A friend of mine said today "You don't get to blame the media if people don't like your answers."...
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/21/pauls-honeymoon-seems-over/?hpUpdated: Even after conceding that it probably hadn’t been wise to appear on MSNBC the other day, Rand Paul, the new Republican Senate nominee from Kentucky, keeps giving TV interviews and providing additional fodder on new topics to the delight of his critics (and his opponents).
Today’s subjects not only included the civil rights laws, but his view that the blame is being misplaced for the oil spill in the Gulf and for the mining accident in West Virginia that killed 29 last month.
On this morning’s “Good Morning America” program on ABC, Mr. Paul continued to try to explain comments he made on Rachel Maddow’s MSNBC show on Wednesday evening about the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and segregation. And he blasted the liberal news media as well as Democrats for pouncing on his statements.
“When does my honeymoon period start? I had a big victory,” Mr. Paul asked of the ABC news host George Stephanopoulos. “I’ve just been trashed up and down and they have been saying things that are untrue. And when they say I’m for repealing the Civil Rights Act, it’s absolutely false. It’s never been my position and something that I basically just think is politics.”
(Mr. Paul, an avowed Tea Party candidate, defeated the Republican establishment’s favorite, Trey Grayson, the secretary of state, on Tuesday, a win celebrated by conservatives around the country.)
In talking about private businesses, however, Mr. Paul set off yet another round of Twitter and e-mail chatter from left, right and everywhere, by lambasting President Obama and his top aides for insisting that BP be held accountable for the oil spill threatening the coastlines of several states.
“What I don’t like from the president’s administration is this sort of, ‘I’ll put my boot heel on the throat of BP,’ ” Mr. Paul said, echoing a remark made by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar early on. “I think that sounds really un-American in his criticism of business. I’ve heard nothing from BP about not paying for the spill. And I think it’s part of this sort of blame-game society in the sense that it’s always got to be someone’s fault instead of the fact that sometimes accidents happen.”
Update: Mr. Paul’s Democratic opponent, Attorney General Jack Conway, issued a statement criticizing the BP remarks: “Rand Paul apparently has a deeply held conviction that corporations should be allowed to do what they see fit without oversight or accountability.”
And on another topic much closer to home in Kentucky, where mining is still a timeworn trade, Mr. Paul seemed to thread the blame-game theme over into the Massey mining accident in West Virginia. “We had a mining accident that was very tragic,” he said. “Then we come in, and it’s always someone’s fault. Maybe sometimes accidents happen.” (Congressional hearings are being held on mine safety this week.)
On civil rights, Mr. Paul also took things a few steps back today. He slammed the eldest member of the Senate, Robert C. Byrd, the West Virginia Democrat who opposed civil rights legislation a long time ago and who has repeatedly apologized for his views back then.
“If you want to bring up 40-year-old legislation, why don’t you bring me on with Sen. Byrd, and we’ll talk about how he filibustered the Civil Rights Act. Make him, call him to task for something he actually did, as opposed to calling me to task for something they insinuated that I might believe that’s not true.
“What is going on here is an attempt to vilify us for partisan reasons. Where do your talking points come from? The Democratic National Committee, they also come from Rachel Maddow and MSNBC.”
Stay tuned to learn more about Mr. Paul’s views because his national media tour is just beginning. He’s one of the featured guests this Sunday on NBCs “Meet the Press,” where he’s sure to be asked about many of his comments this week.
And note to war rooms on both sides: There’s got to be a limit to the number of e-mail messages a day sent on one particular candidate, no?
