Sen. Rand Paul: Civil Rights Act Was Overreach Because "I Can't Have A Cigar Bar Anymore"

[ProSense]

Sen. Rand Paul: Civil Rights Act Was Overreach Because "I Can't Have A Cigar Bar Anymore"

Kate Conway

While campaigning for a Senate seat in 2010, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) came under fire for his opposition to the part of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibiting private businesses from discriminating on the basis of race. This morning on CNN, he revisited the topic when host Soledad O'Brien asked him about a 2004 statement his father, presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), gave asserting that "the forced integration dictated by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 increased racial tensions while diminishing individual liberty."

Defending his father, Sen. Paul tried to explain that the "unintended consequences" of the Civil Rights Act have constituted a threat to property rights. "For example," he said, "I can't have a cigar bar anymore."

PAUL: The issues are a little more complicated than you scratch the surface and say he's not for civil liberties because of that. For example, there are things that people are concerned about that were unintended consequences. People who believe very fervently in people being— having equal protection under the law, and against segregation, all that, still worried about the loss of property rights in the sense that—

O'BRIEN: So he's saying property rights—

PAUL: Well let me finish, let me finish. For example, I can't have a cigar bar anymore, and you say, well, that has nothing to do with race. The idea of whether or not you control your property— Now it also tells you, I want to know the calorie count on all that. And the calorie Nazis come in here and tell me—

UNIDENTIFIED: I don't think I do, Senator.

PAUL: I don't think you can measure the calorie count there. But that's the point. The point is that it's not all about that. It's not all about race relations. It is about controlling property, ultimately.

Watch:

http://politicalcorrection.org/blog/201201090003

[baldguy]

1. So, segregation is OK because it lets Rand smoke a stogie? That doesn't even make any sense.

[HopeHoops]

5. Yeah, of course. Black people don't EVER smoke cigars, right?

He's fucking nuts. PA outlawed smoking in bars and restaurants, but we still have cigar bars (with and without alcohol) and we still have bars that allow smoking - there's a little caveat in the bill that allows smoking if less than 15% of the revenue comes from food sales.

[MrCoffee]

2. The Civil Rights Act *did* put restrictions on the use of private property

Is it really so shocking to see that Rand Paul values property rights more than equal rights?

[Skinner]

3. "I can't have a cigar bar anymore"

Can we infer from this that Rand Paul would want to have a whites-only cigar bar? Because nothing in the civil rights act makes cigar bars illegal.

[moriah]

7. Logic train -- derailed. n/t

[HopeHoops]

10. And letting women vote prevents him from doing 150 mph on a residential street.

There doesn't appear to be any logic behind anything the guy says. Yes, I made that example up, but I wouldn't be at all shocked to hear him use those exact words.

[arcane1]

11. I cannot think of any other possible explaination

Hell we have cigar bars here in San Francisco!

[Wait Wut]

12. I don't know.

I read it three times and can't find the connection. Your reasoning makes as much sense as any other.

I read it as, "Another spoiled spawn from the right claims cigar bars are more important than humans."

The whole family is daffy.

[MrCoffee]

14. I don't read that in the quotes of the OP

The guy is a libertarian nutbag. He's making the legitimate point that there is a property rights aspect to the Civil Rights Act that he doesn't like.

There are property rights aspects to almost everything government does that libertarian nutbags don't like.

At least he's consistent about being so totally wrong all the time. I'll take a consistent lunatic over an inconsistent one any day.

[ProSense]

18. But

"The guy is a libertarian nutbag. He's making the legitimate point that there is a property rights aspect to the Civil Rights Act that he doesn't like. "

...the Civil Rights Act didn't ban cigar bars so his claim is loopy. If he wants to talk about the freedom to discriminate, then he needs to find another anecdote.


"At least he's consistent about being so totally wrong all the time. I'll take a consistent lunatic over an inconsistent one any day."

I'll skip the lunatic, but as lunatics go, Rand isn't even consistent.

Rand Paul, Supposed Defender Of Civil Liberties, Calls For Jailing People Who Attend ‘Radical Political Speeches’
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/05/31/232182/rand-paul-criminalize-speech/

[BootinUp]

19. He seems to have a problem

smoking cigars with black people or non-whites. That's my take.

[surrealAmerican]

4. The senator is a raving loony.

... certifiable, that one ...

[Rex]

6. If Ron Paul goes home to read a book

Rand Paul goes home to read a coloring book.

EDIT - He only needs ONE crayon...can you guess which color?

[Spazito]

8. Both Pauls are disgusting...

There is NOTHING redeeming about them, absolutely nothing.

[DevonRex]

9. WTF does that even MEAN? It's gibberish. It's as bad

as the SNL skit on sat where the guy reads a headline and then ad libs his thoughts (badly).

[ProSense]

25. It's Rand. n/t

[DevonRex]

26. Yup. Nt

[spanone]

13. he's showing his proud ignorance

[Wait Wut]

15. Hmmmmm...this....

"It's not all about race relations. It is about controlling property, ultimately."

I think I found the connection. Civil rights, race relations and property. It was right there in front of me. They can't be property if they have rights, so he's correct. The CRA did ruin his chance to own property...of the human kind.

Thanks, Rand. We'll just add that to the stash.

[rustydog]

16. Build a bar in yourhouse and smoke ther you whining spoiled brat

[EC]

17. Man, is he off the wall...

He's absolutely bouncing from one thing to another and one doesn't have anything to do with the other. And who's stopping him from having a cigar bar?

and if it's about property rights, couldn't he just have a PRIVATE club - not a business - on private property, that has a cigar bar for just "his people"?

[ProSense]

24. Yup. n/t

[Paladin]

20. Idiot. (n/t)

[opihimoimoi]

21. This is a result of DUMB VOTING.....now look...Ya gatta live w this shallow dude for 6 years...OMG

This is the last DUMB FUCK the GOPers gave us

[DonCoquixote]

22. yknow

Since so many Black Rappers and Athletes are known for smoking cigars, I would hope they would ponder that they are aping the images of people that used to use these symbols of priviledge.

That and they smell like crap, and this is coming from a Tampa boy, i.e. our town invented the Cigar Bar. The "Churchill", the expensive huge types, were invented here, and made popular by a young Brit that later became prime minister. None of Tampa's laws stopped cigar bars at all, new ones open every day, and the old ones are still around.

[Withywindle]

23. Well yeah, you can't have a Whites Only cigar bar anymore.

This seems to really bother him.

[ProSense]

27. Dad: