Sen. Rand Paul had a bit of a problem yesterday when a pair of immigration activists found him eating lunch in Iowa along with GOP Rep Steve King Of The Melonheads. Steve King stuck around to argue (badly) with Erika Andiola and Cesar Vargas, but about five seconds after meeting the pair, Rand Paul apparently got up and fled in abject terror.
Today, Rand Paul made his excuses as to why he fled the scene at approximately MACH 9.
"About two minutes before that, the video doesn't show that another reporter came up and said 'will you do an interview,'" Paul explained on Fox News' "On The Record." "And I said, 'I need to take a couple more bites and we'll do an interview.' And then I was told we had to leave and I had to do the interview. So actually, I stand about ten feet from those people, who were doing sort of a kamikaze interview, and I stood ten feet from them and did another interview."
The aide who whisked Paul away from the immigration activists, Sergio Gor, previously told the National Journal that Paul "had a media avail after the event and that's where we had to be."
The Kentucky Republican said he doesn't shy away from debate on immigration.
"I've always been open to discussing immigration. I'm very open to discussing that I think there should be some kind of immigration reform," Paul told host Greta Van Susteren. "But I don't think you can do it without first securing the border, and that's the problem with the President doing this unlawfully."
Uh-huh. "I wasn't running away from this interview. I was running towards another interview, because I'm really important and I'm here in Iowa campaigning for 2016 and besides, I trust Steve King's judgment on immigration."
The old political adage "If you're explaining, you're losing" is apropos here. Trust me, Rand Paul is losing.