Libertarians To Desert Paul ?

A couple of weeks ago, it looked like Rand Paul had the inside track to becoming a United States senator. He rode the teabaggers' endorsement to the Kentucky Republican Party nomination for Jim Bunning's old seat, and most believed he would win again in November. But it took him less than a week to throw a monkey wrench into his own campaign machinery.

After appearing on nationwide television and saying he didn't support (and wouldn't have voted for) the 1964 Civil Rights Act because businesses should have the right to "discriminate" against anyone they want to (including both minority and disabled persons). This created a furor, and even many Republicans began to back away from his candidacy.

He has also created doubts among Libertarians (which he has always claimed to be). Several Libertarian scholars have publicly disassociated themselves from Paul's racist views. They said they supported the 1964 Civil Rights Act because it was the only way to break up the Jim Crow segregation in the Deep South. But that is not the only thing Libertarians are unhappy with Paul about.

They claim he has abandoned his Libertarian beliefs and accepted the policies of Republican teabaggers. Among these are his opposition to abortion, his opposition to same-sex marriage, and his unwillingness to call for the immediate withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and Iraq -- all of which are Libertarian policies.

In fact, Kentucky Libertarians are so unhappy with Paul's new policies that they are now considering running a Libertarian candidate against him in November. They are currently looking for a candidate, and have until August 10th to find one and get him/her on the ballot in Kentucky.

The Libertarian Party is not very powerful in Kentucky and any candidate they ran would not be a threat to win the election. However, Paul's recent misadventures could have made this a much closer election than expected, and in a close election, a Libertarian candidate could draw votes that might have been expected to go to Paul.

Meanwhile, Paul has replaced his campaign manager with one of his father's old handlers -- Jesse Benton. I hope Paul is not trying to blame his handlers for his recent campaign screwups, because the only way they could have prevented that would have been to place duct tape over his mouth and refuse to let him out in public.