Rand Paul is a self-proclaimed Libertarian, but a garden variety Republican nonetheless. As a Libertarian, we expect him to stand on principle and embrace the rights of the individual over the intrusive reach of Big Government. Paul’s recent statements, his attempts at clarifying those statements, and further attempts at clarifying the clarifications, serve to undermine any notion of "principle" and instead, expose his true motives and naked ambition, and those of his beloved Tea Party Movement.
Few politicians, Liberal, Conservative, Democrat, Republican, or otherwise, utter statements in public, without first contemplating their impact. Any notion that Rand Paul mis-spoke during his interview with Rachel Maddow is simply ludicrous. Paul knew what he was saying and was fully prepared for Maddow’s questions concerning Paul’s earlier statements on the 1964 Civil Rights Act. If any of Paul’s backers thought he was crazy to tread on the minefield of civil rights legislation, they are half-right; Paul is crazy like a fox. Forgive me the canine reference, but dog-whistle politics have been a mainstay of the GOP for decades because they almost always work.
Ronald Reagan knew exactly what he was doing when he kicked off his 1980 post-convention presidential campaign in Philadelphia, Mississippi and talked to a mostly-White audience about "state’s rights." Taking a page from Richard Nixon’s 1968 Southern Strategy, Reagan knew that, like Nixon before him, he was unlikely to capture more than a modest fraction of the Southern Black vote, but that the Southern White vote, on the other hand, was ripe for the picking, particularly if just the right message could be conveyed.
What Rand Paul said during the Rachel Maddow interview, and in subsequent interviews, is red meat for disaffected Kentuckians and White people nationwide that take umbrage at the fact that we have a erudite president of color. Yes, Rand Paul got out the dog whistle and hasn’t stopped blowing it since. Rand Paul knows that it will be an effective fund raiser and a call-to-arms for those that share Trent Lott’s yearning for the righteous days of yesteryear.
Furthermore, Rand Paul appears to have eliminated any shred of doubt that the Tea Party movement contains an undercurrent of racial resentment, despite claims to the contrary. Perhaps Paul has emerged as the de-facto leader of the Obama backlash. But the GOP had better take heed. At a time when it is becoming increasingly White, Southern, and Conservative, the current of American demographics appears to be flowing in the opposite direction. Re-igniting the racial tension of the 1960s purely for political gain is like playing with fire.