Rand Paul: Pre-2016, He's Dumpster Diving and Trash Talking

by Sunnyjane

I did NOT have plagiarized sex with my hair!  That was my OWN idea!

There is a major chapter in Reince Priebus' 2016 Republican Tea Party playbook titled When You're Desperate, Just Spout Stupid Shit.   In Rand Paul's copy, this particular section has been referred to so often that it's become thoroughly thumb-spit-moistened and dog-eared. (I understand that the Centers for Disease Control is considering classifying it as an infectious disease carrier.)

Just one of about three hundred or so Republicans who are planning to run for president in 2016, Senator Paul (RTP-McConnellville) is searching high and low (mostly low) for a solution in need of a problem.  And because he's up against some tough competition for the top Tea Party spot in the Governors v. Congress Cretins race to the bottom, he intends to get the publicity he thinks he so richly deserves: I want to be part of the national debate, so whether I run or not, being considered is something that allows me to have a larger microphone.

So anxious is the senator for that larger microphone, that he actually gave a pre-taped response to President Obama's 2014 State of the Union address.  In it, he began with the Godhead we discussed in a recent post, Ronald Reagan.  I  kid you not!  If you're up for it, you can watch Paul's less-than-riveting rant for nine minutes and thirty seconds.  Personally, I decided I didn't have enough time left in my life to waste more than sixty seconds on him.

Obamacare:  BAD Thing!  Freedom to Die:  GOOD Thing!
 

Even though Ted Cruz has pretty much co-opted the Affordable Care Act for his own Down-With-Obama project, Rand Paul has had to take a stand against it, too; his Tea Party backers demand it.   Sen. Paul has said that Obamacare will kill women, kill seniors, kill children...oops, sorry, wrong Tea Party hack.  What he really said about the ACA was equally stupid:   Just because a couple of people on the Supreme Court declare something to be "constitutional" does not make it so.  The whole thing remains unconstitutional.  Gosh, why didn't the Democrats come up with that argument after the Citizens United decision?  Although it is definitely not true that President Obama injured his knee when he fell on the floor laughing at this statement, there may be some truth to the rumor that the Supreme Court has sent the esteemed senator a fifth-grade United States Government textbook with the chapter on Role of the Supreme Court in American Democracy prominently highlighted.

Since the upstanding Sen. Paul admitted to an audience in October 2013 that while he never lies or cheats, he sometimes spreads misinformation.  It's a great tactic.  Misinformation can be very important, it should come as no surprise that he spread a little misinformation about his son's being signed up for Medicaid against his will.  Turned out, not surprisingly, that it  was a lie.

Even weakling Wolf Blitzer, who rarely if ever challenges a Republican's veracity, pummeled Paul on his statements about the Affordable Care Act:  [President Obama is] making the point that if you have health insurance you're going to be healthier, presumably, because you'll be going to doctors. You're a physician; you understand that.  Senator Paul's response was a spin that's definitely snort-worthy: It doesn't necessarily equate. Now, good behavior, exercise, and diet may prevent illness. Going to the doctor doesn't necessarily prevent illness.  (Gosh, I don't believe I've seen the senator speak out in support of a similar initiative that is championed by the First Lady.  Hmmm...)  Besides, if this is his philosophy -- good behavior, exercise, and diet may prevent illness -- I wonder why he hasn't told his Medicare and Medicaid patients that these practices would prevent their glaucoma, cataracts, and macular degeneration.  Perhaps then he could avoid accepting that awful government socialized medical insurance.

Paul's war on Obamacare seems to be a losing one, as the latest figures show that over three million people nationwide and more than two hundred and thirty thousand citizens of Kentucky have signed up, thirty-five percent of whom happen to be under age thirty-five -- a significant number for the push to insure young people.  In addition, six Republican-run states (Florida, Idaho, Maine, Michigan, North Carolina and Wisconsin) are expected to meet or exceed figures they had originally projected.         

Keep digging, keep digging...

Extending Unemployment Benefits Makes Jobless People Lazy

Go to hair school and I'll let you give me Mohawk.  I've gotta pow-wow with Native Americans.

