Rand Paul’s twisted race lies: His new views on civil rights are as phony as the old ones

[DonViejo]

Rand Paul’s twisted race lies: His new views on civil rights are as phony as the old ones

Prospective GOP front-runner claims views on civil rights have evolved. Not if you dig into what he actually says

PAUL ROSENBERG

If you Google “Rand Paul Civil Rights Act,” the first prompt that comes up is “unconstitutional,” so it was definitely heartening to see his apparent about-face on the act’s 50th anniversary, when he attended a local commemoration at the Shelbyville, Kentucky, home of Dr. Maurice F. Rabb, a prominent civil rights activist in the 1940s and ’50s. “Every major civil rights activist that came to the South stayed with my parents,” Chris Rabb said. “They were not allowed to stay in hotels.”

Paul has previously voiced his objection to the Civil Rights Act precisely because it put an end to such private-sector discrimination. But on this occasion, he released a statement saying, “’It is simply unimaginable to think what modern America would be like if it were not for the brave men and women who stood up for the rights of all Americans. The legislation changed the future of our nation by enforcing the belief that all men and women are created equal.”

The next day, Rachel Maddow duly noted Paul’s change of heart. “Rand Paul went to Shelbyville yesterday, and he sang the praises of the civil rights movement and the civil rights activists and specifically the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” she said, going on to repeat Paul’s statement, even displaying it on screen. “Rand Paul coming out in full support of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” she said afterward, “which is nice, and I don’t mean to be raining on the parade, but I have to point out that this marks something of a shift in Rand Paul’s position on this legislation.” She then replayed a clip of her famous May 19, 2010 interview with Paul, in which he repeatedly refused to say he would have supported the bill. Specifically, she played a segment in which Paul said, “There’s 10 different titles, you know, to the Civil Rights Act, and nine out of 10 deal with public institutions, and I’m absolutely in favor of. One deals with private institutions, and had I been around, I would have tried to modify that.” He went on to indicate that he might or might not have finally agreed to support the bill, with just one title that he objected to.

I can’t help but join with Maddow in applauding Paul’s change of heart — but I do still harbor some deeper doubts, not least because Paul has dissembled, disinformed and confused so frequently and so much on the subject over the years — he’s even gotten the number of titles in the Civil Rights Act wrong; there are 11 of them, not 10. More significantly, as Ian Millhiser noted back on April 10, 2013, there are numerous examples of Paul going on the record — both in print and on videotape — expressing his opposition to the Civil Rights Act:

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http://www.salon.com/2014/07/12/rand_pauls_twisted_race_lies_his_new_views_on_civil_rights_are_as_phony_as_the_old_ones/

[radicalliberal]

1. On the issue of civil rights, Rand Paul is a complete phony (and possibly a liar as well).

He's just another politician out to get the votes of the gullible.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

2. Don't worry. We black folk are not idiots. When he came to Howard University and proceeded to

lecture us about the Republican Party's history, most of us laid into him good.

He and his father are bigots. Period!

I don't give a damn what he says about drugs and the justice system or what he does with Cory Booker. He's a phony on the civil rights issue and from what I'm seeing, most of us are not falling for it.

I hope that mainstream America doesn't fall for it, either.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

3. The "lib'rul" media will never call on Rand to denounces his dad's vile, racist words

They spent the better part of 2008, telling us Obama had a pastor problem and that he needed to condemn Rev. Wright, but Baby Ron Paul gets pass after pass as he fawns all over his white supremacist dad and backs his presidential runs.