海角大神

Is Rand Paul OK with voter ID laws, or not?

That question comes up because Senator Paul (R) of Kentucky kind of straddled the issue when he talked about it on Sunday鈥檚 talk shows.

On CBS鈥檚 鈥淔ace the Nation,鈥� for example, Bob Schieffer asked Paul whether he supported Republican-backed efforts to require voters to show picture identification in many states.

In reply, Paul said, 鈥淚 have mixed feelings.鈥�

On the one hand, said Paul, he has to show his driver鈥檚 license if he wants to go into the Justice Department and see Attorney General Eric Holder. (Does he do this a lot? That would be an entertaining meeting to watch.)

On the other hand, African-Americans claim voter ID laws are mainly an effort to suppress their vote, which is largely Democratic. And Paul thinks the GOP needs to reach out to minorities if it is to win back the White House. He urges combining voter ID with moves to expand voting rights, such as legislation to restore voting rights to felons.

鈥淪o I鈥檓 not really opposed to [voter ID]. I am opposed to it as a campaign theme,鈥� said Kentucky鈥檚 junior senator.

In other words, he supports voter ID, but doesn鈥檛 want to talk about it. That鈥檚 the way Democrats saw it anyway, and many of them claimed Paul鈥檚 response showed he is willing to remake himself to appeal to core Republican voters in advance of the 2016 presidential race.

鈥淚f rhetoric mattered more than policy, Rand Paul鈥檚 posture would represent real progress. But for those trying to overcome indefensible voting restrictions, created by Republicans for the most brazen and undemocratic of reasons, the senator鈥檚 interest in a tonal shift is literally meaningless,鈥� writes Steve Benen on the left-leaning blog of NBC鈥檚 鈥淩achel Maddow Show.鈥�

Many on the right aren鈥檛 any happier about Paul鈥檚 way of handling the issue. They point out that voter ID laws are generally popular with the public, as shown by poll results, and that they鈥檙e necessary to combat what they see as the widespread problem of voter fraud. This has proved a popular GOP talking point but Democrats and many independent analysts argue that studies have shown negligible levels of voter fraud.

Plus, conservatives say, it鈥檚 rich to get lectured on this from a guy who as recently as 2010 said he would not have supported the Civil Rights Act.

For some Republicans the larger issue here is that Paul keeps talking in insulting terms about the need to remake the party to appeal to a broader demographic. Last week, for example, he said the GOP鈥檚 brand 鈥渟ucks鈥� outside its core voters. During his appearances over the weekend he did not repeat that word but stuck to the same message.

鈥淭rying to get the psychology of Rand Paul going on multiple Sunday shows to attack conservatives not named him 2 days before elections,鈥� tweeted conservative author and commentator S.E. Cupp.

Expect this sort of multifaceted debate to only become more heated as the 2016 race progresses. Paul wants to expand his appeal beyond his libertarian base while simultaneously remaking his party. That鈥檚 a pretty different approach to running for president. It鈥檚 already earned him the top spot on聽Politico鈥檚 recent list of the 50 ideas changing US politics.