When the Republicans left Washington in late December to enjoy their bounteous holidays with their families, they did so with a Let-them-eat-fruitcake disdain for 1.3 million Americans who, because they remain jobless due to the GOP's refusal to pass a jobs bill, are now without unemployment benefits. 

Using Tea Party Libertarian logic, Sen. Paul had no compunctions about this unfairness at all because ...the longer you have [unemployment benefits], it does provide some disincentive to work and there are many studies that indicate this.  And just which study did he rely on to back up his idiocy?  Welllll...he chose a paper by economist Rand Ghayad, who upon hearing this bit of news, said that Rand Paul was a colossal idiot had completely misread his work.  In a rebuttal article, Ghayad said, There's no reason to cut unemployment benefits.  People aren't long-term unemployed because they prefer getting benefits. People are long-term unemployed because there still aren't enough jobs. 

Well, at least he didn't plagiarize Mr. Ghayad's work, right?  And speaking of which...

I Challenge Thee to a Duel!

Too many laws and regulations!  Stealing other people's work shouldn't be a crime!

Like another Tea Party ignoramus we could easily name, Rand Paul hasn't learned to keep his mouth shut when he's called out for his political ignorance and his various transgressions.  And he certainly should not pick a fight with MSNBC's Rachel Maddow; that is one he'll never win.

Maddow has been all over Paul about his little plagiarizing habit, so much so that he'd like to shoot her or stab her -- if dueling were legal in Kentucky of course, because people who call him out are haters and hackers.  Maddow's response:  There is nothing wrong with the reporting.  You can try to make this about me, but how about addressing the substance?  Responding to the person rather than to the charge is a time tested tactic. Honestly, it is a symptom of immaturity in our political discourse that it's expected that this is part of the way he'll respond.

It has also come to light that for his book, Government Bullies, the senator lifted three pages almost verbatim from a Heritage Foundation paper without a proper citation. 

Snarling Little Ankle-Biter Goes After Beloved Big Dog

Before the interminable Benghazi hearings even began, little Rand Paul was hot-footing it around the country telling anybody who would listen that Benghazi should disqualify Hillary Clinton from ever again holding high office.  Then, during the hearings, he told her directly that If I were president, I would have relieved you of your post.  I'm not certain, but I believe I saw former Sen. Clinton stifle a grin.

Well, that whole thing didn't turn out too well for the GOP or Rand Paul, and it was delightful to read General David Petraeus's praise for the former Secretary of State:  Hillary Clinton would be a tremendous president. Like a lot of great leaders, her most impressive qualities were most visible during tough times. In the wake of the Benghazi attacks, for example, she was extraordinarily resolute, determined, and controlled.  Ouch!  That certainly must have put a crimp in Sen. Paul's colon.

Further demonstrating his acute economy of good sense, the flapping yapper has decided to attack the Big Dog.

The senator initiated this bit of argle-bargle when he decided that Bill Clinton's 1998 peccadillo with then twenty-five-year-old intern Monica Lewinsky was somehow germane sixteen years later.  It gets a little confusing here, dear readers, so bear with me: Randy thinks that is important now because the Democrats insist that the Republicans are waging a war on women and Bill's predatory behavior and being a serial philanderer and people who benefited when Bill raised money for their campaigns should be ashamed and should give it back and if they don't they have a lot of explaining to do because Bill used his authority to take advantage of a young woman in the workplace and even though he's not so sure what all of this has to do with Hillary running for president, it's hard to separate Bill from Hillary.  

Jesus!  Did you get all that?  (I continue to be perplexed by the GOP's definition of what is timely news and what is not.  Scott Walker seems to think that his emails from 2010 are old news not worthy of discussion, while Rand Paul thinks that the 1998 Monica Lewinsky issue is pertinent and must be rehashed immediately.)

While I cannot think of one person who condoned Bill Clinton's behavior, it's important to understand a little of Ms. Lewinsky's less than savory sexual history.  She was having an affair with a married man when she decided to become a political intern.  In fact, she told the wife of the guy she was screwing that I'm going to the White House to get my presidential knee pads.   So it's difficult to put her in the category of a sweet young thing who was an innocent being taken advantage of by a powerful man.  

