Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Rand Paul Speaks at Howard University ~ Updated

photo Rand_Paul.jpg

From Business Insider ~ Rand Paul at Howard University
"The Democrats promised equalizing outcomes through unlimited federal assistance while Republicans offered something that seemed less tangible-the promise of equalizing opportunity through free markets," Paul said. "Now Republicans face a daunting task. Several generations of black voters have never voted Republican and are not very open to even considering the option."

"The Democrat promise is tangible and puts food on the table, but too often doesn't lead to jobs or meaningful success," he continued, adding later, "I would argue that the objective evidence shows that big government is not a friend to African Americans."

. . . "I can recite books that have been written, or I can plunge into the arena and stumble and maybe fall but at least I will have striven," Paul said. "My hope is that you will hear me out, that you will see me for who I am, not the caricature sometimes presented by political opponents."

Echoing a popular conservative talking point, Paul repeatedly reminded the audience that Democrats passed Jim Crow laws in the south and that Abraham Lincoln was a Republican, as were the first black legislators and the founders of the NAACP.
“Would everyone know here they were all Republicans?” he said at one point, referring to the NAACP’s founders.
“Yes!” came the booming response from nearly the entire audience, who appeared offended Paul would even raise the question.
~ Talking Points Memo

Rand Paul Randsplains How Republicans Lost The Black Vote: Black People Just Don’t Understand
. . . The real star was his engagement in the fun-at-CPAC pastime of reminiscing about all of the great things Republicans did before 1964, and the concurrently crummy things Democrats did back then, but with the manner of a first-grade teacher explaining the alphabet. Believe it or not, Rand, lots of people already know about the shift that occurred in 1964.
~ Tommy Christopher on Mediaite

You can’t just yada yada yada the last 60 Republican years. A Republican freed the slaves, gave black people the vote, yada yada yada, and now all blacks vote Democratic, I mean, what the hell?
~ Jon Stewart


























































Fact Check:

Paul said the Civil Rights Act of 1964 shouldn't apply to private business owners:

Via Think Progress 5-19-2010
INTERVIEWER: Would you have voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1964?

PAUL: I like the Civil Rights Act in the sense that it ended discrimination in all public domains, and I’m all in favor of that.

INTERVIEWER: But?

PAUL: You had to ask me the “but.” I don’t like the idea of telling private business owners—I abhor racism. I think it’s a bad business decision to exclude anybody from your restaurant—but, at the same time, I do believe in private ownership. But I absolutely think there should be no discrimination in anything that gets any public funding, and that’s most of what I think the Civil Rights Act was about in my mind.



Transcript of Rachel Maddow via Washington Post May 19, 2010
PAUL: Well, the interesting thing is, you know, you look back to the 1950s and 1960s at the problems we faced. There were incredible problems. You know, the problems had to do with mostly voting, they had to do with schools, they had to do with public housing. And so, this is what the civil rights largely addressed, and all things that I largely agree with.

MADDOW: But what about private businesses? I mean, I hate to -- I don`t want to be badgering you on this, but I do want an answer.

PAUL: I'm not -- I'm not --

MADDOW: Do you think that a private business has the right to say we don't serve black people?

PAUL: Yes. I'm not in favor of any discrimination of any form. I would never belong to any club that excluded anybody for race. We still do have private clubs in America that can discriminate based on race.

But I think what's important about this debate is not written into any specific "gotcha" on this, but asking the question: what about freedom of speech? Should we limit speech from people we find abhorrent? Should we limit racists from speaking?

. . . MADDOW: -- for private businesses to be desegregated by the government. You're saying those people should have gone to different places? Left them segregated?

PAUL: People who commit -- people who commit violence on other individuals should go to prison and go to jail. And there's nothing we should ever do to condone violence on other individuals.

MADDOW: And should Woolworth lunch counter should have been allowed to stay segregated? Sir, just yes or no.

PAUL: What I think would happen -- what I'm saying is, is that I don't believe in any discrimination. I don't believe in any private property should discriminate either. And I wouldn't attend, wouldn't support, wouldn't go to.

But what you have to answer when you answer this point of view, which is an abstract, obscure conversation from 1964 that you want to bring up. But if you want to answer, you have to say then that you decide the rules for all restaurants and then you decide that you want to allow them to carry weapons into restaurants.

MADDOW: I can -- we could have a fight about the Second Amendment.

(CROSSTALK)

MADDOW: But I think wanting to allow private industry -- private businesses --

PAUL: It's the same fight. It's the same fight.


Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)