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The Water Cooler Title: Exclusive: Rand Paul's Accuser Clarifies "Kidnapping" The woman who sparked a national firestorm by recounting Rand Paul's But she reiterated other odd aspects of her earlier story, including her claim that Paul and another college friend blindfolded her, tied her up, and told her to smoke pot and worship the "Aqua Buddha," even if they didn't physically force her to do these things. (Slate: Racist 'Rand fan' actually Obama supporter) The woman -- who was made available to me for an interview by GQ reporter Jason Zengerle in response to the Paul campaign's denunciations of his article -- said she didn't mean to imply that she was kidnapped "in a legal sense." "The whole thing has been blown out of proportion," she told me. "They didn't force me, they didn't make me. They were creating this drama: `We're messing with you.'" The woman said that much of the subsequent coverage of her allegations missed a key nuance: As a participant in a college ritual, where lines between acquiescence and victimization are often blurry, she was largely playing along with the notion that she was being forced to follow Paul's orders. "I went along because they were my friends," she said. "There was an implicit degree of cooperation in the whole thing. I felt like I was being hazed." That characterization of events supports Paul's claim that, as he told Fox News yesterday, "No, I never was involved with kidnapping. No, I never was involved with forcibly drugging people." But in her conversation with me, the woman stood by the general outline of her earlier account. (Rand Paul: Govt. shouldn't regulate mine industry) "[They] came over to my house as friends that I knew," she told me. "They immediately said, `We're going to tie you up and go for a ride.'" She reiterated that they took her to a room filled with pot smoke and told her to partake, but she emphasized that she hadn't been forced. "He did not drug me," she said. "He did not force me physically in any way." She said they then "took me out to this creek and made me worship Aqua Buddha." And she added that the whole thing was so "weird" that afterwards she ended relations with Paul and his friends. (Rand Paul lights a fire under GOP) Though the GQ piece never used the word "kidnapping," (and quoted her saying the whole thing was a "joke"), subsequent media coverage has characterized the allegations this way, seemingly allowing Paul to keep the conversation focused on this one charge. He hasn't responded to questions about the blindfolding or the Aqua Buddha. And in response to this latest round of allegations, the Paul campaign claimed vindication about the "kidnapping" while again declining to directly address the lurid charges about the prank. "It is satisfying to see the libelous and grossly irresponsible charges of kidnapping completely shot down," Paul campaign spokesman Jesse Benton emailed. "It remains puzzling to us why the drive-by media continues to focus on an alleged 30 year old teenage prank when our nation faces high unemployment, a thirteen trillion dollar debt and are threatened with a Cap and Trade national energy tax." Paul has also tried to discount the woman's claims as coming from "one anonymous source." In our conversation, she elaborated that she doesn't want her name in print because she's a clinical psychologist who works with former members of the military, some of whom are Tea Partyers, and fears that complicating Paul's Senate run could put her in danger.
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