Rand Pauls plan to get himself elected president relies on two long-shot bets coming true. <\/p>\n
So far, neither one seems to be going well. <\/p>\n
Pauls first wager is that his libertarian-ish ideas will manage to attract Republicans mad about regulation and Democrats mad about government spying forming an entirely new American voting bloc. The leave-me-alone coalition, Paul calls it. <\/p>\n
The second bet is a bet on Paul himself a wager that hes an unusually talented politician persuasive enough to build a coalition out of groups that have never viewed themselves as allies. <\/p>\n
This week, Pauls ideas put him at the middle of a national controversy when he applied his trademark libertarian, skeptical thinking to the question of childhood vaccines. They should be largely voluntary, Paul said, as a matter of freedom. He also said he had heard of children who wound up with profound mental disorders after vaccines. <\/p>\n
At times, he has seemed uninterested in or unprepared for the basic tasks of being a national politician. <\/p>\n
For instance, this week he shushed a female interviewer on national TV. After his vaccine comments drew angry reactions, he accused the media of misconstruing his remarks about vaccines and mental disorders. <\/p>\n
I did not say vaccines caused disorders, just that they were temporally related, Paul said in a statement. I did not allege causation. <\/p>\n
Paul could not be reached for comment for this article, and e-mails seeking comment from aides at his political action committee, RANDPAC, were not returned. A spokesman for Pauls Senate office, when asked whether Paul could comment about his missteps this week, wrote back with a one-word message. <\/p>\n
Seriously? spokesman Brian Darling wrote. <\/p>\n
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\nFor Rand Paul, a rude awakening to the rigors of a national campaign<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"