Rand Paul vs. Rand Paul - Past Statements Come Back to Haunt

I never cease to be amazed at how politicians - especially Republicans - seem to have amnesia about their past statements and positions, especially when they have been caught on video tape. (I always love it when Rachel Maddow plays contrasting tapes that raise the question of when are these politicians lying - back then or now).  Rand Paul is getting pummeled in his effort to position himself for a presidential run by of all things, his own past statements.  I appreciate Paul's efforts to somewhat shake up the GOP agenda, but at some point consistency and honesty would be nice. And he's not even trying to admit that he has "evolved" or had an epiphany.  Politico looks at Paul's stumbling over himself.  Here are excerpts:

Rand Paul’s future is being chased by Rand Paul’s past.

Followers of the Kentucky senator have noticed shifts in the way the libertarian-leaning Republican and likely 2016 contender has positioned himself on a variety of hot-button topics — from aid to Israel to immigration to the Civil Rights Act.

Indeed, Paul today sounds different than the Paul who ran for Senate in 2010. While Paul is not the first politician to “evolve” on issues, the contrast in tone shows the differences between mounting an anti-establishment senatorial bid in a fiercely red state and being taken seriously as his party decides its next nominee for president.

His convictions haven’t changed,” Paul spokesperson Dan Bayens told POLITICO. “He realized you don’t get everything you want, especially with Democrats in control of the Senate.”

Bayens, who declined to comment on most of the specific issues, added, “What I’d say is people misinterpret what he says. He’d like to get 100 percent of something. Maybe he offers legislation to get 90 percent. He’s not changing his position, necessarily.”

Immigration

The upstart senatorial campaign of Rand Paul had plans that called for an underground electric fence to stem the tide of undocumented immigrants over the border and deplored the idea of amnesty “in any form,” according to a May 2010 release on his now-shuttered 2010 campaign website. In June 2010, he told conservative blog Right Wing News that he supported a constitutional amendment to ban citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants.

Three years later, Paul offered a different solution, although he still advocated linking reform to securing the border.

“For those who are here who are undocumented, should we give them a legal status? Should we document them so they can pay taxes and live legally and come out of the shadows? To that I say yes,” he said on PBS’ “NewsHour” in June 2013. Once immigrants were documented, he said they could be put in the same “line” as those waiting to come in from other countries.

In April, Paul advocated for working visas for undocumented immigrants already in the U.S. at the Institute of Politics in the University of Chicago, according to conservative site Breitbart News.

Civil Rights Act

Paul’s 2010 comments about the Civil Rights Act have repeatedly come back to haunt him.

“I don’t like the idea of telling private business owners — I abhor racism. I think it’s a bad business decision to exclude anybody from your restaurant — but, at the same time, I do believe in private ownership,” Paul said in an interview with the editorial board of The Courier-Journal in Louisville, Kentucky.  In May 2010, on “The Rachel Maddow Show,” Paul said he would have tried to modify the Civil Rights Act had he been in the Senate at the time.

Fast forward to his speech at Howard University in 2013. There, Paul said that there was “one interview that had a long, extended conversation about the ramifications beyond race, and I have been concerned about the ramifications of certain portions of the Civil Rights Act beyond race.”

The Washington Post gave him three Pinocchios and dubbed the Howard remarks “rewriting history.”

Donations from lawmakers who voted for TARP

Notoriously anti-bailout since the beginning of his Senate bid, Paul released a statement via his campaign website in September 2009 that said he would not accept donations from anyone who voted for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, according to local Kentucky CBS-affiliate WKYT. The pledge was since removed, the Associated Press reported in 2010.

But once Paul won his primary over GOP favorite and Kentucky state treasurer Trey Grayson, he attended a fundraiser hosted by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). The AP also reported that nine of the 12 GOP senators on the invite voted for the bailout.

There's more, but you get the drift.  Paul's opponents will have great fun with his past video clips. :)