I think Rand Paul is a buffoon.
I choose that word carefully. It is the best word.
It’s helpful to read Juan Cole’s assessment of Senator Paul’s foreign policy positions, but there isn’t any consistency there whatsoever, and the reason that nothing adds up is because Rand Paul is not a serious person. He is a ridiculous but amusing person; a clown.
I don’t just want to dish ad hominem attacks, but I truly believe that the starting point for discussing Rand Paul is to understand that he’s a fool.
Once you understand this, you can proceed to analyzing how well he is carrying on the neo-confederate legacy of his father and the family’s legions of fanboys. I know he had to fire the Southern Avenger, but let’s not forget that he hired him in the first place and initially defended him with the vociferousness of Dick Cheney.
In an interview with The Huffington Post, Sen. Rand Paul stoutly defended an aide who, as a radio shock jock in South Carolina, praised John Wilkes Booth, heaped scorn on Abraham Lincoln and wore a ski mask emblazoned with the stars and bars of the Confederate Battle Flag.
Paul (R-Ky.) stressed that he opposed such views, many of which have been recanted by the Senate aide, Jack Hunter, who co-wrote Paul’s first book in 2010 and who is now his social media adviser in Washington.
“I’m not a fan of secession,” Paul said. “I think the things he said about John Wilkes Booth are absolutely stupid. I think Lincoln was one of our greatest presidents. Do I think Lincoln was wrong is taking away the freedom of the press and the right of habeas corpus? Yeah.”
This is a pattern with Rand Paul. He gets caught doing something stupid like plagiarizing and then he apologizes, but he does it in a way that makes clear that he’s not really sorry. If he gets caught flip-flopping, he gets testy and wins points with his base by threatening to challenge the media to a duel. If he gets asked a question about exceptions to his “oh-so-libertarian” anti-choice position, he angrily deflects the criticism onto late-term abortion.
It should be blindingly obvious that his most racist supporters know that he can’t espouse white supremacy, so all they’re looking for are some signs that he’s simpatico. Does he let a white supremacist co-author his book and work on his congressional staff? Well, yes. Yes, he does.
The religious nuts who think you can’t get pregnant during a “legitimate rape” know that he can’t say that type of thing without getting Todd-Akined right out of the campaign, so they’re just looking to see if he can stick to their absolutist position or he’ll repudiate it outright.
On foreign policy, Rand Paul tries to have it every which way. The anti-Semites loved it when he said we should cut off all aid to Israel. Don’t think for a moment that they’ve forgotten that nod in their direction. It allows them to forgive him for suddenly becoming Benjamin Netanyahu’s best friend forever. They don’t worry because he doesn’t clap fast enough to be a real pro-Israeli politician.
Rand Paul is against foreign interventions before he is for them, and for them before he is against them. A nuclear Iran is not a threat, until a nuclear Iran is a threat. We spend too much on the military until Rand Paul proposes increasing the Pentagon’s budget.
He tries to be all things to all people, and if you accuse him of anything he can point to an example where he said or did something completely different or opposed to what he normally says or does.
“No, no, no, he’s not a racist because he’s trying so hard to do minority outreach.”
“No, no, no, don’t worry about him giving a speech at Howard University because look how he lectured those coloreds.”
Pick a topic, any topic, and you’ll find that Aqua Buddha has tried out all sides of it. In his hands, libertarianism means nothing or it means everything. In his hands, the libertarianism of someone like, say, former Wyoming Senator Alan Simpson, is replaced with an exercise in Elmering your Gantry to the religious fundamentalists.
Under the circumstances, I can only laugh when a journalist like Stephen Collinson muses about whether Rand Paul has missed his moment.
Rand Paul is facing a prospect that haunts every politician: missing his moment.
It wasn’t long ago that the Kentucky senator seemed perfectly matched to the times: a Republican who reflected the nation’s reluctance to keep launching wars but clung to a stinging critique of an intrusive, dysfunctional Big Government.
