On Saturday, the state of Iowa hosted a conservative Christian event called the Family Leadership Summit. Originally scheduled to speak at said event was Senator and 2016 presidential hopeful Rand Paul (R-KY). However, Paul told the summit that he would be unable to attend the event due to a prior family commitment. So, one can only imagine the ire of the event planners when they found out that Rand Paul was partying it up with Alec Baldwin in the Hamptons on Saturday afternoon.
The New York Post‘s Page Six first reported news of the celebrity-laden East Hampton Library fundraiser, sponsored by Alec Baldwin. The article brought special attention to the appearances made by Paul, Bill O’Reilly, and George Pataki due to their conservative presence in an otherwise liberal setting.
The Paul camp was quick to come to the defense of Paul after seeing the reports of his supposed partying, confirming that the Senator did indeed have family obligations and that they just happened to be in New York near the Hamptons. Paul’s obligation was accompany his wife as she visited her future book publisher to finalize some details on her upcoming release.
"Fancy Hamptons fundraiser" and "family commitment" aren't necessarily mutually exclusive. He's w/ his wife after all pic.twitter.com/k6HJMT3mBo
— McKay Coppins (@mckaycoppins) August 13, 2014
Alec Baldwin, himself, also came to the aid of Paul, despite their political differences:
Trash papers like the @WashTimes
get it wrong even for Rand Paul, who actually attended a book fair:
http://t.co/gBwYLMcwgr
— ABFoundation (@ABFalecbaldwin) August 13, 2014
After hearing more information concerning the details of Paul’s weekend, event organizer Bob Vander Plaats simply stated that Paul and others should be more truthful with their wants and intentions:
From my perspective, there are always choices to be made of where do you want to be and what message do you want to send. If you want to be at a fundraiser in the Hamptons with the rich and famous, you probably ought to tell people you want to be at a fundraiser in the Hamptons with the rich and famous.
Unfortunately for Paul, this is the second time, recently, that he has been called out for ditching on someone. The first time came last Monday as he was having lunch with Representative Steve King (R-IA). As the two were in the middle of their meal, they were approached by two DREAMers – children of illegal immigrants who have achieved a temporary legal status by meeting certain criteria.
As soon as the two DREAMers labeled themselves as such, Mr. Paul and his aide immediately left the table, leaving many wondering what motivated Paul to pull such an insensitive stunt:
Paul often finds himself in such quandaries due to his “Libertarian” and Tea Party political leanings – both of which promise ambiguity and uncertainty of political platform. However, this political ambiguity could serve as an advantage in the 2016 presidential election as Paul will be able to adopt his message to whatever the masses hope to hear at the time.
Image via YouTube