Ap-Paul-ing

From today's Courier-Journal:

Kentucky’s horse racing season is well under way so it seems only fitting that U.S. Sen. Rand Paul hit a sort of political trifecta this week with this comment about President Barack Obama’s support for same-sex marriage: “Call me cynical, but I wasn’t sure his views on marriage could get any gayer.”

In one unfortunate laugh-line in a speech, the Kentucky Republican managed to offend: 1. Fellow Republicans 2. Liberal gay rights activists and 3. Conservative opponents of gay marriage.

Rand Paul’s Disrespectful Anti-Gay Joke

Via ThinkProgress:

Speaking at a Christian conservative group in Iowa on Friday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) made an anti-gay joke at President Obama’s expense: “Call me cynical, but I wasn’t sure his views on marriage could get any gayer.” On Face the Nation this morning, anti-gay activist Tony Perkins was asked to comment on Paul’s joke, and he practically leaped out of his skin to distance himself from the senator...

I don’t think it’s a laughing matter. I don’t think this is something we should joke about. Ah, we’re talking about individuals who feel very strongly one way or the other, and I think we should be civil, respectful, allowing all sides to have the debate… but I think this is not something to laugh about, to poke fun of other people about.

On Meet the Press, RNC Chair Reince Priebus similarly refused to defend Paul. “I don’t know what he meant by that,” Priebus said.

Mitch Wants to Double Down on Citizens United

ThinkProgress has the story:

The Supreme Court is currently considering whether to hear a case that will enable it to correct its error in Citizens United and overrule its indefensible decision to allow unlimited corporate and other wealthy donor money to influence elections. Neither the corporate lobby nor the Senate’s top Republican (Mitch McConnell) are eager to see this occur, however. Both of them filed briefs in the Supreme Court yesterday urging the justices to not only reaffirm Citizens United, but to do so without even hearing argument in the case.