The Gift of Rand Paul

by Deacon Blues

One of the benefits of watching the Tea Party gain strength within the GOP and push aside establishment Republicans is that once these creeps don the mantle as the new face and nominees of the modern GOP, they will be revealed as extremists wholly out of touch with the electorate. Case in point is Rand Paul, who defeated a Mitch McConnell stooge to win the GOP primary in Kentucky Tuesday night. For those of you who watched his celebration speech that night, you probably noticed how often he portrayed himself not as a future senator from Kentucky but rather as a national leader of the Tea Party who was daring President Obama to come and campaign against him.

Well I hope Kentuckians are happy with their choice, because we now get to spend the next six months learning all about the new face of the Kentucky GOP and the national Tea Party. And what we’ll learn is that he and the party he claims to lead are against the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the 1992 Americans with Disabilities Act, and even the FHA as unfair intrusions into private businesses. Of course Paul and the rest of the Partiers won’t say they support discrimination against those who are unlike their white base. Instead, they try and use the fig leaf that discrimination can be justified as freedom of speech and that discriminatory behavior is therefore lawful by private entities, even churches who accept federal tax-free status. I’m not sure even John Roberts and Antonin Scalia will buy that one, and Paul for his part is already backing away from what he said to Rachel Maddow last night to save his candidacy.

But if Rand Paul and his ilk are the new face of the modern GOP, then let’s get this party started. Remember, according to the Tea Party, it's not about race, it just seems that way every time you see them and hear them.

And please, spare me the "see, he doesn't really mean it" rejoinder, as if we are supposed to accept his subsequent walk-backs that he supports the body of federal anti-discrimination legislation. We've seen way too many examples of GOP candidates telling us one thing during the campaign and then reverting to their true colors once they get in (see: Virginia). Paul is for these laws until he gets elected, at which point he will be a credit to his racist Tea Party base and resume advocating for what he believes.