Uploaded May 2010 | Updated September 2026, 9 hours ago
Washington, D.C. Rand Paul canceled a national Sunday interview on NBCs Meet the Press after a second day of controversy regarding his ideological positions on civil rights, labor, and support for BP and big business interests despite their role in the Gulf Oil spill ecological disaster. The featured video segment is from MSNBC Hardball. Host Chris Matthews first promotes Pauls scheduled appearance on Sundays Meet the Press, then interviews Jim Wallis about the morality of the Gulf oil spill disaster, and then announces Pauls cancelation due to exhaustion. Cancelations are rare for Meet the Press as there have been only 3 similar cancelations in the 62 year history of the program.
More on Pauls support of BP from AP: Taking another unconventional stand, Kentucky's Republican Senate nominee Rand Paul criticized President Barack Obama's handling of the Gulf oil spill Friday as anti-business and sounding "really un-American."
Paul's defense of oil company BP PLC came during an interview as he tried to explain his controversial take on civil rights law, an issue that seemed to suddenly swamp his campaign after his victory in Tuesday's GOP primary.
"What I don't like from the president's administration is this sort of, 'I'll put my boot heel on the throat of BP,'" Paul said in an interview with ABC's "Good Morning America." "I think that sounds really un-American in his criticism of business."
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told CNN on May 2: "Our job basically is to keep the boot on the neck of British Petroleum."
Other Republicans have criticized the administration's handling of the oil spill, but few have been so vocal in defending BP, the company responsible for the deep well and offshore rig that exploded last month, killing 11 workers and spewing millions of gallons of oil.
Paul appeared two days after a landslide primary victory over the Republican establishment's candidate, Trey Grayson. He has been scrambling to explain remarks suggesting businesses be allowed to deny service to minorities without fear of federal interference, even though he says he personally abhors discrimination. On Friday he said he wouldn't seek to repeal the Civil Rights Act or Fair Housing Act, which prohibits housing discrimination on the basis of race, among other areas.
Washington, D.C. Rand Paul canceled a national Sunday interview on NBCs Meet the Press after a second day of controversy regarding his ideological positions on civil rights, labor, and support for BP and big business interests despite their role in the Gulf Oil spill ecological disaster. The featured video segment is from MSNBC Hardball. Host Chris Matthews first promotes Pauls scheduled appearance on Sundays Meet the Press, then interviews Jim Wallis about the morality of the Gulf oil spill disaster, and then announces Pauls cancelation due to exhaustion. Cancelations are rare for Meet the Press as there have been only 3 similar cancelations in the 62 year history of the program.
More on Pauls support of BP from AP: Taking another unconventional stand, Kentucky's Republican Senate nominee Rand Paul criticized President Barack Obama's handling of the Gulf oil spill Friday as anti-business and sounding "really un-American."
Paul's defense of oil company BP PLC came during an interview as he tried to explain his controversial take on civil rights law, an issue that seemed to suddenly swamp his campaign after his victory in Tuesday's GOP primary.
"What I don't like from the president's administration is this sort of, 'I'll put my boot heel on the throat of BP,'" Paul said in an interview with ABC's "Good Morning America." "I think that sounds really un-American in his criticism of business."
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told CNN on May 2: "Our job basically is to keep the boot on the neck of British Petroleum."
Other Republicans have criticized the administration's handling of the oil spill, but few have been so vocal in defending BP, the company responsible for the deep well and offshore rig that exploded last month, killing 11 workers and spewing millions of gallons of oil.
Paul appeared two days after a landslide primary victory over the Republican establishment's candidate, Trey Grayson. He has been scrambling to explain remarks suggesting businesses be allowed to deny service to minorities without fear of federal interference, even though he says he personally abhors discrimination. On Friday he said he wouldn't seek to repeal the Civil Rights Act or Fair Housing Act, which prohibits housing discrimination on the basis of race, among other areas.