But for Paul, who formally announced his presidential campaign Tuesday, that balancing act may not be enough to build a coalition that can carry him to the White House.
The idea here is that Rand Paul temporarily had his bullshit properly aligned with the zeitgeist of the country. But all he ever does is try to align his bullshit with the zeitgeist. That’s why his record looks like a poorly thought out Jackson Pollack canvas.
He isn’t here strictly to entertain us, and he’s not self-consciously a clown, always crying on the inside. What he is is a trojan horse for the folks who have been with the Paul family for the long-haul.
If Rand Paul were better at this, he’d be very dangerous. But he’s so ridiculous that he’s simply amusing.
There’s nothing else to add, really. I think you nailed it.
I think the combo of BooMan’s writing and the photo is what nails it. That picture is priceless.
No comment needed.
AG
Well, for sure that pic of Obama on the links doesn’t play so well these days in drought-stricken CA.
One good thing about a Hillary presidency is that we’re unlikely to see any pics of the POTUS playing golf. Maybe she can set at least that good precedent for future presidents — should our Union somehow manage to survive the next 10 yrs — or at least Dem presidents.
Golf — it’s a huge water suck, requires tons of pesticides, and is an expensive sport mostly for the economic and white (and mostly male) elite. Reeks of corporate CEOs and Ike spiking up the Oval Office hardwood floor. A dying sport best left to the establishment Republicans.
Hillary has been seen to play golf. But maybe that was just a photo-op and like many of us, only tried it once or twice.
However, there will be no shortage of opportunities to capture pics of Bill Clinton playing golf.
Yeah, but he does it because he just doesn’t really give a damn what people think of him. I truly believe that. Clinton shared that characteristic with JFK. he believes that he is teflon and that nothing he does can stick to him. Obama’s different from them. He seems to be trying to prove something. A reason for his own feeling of inflated self-worth, maybe. Whatever. Y’all elected them. Not me.
AG
Maybe he just likes to play golf. It’s not as if golf is like polo which is almost exclusively the domain of the very wealthy. It figures prominently in a wide range of business social activities/conferences/conventions.
What we could use are more politicians that are birders. (Twice as many birders as golfers in the US.) Jimmy Carter and Steven Breyer are birders.
Perhaps the biggest ongoing blunder of Obama’s years in the White House was his conspicuous consumption during seriously lean years for the rest of the country…excluding the 1%, of course. I don’t know why he did it…maybe it wasn’t a blunder but rather just part of the act to keep the plebes uncomfortable or maybe it is some kind of character flaw (my vote is big-time narcissism) but for whatever “reasons,” even a moderately gifted high school politician would know better than to flaunt his relative wealth in a scuffling school.
So it goes.
AG
Probably not a blunder. A majority of Americans like to see conspicuous consumption by wealthy people and the resident of the WH. The latter is especially prized by the beltway pundits who are a factor in public perceptions/opinions. The DC set hated the modest consumption style of the Carters and made them pay for that.
Obama hasn’t deviated from the consumption SOP of presidents since Reagan, and JFK, LBJ, Nixon, and Ford weren’t much different either. Michelle Obama has been a more active, and therefore, more visible FLOTUS than Laura and her mil but not more of a consumer.
Personally, I like the more public style of the Obamas as compared with the more hidden and secretive style of the Bushes. But also would have preferred a less grand style for State Dinners and much fewer celebrity invitees. However, my personal preference isn’t popular with the masses. So, have to give the Obamas a pass on this aspect of their jobs.
And your point is? This is one of the more ridiculous false equivalence assertions I’ve seen. Obama is appropriately dressed for playing golf. Paul is inappropriately dressed for an appearance on a TV news show. As if he split the difference between dressing for a TV appearance and a round of golf. Sort of his modus operandi — half of this and half of that into something unintelligible to anyone but his fanboys.
