Rand Paul draws fire for remarks on Civil Rights Act

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_pl2154

Thu May 20, 9:22 pm ET

Tea party candidate Rand Paul won Kentucky's GOP Senate nomination in part by bucking the establishment, but could his unconventional beliefs hurt him in the general election?

Paul is under fire today for saying Wednesday, first in an interview with National Public Radio and then to MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, that he opposes part of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. "I'm not in favor of any discrimination of any form. I would never belong to any club that excluded anybody for race," Paul told Maddow, saying discrimination and segregation were a "stain on our history."

But he said he doesn't agree with a provision in the bill that makes it a crime for businesses to discriminate on the basis of race.

It's a philosophical difference, Paul told Maddow: He doesn't believe the federal government should be able to intrude on how a private business operates.

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