Rand Paul's Serious Drug Problem Goes Beyond The Aqua Buddah

Yesterday, editorial writers-- and even the cartoonist with the Lexington Herald-Leader (above)-- had a field day with that state's clownish GOP Senate nominee, Ayn Rand disciple and namesake Rand Paul. Paul just keeps stumbling from one publicity disaster to another, mostly of his own making. In a state that John McCain won with 58% of the vote-- one of his best showings anywhere-- one would think the Republicans would have a lock on the race. Thanks to the activated extremists who grabbed the nomination for the lunatic fringe Paul-- and to the sharp quality contrast with the Democratic nominee, Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway-- the race is very much up for grabs.

An OpEd by Al Cross in the state's biggest newspaper pointed out, starkly, that "If a senator is to represent his or her state effectively, he or she must know a lot about it. Rand Paul, this year's Republican nominee for Kentucky senator, falls short of that requirement, judging by some of his recently reported statements... The latest example was his statement last week to the Associated Press about rampant drug abuse in Eastern Kentucky: 'I don't think it's a real pressing issue.' This came on top of his July declaration that the problem should be attacked locally, not by the federal program started by Republican U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers of Somerset."

A full on editorial in the same edition is even more devastating to Paul, which calls on Kentucky voters to "contemplate the knowledge deficit that Dr. Paul seems to have regarding Kentucky... Dr. Paul, if he becomes Sen. Paul, would doubtless win some applause back home with boilerplate speeches denouncing the Obama administration and Washington spending. But the reality of the Senate is that few people pay any attention to the bombast of newcomers. Senators of whatever tenure, however, are expected to represent the interests of their states. Does Dr. Paul know enough about Kentucky to do that?" Ouch! But the most devastating testimony of the day to Paul's sheer lack of fitness to hold a seat in the U.S. Senate for the state of Kentucky comes from Larry Dale Keeling in the Herald-Leader: Paul: Clueless in Kentucky, in which he rues the darling of the Tea Party movement's propensity to keep hogging the spotlight.

Until last week, I didn't know it was "that" kind of Tea Party movement. I knew the dude was from Texas, but I didn't know we were talking about a "Texas Tea Party."

No, I don't mean the stuff fouling the Gulf of Mexico for the past several months. I'm referring to the other Texas tea, the kind that lets you fly Mexican airlines, the stuff we in Kentucky sometimes call wacky backy-- and yes, the herbal base for a potent concoction known as "buddha." Throw in a bong, and "Aqua Buddha" starts to make some sense. Worshiping it? Well, that's another matter.

(Note to law enforcement officials: Internet research was necessary for me to bone up on marijuana slang. My relaxation agent of choice is good Kentucky bourbon, mostly consumed in the privacy of my own home.)

(Note to serious stoners: If the slang I plucked from the Internet is dated, obscure or otherwise completely stupid, see the note about bourbon above.)

If true, "Randy" Paul's little college prank certainly moved the needle on the weird meter. Kinky stuff involving blindfolds and chanting tributes to an Aqua Buddha tend to do that.

But kids not only say the darnedest things, they do them as well. And Paul was a college kid at the time.

Kentuckians should be more concerned that, as an adult U.S. Senate candidate, Paul pegs that weird meter on an almost daily basis. And never more so than when he demonstrates that, after 17 years of residing in Kentucky, he doesn't know diddly about the state.

Notice the use of "residing" as opposed to "living." People who "live" somewhere for 17 years will pick up a little knowledge through osmosis even if they don't bother to get out and learn about their surroundings. A person who merely "resides" somewhere is more like the little knickknack that "resides" in the bric-a-brac case hanging on the wall.

A person who has "lived" in Kentucky for 17 years might know how "Bloody Harlan" got its name and that The Dukes of Hazzard was set in the fictional Hazzard (two Z's) County, Georgia, not the Kentucky city of Hazard (one Z).

A person who has "lived" in Kentucky for 17 years might know the community of Fancy Farm is in a dry county and the picnic put on annually by the old folks of St. Jerome Parish is a family affair where no one has to worry about having beer or anything else thrown at them.

Those are just a few items someone who has lived here for several years might know. But there are some things a person who has lived in this state for any amount of time can't help but know.

Right at the top of that list is this fact: Not only is Eastern Kentucky's drug problem "a real pressing issue," it is arguably the region's and the state's most pressing issue. For Paul to think otherwise, he must have spent his 17 years in this state in a cocoon-- perhaps paying 24/7 homage to Aqua Buddha.

Drug trafficking and drug abuse in Eastern Kentucky are both symptoms and causes of other state and regional problems.

They are symptoms of the region's poverty, joblessness, corruption, inadequate health care (numbers of doctors) and shortage of drug rehabilitation opportunities.

They are causes of shortened lives (114 overdose deaths in 21 counties in the first two months of this year), fractured families and the crime that has given Kentucky the dubious distinction of having the fastest-growing prison population in the nation. The cost of housing those prisoners cuts into the state's ability to deliver other vital services to its citizens.

Not "a real pressing issue"? Only someone who is totally clueless would say that, or suggest that Eastern Kentucky's drug epidemic can be cured at the local level without any federal help.

Which suggests to me Paul's opponent, Attorney General Jack Conway, got it a bit wrong when he said at Fancy Farm Paul just wants to be "prince of cable TV."

Clown of cable TV I'll believe. Prince? No.

Clown indeed. Unless he gets elected. Because there are many people in Kentucky concerned about drug problems-- and there are plenty who have them-- and they vote too (I think). Hopefully they'll pay attention when state law enforcement officials tell them Paul's ignorant, ideological approach to law enforcement would be a catastrophe for law and order in the state. Blue America has gotten behind 5 men and women running for the Senate, all excellent candidates. But, as you can clearly see, the Jack Conway-Rand Paul race has attracted the most interest from our Netroots supporters.