Rand Paul’s new strategy for explaining his willingness to let businesses ban minorities is, er, not explaining it. Instead, he falls back on simply proclaiming, as he did on Good Morning America today, that he doesn’t support the repeal of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or the Fair Housing Act (which prohibits discrimination in the sale or renting of housing). This tells us nothing about Paul’s actual philosophy on the government’s ability to protect its citizens from discrimination although, despite his awkward backpedaling over the past couple of days, we have a pretty good idea only that he doesn’t plan to waste any time or political capital on trying to repeal laws that have been widely accepted for over 40 years. The other part of his new strategy: blame the media. “When does my honeymoon period start? I had a big victory, I thought I got a honeymoon period from you guys in the media,” he whined on GMA. “I’ve been trashed up and down one network that tends to side with the Democrats; for an entire 24 hours, I’ve suffered from them saying, ‘Oh, he wants to repeal the Civil Rights Act,’ but that’s never been my position.” Fine! You don’t want to repeal the Civil Rights Act! Now let’s talk about your zealous adherence to an anti-government ideology.
Paul to Stephanopoulos: “When Does My Honeymoon Start?” [George’s Bottom Line/ABC News]
