Now there’s a headline in the Washington Post every Senate office wants to see: “Rand Paul mentions non-human marriage while discussing gay marriage, says it was joke.”
Since we talked yesterday about Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-Ky.) controversial appearance on Glenn Beck’s show, it’s only fair that I note his efforts to walk his comments back.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Wednesday appeared to suggest a link between the Supreme Court’s rulings on gay marriage and marriage between a human and a non-human, but later walked back that suggestion and said it was a joke. […]
Paul’s office said Thursday that the senator was making a joke, according to Slate’s Dave Weigel. “Sarcasm sometimes doesn’t translate adequately from radio conversation,” a spokesman said.
I, too, received an email from the senator’s communications director, who said Paul’s comments had been “unfortunately taken out of context by a number of media outlets.”
For the record, I published the entirety of his 181-word response so that readers could see the entire context (which, to my mind, doesn’t help the senator’s case). You can also listen to the exchange, since it was posted to YouTube. Whether his comments about cross-species marriage were meant in jest or not, it’s clear Rand Paul, an alleged champion of limited government and personal freedom, remains a staunch opponent of equal marriage rights for all Americans.
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