Feeling Randy, Part 8

With a week to go before Kentucky's Senate primaries, last night's GOP candidates' debate was heated and contentious between Rand Paul and Trey Grayson.

During the debate, as throughout the campaign, Grayson accused Paul of changing his stances on abortion, Guantanamo Bay and Iran. Paul deflected the accusations, accusing Grayson of taking him out of context and calling the attacks ”absolute gutter trash”.

“That’s why your campaign is sagging and failing, is because you’ve been intellectually dishonest,” Paul told Grayson. “…You desperately need this job so bad you’ll lie to try to get it.”

Grayson reiterated his message that Paul is out of touch with Kentuckians.

“Rand doesn’t want to go to Washington to fight for our priorities,” he said. “He doesn’t know the priorities of our state. He wants to go fight for folks in California and New York, his donors, his supporters, his dad’s supporters.”

Paul and Grayson also illustrated their policy differences: Paul said he would vote against any budget that isn’t balanced, while Grayson said the $1.4 trillion federal deficit will need to be met gradually over a period of years. Paul said he opposes all earmarks, while Grayson said he favors reforming the earmark system and increasing transparency.

It's interesting to note that the argument basically boiled down to "You're the crazy teabagger trying to pander to the wingnuts, not me!  I've been this way the whole time!"

Look, if elected, Paul's going to be much more of a problem for the GOP than the Democrats.  Grayson's point is that Paul won't be a reliable vote for anything the GOP wants to get done, while Paul's point is that he's a populist reformer trying to change the failed policies of the Reagan/Bush GOP.

The thing is, both men are right, and both men are completely wrong at the same time.