Rand Paul: OK, Civil Rights Act Can Stay

Rand Paul is moving to stem the damage: "I unequivocally state that I will not support any efforts to repeal the Civil Rights Act of 1964," he said in a statement. (Read it in full at the Washington Post here.) The clarification became politically necessary after comments he made in various places, notably last night's Rachel Maddow show, blew up on him. Earlier today on conservative Laura Ingraham's radio show, Paul blamed the "loony left" for distorting his views, notes Ben Smith at his Politico blog.

On the Ingraham show, Rand repeated that he opposes "institutional racism" but also thinks the federal government has no right to tell private businesses what to do. "The problem with Rachel and most people from the left is they want to make this an issue about you supporting abhorrent practices which I don't support." He called the civil rights measure "settled law."
(More Rand Paul stories.)