Reply #2: This guy (Ben) is a bit grating

[HisTomness]

What he's trying to do is transparent enough - He's trying to paint Rand Paul as being in favor of racial discrimination.
This is a classic straw man argument.
Paul's assertion is that a federal law banning discrimination in private enterprise is inappropriate.
The straw man is the assertion that it is appropriate to discriminate against people in private enterprise.

If you are in favor of the Civil Rights Act (as I am), then man up and cop to its real implications:
We are in favor of the federal government banning certain behaviors, even in private enterprise e.g. racketeering and fraud.
It's just a question of where we draw the line, and our democratic society has decided that we would rather include discrimination on invalid criteria (like race or religion) under that umbrella.

I don't know Rand Paul - I suspect we wouldn't agree on much - but I know a smear job when I see it. This reminds me of all the arguments I've heard in the last few weeks from supporters of that asinine immigration bill in Arizona that basically assert that if you're against the bill you must therefore support illegal immigration. I don't agree with Rand Paul's opposition to the private enterprise aspect of the Civil Rights Act, but I'll maintain the integrity to see his argument for what it is rather than leaping to the conclusion that he is pro-racism.

- His Penultimate Tomness