November 2, 2014

Tea Party darling, Senator Rand Paul (R. KY), was on CNN's State of the Union today and he really couldn't provide an answer to his thoughts on quarantines for Ebola patients:

"It’s a tough question because the Libertarian in me is sort of horrified at indefinitely detaining or detaining anyone without trial," Paul said on CNN's "State of the Union" while discussing nurse Kaci Hickox who has been fighting government attempts to enforce a quarantine while she isn't symptomatic.

Paul said that he supports some restrictions on those who have been near patients with the virus, but he thinks that government should approach it reasonably.

"I think there is a reasonable public concern to say, 'You know what, you really should be going to the discotheque; you shouldn’t be going to the local bar; you shouldn’t be going to the local school cafeteria, so I think there are reasonable precautions,'" he said. "I think we have to be very careful of people’s civil liberties, but I’m also not saying that the government doesn’t have a role in trying to prevent contagion."

Paul also went on to say this:

Paul also said he thought the Obama administration should have instituted travel restrictions preventing people from returning from West Africa, where Ebola has killed nearly 5,000 people. The administration has resisted calls to restrict travel or insist on mandatory quarantines for people who may have been exposed to the virus.

"We have to be careful of people's civil liberties," said Paul. "But I'm not saying the government doesn't have a role in trying to prevent contagion."

Sounds to me like Paul is trying to tone down his Libertarian craziness so he can win the 2016 GOP nominee. We'll see how that goes.

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