[During] the 2010 Senate race... GQ.com posted a report in which an anonymous source said that Paul and another NoZe brother had taken her from her apartment, encouraged her to smoke pot, and asked her to pray to something called Aqua Buddha.The NoZe Brotherhood was a group at Baylor University that "was founded in the nineteen-twenties mostly to mock Baylor’s clubs and fraternities and to satirize its earnest religiosity." Lizza uncovers GQs source, Kristy Ditzler, and talks to her, and he also talks to Paul's confederate, George Paul (who doesn't seem to be related to Rand, despite the last name).
Ditzler is a Democrat who told Lizza she's "speaking up" because she "was a little bit irked by him making himself out to be all about God and country and all about conservative values, because he was clearly not promoting that when I knew him." Nevertheless, she was "appalled" (Rizza's word) at the way the Aqua Buddha story was distorted. She says: “They did pretend they were abducting me, but it wasn’t a forced sort of thing... It was weird, with all of these tents with bongs inside and piles of clothing. Completely bizarro."
Ditzler said that George and Rand asked her to go into one of the tents and smoke pot, but when she declined they drove to a creek in Elm Mott, north of Waco, and told her to wade into the water and worship Aqua Buddha. “They never explained what was going on, but that’s the way they were about everything—vague and mysterious.”George Paul says that "they took her to a dark pub, where they had an easel set up and pretended to sketch a portrait of her while reading Kant — but he insisted that no drugs were involved...."
He also said that the Aqua Buddha incident took place on another night, when he and Paul blindfolded Ditzler and several other members of their swim team by putting cotton in their goggles, and then loaded them into the back of a pickup and drove to the creek, where they were asked to “pay homage to the Aqua Buddha, and then we all went swimming.” He explained that Aqua Buddha was an inside joke on the swim team. During practice, George, Rand, and others would descend to the bottom of the pool and strike a Buddha pose, creating an amusing sight for swimmers at the surface. “It broke the monotony and helped us get through the workout,” he told me.That's practically wholesome. What are the lingering questions here? Drug use? After Obama, are we even going to talk about politicians using drugs in their distant past? The insincerity of Rand Paul's religion? He was in a college group that was founded to (Lizza's words) "satirize" the "earnest religiosity" they saw around them. I guess I should do my own research into the NoZe Brotherhood, but I'll just end this here by saying that satirizing earnest religiosity is what Jesus did.
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71 comments:
If this is what they got on Rand, they ain't got much.
Our last two presidents did cocaine regularly, Bush admitted to alchohol addiction. The guy before him was and probably remains a sex offender. So we're supposed to be appalled that Rand Paul was involved in some ribald college pranks?
Part of the reason this doesn't resonate is that Paul doesn't come across as a preachy family values type, so this doesn't really do anything on the hypocrisy chart. They would be better off trying to make his libertarianism look like a sham by finding that in college he went around regulating industries or something.
We still, to this day, have no idea how Barack Obama spent his years at Occidental and Columbia. We don't know his grades, his major, what courses he took, what clubs he joined, who paid for his education, nothing. And we're not supposed to ask. Yet we're supposed to care about this nonsense?
Is it possible that a person might actually change after his college days, or are we simply unable--or unwilling--to grasp that a person may actually grow into maturity?
...they took her to a dark pub, where they had an easel set up and pretended to sketch a portrait of her while reading Kant...
And I bet they forced her to read the Prolegomena zur einer jeden künftigen Metaphysik die als Wissenschaft wird auftreten können, those demonic bastards!
Is there simply no limit to the depths that these Republicans will sink to?
What happened to Aqua Velva?
Plus it's a little more creative than the standard undergraduate stuff.
Dude, Aqua Buddha was just some guy who lived in the neighborhood.
Can't we all just eat our waffles?
"I'll just end this here by saying that satirizing earnest religiosity is what Jesus did."
Hardly. He mostly criticized hypocritical religiosity. "Earnest religiosity" better describes the rich young man who asked Jesus what he should do to inherit eternal life -- and Mark's treatment of that story is the opposite of satire. (It also gave rise to the 'camel/eye of a needle' image.) Satire, as practiced in classical times (and even more so in its contemporary sense), was not really His thing.
Nuts and sluts. He can't be a slut, so he must be a nut. The Clintons aren't the only ones who know this game.
satirizing earnest liberals is what Rand Paul did.
funny that leftist commentators hyperventilate about what non-leftist people did 20-30-40-50 years ago, but are incurious about what Hillary! did two years ago, or even last month.
