Ron Paul's kid running for office: Is opposed to the civil rights act of 1964.

[Doktor Howl]

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20005474-503544.html

Now that the Tea Party-backed Rand Paul has the GOP nomination for Kentucky's open Senate seat, the media and his Democratic opponent are pouncing on his extreme libertarian views -- particularly with respect to his position on racism in private businesses and whether he would have supported the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

In an interview on NPR yesterday, host Robert Siegel asked Paul, the son of libertarian hero and former presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), whether the Civil Rights Act went too far. Seigel noted that Paul has said in the past that the Americans with Disabilities Act was an overreach of the federal government.

"What I've always said is that I'm opposed to institutional racism, and I would've, had I've been alive at the time, I think, had the courage to march with Martin Luther King to overturn institutional racism, and I see no place in our society for institutional racism," Paul said.

However, he added:

    "I think a lot of things could be handled locally. For example, I think that we should try to do everything we can to allow for people with disabilities and handicaps. You know, we do it in our office with wheelchair ramps and things like that. I think if you have a two-story office and you hire someone who's handicapped, it might be reasonable to let him have an office on the first floor rather than the government saying you have to have a $100,000 elevator. And I think when you get to the solutions like that, the more local the better, and the more common sense the decisions are, rather than having a federal government make those decisions."

Later on MSNBC's "Rachel Maddow Show" yesterday evening, Paul was pressed on the specific question of whether he thinks the government should prohibit private businesses from discriminating on the basis of race -- he refused to give a straight answer.

"Should we limit speech from people we find abhorrent?" Paul asked. "Should we limit racists from speaking? I don't want to be associated with those people, but I also don't want to limit their speech in any way, in the sense that we tolerate boorish and uncivilized behavior because that's one of the things that freedom requires... that we allow people to be boorish and uncivilized, but that doesn't mean we approve of it."

I'm thinking Mr Rand Paul might be needing some "help", if you catch my drift.

[tyrannosaurus vex]

yes, please.

[BabylonHoruv]

I still like him better than your standard republican.  Or your average Kentucky democrat for that matter.

[Juana]

Oh dear. How can we help, Dok?

[navkat]

I kind of think this is pretty weak sauce if this leads to a witch stoning of Rand Paul. People are connecting dots and drawing lines where there aren't any...you know: the same shit Glenn Beck does.

That said, I think the boundaries of Rand Paul's appreciation for free speech should be tested like the mattress in a $20 hotel.

[Doktor Howl]

I kind of think this is pretty weak sauce if this leads to a witch stoning of Rand Paul.

Um.

What religion is this, again?

[Doktor Howl]

Oh dear. How can we help, Dok?

Spread the word.  Make fun of Kentucky, while you're at it.

Oh, yeah.  He has a website.

[navkat]

I kind of think this is pretty weak sauce if this leads to a witch stoning of Rand Paul.

Um.

What religion is this, again?

This is a religion?

[Doktor Howl]

I kind of think this is pretty weak sauce if this leads to a witch stoning of Rand Paul.

Um.

What religion is this, again?

This is a religion?

Damn straight.  And I think it's high time we gave young Rand our blessings.

I hope he's had his shots.

[Iason Ouabache]

That said, I think the boundaries of Rand Paul's appreciation for free speech should be tested like the mattress in a $20 hotel.

(I completely stole this from Alternet, btw) I really really want a reporter to ask him if a porn shop should be allowed to open across the street from a school. I'd love to see how he'd spin that.

[tyrannosaurus vex]

That said, I think the boundaries of Rand Paul's appreciation for free speech should be tested like the mattress in a $20 hotel.

(I completely stole this from Alternet, btw) I really really want a reporter to ask him if a porn shop should be allowed to open across the street from a school. I'd love to see how he'd spin that.

Simple. He'd say there shouldn't be any schools in the first place so what's the problem?

[LMNO]

Yet another example of Utopian Libertarianism forgetting that the real world actually exists.


From what I read, the theory is that any company that hired based upon racism would be boycotted because of their hiring practices -- the Free Market would fix the problem, no need for government intervention.


Worked pretty well in the South during the 1950s-60s, didn't it?

[tyrannosaurus vex]

In fairness to the theory, I can't remember a single example in the past 150 years of the Free Market ever steering us wrong.

[LMNO]

In fairness to the theory, I can't remember a single example in the past 150 years of the Free Market ever steering us wrong.

[AFK]

Well, the one thing we learned, in case it was every in question, is that as much as Rand Paul would like to cast himself as a "different" kind of politician.  He's just as weasley as the rest of them.  When he was interviewed on CNN yesterday, after the smack down he received from Maddow, he was asked again if he would have voted yes for the Civil Rights Act.  He said yes.

I think it's pretty clear he's wilting under the pressure and understands the position he's held for the past few decades is not going to fly and he needs to pay lip service to win the race.  

In other words,  mega, mega tool.