand a declaration of war in the senate next time the situation arises, and he would have voted against invading Iraq.

[DoctorDoctor]

05:06 PM on 08/06/2010

where are you getting this stuff? you're delusional! oh. the mass paranoia thing. now i remember.

[OldBear]

02:09 PM on 08/06/2010

And this is important why? I have two bachelors degree, two masters and one doctorate but I am not outraged by any individual that moves from one college undergraduate program to a medical doctorate program. The Doctor may consider his undergraduate collage as his alma mata which outweighs this did you graduate or not issue when it has no impact on his professional standing. By the way I never graduated from high school-dont care.

[jazzboy]

02:18 PM on 08/06/2010

Show off.

[DoctorDoctor]

05:07 PM on 08/06/2010

but that's not what ron paul did.

[Tkevan]

09:35 PM on 08/06/2010

That's exactly what he did.

[La Jones]

01:58 PM on 08/06/2010

If every American thought about class instead of race for only five minutes a day, some revolutionary things might happen. Jim Goad, The Redneck Manifesto

The derisive treatment of working class whites by middle and upper class whites stem from two emotions within themselves: fear and guilt. Working class whites are the embodiment of uppers worst fears..fear of slipping in the class system, fear of this socially unstable class that retains an emphasis on physicality rather than intellect and moral judgements Saying working class whites were in a tough spot, is never to deny their role in debasing blacks in society. Poor whites and poor blacks historically and presently have much more in common than is preached. Upper class. whites encourage animosity between these two groups of people, for their own selfishness, greed.
For the first two hundred years of American history, wealthy white employers and white churches constantly reinforced the poor whites' ideas about their superiority over blacks due to the color of their skin. Desperately desiring some power in society, poor whites gladly claimed this role, despite the obvious flaws in this argument. "Mostly ritual and Jim Crow was to bolster the creed of white supremacy in the bosom of a white man working for a black man's wages" Poor whites and blacks share similar religious doctrines, family ties and community loyalty; yet have remained separated' If both groups would just march together! The Republican Party (wealthy perpetrators of), would be scurrying like cockroaches and "fall apart".

[La Jones]

01:55 PM on 08/06/2010

My question is what happens if The Republicans get voted
back in, and they fair no better or even worse at creating jobs (how could they possibly create
jobs, when they prefer to send what remaining few "fair to good" paying jobs left in this country
overseas also at the pleasure of ceo managers!), what if they choose to not care alot about
the people struggling for finances in the gulf, what about the long term plan for clean up?
What if they make 85% of their agenda on tax cuts for wealthy people AGAIN? Where are
there plans? There're hardly to none, ever mentioned out or in video print, or disscussed on the
Sunday Talks. Their talking points are "No"! In Other Words America, WHAT DO WE DO IF"
WE PUT THEM BACK IN, AND NOTHING OF ANY SUBSTANCE HAPPENS (JOBS, THE COSTS OF
FOOD, HEALTHCARE, GASOLINE, BACK-TO-SCHOOL SUPPLIES,NO MOVEMENT ON
BANK SAVINGS/CD INTEREST RATES/401KS, SOCIAL SECURITY, HAVE
PEOPLE WORKING TO AGE 78"?????
THEY PICK ANOTHER COUNTRY TO GO TO WAR??????????? WHAT DO WE DO NEXT? BEYOND THE REPUBLICAN PARTY SAYING......."NO &
TAX CUTS FOR THEMSELVES, & LIMBAUGH,BECK PALIN, AND THEIR
INFAMOUS.... "IT'S THE BROWN/BLACK/ASIAN PEOPLE"... WHERE IS THEIR
PLAN????? I NEED FOOD, RENT MONEY, MEDICINE, ECT........, A $14.00
AN HOUR JOB, TO BE ABLE TO AFFORD THESE BASIC EVERY DAY
NEEDS. THE SAME NEEDS, THE "BROWN/BLACK/ASIAN PEOPLE
NEED TOO! 'FIXTURES, JOB CREATION, SOLUTIONS,ACTION'" PLANS ANYBODY????

[OldBear]

02:11 PM on 08/06/2010

You got it - issues.
what a concept?

[Tkevan]

09:38 PM on 08/06/2010

"(how could they possibly create jobs, when they prefer to send what remaining few "fair to good" paying jobs left in this country overseas also at the pleasure of ceo managers!)"


You do know that NAFTA was Clinton's, right?

[senatortruth]

01:48 PM on 08/06/2010

Granny: I studied my doctorin' at John Hopkins!!

Mr. Drysdale: You went to John Hopkins??

Granny: Yep! Spent TWO WEEKS with John and Elvirey Hopkins!!

***************************************

So, HOW BIG a CHECK did his DADDY write???

LOL!

[SlyPhox]

02:33 PM on 08/06/2010

Um, that's JohnS Hopkins.

[ydrittmann]

06:38 PM on 08/06/2010

Perhaps not in the original joke from one of the greatest sitcoms of all time.