Rand Paul Touring Drug Rehab

Rand Paul's previous comments on the drug problems of Kentucky reveal a certain lack of knowledge and depth of thought. It is to his credit, therefore, that he is educating himself on the issue. Paul is spending several hours today in Western Kentucky at Wingshadow Lodge, a faith-based rehabilitation center that operates without tax-payer money.

Paul is also meeting with a prosecutor to better understand the drug problem.

According to the Paul campaign, the facility is 50 years old, has an 86 percent success rate, and was endorsed by Ronald Reagan and the Rev. Billy Graham.

Private-sector initiatives of this sort are wonderful, particularly when they address the spiritual component of addiction and recovery.

But it is critical that Paul recognize the supply-side of the drug equation: drug abuse occurs not just because addicts want a fix, but because dealers are there to provide it at huge profits.

Yes, Kentucky has fields of marijuana and an ever-increasing supply of meth labs (and these are no longer a rural problem). Paul needs to recognize, however, that much of the illegal drug supply comes from out of state. This is a law enforcement problem that cannot be addressed solely on the state level because the distribution is inter-state and often international.

The federal government therefore plays an essential role in combating drug use.

Paul is correct in calling for a more limited role of the federal government, particularly with respect to bailouts and the economy.

When, however, an issue truly affects interstate commerce -- as does the distribution of illegal drugs -- it would be an abdication of federal duty to not step in. Conservatives want limited government, but they also want competent government on those issues that are appropriately within the purview of the federal government.

State Debt Beauty List

The Daily Beast has analyzed the debt levels of the 50 states and Kentucky comes in 23rd. The Commonwealth is $14.25 billion in debt. Our GDP for 2009 was $154.94 billion. That leaves a debt to GDP ratio of 9.2 percent.

Compare that to the most debt-laden state in the nation relative to its income -- not California, as I had expected, but Rhode Island. That state is $10.02 billion in debt with a 2009 GDP of $46.5 billion. It's ratio of debt to GDP is 21.54 percent -- more than double Kentucky's. California comes in 32d with a debt to GDP ratio of 7.3 percent.

Massachusetts has the second-highest ratio of debt to GDP: 20.73 percent. That makes Sen. John Kerry look even slimier for evading taxes by docking his ginormous yacht in New Hampshire (which with a debt to GDP ratio of 13.55 percent doesn't exactly need to poach tax revenue from neighboring states.)

Number 51, the state least in debt, goes to Tennessee, with a debt to GDP ratio of 1.95 percent. How is it that the state immediately to our south is in so much better financial shape than Kentucky?

More Conway Hypocrisy

Remember how Jack Conway mocked Rand Paul at Fancy Farm for "want[ing] to be the prince of cable TV"?

Now, according to Joe Arnold, Jack Conway has decided that Paul is his best bet for national exposure. To that end, Conway wants his debates against Rand Paul to appear on national television. He thinks Meet the Press or Fox would do nicely.

As Joe observed, "Few, if any, local candidates have similar access to the national media. In a sense, Conway would be riding Paul's coattails to gain the exposure."

Maybe Jack would like Paul to launch a money bomb for him while he's at it.

New NRSC Ad

The interesting thing about this NRSC ad is that it steals a page from Rand Paul's play book. Paul's best line has been, in response to the accusation that he's extreme, that what's extreme is our debt. The NRSC extends that to include the Mosque at Ground Zero, health care and all the other excesses of the Obama-Reid-Pelosi triumvirate.

Anyone who was shocked that Paul won -- note that his ideas and rhetoric are now fueling the NRSC. The maverick has co-opted the establishment. I understand that the NRSC has decided to catch the Paul wave, but the lack of creativity in so doing alarms me.

Solidarity

I read a few e-mails over the weekend expressing concerns of our candidate Todd Lally. I have to admit this is exactly where Yarmuth’s people want us. The dissention among our ranks is perfect for a win for Yarmuth. Who was it that said, leave the enemy alone while they are in the process of destroying their selves?

Come on people get behind this candidate!!!!!! We have only just over two months to get Lally elected. This will help in taking over the house, sending a message to our president, and helping to change the direction of our country. I think we all can agree on the fact that these goals/premises need to happen and Yarmuth is not the person to do this.

