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.

Is Rand Paul The Craziest Of What The GOP Is Offering In 2010?

Funny how the mainstream media has really gotten into the Rand Paul Aqua Buddah story. I guess it's more exciting for them than reporting on how Jack Conway is going from one end of the Blue Grass State to the other talking with voters about how to get the economy straightened out and how to bring jobs back to Kentucky. But some of the press has been hammering on Rand Paul's crazy nature and others are emphasizing his reluctance to deny the charges-- at least when the story first broke-- and instead just talked about suing GQ for exposing him. USAToday has a whole different twist on the episode: Blasphemy amid the Baptists, which could be the most destructive to Paul's extremist campaign of all. It's certainly getting serious-minded people to look at him a little more deeply.

Blue America, on the other hand, started a new website, Rand Paul's Aqua Buddah. Please check it out and sign our petition... and tell us what you think of Rand Paul and his campaign.

Like we pointed out when the story first started breaking, only two Republicans voted against John Sensenbrenner's Violence Against Women legislation in 2005, Tom Tancredo (R-CA) and... Ron Paul (R-TX). Like father, like son? Worse. The day after completely bombing at Kentucky's iconic Fancy Farm pep rally/election kick off-- putting the audience to sleep with a bunch of dull statistics after Jack Conway's barnburner speech-- uncertified eye doctor Rand Paul, recently found to be misleading reporters about having graduated from Baylor University, was exposed for something which could well prove to be even more serious (and the probably reason for his never having graduated from Baylor). And it's making voters wonder if he'd be likely to vote against renewal of the Violence Against Women Act, which does come up in 2011. So far he refuses to say, although McConnell voted against it and Paul is likely to follow his lead on this type of legislation.

Yesterday the frightened woman who Paul tried to get to smoke dope and worship the Aqua Buddah, tried to clarify the story she gave GQ. She says it couldn't technically be called a kidnapping and they didn't physically force her to smoke a bong "but she reiterated other odd aspects of her earlier story, including her claim that Paul and another college friend blindfolded her, tied her up, and told her to smoke pot and worship the "Aqua Buddha," even if they didn't physically force her to do these things." She said it was like a hazing. The Paul campaign is variously describing it as coming from "one anonymous source," calling it "libelous and grossly irresponsible," threatening to sue GQ ("drive-by media") and just a teenage prank (although it was hardly when Paul was of bar mitzvah age; he was 20 and this could well have been what led to Baylor asking him to leave early).

But even if he's been able to tamp down the kidnapping aspects of this case a bit, Kentuckians are wondering how someone who is worshipping Aqua Buddahs and who thinks disparaging Fancy Farm is a good idea, can actually be one of them. His comments on the Sean Hannity show didn't go over very well back home in Kentucky. And people of faith have a very real concern, one which Paul has steadfastly refused to address: what's a Church-going Christian boy-- so-called-- doing worshipping idols and Aqua Buddahs and insinuating on national TV that a church picnic is filled with a bunch of rowdy beer drinkers? Earlier today, in fact, AP reports he had to apologize for disparing a church picnic.

Republican Rand Paul has apologized for saying he worried beer would be thrown at a church picnic he attended last weekend in western Kentucky.

The U.S. Senate candidate issued the apology Wednesday through a statement from campaign manager Jesse Benton.

Paul told conservative radio personality Sean Hannity on Tuesday he worried people would throw beer on him at the picnic hosted by St. Jerome Parish in a tiny farming community.

Parishioners complained that Paul's comments created a false perception of the event. Beer isn't served at the picnic, and alcohol sales are illegal in the community.

The picnic is a church fundraiser and attracts Kentucky politicians who want to glad-hand with attendees and deliver stump speeches.

Even someone usually clueless and lazy among Politico reporters speculated yesterday that Rand Paul doesn't know much about his adopted state, insinuating that he probably could represent Texas better than Kentucky.

In talking to both Republicans and Democrats at Fancy Farm, I found bipartisan wonder at just how foreign Rand Paul is to Kentucky's treasured cultural and political traditions. He's much more interested in, and comfortable with, discussing 20,000-foot national issues than his own state. Given the environment this year, Paul's unfamiliarity with the state may not matter-- but it has the Kentucky political class buzzing.

The most striking example may have been the lede in the Details mag profile of Paul in which he was uncertain about why the town of Harlan-- home to epic labor battles-- was famous and suggested wrongly to the reporter that the nearby town of Hazard was the model for the fictional Dukes of Hazzard.

