



In an interview on Fox News Sunday, Senator Rand Paul wove a tale and by the end of his tale viewers were left with the impression that he is the most important man on Capitol Hill. In his interview with Chris Wallace, he suggested that without him any effort to pass immigration reform will be lost. He called himself the “conduit” between the House and the Senate. Yes, that’s right, perhaps the most far right Senator in office today suggested that he was the only chance immigration reform has to pass. He is the only man with strong enough ties to the far right lawmakers in the House and mainstream Republicans in the Senate to get the job done. In other words, he is the man!

The only problem with his tale of brokering a deal and being the peacemaker for immigration reform? Rand Paul has a long-held belief that there should not be a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. The first five words under the immigration tab of his website are,”I do not support amnesty.” In 2011 Paul proposed a bill that would change the 14th Amendment to not include birthright citizenship for babies of undocumented immigrants. Furthermore, after the Boston Marathon bombing he said we should put immigration reform on the back burner. Fortunately, host Chris Wallace had enough sense to call Rand Paul out on his opposition to a pathway to citizenship:

“You now have come out against a new path to citizenship,” Wallace observed. “Senator, as a practical matter, isn’t that going to prevent any kind of comprehensive reform?”

Senator Paul disagreed of course and said that he is not open to a “new line” for citizenship; all of the undocumented immigrants in the country at moment must stand behind the other immigrants outside of the country that have been waiting for entry. After he clarified his standing he went on to explain how he is the most important lawmaker on Capitol Hill in regards to immigration reform and explain that without his support nothing will happen:

“The whole point is there needs to be a conduit,” he explained. “I am the conduit between the conservatives in the House who don’t want a lot of these things and more moderate people in the Senate who do want these things.” “I want to make the bill work, but see, the thing is, what they have in the Senate has zero chance of passing in the House. So, why not come to a conservative like myself and say, ‘He’s willing to work with you. Why not work with me to make the bill closer to what would be acceptable in the House?’” “So, I’m really trying to make immigration work. But they’re going to have to come to me, and they’re going to have to work with me to make the bill stronger if they want me to vote for it.”

Yep, that’s right Rand Paul is our only hope for a fair approach to immigration reform. The only question is: fair to who? This is not a man who supports immigrants, he has made that clear on a multitude of occasions. He is a Tea Party Republican not a moderate “willing to compromise” Republican. Yet, here he is on Fox rebranding himself. Why? Perhaps he needs to make the uninformed Fox audience believe that he is a man who can get the job done. Someone that they can count on. Maybe this is all leading up to a 2016 run for the White House. Who knows…the only question I have after watching this interview is: Doesn’t it get difficult for him to carry that ego around with him every where? Surely needing an extra seat for it gets cumbersome.

Here’s the video courtesy of The Raw Story: