Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) called into conservative Laura Ingraham’s radio show on Tuesday and discussed the racial unrest in Baltimore, saying:
There are so many things we can talk about. … It’s something we talk about not in the immediate aftermath but over time: The breakdown of family structure, the lack of fathers, the lack of sort of a moral code in our society. This isn’t just a racial thing; it goes across racial boundaries.
Why yes, it does cross racial boundaries. Two weeks ago, Paul’s own son was cited for DUI after crashing his car into a parked car, at 11:24 in the morning. The police report said that the young Paul was “belligerent” and had bloodshot eyes, slurred speech, and “a strong odor of alcohol”. He also did not have the required auto insurance.
This is not the first time Paul’s son has gotten in trouble for drinking. The first time it was for underage drinking and assaulting a flight attendant. Later the same year he was again busted for underage drinking.
So, where was his father?
Maybe he was too busy appearing on TV to explain how the death of Eric Garner was really caused by New York’s overly high taxes on cigarettes. Seriously.
But as hypocritical as this is, it could be worse. On Wednesday, presidential candidate Ted Cruz blamed the racial unrest on Obama, saying that the president “has exacerbated racial misunderstanding, racial tensions.” And here I thought that the problem was police killing black kids while they are in custody. Silly me.
8 Comments
Walking while black
Running while black
Driving while black.
All against the laws of the white people in this country.
Please do not condemn the overly high taxes in New York. I had two people come paint my living room. Both smokers, no health insurance. Who is going to pay for their increased by smoking medical care? They’ll fake their self employed income so they’ll pay no penalty for having no health insurance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdSsBYO1oNI
“My prom-date in high school was white. She was very white actually, she erm used to ride horses and stuff.”
Generally speaking I think politicians’ off-spring should be off limits and have said so elsewhere regarding Rand Paul’s son. Then he goes and makes it an issue with this kind of comment. People in glass houses….
Actually, Ted Cruz is right. Obama has “has exacerbated racial misunderstanding, racial tensions.” He has done this by existing and achieving a position of high power. He had the audacity to forget his place. His election triggered a wave of white panic that forced a number of people to realize one inevitable fact about the future: There will be a day when white people will no longer be the dominant cultural hegemony in this country. That’s why there are so many desperate pleas to “take back our country.”
Don’t get me wrong. There are plenty of reasons to oppose Obama and to dislike him. But considering how moderate his policies actually are (relative to what he is accused of), the magnitude of the reaction to his election was so extreme and so immediate that race certainly played a role for a lot of people, at least at a subconscious level.
Zed, absolutely, I usually try hard to give some semblance of privacy to public figures, but that comment was just too hypocritical to let stand.
Michael, well put.
Hassan, great video! I loved it.
Hassan that’s a great bit. Thanks for posting it.
Whatever happened to Ted Cruz’s ideas about how citizens have the right to rise up in protest against an immoral and corrupt government. Is Baltimore excluded?
I think Ted Cruz is excluded from being consistent from one moment to the next. It’s called hypocrisy.