The Ballad of Rand Paul, International Man of Principle and Seriousity

Above: Not a nickel’s worth of difference

The nomination of Jeff Sessions would presumably be intolerable to any actual libertarian. Then there are Republican hacks who sporadically cosplay as libertarians:

“In some ways, the Democrats made it much more certain that I would vote for him by trying to destroy his character,” Paul said Thursday in an interview with The Washington Post and Roll Call for C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers” series. “I think it’s very upsetting that they didn’t choose to go after him on particular issues, like civil asset forfeiture, where they might have been able to persuade someone. They chose to go after a man’s character.”

“The Democrats could have gotten my vote [sic]. But they chose instead to point out that a Republican Senate refused to confirm Jeff Sessions as a District Court judge because he was too racist, as evidenced by his extensive history of racism.  I am a man of serious principle who will totally stand up to the Trump administration next time, just you watch.” Ah, yes, one of the central themes of the Republican Party: “racism is no longer a thing, but being accused of racism is the most horrible thing imaginable.”

But in Thursday’s conversation, Paul repeatedly emphasized that any discussion of Sessions’s views got lost in the Democratic attacks. Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s viral, short-circuited speech against Sessions, in which the Democrat from Massachusetts quoted Coretta Scott King’s 1986 letter of opposition to Sessions as a judicial nominee, struck Paul as “personal” and not based on “principle.”

Right, there’s no “principle” in involved on the part of people who oppose vote suppression or support the Civil Rights Act, it’s just “personal.” Conversely, voting for someone because you know him as a Senate colleague is principled, not personal. This is all obvious.

In fairness, his evidence is pretty compelling:

“The thing is, I’ve seen pictures of him marching for voting rights with [congressman] John Lewis,” Paul said of Sessions.

“Jeff Sessions did not personally attack John Lewis in Selma, so there can be no principled opposition to his record on civil rights suck it libtards.”

And, now, the punchline:

And Paul hadn’t given up hope of influencing the president, as a senator from a state that he won handily.

Sure, he’s bound to settle down and start treating you right anytime now.

Remember when there were people on the left who took Rand Paul seriously? That was really pathetic.