For the third day in a row, it's mostly crickets within the far-right reaches of the blogosphere as the Tea Party's favorite Kentucky Republican, Rand Paul, continues to struggle with growing controversies over his public, post-primary comments about the 1964 Civil Right Acts, as well as the BP oil spill disaster. The consensus, at least within the Beltway press and among election pro's from both parties, is that Paul is having an awful week making a series of very public --and unforced-- errors. And perhaps that's to be expected as the Tea Party movement backs political rookies in more and more races. What is not expected though, is the stunning lack of support Paul has received from normally pro-Tea Party bloggers on the far right who, Day Three into the Paul meltdown, have remained strangely silent about the growing controversy.
The liberal blogosphere has been feasting on the story this week (Rand owns Memeorandum these days), while their counterparts turn an odd blind eye. For instance, I don't see a single entry on the topic posted by high-profile bloggers such as Michelle Malkin or Gateway Pundit.
Question: Is Rand Paul being thrown under the blogosphere bus?
Or maybe bloggers, like so many other observers, just don't know what to make of Paul's claims that, in 2010, perhaps it's okay for business to discriminate against minorities, or that well, gee accidents happen and why should we blame BP for the Gulf Coast disaster?
Then again, right-wing bloggers have never been shy about defending the indefensible in the past. So what's going on? Why are so many online Tea Party cheerleaders remaining permenently mum about Paul? And can the candidate possibly recover if even his most fervent supporters won't come to his defense?
UPDATED: Speaking of online supporters remaining mum, Sarah Palin, who backed Paul, sure is keeping quiet amidst the controversy. Facebook cat got her tongue?
