Maddow mashes Rand Paul - Updated

Rand Paul is the wunderkid of the primaries on Tuesday, after winning his race and fully embracing the Tea Party with a big, sloppy, wet kiss. Yesterday morning was the first time I ever heard him speak when I saw clips of his victory speech. He struck me as very weird, kind of robotic, though most people see it as arrogance.

In any event, he is already knee deep in controversy. He made remarks in several interviews about not supporting the Civil Rights Act within the context of private business. In other words, he apparently believes that the government shouldn't force a restaurant owner to let "undesirables" sit at their lunch counters. He made the mistake of appearing on Rachel Maddow last night to defend his remarks. She, of course, politely made mincemeat of him.

Hard to see how he's ever going to win the general, but I'm told it's possible in Kentucky. I'll believe it when I see it.

Update: As expected, everybody is talking about this today. As always, there's a mixed reaction with some defending his position and some who are outraged. Meanwhile, Rand Paul is trying to refine and walk back the remarks.

I'm kind of with Ezra on this. I'm not so sure I'm ready to indict Rand as a pure racist, however there's no doubt the man is a wackadoodle extremist. But what I find most surprising is I just saw the first poll out shows he has a strong lead against the Democrat. Thinking it's unlikely to hold, but then again, I'm told Kentucky isn't like other places. Never been there myself.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]