Funny, though, that this bastard in particular should bring me out of hiding. Rand Paul, self-proclaimed libertarian son of failed Republican presidential nominee Ron Paul of Texas, has just won (without Republican Party support) the Republican Party nomination for Senator from the State of Kentucky. The man has, somehow, tapped into all the energy and vitality of the teabaggers , ahem, excuse me Tea Party, to capture the nomination and now he has the chance of bringing his anti-big government mindset to the United States Senate, where obviously more obstruction to progress is needed. My question is this: Will modern-day Kentucky elect this nut job?
I guess I really want to ask the same question of modern-day North and South Carolina, where obviously racist Senators were re-elected over and over again. Those bastions of racism, Strom Thurmond and Jesse Helms:
This, obviously, was their much-lauded appearance on SNL, but my follow-up question is this: Could these blatantly racist bastards get elected TODAY?!? Here's the record for each of these lovely men. Strom Thurmond set the filibuster record for speaking AGAINST a civil rights bill back in 1957, but, yet ironically, was considered the "moderate" Southern voice towards desegregation issues. I mean, I understand that South Carolina is a deep-in-the-woods Sounthern State. I understand that they would elect, again and again, a racist Senator through much of the 20th Century; however, this racist bigot was reelected to the Senate a whopping 13 times, the last time (in 2002) right before he kicked the bucket. He was Governor of the State (1946), a successful write-in candidate for the U.S. Senate in 1954 after being the Segregatist Dixiecrate (States' Rights) Party Presidential Candidate in 1948, and switched parties in 1964, becoming a Republican. I mean, let's face it. His record would get him nowhere these days. The media would rip him apart: segregationist yet fathered a child with a black woman in the 1920s AND reported had a "long-standing, warm relationship" with his daughter. Whew! Think South Carolina would replace Lindsay Graham or Jim DeMint with him today if they could?The viscious bastard Jesse Helms, on the other hand, managed to hang onto his U.S. Senate seat for only 5 terms, from 1973 until 2003, retiring in 2002.
Dying in 2008, Helms was the genius Republican Senator who filibustered making Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday a national holiday for SIXTEEN DAYS!!! This man is the ORIGINAL Senator NO, even embracing the name! His stances against homosexuality, feminism, abortion, atheism, vampires, civil rights, affirmative action, panda bears, modern art, tax increases, foriegn aid, disability rights, communism and purple people eaters were all vocally distributed in the halls of the Senate. Somehow, this fuck was reelected 5 times in North Carolina while his national approval ratings hovered around 15% in his last term in office. To give him his (slight) due, he eventually changed his tune about AIDS research, even helping Bono to raise funding at one point. However, the man had a serious chip on his shoulder for the gays. The "Homosexual Lobby" as he called it would seek to overthrow the "gubment and make us all weah ah wives' nightgowns and form daisy chains". (note: I made up the last bit, but it DOES seem like something he would have said).
My original question, now, What Will Kentucky Do? Will they put into office another Strom or Jesse? Is this man (Rand Paul) a racist or is he simply just an idiot who wants to enter the employ of the Federal Government simply to seek to undermine its power and influence? Either way, Rand Paul seems a big step backward to me, but what do I know? I'm a left-wing, liberal, progressive, socialism-embracing, light in the loafers Homosexual Lobbyist who Mr. Helms may have hired to carry his luggage if the man had EVER travelled to Europe. It is my hope that, in his great capacity to open mouth and insert foot, leg, etc., Mr. Paul will need no help in dissuading voters; however, this is KEN-fucking-TUCKY we are talking about, so. . .