I saw comparisons of Lally to McCain. Are you saying that McCain would not have been a better president than Obama? Would McCain have taken over the financial institutions, the automobile companies, made the policies that are misdirected? Would we have Kagen in the Supreme Court as we do now?

There is not one candidate on either side that will make all of us 100% happy with the decisions they make. Lally was given the banner to run with and it is our job to insure that he gets in. NO MATTER HOW HE DIRECTS HIS CAMPAIGN.

Do you want Yarmuth to continue as our representative? Let man up and quit being "Cry Babies" and get behind our candidate and get him elected. Anything less than that at this point, so close to the elections, is just being defeatist.

What if Washington quit at Valley Forge?

One last point. If we are unhappy with our candidate we need to let HIM know, not complain to our fellow citizens and e-mail groups. Quite frankly I was going to send this to the Lally campaign as well but I thought it best that we clean our house first.

As a group that is unsatisfied it is important to let the candidate realize our opinions. If we are not united as a group then the candidate has no reason to listen to us.

LETS GET IT TOGETHER AND LETS ROLL THIS NOVEMBER!!!!


P.S. Todd's Dad had a stroke this past week and needs our prayers.

Pres. Polls Drop Further

These poll numbers don't give Democrats much to work with in the way of issues. Gallup polled presidential approval on 13 issues and found more Americans disapprove than approve of the Obama administration's performance on 9 of the 13 issues. A majority disapprove of the Obama administration's handling of:

• taxes,
• health care policy,
• the economy,
• Iraq,
• Afghanistan,
• the federal budget deficit,
• immigration,
• and even the environment -- usually an issue on which voters prefer Democrats.

A Wall Street Journal/NBC poll confirms these results and amplifies them on the Obama administration's plan to raise taxes by letting the Bush tax cuts expire. According to that poll, 71 percent support extending current tax law for one year so Americans are not faced with massive tax hikes in the midst of the recession. Two-thirds support maintaining tax relief for families making less than $250,000 a year, and a majority opposes eliminating relief for those making above that level -- those so-called "wealthy individuals," which includes small businesses that file tax returns as individuals.

The WSJ/NBC poll in particular explains why Jack Conway now favors extending the Bush tax cuts. He's held his finger up to the wind; his only chance of winning in Kentucky is to run as a Republican.

KDP Wants a Moral Leader

The Kentucky Democratic Party, according to B&P, questions whether Rand Paul has "any other activity in his background that could affect his ability to be a moral leader in the United States Senate?" KDP illustrates that the only thing worse than a hypocrite is a sanctimonious hypocrite.

To be sure, it's easy to see why the KDP longs for a "moral leader" in the United States Senate. Democrats have had slim pickings this session, what with Ted ("I was too drunk to know I killed her" Kennedy, Robert "KKK" Byrd, Maxine"Don't call me corrupt" Waters, Charlie "I'm not corrupt, just stupid" Rangel and Chris "Countryside" Dodd.

That's what passes for "progressive" moral leadership in the U.S. Senate these days -- crooks and liars who worship the Aqua Buddha known as the Potomac River, and who will do anything to stay within its reach.

She Recants! Damsel in Distress Not Kidnapped

Anonymous Source has resurfaced briefly to explain that Rand Paul did not kidnap her; she calls the reaction to her interview "overblown." Her encounter with Paul now seems to be consistent with the NoZe brothers' tradition of "kidnapping" willing co-eds, and taking them places they did not expect, often via a U-Haul truck.

My theory is that she let Paul blind-fold her and went with him -- willingly, as she makes clear -- because she had a crush on him. Thirty years later, she can't get him out of her head.

Meanwhile, other Baylor undergraduates describe "Rand(y)" as a nice guy who liked to talk about Austrian school economics. That is, at the time of life when Trey Grayson was experimenting with (Bill) Clintonianism, and Barry Obama with Saul Alinsky, Rand Paul's ideology already had coalesced.

