Rand Paul won't answer Civil Rights Act question - "I haven’t read all through it... " (AUDIO)

[jefferson_dem]

Rand Paul won't answer Civil Rights Act question

Moving from the Republican Primary to the general election means, for Rand Paul, addressing a broader set of issues than the anti-tax, anti-spending focus of his campaign.

And while he's answered this question before, I'm not sure his evasive response to a question today on whether he would have voted for the Americans with Disabilities Act and the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which outlawed discrimination in public places and in the workplace.

Paul has suggested in the past -- and been attacked for suggesting -- that the federal government has no place regulating private business decisions, even on issues like race and accomodations for the disabled, and was pressed on the question -- three times -- on NPR just now:

"What I’ve always said is, I’m opposed to institutional racism, and I would have -- if I was alive at the time, I think -- had the courage to march with Martin Luther King to overturn institutional racism, ad I see no place in our soc for institutional racism," he said in response to a first question about the act.

"You woul have marched with Martin Luther King but voted with Barry Goldwater?" asked an interviewer.

"I think it's confusing in a lot of cases in what’s actually in the Civil Rights Case (sic)," Paul replied. "A lot of things that were actually in the bill I’m actually in favor of I’m in favor of -- everything with regards to ending institutional racism. So I think there’s a lot to be desired in the Civil Rights -- and indeed the truth is, I haven’t read all through it, because it was passed 40 years ago and hadn’t been a real pressing issue on the campaign on whether I’m going to vote for the Civil Rights Act."

Asked for a third time about that and the Americans with Disabilities Act, he explained his objections to the latter.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0510/Rand_Paul_wont_answer_Civil_Rights_Act_question.html?showall

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

1. "Do you support the Allied victory of WWII?"

"Well, I haven't heard Hitler's side of the story..."

[BrklynLiberal]

2. hmmm How do you spell o-b-f-u-s-c-a-t-i-o-n?

Obfuscation is the concealment of intended meaning in communication, making communication confusing, intentionally ambiguous, and more difficult to interpret

[Catshrink]

8. or s-t-u-p-i-d

[BrklynLiberal]

20. I like your spelling much better...

:thumbsup:

[Catshrink]

25. Yours was good...

but a bit complex for those to whom Rand appeals.

[BrklynLiberal]

29. LOL. You have an excellent point there...

[jefferson_dem]

3. To the DUer who unrecc'd this story...I'm curious.

Are you a Rand Paul supporter or do you object to those who laugh at / criticize opposition to the CRA?

[WCGreen]

4. I just canceled one out

[jefferson_dem]

5. Thanks.

:hug:

[Ikonoklast]

7. Me, too.

Rand is a liar.

[Thrill]

6. I know they elected McConnell. But please tell me there is NO Way KY

would elect this clown??

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

30. They elected Bunning several times.

So... yeah, they would.

[WeDidIt]

9. The Paul family has long time associations with white supremacist groups. n/t

[Clio the Leo]

10. He's now saying that he is opposed to title 2 of the Civil Rights act...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1964#Title_II

... which is the one that dealt with lunch counters etc.

In short, Rand Paul is an evil, evil man. Far more evil than any we've dealt with on THAT side in a LONG time.

And he's a BLESSING to the Democratic party.

[jefferson_dem]

11. After this shiznit, I'm moving the KY Senate seat from lean gNOp to lean "Good Guys"...

Thanks bunches, teabaggers.

[Clio the Leo]

12. "lean non-racists..."

It CANT be this easy, right?

Let's see how many African American registered voters in Kentucky OFA can get to the polls this fall. One of my best friends lives in Louisville ... I'm good for at LEAST one vote.

[jefferson_dem]

14. And the spillover effect should be profound.

Every republican should be asked if they agree with Grand Wizard Paul's pro-segregation position.

If they say "no", their local teabaggers flip out.
If they say "yes", all sane voters will flock away from the stench.
If they are evasive, it will look like shit, and the media *should* keep the heat on until they own up.

This scumbag is a priceless gift. He will do more to expose the sordid teabagger agenda than anything else we've seen.

[Clio the Leo]

15. Yep ... go on Mitch! Have fun at your little unity rally! lol NT

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

27. This really is the story of primary night. But what do we see instead?

The pundits surmising that it is the Democrats who will pay a big price in the fall. They have it all wrong, including "doom and gloom" Rachel Maddow and that disgusting Andrea Mitchell and her sidekick, Chuck Todd.

It is really the Republicans who are in trouble. THEY have to decide if they want to go all "tea bag" or if they want to be in the mainstream.

I don't believe that the Dems are in trouble. I think the Repukes are.

[Kind of Blue]

13. Wow, that interview was like pulling teeth.

KnR

[Clio the Leo]

16. Well, he's a professional politician, that's for sure....

.... he handled the interview fairly well. But can he keep it up for the next 6 months?

Most Republicans and libertarians can't keep it up for very long. :evilgrin:

[Kind of Blue]

18. Yes, it will be interesting to watch

him keep that kind of banter up. But I think this is good thing because it might just help to clarify the difference between racism and the right to bear arms, both Paul thinks fall under the same umbrella. Just bizarre :eyes:

[marlakay]

17. I saw him on Rachel and he looked angry and mean

his dad even if I hated his views always was a nice guy. He refused to answer her questions and tried to turn it around to guns. I think this will backfire as most people want public places not to be prejudiced and gun free.

[zulchzulu]

19. Rand Paul is digging deeper into his nonsense and taking the hook on questions

He clearly is not media-saavy and is going to be a gaffe-driven stooge as long as he engages in discussions where he is prone to be used out of context.

He's nuttier than his dad.

[boppers]

24. Wait, was he actually *named* for her?

....curious first name, that "Rand".

[stevenleser]

21. If you have read Atlas Shrugged, you know what he believes.

"The political system we will build is contained in a single moral premise: no man may obtain any values from others by resorting to physical force," and claims that "no rights can exist without the right to translate one's rights into reality—to think, to work and to keep the results—which means: the right of property."

more to the point, at the end of the novel, one of the characters, a Judge Narangansett, is writing an amendment to the US Constitution that prohibits the government from interfering in business for any reason.

[vaberella]

22. He doesn't know what he's talking about. Nothing I just read he said made sense. n/t

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

23. Like father. Like son. Not surprising. It's disgusting! n/t

[Blue_Tires]

26. back in my college days, i had an argument with someone of the same mindset

Kid actually wrote in the school paper that the 1964 Civil Rights Act was the 'most oppressive legislation passed in the 20th century'... I asked him to explain himself (I worked at the paper too, but not as a writer) and he seriously tried to argue that the all-powerful "marketplace" would have eventually realized segregation was a bad thing and ended it (which was of course way too easy for me to smack down, especially given the irony that he came from a tiny, isolated midwestern hometown which didn't have any minorities to speak of)...

I didn't know about the organization at the time, but I know now that he was a kool-aid swilling Bircher -- He was also good for a regular column ranting against the UN, Cuba, Sore Loserman, feminism, abortion, etc...In retrospect I should have been harder on him, but at the time I chalked it up to his naïveté about the world...

[marshall]

28. It's a coded reference to the Arizona law

Because so many of the folks who criticize it have admitted to not having read it.

[mstinamotorcity]

31. No Need

Same s--t, different day!!!