Rand Paul Attacked For Coal Mining Remarks With Ad Invoking Chile Rescue (AUDIO)

Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul is facing fire from an independent political group as it rolls out a new attack ad taking aim at the Republican hopeful for reacting to the deaths of two coal miners in his home state by saying "accidents happen" earlier in the election season.

The new one-minute radio spot from AmericansforAmericaPAC targeting Paul comes in the wake of a rescue mission in Chile to save dozens of miners who had been trapped underground for more than two months. Given the dominant coal mining industry in Kentucky, it should come as no surprise that the story hit close to home in the Bluegrass State.

"Kentucky miners have always known what Chile taught the the whole world this week," says a narrator in the ad. "That four miles deep in a mountain, it's not every man for himself -- but teamwork that ensures our miners come home safe every day. Because mine safety is everyone's business -- miners, companies, and government. But Rand Paul's position on mine safety?"

An audio clip is then inserted of Paul saying, "Sometimes accidents happen."

The narrator in the ad continues, "That's what Rand said after Kentucky miners were killed by the negligence of an out-of-state company. During the Gulf Spill, what did Rand Paul say?"

Then once again, a clip the Tea Party favorite's own voice saying, "Accidents happen."

At the conclusion of the spot, a contrast is drawn between Paul and his Democratic opponent, State Attorney General Jack Conway.

"Maybe Rand Paul doesn't understand because he's never been down four miles inside a mine," says the narrator. "But Kentucky native Jack Conway does understand.
He knows miners four miles deep in a mine aren't made safer by a survival-of-the-fittest mentality -- but by Kentucky teamwork."

The attack isn't the first that has been hurled at Paul over his positions on coal mining-related issues. Back in August, mine workers in Kentucky criticized the conservative contender for suggesting congressional lawmakers shouldn't be legislating and enforcing industry safety rules.

More recently, Paul appeared to soften the words he used to communicate his views. The AP reported last month that he suggested more safety inspectors may be needed to protect coal miners, but "he still thinks miners, mine operators and mine regulators in Kentucky know what works best to keep Kentucky miners safe."

LISTEN:

Comments

[erl92]

11:03 AM on 10/18/2010

Rand Paul doesn't seem to care about the environment any more than he does about miners. Kentucky has a lot of beauty and appalacia runs right thru it. Surface mining has destroyed many areas of Kentucky.

Here is a clip where Paul says nobody will miss a hill or two:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/06/tea-party-star-rand-paul-mountaintop-removal-mining-video.php

Here is an article by Ashley Judd on mountain top removal and it's consequences.
http://www.onearth.org/community-blog/my-old-kentucky-home-threatened-by-mountaintop-removal

[murphysgirl]

10:32 AM on 10/18/2010

It would be a major accident if he were elected. This anit-regulation mentality has proven time and time again to be dangerous. Regulations keep our food, roads, and working conditions safe.

[Raccoon1]

09:50 AM on 10/18/2010

Accidents happen - but they happen for reasons. Those reasons can be discovered and corrected - but that interferes with profits.

[Sean777]

11:39 PM on 10/17/2010

IRONIC most Tea Baggers are retirees and blue collar workers and they are supporting Rand Paul who wants to eliminate Medicare and Medicaid for American seniors. Joe Miller who wants to lower the wages of American workers and eliminate unemployment benefits for all Americans despite the fact that his wife already collected unemployment from Taxpayers. Joe Miller and Christine O'Donnell are lecturing about expending but they are covering personal debts with their campaign founds. Sharron Angle who believes that government should not require insurance companies to cover autism or maternity care despite the fact she is using government health care for herself and her family and the list of anti-American proposals from Tea Baggers Candidates goes on and on. The biggest danger we are facing as Americans is the Tea Party, a movement that suppose to be about fiscal responsibility has emerged as an obstructionist force; instead of resourcing on economists to move a fiscal responsibility agenda the Tea Party is based on racism, hooliganism and predatorily politics we need to stop them on November.

[GerryS]

11:03 PM on 10/17/2010

EVERY time I see a photo of the rand,

it looks like a cat has been s'u.c.k.i.n.g on his head--------------------

[UhGuessWhat]

07:42 PM on 10/17/2010

I have not seen or read on tract record of Mr. Paul's performances on his lasik surgeries, but I can hear him saying, "Hey, dude, accidents do happen" after a botched lasik surgery. Mr. Paul is lacking sensitivities and capacity to feel compassion and it's hard to know where his mind is coming from or where it is going with his politics. God bless America because she needs it should he or likes of him become elected!

