Dr. Ron Paul’s son, US Senator Rand “Baby Doc” Paul, set off one of Janet “Big Sis” Napolitano’s terrorist alerts at an airport TSA checkpoint today. After refusing a pat-down by leering Big Sis operatives, Baby Doc was forcibly removed from the line and dragged to a “private screening area,” where he received a full body cavity search.
An engraved metal jacketed copy of “Atlas Shrugs” was found to be the culprit.
Well, not really. But you’d think so given the reaction. I bet those TSA louts let dozens of swarthy Middle Easterners pass through the line unimpeded.
[H/T: YAFB at Rumproast]
Downpuppy
do they still have the No Fly List?
The Ancient Randonneur
I like digby’s take on this one:
Click the link above to find out his dad’s reply.
Chris
I’m not sure I want to think about where he keeps that engraved metal-jacketed book… :-)
Villago Delenda Est
Love the TSA ahead warning sign.
SteveM
Nice title. Good thing I just bought that large economy jug of brain bleach.
Also, this.
Walter
TSA Gate Rape – It’s not just for kids anymore
Zifnab
Gonna be hard to make a pro-TSA argument around here (or anywhere, really). Rand Paul was in clear violation of Security Theater for daring to blip while standing in a TSA-certified cancer machine. I’m having a hard time showing anything but sympathy for him.
Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal
that’s one way to beat the system out of a free ct scan. doesn’t the opthamologist know he actually has government insurance?
giltay
The talk of the Twitter is that he was flying to an anti-abortion rally. But, of course, he wants the governments hands off of his body.
WaterGirl
I got a shockingly personal pat down at a jimmy buffett concert once. It was annoying but not the end of the world.
Maus
Really, the main surprise here is that Son of Bircher-King allowed himself to be rapeyscanned in the first place.
dedc79
He was on his way to a “pro-life” rally in opposition to Roe v. Wade.
Rand’s libertarianism is a strange one. Pat-downs are an invasion of his personal liberty but telling a woman what she can or cannot do with her uterus is fine.
Boots Day
I wonder if this will spur Rand Paul to do the hard work of creating and passing legislation that makes the TSA less of a waste of time and money for all American air passengers, or if he’ll just whine to the GOP media about it. Gosh, I can’t wait to see which one it is.
Betty Cracker
@Zifnab: I have no desire to defend the security state. But if someone has to get mashed in its accursed cogs, it might as well be Rand Paul. I can’t abide that smug little prick.
grape_crush
An engraved metal jacketed copy of “Atlas Shrugs” was found to be the culprit.
Funny. My money was on a one-hitter.
Mike G
I’d expect this will spur the Repuke Party of Privilege to do the hard work of creating and passing legislation that creates a TSA exemption for members of Congress, while us little people just have to eat it.
The Moar You Know
Pull this stunt while not being a senator and your ass will be a jail.
The Moar You Know
Pull this stunt while not being a senator and your ass will be in jail.
The Moar You Know
Where the fuck is my edit button?
Comrade Mary
Where the fuck is my edit button?
I guess it’s time for everyone to line up while Tunch wields the wand.
Maude
Isn’t Rand Paul from Kentucky?
scav
Security Theater meets Libertarian Theater. hmmmm. Still rooting for injuries. Remarkably useful default heuristic so far.
artem1s
as per a previous post regarding GPS surveillance…every time one of these privacy issues come up before the Supremes or the Senate or House someone, somewhere needs to make the point that even the elite 1% will be subject to the ramifications of selling off civil liberties in lieu of security kabuki.
tamied
@Mike G: This.
Frankensteinbeck
Like any issue involving Pauls I and II, a narrow focus gives exactly the wrong understanding of this issue. Rand Paul did not get rejected from boarding a plane because of unnecessarily tight security restrictions. That’s how you would interpret this from sane viewpoint that TSA security rules are part of the disgusting excesses of Bush’s War On Terror that are now hard to get rid of.
What happened is that Rand Paul missed his flight because he refused to submit to standard security procedures that would give New World Order agents a chance to search him, perhaps plant trackers or who knows what while they had the chance.
ericblair
@artem1s:
You don’t have to go through the pornoscanner if you have a private jet. Whether or not the 1% can actually wall themselves off from all of the indignities foisted on the rabble, I’m pretty sure they think they’re immune.
williamc
Good god damn, I about busted a gut reading this post’s title!
And somehow knowing immediately what it was in reference to is a testament to my potty-minded existence…
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@Zifnab:
Cassidy
@Boots Day: Can we wait until I get hired as an Air Marshal before we start defunding the TSA? kthxbye.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
Am I the only person here who finds it interesting that this happens to Rand as Ron is campaigning in a state that depends so heavily upon the airlines?
Ruckus
@Mike G:
Agreed. That’s what I expect as well.
Randellin
Do they really need to search a well known congressman like that? I am glad he stood up to our government’s fascist cretin practices.
ChrisNYC
Oh look! This is on the front page at Drudge. What a righteous defender of liberty that guy is.
dexwood
We don’t need no outerspace aliens, we do our own anal probes, Citizen.
Nutella
@dedc79:
No, Rand’s libertarianism is a typical one. Freedom of action for prosperous straight white men is what libertarianism demands. If maximizing the freedom of action of those prosperous straight white men requires forcing a woman to bear her rapist’s baby or preventing black customers from entering a white-owned store if the owner doesn’t like them, he and his fellow libertarians are all for it.
Nancy Irving
Why is he complaining? Aren’t the airlines private companies that, according to Rand Paul, should be able to do whatever they want? After all, he did not have to submit to any of this–he could just have chosen not to fly, just like black people before the Civil Rights Act were free not to stay at hotels, matriculate at colleges and sit at lunch counters.
Mothra
@Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again):
I think it was a set up by Paul of the TSA, too.
Robert Waldmann
How can it be that I didn’t think of calling Rand Paul “baby doc” ? How did it happen that I never read that before ? Is it really possible that the blogosphere, the sultanate of snark, didn’t include that analogy until now ?
And what about Naomi ?
Robert Waldmann
I do have to stress that I didn’t have to read the post to understand who is the new baby doc.
Li
I’m no fan of Rand and his loony idea of what the government should and shouldn’t do. But I’m pretty sure that conducting a mass-molestation campaign against an endless number of perfectly innocent people for the sake of security theatre isn’t good governance. So I feel sorry for him, though perhaps less sorry than I feel for the old ladies that have their colostomy bags taken from them and the like, because he could do something about it if he tried.