For anyone, it’s a milestone when your name takes on a meaning all its own. For an elected official like Rand Paul, it can be an honor – or something else.
Our junior Senator has, for some time, followed a script when it comes to major decisions in the U.S. Senate:
- State that unlike other Republicans, who are all (obviously) going to vote the party line, he will have to “study” the issue.
- Proclaim that his support is not guaranteed; in fact, he has “serious concerns” about the position of Trump / McConnell / Senate Republicans.
- Make a show of deliberating long and hard about his vote.
- Yet in the end, vote with the rest of the Republicans, having gotten the attention he (apparently) wanted.
Senator Rand Paul has followed this script so often, in fact, that one television commentator has given it a name: Randpauling, as in “Oh, he’s just Randpauling again.”
Let’s hope that Rand Paul does less Randpauling in the future, and actually votes independently more.
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