Rand Paul in bondage
When Rand Paul became a U.S. Senator from Kentucky, we knew he’d give us some memorial moments. One came at a Senate subcommittee hearing yesterday when he compared the right to health care to slavery:
“With regard to the idea whether or not you have a right to health care you have to realize what that implies,” Paul said. “I am a physician. You have a right to come to my house and conscript me. It means you believe in slavery. You are going to enslave not only me but the janitor at my hospital, the person who cleans my office, the assistants, the nurses. … You are basically saying you believe in slavery,”
Read more in Kate Nocera’s piece on Politico here.
And one political analyst I always learn something from is the New York Times’ Matt Bai. He has an interesting take on Newt Gingrich’s presidential ambitions. He notes, for example, Gingrich’s belief in the historical theme of “departure and return,” the notion that a great leader must be banished from his kingdom before returning to rule wisely. Read Bai’s piece here.
On the Phillly scene, City Council at-large candidate Andy Toy has picked up an endorsement from former Mayor and Governor Ed Rendell. Toy will have enough cash to make use of the guv’s love, too.
Campaign finance reports filed Friday showed Toy raised $253,000 since Jan. 1st, by far the most of any non-incumbent seeking one of the five at-large Council seats.
And Joe Grace, who’s running in a four-way race for the 1st Council district in South Philly, Center City and the river wards has a new cable TV ad. Grace has less cash than most of his rivals, but his ad makes effective use of some helpful endorsements. You can watch it below.
And I encourage you to meet candidates for City Council at-large tonight at a debate hosted by me and Irv Randolph of the Philadelphia Tribune.
The event begins at 7 p.m. at the WHYY studios,150 N. 6th St. We’ll do Democrats first, then Republicans, so it will last until 9:45 or so.
And if you come, say hello and tell me what you like or don’t about the blog, or what you’d like to see more or less of.
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