Smearing Rand Paul as ‘racist’ ignores his long criminal justice record
by Brad Polumbo
June 06, 2020
This week, Sen. Rand Paul caught flak for delaying passage of an anti-lynching bill, seeking specific changes to the bill’s overly broad definition of lynching. Rather than rebut the libertarian-leaning Kentucky Republican’s points or try to win him over with any argument, the widespread response from liberal commentators was to smear Paul as racist — blatantly ignoring his long record of pro-black criminal justice reform advocacy.
Sen. Kamala Harris called Paul’s actions “absolutely disgraceful.” One prominent Democratic strategist called Paul a “racist little $#@!,” receiving more than 13,000 “likes” on the vulgar tweet.
Left-wing partisan and so-called conservative Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin smeared Paul as “the anti-anti-lynching senator.” A liberal legal activist said, “his actions amount to acceptance of racial violence, which continues to this day.”
One liberal commentator wrote to Paul that “as an alleged libertarian, the only personal freedoms you are interested in protecting are those of white men like yourself.” Another disturbing tweet that encouraged violence against Paul received 38,000 “likes.”
I interviewed Paul in light of this controversy to discuss his views on criminal justice and his long record as a pro-reform Republican — before it was popular.
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