Rand Paul Campaign in Total Lockdown Mode

Today the DSCC issued this press release:

Rand Paul’s campaign is in total lockdown mode today, as a GQ story alleging Paul abducted and tried to force a female classmate at Baylor to use illegal drugs against her will has prompted serious questions. While the campaign has tried to smear the reporter and publication, they have yet to either address, or even deny the allegation that Paul physically abducted a young woman, forced her to bow to a false idol and tried to make her take hits of marijuana from a bong against her will. Paul’s campaign said yesterday they "are investigating all our options -- including legal ones." GQ’s Editor-in-Chief has said that he stands by the story. Today’s fundraiser with Mitch McConnell in Lexington presents a golden opportunity for Paul to take questions and explain, in front of McConnell and his supporters, what really happened. Despite Paul’s attacks on GQ, he still hasn’t answered the following basic questions:

• Is the alleged victim lying about Rand Paul tying her up, blindfolding her and abducting her?
• Is the alleged victim lying about Rand Paul trying to force her to use illegal drugs?
• Is the alleged victim lying about Rand Paul forcing her to worship false idols?

“Instead of running to his lawyers, Rand Paul should face the people of Kentucky and give some straight answers,” said Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Communications Director Eric Schultz. “On issue after issue, Rand Paul refuses to be straight with Kentuckians. After shifting on numerous positions and backtracking on previous statements, Rand Paul is now refusing to address serious allegations that he abducted a female classmate and tried to force her to use illegal drugs against her will.”

National pundits have been puzzled by Paul’s failure to respond to these questions.

“The reporter called [the Paul campaign] up, asked them about the story, and they gave him a kind of non-denial denial,” Ken Vogel of Politico said Monday on MSNBC’s Countdown. “They weren’t ready for something they probably should have been ready for.”

“I think they’re going to have to talk about the issue at some point,” Jonathan Martin of Politico said on Hardball. “Paul’s going to be asked about it on the campaign trail in Kentucky.”

Rand Paul has spent the past two months walking away from his record and who he really is. A month after saying the Civil Rights Act shouldn’t apply to private business and refusing to say he would have voted in favor of the Civil Rights Act, Paul backtracked on his positions, saying the federal government was right to impose civil rights on private business. Paul committed the same politically expedient move after he defended BP after the oil spill, calling criticism of the company “Un-American.” Under fire for his remarks, Paul went back on his comments, saying government regulations of offshore drilling were not adequate. Paul has also gone into hiding with the media, refusing to conduct interviews and forcing journalists to submit all questions in writing despite “offering detailed answers on just about any topic during his primary campaign.” Paul recently held a fundraiser in Washington DC with the same establishment Republicans he railed against on the campaign trail.