Rand Paul Day holds an exceptionally uncommon significance for political columnists. It implies that Paul and his “kin” will by and by be fielding inquiries from the press after a week-long “out of pocket” involvement in which the congressperson, celebrated for having quickly spread suppositions on everything, was so occupied it would have been impossible remark on all points running from the gay pizza circumstance in Indiana to the preagreement came to with Iran. Paul’s declaration in Louisville today and the media rush that takes after will bring Paul over into pocket. The Paul battle’s best method for winning the assignment and the administration would be for the applicant (Paul) to not talk once, yet that is just not plausible.
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says it all that Rand Paul post attracted trolls. I listened to excerpts of his “speech” – sounded like excerpts from Animal House. buffoon!
romney redux.
I have always regarded RP as a Gene Wilder character.
An empty vessel meant to carry a constituency inside the gates of the city under false pretenses in order to reap destruction. The city that Paul has identified is Washington DC.
The confusion and inability to pin Rand Paul down — he gets snippy with female reporters who try — is symptomatic of the fact that he has been appealing to contradictory constituencies. If it ever came time for Paul to promote a policy, he would lose half of his support on whatever issue it is. The spectrum of politics, despite the Paul’s best efforts is not circular after all. The anti-duopoly constituency are anathema to each other and there is not way to unite them tactically. But for Rand Paul, having discovered that, that is no longer his purpose. Being in the public eye and causing some Democrats heartburn is sufficient. He has only to look to the rest of the Republican buffoon bus (more than 6 isn’t a car; it’s a van; more than 15 isn’t a van; it’s a bus) to see how it’s done. And even Tom Cotton is priming himself for a quick grab at the Presidency.
Not a one of them have a serious purpose other than holding power for its own sake. Not a one of them is serious about any public policy (even national security) because they are so shaped by focus groups and consultants. Every Republican politician and not a few Democratic ones are the perfect non-serious act. The robotic candidate for the permanent campaign with absolutely no governance at all. The quintessential media talk show star. For buffoons attract their own.
It’s the audience for this bullshit that is more worrisome than the candidates. “Serious” kabuki bullshit has created the thirst for this sort of buffoon bullshit. Schumer supporting a sanctions bill on Iran has created the thirst for the “honest, strong” Tom Cotton buffoonery. Congressional technocratic bafflegab has created the audience for the off-the-rails offerings of the Bachmanns, Palins, Goehmerts, and Steve Kings of the world.
None of it is serious politics. All of it is aligning the statement of the moment to the zeitgeist — even the timing of offerings and the contents of the vampire buffoon Dick Cheney.
Most of the top-tier candidates — the Jebster, Walker, Cruz — have been trying to appeal to these contradictory constituencies, but clearly some are far more skilled at speaking out of both sides of their mouths than others.
Jeb is so slick, calm, reasonable sounding, even when contradicting a position he held two weeks ago. Walker is nearly as good. Cruz at least doesn’t get overly ruffled and annoyed like Randy does. With his ruffled unkempt-looking hairstyle, Randy already looks like someone who’s just rolled out of bed at the local sanitarium. He’d be well advised not to let these media interviewers make him so defensive.
As for the others, mostly second and third tier types, they are either going all out for the TP wing (Cruz, Hucklebee) or the Establishment wing and so have less tendency to contradict themselves.
Cruz does get ruffled.
Couldn’t get the video to open, but just from reading it my man Theodore doesn’t seem overly irritated, defensive and emotional in the way young Randy Paul was.
And it never hurts a Republican seeking higher office to turn the question around and blame the left-wing liberal media. Finally, in his last comments he tries to make light of the reporter even asking the question. That too is usually effective politics.
The rather clever Cruz is likely to be still standing long after the less-sure Randy has blundered himself out of the race.