[DiogenesX]

06:36 PM on 10/17/2010

"I want to be in Kentucky when the end of the world comes, because it's always 20 years behind" - Mark Twain.

[Hardyman1966]

07:10 PM on 10/17/2010

LOL How awesome is this? You can't even attribute it to the liberal elite (except you sourcing it) since it's a century old and we didn't have them back then. They were still just old-fashioned wood-burning liberals.

Mark's autobiography is the one to read when it's FINALLY released next month.

[whirlybird]

10:26 AM on 10/18/2010

Perfect. Fanned...

[mcmutter]

01:43 PM on 10/17/2010

Randy is a freakin fruitcake .... perfect replacement for brainless Jim Bunning ....

[Tsar Bomba]

01:36 PM on 10/17/2010

Right wing conservatives like Rand Paul and their supporters wont stop their sociopathic behavior until the people rise up and stop them by force. It seems many countries have to learn this lesson the hard way.

[Fremon]

03:06 PM on 10/17/2010

I agree, however, you have a south that is dominated by the Republicans ever since civil rights. The rights of the south are completely violated by an idiology of race. Why else would a region that is more dependent on federal revenue sharing, in the unhealthiest sector of the US, has the highest divorce and teenage pregnancy rates, is the most undereducated, least technically oriented with mfg and technology, still willing to endure the Republican party? I have to laugh at Condi Rice promoting her book say's she is Republican because Democrats before Civil Rights denied her parents the right to vote. She never explains why after Civil rights these same people became Republican's the party which she so inadequately served. She has not addressed this anamoly as much as the whole voting south has addressed their own backward issues. I guess it is like beauty, "in the eyes of the beholder".

[Antoine elliott]

10:37 PM on 10/17/2010

um progressives were the ones to put in the Jim Crow laws and segregated the army

remember Woodrow Wilson

[Tsar Bomba]

01:23 PM on 10/17/2010

Capitalists call disasters due to their gross negligence, acts of god. That is how they rationalize the deaths of their workers.

[Fremon]

03:07 PM on 10/17/2010

You mean the whole mortgage crisis, fiscal disaster, and the BP oil spill weren't the acts of God. Like in the movie Casablanca, Bogart went there because of the waters. Told there was not waters, he said "he was misinformed".

[mcmutter]

12:27 PM on 10/17/2010

Our coal barrons would weigh the insurance payouts against the cost of the rescue ....

Dollars trump all else in the good ole USA .....

[jerryatthebeach]

11:49 AM on 10/17/2010

Could you imagine having this clown as your Physican???

[rainkitty]

09:12 AM on 10/17/2010

“The Libertarians and Tea Party Republicans have the delusion that mine owners, oil companies and private health insurance companies operate with the best interests of everyone at heart...they flatter themselves to think they rate even more than a speck of fly poop, unless they take out a "Dead Peasant Policy" on you"
http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/insurance/p64954.asp”

[mcmutter]

12:28 PM on 10/17/2010

... they seem to be fascinated with their delusions that corporations can do no wrong and cannot be held accountable ....

[Sarad]

07:33 PM on 10/17/2010

How about we write, email, twitter and call Congress - hundreds of thousands of us - and tell them we like the way Hungary deals with irresponsible executives [not the paper entities we call Corporations]. Pass that law and you'll see a whole lot of safety measures put into place in a hurry.

[AlphaDoc]

07:25 AM on 10/17/2010

>"he still thinks miners, mine operators and mine regulators in Kentucky know what works best to keep Kentucky miners safe."<

Knowing and doing are two very different things.

[Dunkleberger Karl]

02:47 AM on 10/17/2010

Rand paul , dick Toomey, sharon angle , meg whitman and jan brewer, are all cut from the same cloth! And that rag is dunn washout and becomeing more see through than michelle Backmans little black sweater. I f Americans want these crazies I believe we progressives need to stop helping them! Refuse to vote , refuse to discuss , refuse the negotiate! treat them as they treated us for the last 18 months!When A hurricane hits in a red state and there is a blue city, make te bill to provide aid to go speciicly to the city! and if the congress men and women of that state vote against it te president needs to say , "Oh well we tried, but your hard headed republicans Demanded we reduce the deficite so here is 5 million dollars , cause any more would raise the deficite!"