Oh, you do remember that Rand Paul called Newt Gingrich, who had an affair with his twenty-seven-year-old intern at the same time he was trying to get Bill Clinton impeached, a sexual predator and a serial philanderer when Newt was running for president in 2012, right?  No, I don't remember that either.  Didn't happen.

Karl Rove, whom you will remember is trying very hard to keep Republicans from being verbally asinine (and losing the battle), said recently that Rand Paul spending a lot of time talking about the mistakes of Bill Clinton does not look like a big agenda item for the future of the country.  Snort!

But Reince Priebus, who's never been accused of being the sharpest pair of scissors in the tailor's shop, thinks it's all fine and dandy, telling Andrea Mitchell earlier this month, Hillary Clinton provides a lot of opportunity for us.  Everything's on the table for 2016.   

Trust me, that particular statement will come back to haunt the GOP during the upcoming presidential campaign cycle.  Everything's on the table for 2016 cuts both ways.

End Note

HELP!  I'm stuck ass-up in here, a rat is eating my face, and I still haven't found a scandal!

Countdown to Election 2012: Week Nine in Review

by Sunnyjane

Moving FORWARD Together!

Last week, the true heart and soul of America gathered in Charlotte, North Carolina.   Delegates representing their respective states and territories at the 2012 National Democratic Convention exemplified what the progressive party represents: inclusion.  When Democrats are assembled in one room with a unified goal, not one of them gives a flying fig about your color, national origin, religion, gender, salary, or sexual orientation.  

No peanuts were thrown, not a single delegate walked out in a rant, and no one talked to an empty chair.  T'was a thing of beauty. 

We're Picking Up Good Vibrations...

 We love the colorful clothes she wears, and the way the sunlight plays upon her hair.

Michelle Obama has not only raised the bar for the role of First Lady, she has set a new standard for how a spouse presents a candidate to the American people: with honesty,  grace, and humor.  And in so doing, she peeled the thin veneer off Mitt Romney and his running mate, Ann Romney Paul Ryan, without ever mentioning their names. 

In a spellbinding twenty-five minute speech that garnered more online views than the entire Republican National Convention, Michelle Obama shared with convention attendees, the country, and the world exactly who her husband is and what he stands for: the opportunity for everyone in this country to achieve their dreams.  

Barack knows the American Dream because he's lived it, and he wants everyone in this country to have that same opportunity, no matter who we are, or where we're from, or what we look like, or who we love.  And he believes that when you've worked hard, and done well, and walked through that doorway of opportunity, you do not slam it shut behind you.  You reach back, and you give other folks the same chances that helped you succeed.

The media reaction to her speech was swift and overwhelmingly positive.  Never before known to gush over anything a Democrat utters, even Fox News was impressed. Chris Wallace called her speech masterful and Brit Hume stated that Michelle Obama was an extremely impressive and attractive woman, but hastened to add (naturally) that while the delivery was better than the speech, she effectively vouched for her husband.   Rachel Maddow at MSNBC had three words to say:  Oh my God!  Steve Schmidt, who knows a little something about this sort of thing, said the speech was brilliantly written and brilliantly delivered.  And from the truer-words-were-never-spoken category came this from Chuck Todd:  Michelle Obama owned this convention in a way that no speaker owned the floor of the convention in Tampa.  Perhaps the best reaction was from Wonkette's live blog: Some might say Michelle Obama ran over [her time], I say she made time stop.

In a rib-tickling display of sour-grapes hypocrisy, Ari Fleischer pouted that some speeches are much more effective in a hall of zealots.  You should know, Ari, you should know!

A Former President Nominates the Next One

Sir, it was my great honor to rip them a new one!

Because Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan don't intend to let pesky fact-checkers dictate how they run their campaign, Bill Clinton rectified that situation in his nomination speech.  He did it clearly, concisely and in front of millions of Americans on prime-time television.  While the Republican convention was terrified of having its last party president speak, the Democrats embraced not only former president Jimmy Carter, but gave Bill Clinton an extremely important role. 

