The White House is standing by the Transportation Security Administration in its standoff with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and his father, Republican presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas)
The elder Paul called the TSA a “police state” Monday after Sen. Paul was reportedly detained by TSA after he refused to take a pat-down from TSA officials at the Nashville International Airport.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Monday that he didn’t have any reaction to Paul’s comment about “police state.”
But Carney sided with the TSA saying, “I think it is absolutely essential that we take necessary actions to ensure that air travel is safe.”
Rep. Paul, who is one of four remaining Republican candidates for president, disagreed Monday afternoon. Paul said after he confirmed the incident involving Sen. Paul on his Twitter page that it showed why the TSA should be eliminated.
“The police state in this country is growing out of control,” the elder Paul said in a statement released by his presidential campaign.
“One of the ultimate embodiments of this is the TSA that gropes and grabs our children, our seniors, and our loved ones and neighbors with disabilities,” he continued. “The TSA does all of this while doing nothing to keep us safe. “That is why my ‘Plan to Restore America,’ in additional to cutting $1 trillion dollars in federal spending in one year, eliminates the TSA.”
TSA has defended its treatment of Sen. Paul, saying that its employees in Nashville followed its normal procedure with the senator, who has often sharply criticized the agency’s pat-downs before he refused one Monday morning.
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6 Responses
“The police state in this country is growing out of control,”
at least this is an accurate statement!!!!
I lose respect for candidates who make statements that are grossly out of proportion from reality.
Reality? A US senator sets off an alarm in metal detector. Instead of letting him go through it again, they insist on a pat down. If we are worried that the US senator is bringing a bomb to the plane, why don’t we check the senators when they walk into the senate? A much better place to blow up. Why don’t we check attorneys and DA when they walk into a court house? Why don’t they strip search the President when he gets on to Air force One? Where is the logic? And who checks the TSA agents when they come to work, maybe one can bring a bomb and put it in a secure location for a terrorist to pick it up.
These are the same agents who refused a pilot to go on without a pat down. Like he needed a bomb to bring the plane down.
The constitution explicitly forbids the executive branch (including the TSA) from detaining a member of congress who is on his way to or from a sitting of Congress.
The problem with TSA is that they do not have many clear rules that can be referred to by someone whom is treated improperly. Their employees do not seem to know of many rules or at least do not use them.
The fact that this is true and no one sees it as a problem is even scarier.
“Ahmad The Dead Terrorist” can walk passed most of these people and they wouldnt know what it was!