Tea Party candidate Rand Paul, a radical Republican heavily influenced by the Tea Partiers, is showing his true colors. And, those true colors of Paul are frightening.
Paul has already inexplicably taken shots at the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and seemingly advocated that private businesses should be allowed to discriminate against black people. While he has since tried to walk back his comments, those words were a window into his heart. Paul might have been in the clear until moronic and irresponsible Fox News commentator John Stossel, another right-wing extremist, came on to not only back up Paul but go beyond. Stossel, best known to me for getting slapped around by former wrestler Dr. D David Schultz (after Stossel had insulted him by saying wrestling as fake right to his face), through gasoline on Paul just as the fire was beginning to be put out.
This all brings me to a column I was reading at Salon.com written by Joan Walsh, one of my favorite writers and television personalities.
Walsh had this to say as she was discussing what some people view as her perceptions of the Tea Party movement. In particular, I am highlighting Paul's comments defending a big business and foreign oil company (British Petroleum) while attacking President Obama:
But I don't see a lot of room for cooperation between left- and right-wing libertarians, or the Tea Partiers and left-wing critics of corporate control over the government. One problem, of course, is Rand Paul's controversial approach to civil rights. But I think it's potentially bigger news that he called President Obama "un-American" for criticizing British Petroleum over the Gulf oil spill, rather than merely saying "accidents happen." Unbelievably, he expressed similar feelings about a coal mining accident in his own state that killed two men. "We had a mining accident that was very tragic," Paul said. "Then we come in and it's always someone's fault. Maybe sometimes accidents happen."
Is that the Tea Party philosophy at work: "Accidents happen," people die, and private industry should be left alone, not even criticized, when they do?
So, Paul is defending an oil company.
Paul is defending a foreign oil company.
Paul is defending a foreign oil company responsible for a devastating oil spill the likes of which we have probably never seen.
Paul is attacking President Obama for calling out the oil company.
Paul is defending the foreign oil company responsible for a disastrous spill in the Gulf of Mexico and then calling President Obama "un-American" for holding BP responsible.
As Walsh said, he could have said accidents happen and left it at that, but no...
Paul had to take an opportunity to attack President Obama.
It seems Rand Paul is more interested in protecting rich companies and criticizing our president and less interested in the victims: real people and the environment.
Imagine if President Obama was defending BP.