More deft than Paul — but there’s only so many times that Cruz can pull this two-punch stunt when queried about grossly erroneous stats he’s used. Even the one-punch of whining about a “liberal media” won’t play well for long. Candidate whiners don’t fare all that well. It’s tolerated more when the supporters of candidates whine about what they see as unfair media coverage, but there are limits there as well. That’s one reason why Obama beat Clinton and McCain in ’08. He didn’t whine — and confronted head-on and only once, the overt racist elements that infected coverage of his campaign.
Not to mention his demeaning attitude toward women.
a wannabe politician.
He (and his child supporters) think that changing positions based on the audience, deflecting questions, pissing off the press and generally being a privileged elected persons is the mark of a real politician.
Unfortunately for them:
The positions they are changing too have adherents that have espoused those positions for years. They are not happy.
Delflecting questions only works for the short term. Sooner or later (usually at a very inconvienent moment) you have to give an answer. The people who actually want the answer are then not happy.
Pissing off the press only works if you never appear before any press except Fox. Its been proven that you can avoid Fox and win. Its not been proven that you can avoid everyone BUT Fox and win. The rest of the press is not happy.
Being a privileged, elected official is all well and good … but he’s not running in Kentucky. He’s running in places like WI, OH, FL, CO where Kentucky means Fried Chicken and slow horses. These people are not happy with privileged officials not from their area.
Altogether? Lots of unhappy people. Especially when the children behind his campaign realize that twisting in the wind does not mean hanging tough, it means a tough hanging.
well, if it’s children running his campaign maybe that explains the bizarrely informal, frat guy manner of his speech. truly bizarre.
‘deflecting questions only works for the short term. Sooner or later (usually at a very inconvenient moment) you have to give an answer.’
Brilliantly illustrated recently on the George Stephanopoulus show by Indiana
Jester in ChiefGuv. Mike Pence.Laura Clawson nails the other issue with the buffon bus:
All of the buffoons have behaved this way to some extent (it’s the W style), but Rand Paul has made it his characteristic record.
I knew it was over for Rand(y) Paul when a couple of years ago one Chris Matthews confidently predicted the GOP would nominate him in 2016. “Watch this,” he said. “This is what I do for a living.”
Back then, he reasoned that the party, tired of being disappointed with the soft conservatism of nominees like Romney, GW and Bob Dole, would go “hard right” and select Randy, much as the GOP’s right flank took over the Cow Palace Convention in 1964 and selected Barry AuH2O.
Confusingly, a few days ago Chris went on another Msnbc show to denounce the host and network for running for free ads by a far-right hawkish group calling out Randy for being insufficiently hawkish on FP. I thought the far right, per Chris, was supposed to be behind the Paul candidacy? Or has the party moved farther right since then leaving Randy as a lefty?
What I find interesting is how poorly Daddy Paul fared in the Deep South. His racist styling doesn’t zing there.
SC 13% (Newt took 40%)
FL 7%
GA 7%
AL 5%
MS 4%
LA 6%
Didn’t even do well in their home states – TX 12% and KY 13%.
Can’t get the “establishment” or “good old boy” vote, only part of “fundie” vote when the competition is weak, and the “fanboy” vote is only approximately 10% in the GOP (and close to 5% in the general electorate). With Jeb!, Walker, and Cruz in the race, not seeing how Rand can even match his daddy’s 2012 performance.
Or…maybe the racist south knows the truth of the matter. That he’s not a racist. Just sayin’…there are always the other side(s) of a mirror, but it still reflects…you.
AG
Sure — and the GOP “Southern Strategy” was merely a mirage seen by lefties outside the south.
Not making any claim about the prevalence of racism in the south as compared with other parts of the country other than it’s somewhat more pronounced and the style is rawer. When George Wallace was in the presidential race (1968), he swept the deep south. When he wasn’t (1972), Nixon carried that vote. But votes for Wallace in 1968 weren’t limited to the deep south.
