Rand Paul – Political Press Beat-Down – Taking Remarks Out of Context Out of Party Partisanship

" Kentucky Senator, Rand Paul, a 2016 formidable candidate’s Time Magazine Op-Ed, (Time) has the political right and left in feeding frenzy. Jennifer Rubin, at the Washington Post has opined that Paul has undergone “a remarkable metamorphosis”, suggesting that the Senator has “flip-flopped” on his positions in the vein of John Kerry. In reading through the post, it is not unnoticed that Rubin has taken Paul’s remarks out of context by using a piece of the entire statement to suggest a valid point. (Washington Post) The comments underneath the article refute the claims by including the whole statement Paul made.

On the left, The Huffington Post weighs in on the subject using the same criteria as Rubin. Igor Bobic, from Talking Points Memo, does so from the left..

What gives? It is the political season and when the major party editorialists assess a “rising star” candidate as being a threat to their political party’s agenda, they do what comes naturally: edit either video or print to suggest a candidate is less than worthy, credible or perhaps downright unelectable.

Paul, to his credit, has addressed every “concern” that has surfaced from the Beltway, and that has their proverbial panties in a bunch. The problem that all of the major parties have at the moment is a combination of denial and an awaking general public – which may thwart their favored candidate’s chances. Tough luck for them, as both Kennedy (JFK) and Reagan suffered in much the same way. With Kennedy it was the fear of a Catholic, and of course, Reagan was a Hollywood buffoon - yet, they both are, perhaps, the most memorable of Presidents, despite their political party’s early angst and a public that didn’t listen to DC.

Paul is not alone in this type of chicanery, as it happens to both candidates on the right and the left, what is unusual about Paul is that he counters these pseudo critiques with calm, reasoned responses – and he has the voice of both the right and the left media, like it or not. That’s bold leadership in the sense that so many valid political hopefuls have not availed themselves of their voice in the past, and it is obvious that is the type of leadership that is needed today – calm, reasoned, forthright and honest.