Aqua Buddha Watch

The Courier-Journal reports that Rand Paul campaign is exploring its legal options in response to the GQ profile of Paul that referred to bong hits and what some (including the DNC) are mischaracterizng as Paul "kidnapping" a Baylor woman and making her worship "Aqua Buddha."

The anonymous source for GQ is a woman who says that she was on the Baylor swim team with Paul in 1983 and doesn't want to reveal her name because she is a clinical psychologist. (How hard could it be to actually find this lady? Her anonymity is about to implode.)

Plainly, this was no kidnapping. The woman gives no indication that she protested when Paul and his buddy supposedly showed up and blind-folded her. More likely she giggled, because as anyone in a fraternity or sorority knows, the only reason that companies still make those ugly red bandannas is so college kids can reprise Animal House.

Moreover, the woman states that she declined Paul and friend's offer of bong hits, and that they accepted her decision. It follows she could have refused to go with them altogether. But she did not.

Here's the part of her story that makes me wonder:

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.”

Here's what I don't get. If they were team mates -- and college swimmers generally practice twice daily -- how could she never see him again? If a swimmer suddenly drops off the team, his or her team mates would notice and comment. Yet Anonymous Source does not state that either she or Paul quit the swim team because of the incident, just that she "never saw Randy after that." It seems implausible.

In any event, Anonymous Source has just improved Paul's standing with the youth vote.

Rand's Wild and Crazy Days at Baylor

It seems Rand Paul was in some sort of secret society and participated in hazing a classmate by blind-folding her and trying to get her to do bong hits, and then telling her to worship a stream. (Hey, they were on the swim team!)

The Paul campaign's non-denial from Jesse Benton: "We'll leave National Enquirer-type stories about his teenage years in the tabloids where they belong." (Memo to self: subscribe to National Enquirer.)

Two thoughts. First, I'm pretty sure Trey Grayson never did anything like this. Kentucky Republicans wanted a fresh, colorful candidate and boy did we ever get one.

Second, I don't really care what the guy did in college as long as he will restore the federal government to its proper -- limited -- role and reduce the debt.

Jack Conway Will Lose

The upshot of the Fancy Farm speeches is that Jack Conway is running the same campaign against Rand Paul that Trey Grayson ran. It's inexplicable. The strategy didn't work for Grayson It wasn't even close; Grayson got his clock cleaned. There is no reason why Grayons's strategy will work for Conway.

Note Conway's rhetoric at Fancy Farm:

This race presents a clear choice," Conway shouted, "A clear choice between my proven record and our responsible proposals for the future and the risky and radical ideas of my opponent.

"Risky and radical" sounds like a line from a Grayson speech. Conway's speech writers don't even have the originality to paraphrase. It makes the campaign --and the candidate -- look lazy and not very bright. Why else copy a campaign that was so spectacularly unsuccessful?

Conway has the luxury of learning from Grayson's mistakes but instead seems intent on repeating them. As a consequence, Conway, like Grayson, is going to get creamed.

NRSC Conway Ad

This NRSC ad was not quite as funny as I would have expected, but worth a click nonetheless. It reprises Jack Conway's "one tough son of a #$%@" line from Fancy Farm, in which Conway protested too much about his awesome toughness. Just like a guy with really big stereo speakers.

What I found most intriguing about the ad is the camera angle -- aimed up at Conway, who apparently was on a podium. From that angle, Jack Conway looks like a young Elvis. See for yourself.

Rand Paul's Baylor Days

This is a non-issue. A number of media outlets erroneously reported that Rand Paul earned an undergraduate degree from Baylor University. In fact, he left Baylor before graduating upon being accepted into Duke Medical School.

Paul's website states that he "attended Baylor University." It does not state that he "graduated from Baylor University. Words have meanings, and the verbs "attended" and "graduated" have distinctly different meanings and connotations, particularly as applied to a resume. The mainstream media made a sloppy assumption.

It is completely disingenuous for media to make a factual mistake and then blame the candidate for not fact-checking them. The C-J, Lex H-L and the like make a mistake, and all of the sudden when their error is revealed, Rand Paul is the fraud for what -- not writing the story, so they could get it right? Apparently some newspapers thought that campaign staff would pick up the slack for all those reporter they laid off.