When you call someone “racist” and large portions of a truly racist area do not flock to his banner…? C’mon, Marie. WTFU. You proved my point with your original post. deal wid it. The Pauls are not perfect, but they are also not dedicated racists Real racists know that and do not vote for them. Duh.
AG
Rand Paul is a child. Backed by children. Selfish, narcissistic, politically naïve children.
Poitically naïve? Maybe. A child? Watch and see. A very crafty one if he is. Backed by children? Selfish, narcissistic, children? As opposed to whom? There is no more selfish, narcissistic, entitlement-gorged group of people in the U.S. than the types who inhabit DKos and the rest of the so-called “progressive” blogs. The few exceptions prove the rule. You got exactly what you deserved with Obama. Selfish, narcissistic and entitlement-gorged, just as are his supporters. So it goes. Winners write history and then the next winners rewrite it. So that goes as well. Let’s see who does the rewriting in 2016. Obama has done such a rotten job that the pendulum is almost certainly going to have to swing at least superficially to the right even if that pendulum is really powered exclusively by the media. Watch. if they can’t sell Jeb what’re they gonna do? Give up? I think not. Watch.
AG
Libertarians are children. Maybe not in age, but in experience with the real world.
They don’t even realize that Ayn Rand was a selfish, narcissistic, mysognynist bitch who could write on the same level as a college freshman. ie: badly.
And while I don’t know if you revere Ayn Rand, I’m perfectly willing to include you in the naivete of the rest of the Rand Paul supporters.
Ain’t about “Ayn Rand,” DerFarm. She was a horrible writer and a cartoonish thinker. .Ain’t about “libertarians” anymore, either. It’s about Rand Paul and it’s about the Governmental Media Complex that appears to be terrified of him and was equally terrified of his father. That is the strongest recommendation that I can give for supporting him. We are living in a rapidly metastasizing security state that is hellbent on controlling us from the moment we get up in the morning until we fall down exhausted into our beds…exhausted from the sheer struggle to survive. Anybody they really oppose is an ally as far as I am concerned, and anybody like that who threatens a to be within actual, practical reach of the power of the presidency is a very valuable ally.
Ain’t about left wing and right wing, either. The PermaGov owns both wings. Bet on it. It’s only about fighting the machine in any effective way possible.
He’s a very brave man, DerFarm. Or perhaps a totally stupid one. Either way he’s putting his ass on the line for something new, and in doing so he risks his very life as far as I am concerned. If he wins and actually manages to get something done fighting the massive stonewall that will undoubtedly be built against him by the PermaGov-controlled legislature and media, I fear for his life. I really do. they managed to get away with assassinations three or four…or maybe even five or six…times with high-profile opponents and if all else failed they would try to get away with it again. Bet on that as well.
Later…
AG
No — you have no point because neither Paul has run in a GOP primary when a more obvious, overt, or assumed to be “good old boy” hasn’t been in the pack. Nixon did just fine with the racist vote when Wallace wasn’t a candidate. And while Nixon’s racist creds existed, they weren’t as strong and well documented as the Pauls. Nixon didn’t oppose the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in real time. Fifty years after the fact Rand Paul opposes it, but is too big of a chickenshit not to stand by his words.
The pure racist vote isn’t as strong anywhere as it was fifty years ago, but it’s still a factor stronger in the deep south than in other states.
He has quite plainly said again and again that he doesn’t oppose “Civil Rights” as a concept of human equality, he simply opposes that law and its wording. He has said…and proven to me and many other people…that he supports rights for everyone, regardless of race or any other factor. I think that he is correct. We all have a right to be wrong as long as we do not attempt to impose that “wrong” on others in a systemic manner.
I believe that the Civil Rights Act has been a disaster for the minority people of this country and I further believe that the incarceration ratios and poverty statistics prove that statement. I…and many more others than you care to admit…think that this country has gone right straight down the tubes at a rate of acceleration that exactly matches the rise of Big Government. We either have to find another way to govern or we will be through within 20 years.
