Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul recently ventured to Guatemala on a medical mission to help the impoverished citizens with much needed ophthalmologic care. Chris Jansing, hosting Meet The Press before Chuck Todd arrives as the new host, accompanied the diminutive Senator Paul to the Central American country. Paul was one of 28 American volunteers organized by the Moran Eye Center in Utah.
Oddly enough, he is not certified by the highly respected American Board of Ophthalmology. He was "certified " by the National Board of Ophthalmology which has existed since 1999, when Paul “founded” it. Rand's board lists no more than seven doctors, and its address is a post-office box in Bowling Green, Ky. You can find the requirements of the American Board of Ophthalmology at www.abop.org., while Paul’s group maintains no such website. The legitimate ABO has over 16,000 doctors who are members.
The visit seemed to be philanthropic in nature, but what good is a humanitarian trip if you can't use it to bash President Obama in front of the whole world? The Kentucky republican, in a meeting with Guatemalan President Molina said,
the mess we’ve got at the border is frankly because of the White House’s policies... nothing good has happened because Sen. Reid has decided that he’s not going to allow any votes on any bills this year because he’s protecting his members who are vulnerable in the election—he’s protecting them from any kind of votes.
Rand was once seen as too liberal with his slightly more tolerant stance regarding immigration, except he never presents an alternative solution. Perhaps he used the trip to show his kind side despite his country's inability to "secure the border" (which is rather secure).Michael Czin, national press secretary for the DNC, reminds us of the lack of action by Senator Paul who
voted against Democratic immigration reform legislation and opposed an emergency supplemental package to address the border crisis.
Rand Paul is vying for the nomination as the GOP candidate in less than two years. After the party's "autopsy," Reince Priebus called for sweeping changes in 2013, yet no immigration proposals other than securing the border have been presented. It's funny that Rand would be slamming the president on an issue his party deems "not that important" while facing a leader of a nation whose people are desperate to emigrate to the USA.
Republicans are far too busy legislating the uterus, denying climate science, trying to outlaw the teaching of evolution and kowtowing to the NRA to deal with such trivia. Ironically, many Republicans feel ISIS is sending people through the "unsecured" southern border yet they don't find the immigration crisis all that significant Either way, it's President Obama's fault, all of it.
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