Tuesday, August 5, 2014

SALON: Rand Paul’s Stunning Cowardice

Joan Walsh writes at Salon:
Sen. Rand Paul has been getting lots of credit lately for his efforts to widen the GOP’s reach beyond its older white Christian base, speaking to the National Urban League and other African American groups lately and even warning his party not to go “crazy” passing voter ID laws (though he later said he supported them.)
But Paul hit some turbulence yesterday in Iowa, at a fundraiser for far-right immigration-reform foe Rep. Steve King. A young woman approached King and Paul and shook their hands, as a smiling Paul greeted her, then went back to enjoying a hamburger. But when she identified herself as a DREAMer, things got weird. Paul, who was literally in the middle of a bite of his burger, seemed to almost cough it up – then he dropped it, and bolted from the table with an aide.
You’ve got to see it to believe it.


It’s probably on an endless loop in Sen. Ted Cruz’s office today. You might even see it in Cruz ads if the two men face off for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016.
Say what you will about the combative extremist Cruz: It’s hard to imagine him cutting and running in a similar situation.
Paul ran away even before the conflict between King and DREAMer Erika Andiola began; she had merely identified herself as a DREAMer. Why was the Kentucky senator so panic stricken? Probably because he has repeatedly tried to have it both ways on immigration reform.
He voted against the bipartisan Senate bill last year, but he has subsequently tried to depict himself as a champion of reform, even after Rep. Eric Cantor’s surprise primary defeat in June, which was attributed to his opponent’s shrill anti-reform stance. “I say everywhere I go that I am for immigration reform,” he told reporters after Cantor’s loss.
Everywhere, that is, except for Steve King fundraisers.

4 comments:

  1. Even Obama didn't run for the hills when Joe the Plumber confronted him. Since Rand's going to compare himself to George H.W. Bush in his fall speech to appease the neocons, he ought to study Bush Sr.'s 1988 campaign when he was accused of being a "wimp." Of course, that image ended with his illegal war to "liberate" Kuwait.

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  2. It was a weird moment. She did end up being combative though.

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  3. The MSM has picked up on this story now. I'm seeing it all over the place. If I had to bet, it will be on Stewart/Colbert tonight.

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  4. He probably wanted to wash his hands...

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