Why all the focus on Rand Paul in recent days? Who gives a damn what he thinks?

Yes, Rand Paul is a stupid bastard and an actively harmful person. He also claims to espouse some ideals that are near and dear to those of us who take civil liberties seriously. He may or may not be sincere, but who gives a shit what that loser says? I happen to agree with some of his utterances, but this in no way means I support the man. If he says something I agree with, I don't mind being in agreement with him, but I won't let his opinion on anything sway my thinking in the least. This is in sharp contrast to a handful of posters who like to think this blithering idiot is somehow the mastermind behind Snowden and Greenwald. These are the same people who start loyalty oath threads in order to get everyone on record as having sufficient hatred for Rand Paul. These are the same people who have magically linked the left with the far right from their center-right vantage between those two groups. These are the same people who want to smear any evocation of civil liberties with an accusation of Rand Paul support. Rand Paul appears for all the world to have partial ownership of these people's minds--obsessing about him and his secret ties to liberals owns and consumes a large percentage of their cognitive abilities. There's nothing to fear from these programmed people. They deserve nothing but contempt from anyone able to think for themselves. They deserve contempt for assuming that many of us are gullible enough to buy the garbage they're selling. I'm going to continue to believe what I believe, and to hold important that which really is important to me, irrespective of the wishes of those who want to browbeat others into accepting the indefensible.