Rand Paul's failed fish tale

[ProSense]

Rand Paul's failed fish tale

By Steve Benen

We talked last week about an unfortunate phenomenon: congressional Republicans pointing to government spending they consider wasteful, which turns out to be money well spent under closer inspection. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) offers another fun example.

On Fox News on Thursday night, Paul said the military has spent $5.2 million studying goldfish and advocated yanking funding for such programs to cut the budget.

"In the military they have $5.2 million they spent on goldfish -- studying goldfish to see how democratic they were and if we could learn about democracy from goldfish," Paul said on Fox. "I would give the president the authority to go ahead and cut all $5 million in goldfish studies."

At first blush, Paul sounds like he has a point, right? If policymakers are looking for funding to cut, $5.2 million to "learn about democracy from goldfish" seems excessive, at least at first blush.

But Princeton science professor Iain Couzin filled in some of the gaps to Poltico: &quot Paul) got the funding wrong and the species wrong, and he misrepresents the work we've done."

Apparently, the research has nothing to do with learning about "democracy" from goldfish -- they're not even goldfish -- but rather, is intended to "lead to advances in technology for robots that work on deep sea oil spills and radioactive leaks."

- more -

http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/02/25/17088176-rand-pauls-failed-fish-tale

If I lived in his state, I'd start a petition to recall him for being an idiot.

[ProSense]

1. It was this...........big!

[Orsino]

2. But, but...it said so right there on the Friends of Hamas web site! n/t

[roxy1234]

3. Rand Paul is a moron

But why is our govt paying for research in deep see oil spill research for the most profitable companies in the world. I am sorry but it still doesn't sound like something we should be funding especially seeing as they shouldn't even be drilling in deep seas and the oil companies are making history and record breaking profits year after year.

This is one of those cases where a politician is right all for the wrong reasons.

[ProSense]

4. Yes, and

"This is one of those cases where a politician is right all for the wrong reasons."

...this is one of those cases where a moron is still an idiot. Also, the idiot doesn't share your concern about drilling.

[roxy1234]

5. Yup

Hence the reason why I said he was right for the wrong reasons.

[ProSense]

6. Government research is needed.

"Hence the reason why I said he was right for the wrong reasons."

Look at what happened during the BP spill. Paul's interpretation of the study makes his idiocy clear. It's clearer still when you think about what he's advocating: cut research and leave intact oil subsidies.

Here's a thought: Cut the billions in oil subsidies and allocate a few million for the research. Comparable savings: 1000 percent.

[Gorp]

7. Rand Paul IS a fish tale.