CNN AC 360 round table discussion on May 18th 2010 primary results

“Too many rookie mistakes”

http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/apps/cvp/3.0/swf/cnn_416x234_embed.swf

Errol Louis +2:30: He (Rand Paul) made a statement the other day about wanting to repeal the American’s with Disabilities Act. Which is literally carved in stoned in every jurisdiction in the country. He’s got to answer some questions, I mean, I got calls from all over the country, senior citizens, disabled people, saying, ‘What is this guy talking about?’ and if you get too many rookie mistakes like that, and he’s a first time candidate, you can really start to upset the apple cart.

This part of the political discussion of the primary results stood out in my mind because it said a lot about the state of politics and conventional political wisdom. Questioning scared cows that are ‘carved in stone’ is considered by many to be a rookie political mistake.

Rand Paul’s father Ron Paul, is also known for pointing out problems with sacred cows in politics–most notably, Ron Paul has been championing the problems with the ‘carved in stone’ Federal Reserve for decades. Rand Paul questioning a sacred cow was no mistake and should not be perceived as one.

Politicians only saying what people want to hear, things won’t rock the boat, can be blamed for a large number of the problems in Washington DC. There is no hope for change as long as people see things done by the government as being carved in stone, not to be changed or even questioned.

I’ll take rookie ‘mistakes’ over professional political mistakes like lying about your past, sex scandals, or adding trillions of dollars to the national debt. If that was a rookie mistake, it makes a good argument to bring in more rookies.