Dassit, Marie. Kneejerk racism, kneejerk liberalism, it doesn’t really matter…all kneejerks are simply stupid reflexes. Think, fer chrssakes!!!
AG
Your beliefs don’t trump facts.
I don’t give a shit that someone claims to be supportive of human equality if they don’t back that up with support for legislative and enforcement to correct existing discriminatory laws and social and cultural milieus that support inequality. (Hell, Lenny Bruce could nail these racists sixty years ago.) Paul rejects equal legal rights for gays and lesbians. Paul rejects the rights of women to control their own bodies. And he really does support the right of commercial establishments to discriminate based on race and gender.
Did the incarceration rate of minorities escalate directly after passage of the civil rights acts of the 1960s? Did poverty rates also begin to increase at that point? The answer to both is no. In fact, poverty rates declined. It’s well known when those numbers began to climb in a negative direction and neither had anything to do with civil rights legislation. Why don’t you try to sell your beliefs to minority communities that they would be better off if civil rights laws were repealed. Odd that you should think they are too stupid to see what you consider obvious. But they aren’t the stupid ones.
So, Arthur wants us to join his deluded self in believing the Civil Rights Act CAUSED “the incarceration ratios” of African-Americans in 2015………and this!
“(Rand P.) has quite plainly said again and again that he doesn’t oppose “Civil Rights” as a concept of human equality, he simply opposes that law and its wording.”
Man, that is the hardest I’ve laughed in quite a while.
Regarding poverty statistics, AG would become tethered to reality if he could cram this into his thick skull:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/07/11/poverty-in-the-50-years-since-the-other-a
merica-in-five-charts
Arthur Gilroy, objectively pro-Plessy v. Ferguson.
You can post chart after chart…from (unbelievably) the CIA-owned and operated Washingtoon Post, of all places. I will guarantee that you are not and never have been a resident of Black or Hispanic communities or a contributing member of their cultures. I have been as an honored guest since I was an 18 year old white jazz musician who didn’t cop out to the system. You post charts but I have lived the life, and I am telling you that things have only gotten worse for working class/poverty class minority members since the Civil Rights Act was enacted in 1964. There were well-functioning, self-governing (outside of the officlial “government,” of course) Black and Hispanic communities all over this country when I came up. I Iived in some of them in Boston, and NYC, worked regularly in them in Spanish Harlem, the South Bronx, Loisaida, Black Harlem and East New York and I was lucky enough to have spent weeks at a time in others in Detroit, Indianapolis and Atlantic City on extended gigs. Those neighborhoods…those cultures…are gone now, replaced by a PermaGov-directed welfare/educational/justice system that drives the children who grow up in them ever further into despair and a sort of madness. Then many of them act out and end up in prison where they really go mad.
You don’t know shit, centerfielddj. You haven’t lived the life and you haven’t seen the progressive devastation. How could you when you’re getting your information from Government Media Complex outlets like the Washingtoon Post.
Wake the fuck up.
AG
Well, I guess we can see why you’re a Paul fan. You’re becoming a more crazy conspiracy theorist every day. Your opinion, the only one you have, trumps facts.
It is particularly fascinating that you believe your personal experiences bring more evidentiary truth than
the information gathered by national surveys, census workers, social workers, statistical analysts, and other community workers.
It is also quite insulting and terribly ignorant of you to believe somehow that you care more sincerely than all of the people who have done government work since 1959 who have, IN FACT, helped reduce national poverty percentages by significant amounts. These people have helped millions upon millions of Americans escape crushing poverty, and you come here and slander their work and disparage their motivations.
A white-hot hatred for others wafts off you. It is a pungent stench.
This entire system is in the grips of a “conspiracy,” centerfielddj. It has been so since the JFK coup. If you…and a large majority of your fellow Americans… cannot see the plain truth of this it is simply a testament to that conspiracy’s ongoing effectiveness. It is not hatred that makes me to say what I am saying; it is simply part of my job on earth. Take it or leave, it as you must. It is love that drives me.
