It Is Time To Put Rand Paul's Civil Rights Matter To FINAL Rest. Back To REAL Issues And Solving The Nation's Problems.
Paul, back home, seeks new image
By Roger Alford
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. -- Dressed in doctor's scrubs, senatorial candidate Rand Paul sought to ditch the image of politician Tuesday in his first campaign appearance since a round of interviews in which he dismayed fellow Republicans with his views on racial segregation.
A political firestorm has followed Paul since last week, when he expressed misgivings about portions of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. He suggested to MSNBC host Rachel Maddow that the federal government shouldn't have the authority to force restaurant owners to serve minorities if they don't want to.
"I think they've used it as an issue to try to make me into something that I'm not," Paul, an ophthalmologist, told a friendly hometown audience at a Bowling Green civic club. "I was raised in a family that said that you judge people the same way Martin Luther King said, you judge people by their character not by the color of their skin."
Since last week Paul has been reassessing his campaign staff. He said he expects there will be staff changes, though he declined to give details. He won the GOP nomination last week with a campaign staff made up largely of political novices and volunteers.
"We're still working out details," he said.
Campaign manager David Adams, who had been a Republican blogger in Nicholasville before joining up, will remain but perhaps in a different role, Paul said.
Paul, who ran as a political outsider, also said he has made amends with the Republican establishment. He said he has had cordial discussions with National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky's senior senator.
Paul's troubles since Election Day weren't evident in the warm reception he received in Bowling Green. He entered a small restaurant to applause from the local Lions Club.
He drew chuckles when he used the words of English novelist Charles Dickens to describe last week's campaign victory: "It was the best of it times. It was the worst of times."
Paul accused his Democratic opponent, Attorney General Jack Conway, of starting the controversy. He did so, Paul said, by telling reporters that that he, Paul, wants to repeal the Civil Rights Act.
"It's never been my position, and it's not my position," Paul said. "That's the bad thing about politics, not only do you have to run to defend your position, you've got to defend the position they make up for you, and that makes it hard."
Paul, a first-time candidate, easily defeated the GOP establishment's favorite, Secretary of State Trey Grayson, in last week's Republican primary. Paul said he was caught off guard by the controversy that ensued afterward.
"We were patting ourselves on the back," said Paul, son of U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas. "We thought we were in the middle of enjoying our great honeymoon, and it didn't last very long."
Paul said the campaign lined up a series of media interviews the day after the primary. "We got up at 5 the next morning, had our own satellite truck, and we did 20 interviews," he said. "I think we did one too many."
Paul said he was exhausted and unprepared for questions about the Civil Rights Act.
"Some of the brutal reality of politics is that people use politics as a bludgeon to separate us rather than to bring people together," he said.
He added, "I think those of you in my hometown hopefully know me better than what's been said about me, and I will go to great lengths to prove to people that I'm not whatever I'm being depicted in cartoons and thousands and thousands of stories across the country."
Cardine Harrison of Bowling Green, a social worker at the local Salvation Army and a retired manager for General Motors, said he has known Paul for nearly two decades and is convinced he is no racist.
"That doesn't mean his opinion is right," Harrison said. "But I do respect him. And I do not believe he is a racist."
By Roger Alford
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. -- Dressed in doctor's scrubs, senatorial candidate Rand Paul sought to ditch the image of politician Tuesday in his first campaign appearance since a round of interviews in which he dismayed fellow Republicans with his views on racial segregation.
A political firestorm has followed Paul since last week, when he expressed misgivings about portions of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. He suggested to MSNBC host Rachel Maddow that the federal government shouldn't have the authority to force restaurant owners to serve minorities if they don't want to.
"I think they've used it as an issue to try to make me into something that I'm not," Paul, an ophthalmologist, told a friendly hometown audience at a Bowling Green civic club. "I was raised in a family that said that you judge people the same way Martin Luther King said, you judge people by their character not by the color of their skin."
Since last week Paul has been reassessing his campaign staff. He said he expects there will be staff changes, though he declined to give details. He won the GOP nomination last week with a campaign staff made up largely of political novices and volunteers.
"We're still working out details," he said.
Campaign manager David Adams, who had been a Republican blogger in Nicholasville before joining up, will remain but perhaps in a different role, Paul said.
Paul, who ran as a political outsider, also said he has made amends with the Republican establishment. He said he has had cordial discussions with National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky's senior senator.
Paul's troubles since Election Day weren't evident in the warm reception he received in Bowling Green. He entered a small restaurant to applause from the local Lions Club.
He drew chuckles when he used the words of English novelist Charles Dickens to describe last week's campaign victory: "It was the best of it times. It was the worst of times."
Paul accused his Democratic opponent, Attorney General Jack Conway, of starting the controversy. He did so, Paul said, by telling reporters that that he, Paul, wants to repeal the Civil Rights Act.
"It's never been my position, and it's not my position," Paul said. "That's the bad thing about politics, not only do you have to run to defend your position, you've got to defend the position they make up for you, and that makes it hard."
Paul, a first-time candidate, easily defeated the GOP establishment's favorite, Secretary of State Trey Grayson, in last week's Republican primary. Paul said he was caught off guard by the controversy that ensued afterward.
"We were patting ourselves on the back," said Paul, son of U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas. "We thought we were in the middle of enjoying our great honeymoon, and it didn't last very long."
Paul said the campaign lined up a series of media interviews the day after the primary. "We got up at 5 the next morning, had our own satellite truck, and we did 20 interviews," he said. "I think we did one too many."
Paul said he was exhausted and unprepared for questions about the Civil Rights Act.
"Some of the brutal reality of politics is that people use politics as a bludgeon to separate us rather than to bring people together," he said.
He added, "I think those of you in my hometown hopefully know me better than what's been said about me, and I will go to great lengths to prove to people that I'm not whatever I'm being depicted in cartoons and thousands and thousands of stories across the country."
Cardine Harrison of Bowling Green, a social worker at the local Salvation Army and a retired manager for General Motors, said he has known Paul for nearly two decades and is convinced he is no racist.
"That doesn't mean his opinion is right," Harrison said. "But I do respect him. And I do not believe he is a racist."
Labels: General information
posted by KYJurisDoctor at 6:08 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home