"We still, to this day, have no idea how Barack Obama spent his years at Occidental and Columbia. We don't know his grades, his major, what courses he took, what clubs he joined, who paid for his education, nothing. And we're not supposed to ask. Yet we're supposed to care about this nonsense?"
Heck, we still don't know what he did on the night of the Benghazi attack
If you meet the Aqua Buddha on the road, throw him under the bus.
Notorious?
Inconceivable!
I've read some of the Caro books on LBJ. The larger scandal was that most of the scandals LBJ was involved in were not reported by the press. LBJ's misdeeds were flagrant, but there wasn't much desire on the press to report them--at least not until after he fell afoul of the left in Vietnam......This story is more damaging to Ryan Lizza than it is to Paul. Not since John Oliver brought the hammer down on the Miss America contest has there been a more hard hitting piece of investigative journalism.
If John Blutarski can overcome his checkered seven-year college career to become a U.S. Senator, anyone can.
Besides, I thought it was transgressive and counter-heteronormative (not to mention safe in the they-won't-behead-you sense) to satirize mainstream Christianity.
while reading Kant..
...better than the post-modern cant undergrads are forced to endure nowadays.
"Ryan Lizza talks to 2 witnesses..."
Getting into Mary Mapes five-years-on-the-story-KINKOS! territory here.
She's a Democrat and Rand is.....not.
That's enough, don't you know that?
How many Aqua Buddhists does it take to change a lightbulb?
One to hold the easel, and one to quote from Kant.
If anything I would think this odd little "Aqua Buddha" thing would make Rand Paul more appealing in certain quarters rather than less.
Aqua Buddha, Aqua Velvet.... Meh.
I'm a lot less concerned with Paul's adolescent irreligiosity than I am with his embrace of so much else of his father's insular, provincial, misinformed and too often paranoid world view.
I also object to political dynasties, period, on the principle that they are unwholesome for a constitutional republic.
George Paul says that "they took her to a dark pub, where they had an easel set up and pretended to sketch a portrait of her while reading Kant — but he insisted that no drugs were involved...."
Suuuuurre.
But did they make her read the Ewige Blumenkraft?
Rand Paul smoking pot makes make me more likely to vote for him. College kids to do silly stuff. Who the hell really cares?
garage mahal said...
Rand Paul smoking pot makes make me more likely to vote for him. College kids to do silly stuff. Who the hell really cares?
I agree.
Rand Paul's problem is that he can't reconcile what he actually believes, which is that the wars in the ME are complete BS, with what he thinks he has to say in order to get elected, or at least receive the Repub nomination. He should have taken a more principled stand against the latest involvement, public opinion will have turned his way again by the time of the primaries.
Bad and craven politics have doomed his chances of being nominated.
I was at Baylor from '86 to '90. It's a hard place for people who haven't been there to really get, even people from Texas. It's a Baptist University, but mostly Southern Baptist. When I was there dancing was still not allowed on campus. The female dorms had few hours men were allowed to visit. The students are serious about their faith, children of missionaries, future missionaries. It was called the "Baylor Bubble" and "Jerusalem on the Brazos". The NoZe brothers and their satire publication The Rope were fantastic. There was much to be poked fun of, and I always thought they did it with restraint and respect.
Racist, War on Women, People like free stuff.
Racist, War on Women, People like free stuff.
dark pubs are the devil's playground. Everyone knows that.
Rand Paul's problem is that he can't reconcile what he actually believes, which is that the wars in the ME are complete BS, with what he thinks he has to say in order to get elected, or at least receive the Repub nomination.
*adjusts tin foil hat* I wonder if all new presidents are sat down in a large conference room where they are told exactly how shit was going to go down around the world whether they agreed with it or not, or whether that's what they successfully ran on on.
Paul must be a contender to invite such thoughtless scrutiny.
n.n said...
Paul must be a contender to invite such thoughtless scrutiny.
Not any more. It will either be a governor or Paul Ryan. Rand Paul's one shot was to ride the anti-ME war sentiment to a re-alignment of US politics convincing Repubs that he could capture a significant number of anti-war Dem voters in a run against Hillary. Now he is both compromised and that sentiment has evaporated, at least for the moment.
He would have been dangerous running to Hillary's left on foreign wars.
If Rand Paul wants to be President, then he should have served as governor or gained some other major executive experience. After six years of seeing the damage that a one-term Senator with no major executive experience can do in the White House, I have no desire to repeat the experience in 2016.
When I was there dancing was still not allowed on campus. The female dorms had few hours men were allowed to visit.
Some still remember when they had to change their affirmative consent rule to read "his or her daddy's shotgun", to avoid violating the requisites of equal protection.