From his opening sentence, We’re here to nominate a President, and I've got one in mind, Clinton grabbed his audience's attention and kept them captivated throughout what may be one of the most important speeches he has ever given.  The former president did an outstanding job of exposing the 2012 Republican ticket by raking through the ashes of their incompetence and revealing the two candidates as foul and hollow imitations representing the once proud Grand Old Party.  He told the country how he had worked with Republicans as president, and had liked them, but that the current Republicans are different -- they are hateful, angry, and partisan all the way down.

Using the Republican's tired old Are you better off than you were four years ago? meme, Clinton forcefully responded YES!  He spoke about the Recovery Act, the Affordable Care Act, and the auto-industry bailout. He carefully linked President Obama’s policies for education and job retraining to people's anxieties about how they could get a job in an economy where the remaining jobs required different skills.  

Clinton's It's Arithmetic assertion that Democratic administrations have created more jobs than Republicans sent the fact-checkers scurrying for proof.  Not a problem; they found it!

  

To gauge the effectiveness of Mr. Clinton's speech, we need only hear the comments made by Mitt Romney's former aide, Alex Castellanos, on CNN: ...tonight when everybody leaves, lock the doors. You don't have to come back tomorrow. This convention is done. This will be the moment that probably re-elected Barack Obama.

Biden Accepts the Vice Presidential Nomination

Ladies and gentlemen, this is a big fucking deal! 

OK, Vice President Joe Biden didn't exactly say that in  his speech on the last night of the convention. What he did say, however, effectively demonstrated the differences between Mitt Romney's and President Obama's views of America.  Speaking about the bailout of the auto industry, Biden said Romney did not understand what saving the automobile worker and saving the industry meant to all of America.  [Romney] saw it the Bain way...he saw it in terms of balance sheets and write-offs.

Biden also took on the despicable and racist meme that Democrats are constantly on the lookout for government handouts -- or free stuff, in Romney's words:  People who need government help for a college loan or job training aren't trying to become dependent, they are seeking their own path out of dependency.

The Democratic Party, Biden told his audience, sees a future where everyone, regardless of their financial or social status, has a part to play in the country's future, A future where we depend more on clean energy from home and less on oil from abroad. A future where we’re #1 in the world again in college graduation. A future where we promote the private sector, not the privileged sector. And a future where women control their own choices, health, and destiny. 

And on Romney's promised Jobs Tour after he's elected, -- presumably after he takes care of all those Day One issues -- Biden remarked, Well with all his support for outsourcing — it’s going to have to be a foreign trip.

Let All the Dreamers Wake the Nation

If you reject the notion that this nation’s promise is reserved for the few...If you reject the notion that our government is forever beholden to the highest bidder, you need to stand up in this election.

Awash in enthusiastic chants of Four More Years, the President began his speech by saying that everyone was reminded on Tuesday night what a lucky man he is.  He also told his daughters that, yes, they had to be in school the next morning, and he thanked Joe Biden for being the very best vice president I could have ever hoped for -- and for being a strong and loyal friend.  [Did ya get that message, GOP?]

Talking about the GOP candidates' total ignorance of foreign policy, President Obama reminded us that George W. Bush was a Republican pro-business president who pushed the nation into two wars.   My opponent and his running mate are new to foreign policy, but from all that we've seen and heard, they want to take us back to an era of blustering and blundering that cost America so dearly, and then he went on to say, You might not be ready for diplomacy with Beijing if you can’t visit the Olympics without insulting our closest ally.  [Snort.]

The President promised he would never turn Medicare into a voucher system.  Yes, we will reform and strengthen Medicare for the long haul, he told his audience, but we’ll do it by reducing the cost of health care – not by asking seniors to pay thousands of dollars more ...  And not by turning it over to Wall Street.

He took on the Republicans' obstinate and obstructionist fixation with tax cuts.   They want your vote, but they don’t want you to know their plan. And that’s because all they have to offer is the same prescription they've had for the last thirty years: “Have a surplus? Try a tax cut.” “Deficit too high? Try another.” “Feel a cold coming on? Take two tax cuts, roll back some regulations, and call us in the morning!” 

It was a strong and inspiring speech that solidified the President's statement, I’m no longer just a candidate. I’m the president.

[I hope Ann Romney hasn't started calling her favorite designer about an Inaugural Ball gown.]

    

The First Family

2008

2012

End Note