Meanwhile, Rand Paul, who's never held public office, is racking up quite a record for Kentucky voters to consider:

- he hosted his primary victory at an exclusive, private country club
- he flip-flopped on the Civil Rights Amendment, condemning it, proving not to understand it, apologizing and then semi-embracing it... grumpily
- he disparaged the Americans With Disabilities Act, proving he had never even read it or understood the first thing about it
- he pledged to not take money from Establishment Republicans who voted for TARP and then greedily started accepting the money once he won the primary and they were willing to give him the cash
- he misrepresented his education and his certification to work as an eye doctor
- he calls Social Security a Ponzi scheme and Medicare "socialism" (but opposes cuts to the Medicare reimbursement he receives as a physician)
- he said if elected, he wants to form a “Tea Party Caucus” in the Senate like Michele Bachmann’s House version
- he proposed the “tough love” of cutting unemployment benefits to “get back to work and allow the economy to get started again”
- he signed on as a booster of mountaintop removal mining to please the big coal mining PAC
- to make sure to get the maximum contributions from the mine owners, he even said Kentucky miners don't need regulatory protection because they're all such rational actors that they won't work for unsafe mines.

On top of that, he's leaving people with the impression he's flipped his wig-- which could well be made out of hemp! People think he's nearly as crazy as Sharron Angle, his closest ally among Republican Senate candidates.

Rand Paul-- He's An Aqua Buddah Man

Only two Republicans voted against John Sensenbrenner's Violence Against Women legislation in 2005, Tom Tancredo (R-CA) and Ron Paul (R-TX). Like father, like son? Worse. The day after completely bombing at Kentucky's iconic Fancy Farm pep rally/election kick off-- putting the audience to sleep with a bunch of dull statistics after Jack Conway's barnburner speech-- uncertified eye doctor Rand Paul, recently found to be misleading reporters about having graduated from Baylor University, was exposed for something which could well prove to be even more serious (and the probably reason for his never having graduated from Baylor).

Yesterday GQ came out with a fuller look at what the younger, battier Paul was up to at Baylor instead of working towards graduation. Fun and games? Sure, but when Li'l Rand says he won't respond to National Enquirer style attacks on his teenage years, he's trying to mislead again. He was 20 and already a member of Young Conservatives of his native Texas when this drug-and-kidnap escapade took place:

The strangest episode of Paul's time at Baylor occurred one afternoon in 1983 (although memories about all of these events are understandably a bit hazy, so the date might be slightly off), when he and a NoZe brother paid a visit to a female student who was one of Paul's teammates on the Baylor swim team. According to this woman, who requested anonymity because of her current job as a clinical psychologist, "He and Randy came to my house, they knocked on my door, and then they blindfolded me, tied me up, and put me in their car. They took me to their apartment and tried to force me to take bong hits. They'd been smoking pot." After the woman refused to smoke with them, Paul and his friend put her back in their car and drove to the countryside outside of Waco, where they stopped near a creek. "They told me their god was 'Aqua Buddha' and that I needed to bow down and worship him," the woman recalls. "They blindfolded me and made me bow down to 'Aqua Buddha' in the creek. I had to say, 'I worship you Aqua Buddha, I worship you.' At Baylor, there were people actively going around trying to save you and we had to go to chapel, so worshiping idols was a big no-no."

Nearly 30 years later, the woman is still trying to make sense of that afternoon. "They never hurt me, they never did anything wrong, but the whole thing was kind of sadistic. They were messing with my mind. It was some kind of joke." She hadn't actually realized that Paul wound up leaving Baylor early. "I just know I never saw Randy after that-- for understandable reasons, I think."

I spent quite a bit of time in three Buddhist countries, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand and I never ran into the "Aqua Buddah." Paul claims to be a Christian these days-- but no one running for statewide office in Kentucky would probably claim otherwise. Since he refuses to comment on this incident we can only pray that the Aqua Buddah he was forcing this blindfolded woman to worship wasn't his peter. Geepers, though... remember when he fantasized that we wouldn't need laws if everyone was Christian?

Wow! This guy really is far from the mainstream of political thought-- at least as far as it's evolved over the last century. I mean opposing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Fair Housing Act, and Social Security is bad enough but, believe it or not, Kentucky is pretty tolerant of all kinds of religious traditions these days! We'll see, on the other hand, how they react to the Aqua Buddah cult, or at least the part that involves bong-hits, kidnapping and forced worship.

The Violence Against Women bill comes up for reauthorization next year. If Rand Paul slips into office, how do you think he'll vote on that? And that's not just a question for women. I'd like men with mothers, wives, daughters, sisters and women friends to think about it too. The only answer anyone can get out of the wacky world of Rand Paul is that he's going to sue GQ for exposing what he's trying to pass off as a "childhood prank." Yep... it's like when Giuliani's 20 year old Harvard senior daughter was caught shoplifting. For the children of rich, white Republicans that kind of behavior is "just a cry for help." For the rest of us... a life destroying prison sentence.