Misplaced Words

"At times when I have sought to honor veterans, I have not been as clear or precise as I should have been about my service in the Marine Corps Reserves.  I have firmly and clearly expressed regret and taken responsibility for my words.  I have made mistakes and I am sorry.  I truly regret offending anyone." 

- Richard Blumenthal in an email to the Hartford Courant

Rand Paul's philosophy got in the way of reality."

-- RNC Chairman Michael Steele, in an interview on Fox News Sunday, on Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul's (R) recent controversial statements.

Recently, a lot of words have been “misplaced .”

The politicians who most wish they could find their misplaced words are Richard Blumenthal (D-CN) and Rand Paul (R-KY).  

It is hard to imagine making the claim you are a Viet Nam vet when you aren’t.  It is even harder to imagine stating you served, and then passing it off with the excuse that you“misplaced” your words.  That is tantamount to saying “Did I say Tuesday? Sorry, I really meant Wednesday.” 

Yet Richard Blumenthal has done just that and survived.  

A Greenberg Quinlan Rosner poll in Connecticut, conducted between May 19 and May 20, shows Richard Blumenthal (D) leading Linda McMahon (R) in their Senate contest, 55% to 40%. A copy of the report from this firm which works for Democrats can be found at http://www.politico.com/static/PPM130_blumenthal_5-23-10_memo.html.

Several factors have helped Blumenthal survive.  First, his written official biography correctly states his military service.  Second, he is very popular.  Voters think he has done a good job as Attorney General and he has high approval ratings that will carry him through.  

Finally, even though the New York Times found other incidents where Blumenthal publicly stated he had served in Viet Nam when he hadn’t, the story became the story. 

Did the New York Times get the story from Linda McMahon? Her campaign’s early claims to have sourced the story did little to help the paper’s credibility. Did the paper edit a video of Blumenthal remarks to bolster their point? They had edited the video, but claimed they did so because it was too long.

Despite the Public Editor’s column in the Sunday New York Times on how the story was sourced and written, it lost its impact. Blumenthal appears to have survived and McMahon won’t be able to build on his verbal “misplacement.”

Rand Paul (R-KY) misplaced his words on MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show.

Paul, under repeated questioning by Maddow, would not say if he would have supported Title II of the 1964 Civil Rights act. This is the portion of the law Paul was unable to say he could support:

SEC.  201.  (a) All persons shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, and privileges, advantages, and accommodations of any place of public accommodation, as defined in this section, without discrimination or segregation on the ground of race, color, religion, or national origin.

Most people if asked if they would support such a law would say yes without much thought.  But, Paul spent 19 minutes on national TV trying to figure out how he could say he didn’t without really coming off sounding like a bigot.  

Should anyone be able to go into a restaurant and when they are hungry, or pull into a hotel on a long road trip when they are tired, and not be turned away because the are black, or hispanic?

Paul doesn’t think so. 

His believes that owners of private businesses should be able to refuse service to anyone based on race or any other criteria they choose.  He thinks  anytime the government mandates what a private citizen can do with his or her business amounts to a government “taking.” 

His reasoning has been used successfully for years to fight minimum wage laws, safety laws, and food and drug regulations. According this logic a business owner has a right to set wages and working conditions, and a worker can choose to accept them or not.  The market will weed out unsafe products.  Consequently there is no need for the government to step in and regulate any of these things. 

The Republicans tried the “Blumenthal” defense to protect Paul and make the story about the story.  Palin trotted out her “gatcha journalism” lines, and even though he couldn’t get her name right, Jim DeMint (R-SC) claimed that Rachel Maddow had twisted Paul’s answers on a minor issue.  This tactic failed.

To end it, Mitch McConnel (R-KY) had to step in and said Paul had had his fifteen minutes of fame and he should be quiet.  By in large Paul has now followed that advice.

But for the Republicans the damage is done.

Rand Paul has strengthened the narrative that whether it is lax regulation of oil and banks, or their nativist views on immigration and civil rights, the Republican Party believes it is more important for government to support a business’ right to rob a person of their dignity than it is to support that person’s right to maintain it.

As a result, his misplaced words have helped define the modern face of the Republican party.