John Dickerson: Rand Paul's Comments Could Spell Trouble for the GOP
[John Dickerson is chief political correspondent for Slate.]
This is an anti-establishment year, and no one personifies that sentiment better than Rand Paul. He trounced his establishment-backed opponent in the Kentucky Republican Senate primary by railing against Washington and GOP leaders who did not support him. It turns out, however, that the establishment isn't completely useless. The establishment would have advised, for example, that it was a bad idea for a conservative with wide-ranging views to go back on The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC so soon after his victory.
Maddow spent about 20 minutes last night quizzing Paul about his views on the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and he and the Republican Party have spent the last 24 hours cleaning up the mess. Paul said he believed that the federal government should not tell private businesses whether they could discriminate. He hated racism as much as anyone, he said, but believes that businesses that discriminate should be forced to change through private action: speaking out, boycotts, and the like.
As a practical matter, that ignores history and the human behavior of the time. But as a political matter, this just isn't something a candidate says out loud—even if he believes it. At worst, it makes him seem to take racism lightly, and at best, it's distracting. Before lunch, Paul had put out a statement that he would not support the repeal of the law....
As a part of the damage control, Republicans pointed out that there are sitting Democrats who opposed the 1964 bill, including Robert Byrd who filibustered it for 14 hours straight. But Byrd and current Democrats don't hold those views now. For his part, Paul argues that a 1964 law would not be relevant to issues he'd face as a senator. But that's not exactly right. The questions about his views on the Civil Rights Act grow out of his present-day views about limits on government intervention. That's always an issue in Washington, especially right now, as the Senate debates a bill to regulate financial institutions. At its core, it involves the question of just how far government can go to regulate private enterprise....
Read entire article at Slate
This is an anti-establishment year, and no one personifies that sentiment better than Rand Paul. He trounced his establishment-backed opponent in the Kentucky Republican Senate primary by railing against Washington and GOP leaders who did not support him. It turns out, however, that the establishment isn't completely useless. The establishment would have advised, for example, that it was a bad idea for a conservative with wide-ranging views to go back on The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC so soon after his victory.
Maddow spent about 20 minutes last night quizzing Paul about his views on the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and he and the Republican Party have spent the last 24 hours cleaning up the mess. Paul said he believed that the federal government should not tell private businesses whether they could discriminate. He hated racism as much as anyone, he said, but believes that businesses that discriminate should be forced to change through private action: speaking out, boycotts, and the like.
As a practical matter, that ignores history and the human behavior of the time. But as a political matter, this just isn't something a candidate says out loud—even if he believes it. At worst, it makes him seem to take racism lightly, and at best, it's distracting. Before lunch, Paul had put out a statement that he would not support the repeal of the law....
As a part of the damage control, Republicans pointed out that there are sitting Democrats who opposed the 1964 bill, including Robert Byrd who filibustered it for 14 hours straight. But Byrd and current Democrats don't hold those views now. For his part, Paul argues that a 1964 law would not be relevant to issues he'd face as a senator. But that's not exactly right. The questions about his views on the Civil Rights Act grow out of his present-day views about limits on government intervention. That's always an issue in Washington, especially right now, as the Senate debates a bill to regulate financial institutions. At its core, it involves the question of just how far government can go to regulate private enterprise....