Yes, he played cat-and-mouse with Rachel Maddow on the subject of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, but, as he rightly points out (pun intended), that's primarily a backward-looking debate. What's escaping public notice so far, though, is his take on a far more contemporary issue: accountability. Here's Rand Paul on the BP oil spill:
I think it's part of this sort of blame game society in the sense that it's always got to be someone's fault instead of the fact that sometimes accidents happen.
The reason this quote isn't inflaming debate the way Paul's Libertarian dance around the Civil Rights Act has is simple: on this issue, Paul is not fringe-y or extremist or unusual; he's spouting a line we've heard incessantly, from defenders of BP, from apologists for the US Army Corps of Engineers (in the case of the flooding of New Orleans), from architects of the Iraq War. Paul is channeling Donald Rumsfeld: "Stuff happens." Nothing to see here, move on.
The deeper meaning of the quote is the standard Republican assault against lawyers who have the temerity to challenge, in court, established power. Just this week, the Louisiana legislature defeated a bill that would have punished the Tulane Legal Clinic for its work taking government agencies to court. The bill had the support of the Louisiana Chemical Association.
The political spin on Paul is that he's worrisome because he's not within the standard lines of the modern political debate. I'd suggest he's worrisome because he is.
Follow Harry Shearer on Twitter: www.twitter.com/letwits
Republicans are hurting themselves by re-arguing the Civil Rights Act. If the GOP keeps celebrating the extremists in their history, and Dems take after the progressive heroes in theirs, the 2010 elections will be more winnable than we thought.
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Fate, however, always has a way of letting us know who really is in charge. Who knew it would be Obama's silly political game of trying to outmaneuve
That this man, who doesn't seem to have a single principle left he's not willing to sacrifice in the name of political gain, would get his karma so soon after abandoning years of liberal defence of our national shores.
And there's STILL those inadequate flood protection
No, Obama didn't cause all of these messes, but he's doing next to nothing to prevent their recurrence in the future, or to stop the hemorrhagi
It breaks my heart to say that, because I really wanted to believe he'd turn this nation around. Better than Bush and McCain, is getting to be about the only legacy he might achieve.
Instead, the US plutocrats are circling the wagons around their corporate paymasters
BP is acting like an ecoterrori
Where does the buck stop?
Not even a nuclear bomb could cause the devastatio
The Corps' many foolish blunders in a flawed levee system and would have equally resulted in a flawed barrier design. Their barrier system would have been no less washed away than their levee system was. They made the most fundementa
These designs go back into the '80s and before, and their flaws were deeply buried long ago. Blaming a particular Congress or President is stupid. They are all at fault to some degree, for not changing the fundementa
Please google "ILIT Berkeley" and read the report.
Mr. Paul wants his responsibi
Abortion, legalized marijuana (which he said yes to medical), separation of church and state, no to imperialis
And form of individual
http://wor
I'm glad you brought up these points. Thanks. You'll find this link and its many articles interestin
Rupert Murdoch's and his Fox "News" drones is yet another example. Britt Humes incredulpu
The oil industry has made billions of billions of dollars doing pretty much what they damn well please due to the elected idiots that wander around Washington
It sure does call this into play.
If we are running out of oil, how come we take our oil and then rebuy it back?
Our oil should go to us first, if we have left over, fine.
I wonder what Paul would say if something like this happened to his family. Blame game or accountabi
Kind of like the GOP running our country off the road and into a ditch. it has taken billions of dollars to drag and repair our country on to the road again, and because "it was an accident - and no blame was determined
No wonder they like to think this way
This needed to be said. And well said at that.
I still don't see how that applies to bribing the watchdog to let you bypass safety regulation