The news media reports on multiple interviews with Rand Paul in discussions regarding the Civil Rights Bill and American business responsibility.

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The Kentucky Courier-Journal reports: “Rand Paul faces tough questions on race with Rachel Maddow”

The Kentucky Courier-Journal reports: “Paul will not support repeal of civil rights act”

The Associated Press reports: “Rand Paul issues statement about comments in video about race, Civil Rights Act”

NBC also reported:
— “He added, ‘I support the Civil Rights Act because I overwhelmingly agree with the intent of the legislation, which was to stop discrimination in the public sphere and halt the abhorrent practice of segregation and Jim Crow laws.’
— “In his 15-minute interview with Maddow, Paul repeatedly declined or sidestepped opportunities to endorse the provisions of the 1964 law which require hotels, restaurants, and other businesses to accept all customers without discriminating on the basis of race or ethnicity.”
— “He repeated several times that he opposes racial discrimination. ‘I’m not in favor of any discrimination of any form, I would never belong to any club that excluded anybody for race,’ he said. At the end of the interview, Paul added, ‘I don’t believe that any private property (owner) should discriminate either.'”
— “But he did not say whether he supported using federal law to enforce non-discrimination in privately owned businesses. He said ‘had I been around’ in 1964 ‘I would have tried to modify that.’
— “He also said the debate over the civil right law’s limits on rights of private property owners ‘is still a valid discussion.’ ”

NPR: “Rand Paul In Civil Rights Bill Firestorm”

— NPR reports on NBC interview, where asked about “desegregating lunch counters,” Rand Paul replies “Well, what it gets into then is if you decide that restaurants are publicly owned and not privately owned…”

Notably, Mr. Rand Paul’s comments were quickly defended by a number of diverse individuals, ranging from political activists to Neo-Nazis such as “Kievsky” formerly with the Neo-Nazi National Alliance organization on the “white nationalist” website Occidental Dissent.  Nazi “Kievsky” calls the NBC woman reporter a homosexual slur in the title of his posting.

Related Reports:

— Paul admits political slip in civil rights remark

— Rand Paul in ’02: I may not like it, but ‘a free society’ will allow ‘hate-filled groups to exclude people based on the color of their skin’

— “Rand Paul Defends Opposition to Civil Rights Act’s Prohibitions on Private Discrimination”