Rand Paul Caught By Fact-Checking Site Lying About His Degree

by Allen Clifton

Rand Paul (r-KY) is a prime example of a spoiled kid riding on the coattails of his father’s success. He’s not a United States Senator right now because he was the best person suited for the job. Paul sits as one of Kentucky’s two U.S. Senators based almost entirely off of who his father is – and that’s about it.
It’s the same thing we saw with the shrub. I remember in the 90′s when all the talk here in Texas was that the shrub was going to run for governor. It never made a whole lot of sense to me because at the time he hadn’t held a single political office. In fact, he hadn’t really done a whole lot of anything. His only “qualification” was his father just happened to be the srub's daddy.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
Well, with Rand Paul we’re seeing a similar pattern. He’s someone who catapulted himself into a very prominent position in government based more on who his father is rather than his own personal qualifications for the office to which he was elected. And just like the shrub, he’s trying to use all of that to slither his way into the White House.
I don’t think Paul stands a chance of ever becoming pretender. Say what you want about the srubh family (and there’s plenty to say), but at least they’re not libertarians. You know, the people who think a society is best run via a “survival of the fittest” ideology.
But it’s going to be Paul’s own words that ultimately cost him any chance at the pretendership. While the guy is great at giving speeches, he’s terrible when he’s forced to speak off-script. This is a guy who literally held a filibuster about our government’s use of drones – then just a few days later said he would support using drones to kill someone robbing a liquor store of $50.
Then let’s not forget about the multiple times he’s been caught plagiarizing.
Now he’s in a bit of a bind over comments he made at a conference where he referenced his “degrees” in biology and English not once, but twice. Which wouldn’t be that big of a deal, except he doesn’t have degrees in either biology or English.
At the time Paul got accepted to Duke University School of Medicine, it wasn’t required that enrollees have a bachelor’s degree. Which is good, because Paul never graduated from Baylor University where he studied biology and English – but never graduated.
Though after The Washington Post fact-checker gave Paul’s claim “Three Pinocchios” for not being truthful, Paul’s representatives issued a rebuttal claiming that his medical degree is essentially the same as a biology degree, therefore the senator wasn’t being dishonest.
Okay, I guess in a twisted sort of sense one could try to make that argument. Though I’ve never once heard a doctor refer to their medical school degree as a “degree in biology.” Not to mention, he also claimed to have a degree in English – which he wouldn’t have gotten while at Duke.
So it would seem that, considering Paul studied biology and English at Baylor University (where he didn’t graduate), that’s the education to which he was referencing – education that he never completed. Because it makes absolutely no sense for him to reference his medical degree as a “degree in biology.” To even try to argue that is just dumb. That’s called “political speak” where Paul got caught in a lie and now his representatives are trying to spin it so he doesn’t look so foolish. The problem is, one would have to be a fool to believe he would refer to his medical degree from Duke as a “biology degree.”
Then again, treating wingnut voters like fools is exactly what most repugicans do.