SMITHBITS

LIMON CO (IFS) - So the GOP's new leader is Dr. Rand Paul, and he doesn't like people with disabilities. He's against the 1965 civil rights act, that was passed for the future minorities, yet he's a doctor that practices medicine and many of his patiences are on Social Security, and they vote for this guy in the Tea Party Movement "taking back their country"! Can we say "mixed messages?" One comment from an ABC News member. . . "What Rand Paul calls "taking back America" is really stepping back to the days when angry men shot it out on main street at high noon and anyone who wasn't a bonified-white-person would have to walk in the street and eat only at selected restaurants. Also, in their drive to cut taxes, the Tea Party seems to forget that the police, firemen, military, teachers, and so on, are all paid by taxes. Cutting taxes means dumbing down our children and their children, watching your house burn down because no-one is around to drive the truck, streets full of criminals, and no way to protect ourselves from fifth world countries like North Korea."
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Rand Paul Says He's Being 'Trashed Up and Down' by 'Democratic Talking Points'
Kentucky GOP Senate Nominee Responds to Critics After Civil Rights Act Comments

By JONATHAN KARL and DEVIN DWYER
WASHINGTON, May 21, 2010—

Rand Paul, the Tea Party's rising star from Kentucky who won the state's GOP Senate primary this week, says criticism of his views on the Civil Rights Act and other pieces of anti-discrimination legislation are "red herrings" and Democrats' attempt to "trash" his campaign.

"When does my honeymoon period start?" Paul asked George Stephanopoulos on "Good Morning America" today. "I've been trashed up and down. ... This is a lot about politics."

Paul's comments came amid a firestorm of criticism sparked earlier this week when he appeared to question the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which he said went too far in banning discrimination by private companies.

In an interview Wednesday with MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, Paul was asked whether he believed private businesses should have the right to refuse service to African-Americans.

"Yes," Paul said. "I'm not in favor of any discrimination of any form. & But I think what's important about this debate is not written into any specific 'gotcha' on this, but asking the question: what about freedom of speech? Should we limit speech from people we find abhorrent? Should we limit racists from speaking?"

Paul's comments drew a rebuke from the White House Thursday, with press secretary Robert Gibbs telling reporters, "a discussion about whether or not you support those I don't think has a real, shouldn't have a place in our political dialogue in 2010."

Republicans also seemed to distance themselves from Paul's views. Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele made it clear the GOP supports the Civil Rights Act, whatever its Senate nominee in Kentucky says.

The controversy has revived suggestions by Tea Party critics that there are racists in the movement, an allegation Paul says is dead wrong.

He says he abhors racial discrimination but he doesn't believe the government has the right to tell a private business who they have to serve.

Paul clarified his views in a statement Thursday, saying whatever concerns he may have had about parts of the Civil Rights Act, he has not -- and has never -- called for repealing it.

"Even though this matter was settled when I was 2, and no serious people are seeking to revisit it except to score cheap political points, I unequivocally state that I will not support any efforts to repeal the Civil Rights Act of 1964," Paul, 47, said.

Paul Supports Civil Rights Act

"Let me be clear: I support the Civil Rights Act because I overwhelmingly agree with the intent of the legislation, which was to stop discrimination in the public sphere and halt the abhorrent practice of segregation and Jim Crow laws," he said.

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