Moreover, if Duke Medical School was not bothered by Paul's academic record, why on earth should Kentucky voters care?

Mongiardo Finally Endorses Conway.

It's about time. Joe Arnold has posted the press release. Now if only Dr. Dan will learn that the subject and verb must agree.

Guilty Conscience, That Is

This is how out of touch is the New York Magazine is: it contends that John Kerry is poised to seize the mantle of "conscience of the U.S. Senate".

This is the same John Kerry who has been running away from reporters who want to ask questions about his seven million dollar yacht -- and why he evades state taxes in Massachusetts by docking it out of state.

Kerry has agreed to pay Massachusetts more than $500,000 in sales and excise taxes on the yacht. It seemed like the right thing to do, now that he's the "conscience of the U.S. Senate" for Democrats.

Jack Talks Pretty!

From Jack Conway's website: "Request a interview with Jack".

Dude, no wonder you're losing.

Shameless Presidential Gossip

A golf buddy of Rudy Giuliani, asked recently about Giuliani's intentions for the Republican presidential primary, piped up "you never know!"

Giuliani was libertarian before it was cool to be libertarian. Yet unlike the Pauls, he understands the War on Terror in a way that they do not. That is, he has both the baggage of being laissez-faire on social issues and the baggage of the establishment. I see his presidential aspirations as the pipe-dreams of a friend.

But there you have it.

Voting Patterns in KY-3 and KY-6

This is worth keeping in mind as we watch to see if Rep. John Yarmuth and Rep. Ben Chandler will join the ranks of the unemployed.

Here are the results in Yarmuth's 3rd Congressional district for the last three presidential elections:

• In 2008, Obama beat McCain 56-43,
• In 2004, Kerry beat Bush 51-49,
• in 200, Gore beat Bush 50-48.

In Chandler's 6th Congressional district the results were:

• Obama lost to McCain, 43-55,
• Kerry lost to Bush 41-58,
• Gore lost to Bush 42-56.

It's a good reminder of why Ben Chandler votes like a RINO, and why John Yarmuth votes with the far, far left not just with impunity but with joyful abandon.

H/t: The American, via Hot Air

Polling Overview: U.S. Senate

Ryan Allesi has catalogued and compared all the recent polls for the U.S. Senate race. They are remarkably similar, except for the partisan PPP poll. The bottom line is that Rand Paul is winning and can win if he refrains from getting all wild-eyed and talking about obscure constitutional provisions and statutes:

U.S. Senate race of Rand Paul, the Republican, against Jack Conway, the Democrat:

• SurveyUSA Courier-Journal-WHAS Poll (7/30) Paul 51% to Conway 43% with 5% undecided
• cn|2 (7/22) Paul 41% to Conway 38% with 19% undecided
• Rasm. (7/20) Paul 49% to Conway 41% with 10% other/not sure
• PPP (6/30) Paul 43% to Conway 43% with 14% undecided
• Rasm.(6/28) Paul 49% to Conway 42% with 9% other/not sure.

Yarmuth's Conflict of Interest

Resa Camoriano points out that Rep. John Yarmuth -- one of the biggest proponents of Obamacare -- stand to profit personally from the health care takeover:

Louisville’s Congressman Yarmuth likes to play the role of “Mr. Ethics”, promoting campaign finance restrictions that limit free speech in order to avoid even the perception of impropriety, and, most recently, calling for the resignation of Congressman Charlie Rangel due to ethics problems, but did you know that Yarmuth himself has ethics issues that should be explored? Yarmuth has substantial ownership (several million dollars) in Almost Family, a health services company run by his brother, which means he will personally profit very handsomely from Obamacare, which he strongly promoted. Shouldn’t he have disclosed this conflict of interest while the legislation was being rushed through Congress? Shouldn’t he have refrained from participating in that legislation in order to avoid even the appearance of impropriety, given his substantial conflict of interest?

Yarmuth makes a big point of refusing to take his salary as a congressman, while, at the same time, saying nothing about the profits he stands to receive from the government programs and policies he supports. I learned long ago that those who talk the most about ethics are likely to be the ones who need to be watched the closest, and Yarmuth does not appear to be the exception to that rule.