Don't say Rand Paul can't accomplish something when he puts his mind to it. President Obama has faced plenty of inevitable, intolerant criticism since his announcement that he supports gay marriage, but surprisingly, the attack that's getting everyone's attention isn't from usual suspects like Ann Coulter or Rush Limbaugh (though of course both were chatty on the subject). Nope, it's from little ol' Rand Paul, who bravely displayed both his backward views and eight-year-old sensibilities when he said this weekend that Obama's stance on marriage "couldn't get any gayer."
Speaking at the annual Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition, Paul voiced his concerns over Obama's statement. Here's some of the highlight reel:
"Call me cynical, but I wasn't sure his views on marriage could get any gayer. It kind of did bother me though that he used justification for it in a biblical reference. He said the biblical golden rule caused him to be for gay marriage. And I'm like, 'What version of the Bible is he reading?'… Now that doesn't mean we have to be harsh and mean and hate people… We're not out there preaching some sort of hateful dogma against people, but that doesn't mean we have to go and give up our traditions. We've got six thousand years of tradition. There's a lot of stability, even beyond religion, in the family unit just from the anthropological point of view. The families are really important. We shouldn't just give up on it."
Now, I could dissect every bit of stupidity in this statement (or the fact that he forgot to add Glee to his list of things that caused Obama to support gay marriage — thanks, Bristol!) but, for once, a right-wing figure has actually reprimanded Paul already. Family Research Council President Tony Perkins strongly critiqued the senator on Face the Nation, saying he didn't "think this is something we should joke about" and that "we should be civil, respectful, allowing all sides to have debate." To fully grasp just how embarrassing that response must be for Paul, remember he is getting schooled on sensitivity by the head of a group whose second Google hit is an article titled "The Slippery Slope of Gay Marriage."
All barbs aside, I suppose I should hand it to Rand Paul. Call me cynical, but I wasn't sure his views on marriage (or most issues) could get any more asinine.
