An an avid support of Ron Paul during the 2008 primaries and a proud "Phoenix Revolutionary," I was excited to hear that another member of the Paul family could be headed to capitol hill.

That excitement has diminished, not because of the comments he made on Rachel Maddow's show regarding race rights, but because of the comments he failed to make.

Instead of getting into a lose-lose argument regarding the 1964 act, why didn't Paul use the opportunity to CLEARLY spread the message of liberty and freedom?

For example, Paul should have made it CLEAR that slavery and discrimination were not problems "solved" by the federal government, but CREATED and ENDORSED by the federal government, in an obvious case of problem-reaction-solution.

The so-called civil rights act is a ruse: if rights are inherent and universal (granted to us by other than man), how could the act have done anything more than simply restore rights that were previously taken away by very government that is supposed to protect individual liberty?

Instead of arguing that "public" institutions should be the only ones prohibited from discrimination, how refreshing would it have been to hear him argue for the drastic elimination of "public" institutions, that historically keep minorities down and in depressed situations?

Obviously, there's no "discrimination" today in our federal prisons, which are disproportionately filled with blacks and latinos. Perhaps our wonderful federal government was just making up for lost time because of its past institutional discrimination?

But instead, Rand fell into the trap, and came out looking like a southern gentleman... who held views that are far too complex for both media soundbytes and the population in general.

And when he finally realized he was caught, he resorted to the left-right paradigm and lashed out at the "liberals" for causing him his problems. Not an ideal way to take responsibility for your views and actions and deeply disappointing if you ask me.

More disturbing is the story today of Rand's comments regarding the BP oil disaster, which came across as defending the company and attacking again those "liberals," such as Obama.

Rand sure is sounding like a republican these days, as the libertarians I know would have chomped at the bit to attack the government-industry complex and collusion that ALLOWED the situation to occur in the first place: by allowing government to subsidize and pick winners in a supposedly free market.

Has Ran Paul sold out? I don't believe so, and I don't fault him for being on the wrong side of a media interview. But I do strongly question who in the hell is advising him on these issues, as it seems like deja vu from Ron Paul's 2008 campaign of bone-headed moves and not striking when the iron is hot when it is necessary to do so.

David Alpha