Bet on it.
AG
You claim it is love that drives you, but what you are communicating is an extreme cynicism borne from hate.
For example, I am not experiencing your repeated demand that we WTFU as something that comes from a loving place. You hate BooMan and the rest of the Frog Pond community, the American government, and American culture at large. You demand that all of these people, institutions and forces change in your image, and rudely dismiss almost all visions of change from others.
That is what you are communicating.
We all hear with different ears.
AG
LOL.
Doin’ your job, Booman. Good on ya. The attacks will continue until in the eyes of many he is indeed perceived as a buffoon.
Or…not.
If nothing else, he is much more successfully succeeding in moving the overall debate towards an anti-PermaGov position than did his father.
Watch.
It not only isn’t over; it has hardly begun.
Laugh now, but keep that other side of your face handy. Even if he gets his ass kicked you’re gonna need it by the time he’s finished. Bet on it.
AG
You’re just as lazy as your idol. You can defend him all you like, but if you’re not even going to bother to acknowledge the charges against him, let alone respond with any kind of substance, you’re just another buffoon.
I’m neutral, SS. Really. I’m just an observer. What i am seeing is that he is making a real run at things. Others…not necessarily who you would expect…seem to be beginning to agree.
Hmmmm…
AG
That’s exactly my point. BooMan makes a detailed case that Rand Paul is a buffoon, and you copy and paste some poll results that have nothing to do with his argument. Vacuous.
Clinton, however, despite all the inevitableness framing has not yet officially declared. And is not yet hitting the media circuits yet.
To your main point, yes, there are some GOP operatives already organizing to sandbag Rand Paul before the Iowa caucus. As Rand Paul himself begins to walk back some of the lefty libertarian positions that caused crossover attention. The Republican Party makes being a candidate a zero-sum game. BooMan has consistently pointed out that that is why the GOP is at a disadvantage in the general election. They (and that includes Rand Paul) must burn their bridges to a wider constituency in order to win the GOP nomination and the strictly enforced positions of the Republican base.
The rap on Clinton is that she is in no way constrained by her base or the Democratic base and certainly not the progressive Democratic base.
Given that Rand Paul has reversed position on almost all the things Arthur pretends to care about, including his most recent calls to vastly increase Defense spending and foment war with Iran, I frankly have no idea why he would be pleased that Rand did decently in a poll.
What would Rand Paul do to reduce poverty? He believes employers should be allowed to pay workers even less than they already do, and he thinks education funding should be slashed for the low-income communities Arthur pretends to care about.
Toot Toot Rand got the drivers seat of the clown car.
“…all he ever does is try to align his bullshit with the zeitgeist.”
Gotta re-read Frankfurt.
“…bullshitters seek to convey a certain impression of themselves without being concerned about whether anything at all is true. They quietly change the rules governing their end of the conversation so that claims about truth and falsity are irrelevant. Frankfurt concludes that although bullshit can take many innocent forms, excessive indulgence in it can eventually undermine the practitioner’s capacity to tell the truth in a way that lying does not. Liars at least acknowledge that it matters what is true. By virtue of this, Frankfurt writes, bullshit is a greater enemy of the truth than lies are.”
Yup. Here’s some Santorum bullshit for you to sample.
Heh. Jim Wright offers this description of RP on his Facebook page:
“…a self-certified “doctor” with an Ayn Rand fetish and a labradoodle glued to his noggin…”
Sounds about right.
https://www.facebook.com/Stonekettle/posts/823617187673686
Without his headgear and heels/shoe lifts, he’s also short. Possibly within a millimeter plus/minus of Dennis Kucinich. Bald/balding, short, and nutty doesn’t fare well in presidential elections.
Rubio is also height challenged but (has an inch or two on Paul) and rapidly balding. And like Cruz, tends toward chubby.