Rand Paul vs. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 vs. What?!

Somehow or other — just one day after crushing it in the Kentucky GOP primaries for U.S. Senate and hurling himself into the national spotlight — the Tea Party's newest new savior Rand Paul found himself on The Rachel Maddow Show defending his position against the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

First of all, um, what?

Second of all, for real?

To be fair, I'm not a political strategist, so maybe I'm not seeing the long game being played here, but going on the most liberal television show on cable news and allowing yourself to get dragged into a conversation about whether or not you support segregation* does not seem like a super smart idea for a Republican at the very start of his political career.

Rand Paul is probably not a racist. My guess is that he's as not racist as a guy who is vocally opposed to civil rights legislation can be, for whatever that's worth. What he is, really, is his father's son and a member of The Ron Paul Revolution , which is to say, a bit out there in the ideology department.

Today, in an effort to mop up the whoops, he appeared on Fox News (of course) to set the record straight. Or something…

Apparently recognizing the dangerous political waters he put himself in, and trying to stop the story from growing out of control, Paul reiterated: "In no way do I favor any type of institutional racism or segregation or discrimination or any of that."

Paul repeatedly carped that it was the "loony left" that was after him. But the conservative Ingraham, in an otherwise sympathetic chat, asked Paul why he had agreed to an interview with MSNBC's liberal Rachel Maddow in the first place.

"You're right," he admitted. "It was a poor political decision, probably won't be happening anytime in the near future."

Now, that's some good political strategizin'.

Tags: Civil Rights, Fox, Kentucky, Laura Ingraham, MSNBC, Rachel Maddow, Racism, Rand Paul, Senate

Sounds Like Mitt Romney Got an Upgrade

Mitt Romney to Laura Ingraham…

"I can confirm, Laura, that I do have a soul."

I, personally, prefer this without context, but if you must.

Tags: Laura Ingraham, Mitt Romney

Bill O'Reilly and Laura Ingraham Fight Over Who Is the Bigger Kool-Aid Drinker

Bill O'Reilly and Laura Ingraham had an on-air dust-up over one of O'Reilly's apparent character flaw, namely his lack of blind vehement hatred for anyone named Obama…

Ingraham: I'm gushing over your gushing last night about the Christmas party. I'm still trying to get over that.

O'Reilly: Wait, a minute. I'm going to call you — I'm calling you out on this…. I thought [Michelle Obama] was very nice at the party… You are a blind ideologue who even if somebody's nice to you, won't admit it because you're talking about a Kool-aid drinker… You have an IV attached to your arm on the Kool-aid.

When Bill O'Reilly is one of the most reasonable talking heads on your new network, it means you're either an incredible failure or an incredible success, depending upon what your long-term goals are.

Roger Ailes — I think it's safe to say — is a huge, huge success.

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Tags: Bill O'Reilly, Fox, Laura Ingraham, Michelle Obama, Roger Ailes

Fox's Laura Ingraham Godwins the Tax Debate

Next year, Godwin's Law will turn 20 years old. And if you're worried that using the Holocaust as a lazy rhetorical tool might be going out of fashion, well you must be a fucking Nazi! Laura Ingraham knows what I'm talking about.

Click here to watch this full episode. The Daily Show airs Monday through Thursday at 11pm / 10c.

Tags: Jon Stewart, Laura Ingraham, Nazis, Tea Party, The Daily Show, Video

Jon Stewart on Copenhagen Climate Summit

Leaders from all over the world are in Denmark this week to discuss climate change, which a broad consensus of scientists agrees is not up for debate. Of course, as noted climatologist Sean Hannity recently pointed out, climate change is probably hooey because it snowed in Houston last week, and that hasn't happened in nearly 52 weeks!

Click here to watch this full episode. The Daily Show airs Monday through Thursday at 11pm / 10c.

Tags: Climate Change, Copenhagen, Denmark, Fox, Jon Stewart, Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, The Daily Show, Video