Rand Paul's monumental stupidity (and callousness)

Where do they get these freaks?

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Rand Paul says the poor in America are "enormously better off than the rest of the world," citing an old Cold War film that showed even impoverished homes had color televisions.

Paul's recent remarks at his first forum with Democratic opponent Jack Conway stirred some anger in impoverished pockets of Kentucky, where as many as a third of residents live in poverty.

The libertarian-leaning Paul addressed the issue of poverty by alluding to a decades-old, anti-American propaganda film by the Soviet government designed to criticize the free-market system.

"They filmed a building in the poorer section of New York with some broken windows and they said, `Oh, this is how the poor in America lives,'" Paul said at last week's forum. "But it backfired on them because the Soviet citizens looked at that video closely and they saw flickering color television sets in all those windows."

So by Rand Paul's logic:

1. We shouldn't fix potholes because there aren't even roads in many parts of the world.

2. We shouldn't hold BP accountable for its oil spill because there have been worse spills in other countries.

3. We shouldn't worry about our economy, because unemployment is worse in Africa.

4. After 9/11, New Yorkers should have been grateful because more civilians died in Great Britain during WWII.

5. The Oakland Raiders don't have a big problem because the Detroit Lions are worse.

If Rand Paul wants to base his reference point for economic success on Somalia or some other libertarian fantasyland, that's his right. But he shouldn't be surprised when most Americans disagree.