Advertisement

Opinion: Rand Paul celebrates win at snooty country club, but that’s OK because of Tiger Woods

Share

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

When you have a good answer to what could be a public relations quagmire, you have two options: keep repeating it or bring up Tiger Woods.

Guess what the politician did?

Rand Paul had every reason to celebrate. The champion of the flag-waving, ‘throw the bums out’ -spouting Tea Party movement just knocked off the establishment candidate in Kentucky’s Republican senate primary. The only problem?

The ordinary, average guy (just like the Joe Walsh song) had his victory party at a snooty country club. You can see the problem. The Democratic National Committee sure did. They pounced on it.

Advertisement

It’s a ‘lesson in how not to launch a ‘man of the people’ campaign,’ snarled the DNC’s Hari Sevugan.

No kidding. Every Democratic candidate always celebrates in a bowling alley, a Wal-Mart parking lot or the local gravel pit.

Of course, it was a smart move by the DNC. They saw an opportunity and took it.

Have no fear, Paul supporters. He had a good answer. Appearing on CNN, Paul said hotels were ‘generic and boring’ and he liked the view at the club. Plus, the facilities were free (good for the fiscal restraint message) and everyone was invited.

He solved the problem.

So why didn’t he just repeat that while appearing on ‘Good Morning America’ Wednesday morning? Who knows? That’s what makes election season great to watch.

Responding to Robin Roberts’ question if his choice of venue sent a ‘mixed message,’ Paul’s wheels fell off.

‘I think at one time people used to think of golf and golf courses and golf clubs as being exclusive,’ Paul said. ‘But I think in recent years now you see a lot of people playing golf. I think Tiger Woods has helped to broaden that in the sense that he’s brought golf to a lot of the cities and to city youth, and so no, I don’t think it’s nearly as exclusive as people once considered it to be.’

A terrible response? Without question. Did he enter the Joe Biden zone? That’s another league.

To Paul’s credit (watch the video below), he didn’t stammer or stumble when bringing up Woods. It didn’t sound like he was grasping for an answer. Sure, it didn’t make any sense -- at all. But it’s a campaign.

-- Jimmy Orr

Why not do a little celebrating of your own by clicking here to receive Twitter alerts of each new Ticket item. Follow us @latimestot Or Like our Facebook page right here.

Advertisement
Advertisement