Rand Paul's one shot was to ride the anti-ME war sentiment to a re-alignment of US politics
I think I've figured out why so many liberals are patriotic only towards an imaginary America that exists in their own skulls: That's where they actually live.
Paul Zrimsek said...
I've figured out why so many liberals are patriotic only towards an imaginary America that exists in their own skulls: That's where they actually live.
Failure to make a coherent point - weak invective. Troll.
Libtards: In the real world we fight pointless, trillion dollars wars. Snap out of it.
garage mahal said...
Libtards: In the real world we fight pointless, trillion dollars wars. Snap out of it.
LOL
Whaddya mean "we"?
AReasonableMeltdown: "Failure to make a coherent point - weak invective. Troll."
Yes, only postings containing the word "coward" written 17 times in a single post represent "coherent points".
Everyone knows that.
Drago said...
Yes, only postings containing the word "coward" written 17 times in a single post represent "coherent points".
No coherent point - too much time on hands - weak invective. Troll.
The Obama administration has engaged in quite a few disastrous and/or illegal military adventures, all of which were endorsed by Hillary Clinton. The idea that Rand Paul will be unable to run as the (comparatively) anti-war candidate because he partially supported *one* of those campaigns is a bit silly. The bulk of American voters are sick of the endless wars; simply being the less-war-happy candidate will be a big plus.
Revenant said...
The idea that Rand Paul will be unable to run as the (comparatively) anti-war candidate because he partially supported *one* of those campaigns is a bit
"If I were president, I would call a joint session of Congress," Paul told the AP. "I would lay out the reasoning of why ISIS is a threat to our national security and seek congressional authorization to destroy ISIS militarily."
He folded before Obama did. He is better than Hillary on this issue but, given that he has no actual power and could have said pretty much anything, the fact that he folded so quickly when other war skeptics remained steadfast seems pretty damning to me. I think he blew it.
The wars will never end. The Democrats support it. A large minority, and perhaps majority, of Republicans support it, if only to get along. Perhaps to avoid an IRS audit, imprisonment, etc.
Planned abortions terminate around 2 million wholly innocent human lives annually in America alone. Democrats support expanding this genocide throughout the world as a matter of principle, which is justified by their degenerate religion.
AReasonableMan:
I think everyone is compromised to an extent, whether they are for or against the wars/conflicts/whatever. However, there is no evidence that the general population will vote for a candidate for any reason other than domestic policies.
The loss of blood and treasure in these wars pale in comparison to what is happening in our own nation. Although the consequences have been obfuscated through governmental policies, the loss of life, devaluation of capital and labor, displacement of citizens, etc., has been exposed with unprecedented debt, economic obstacles, and selective civil policies.
AReasonableMeltdown: "He folded before Obama did. He is better than Hillary on this issue but, given that he has no actual power and could have said pretty much anything, the fact that he folded so quickly when other war skeptics remained steadfast seems pretty damning to me. I think he blew it."
LOL
"...when other war skeptics remained steadfast...."
Hilarious.
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/09/2014-elections-senate-democrats-iraq-syria-111445.html
"Liberal doves run as war hawks"
LOL
Thanks for paying attention ARMeltdown.
He folded before Obama did.
Meanwhile, back in reality, Obama gave a speech to the nation in early August announcing he'd authorized war with ISIS. Rand Paul made his remarks three weeks later.
He is better than Hillary on this issue but, given that he has no actual power and could have said pretty much anything, the fact that he folded so quickly when other war skeptics remained steadfast seems pretty damning to me.
It would be damning if there was any danger of a war skeptic running on the Democratic ticket on a platform of "Obama's foreign policy sucks". Given that the presumptive nominee was in charge of Obama's foreign policy and has openly supported every US war -- Iraq included -- since 1993, it doesn't do any harm.
After all, Obama himself ran as the "anti-war" candidate even though he supported the invasion of Afghanistan. Millions of people fell for it, too.
Revenant: "Meanwhile, back in reality, Obama gave a speech to the nation in early August announcing he'd authorized war with ISIS. Rand Paul made his remarks three weeks later."
Quite so. Quite so.
It must be difficult for AReasonableMeltdown to maintain focus on timelines when he's lapsing in and out of "reality" so often.
Revenant said...
Obama gave a speech to the nation in early August announcing he'd authorized war with ISIS.
AP Aug. 29
Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky pounced Friday on President Barack Obama's "we don't have a strategy yet" comments about the violent militant faction attacking cities in Iraq.
"Yesterday, the president admitted he had no strategy to deal with ISIS," Perry said
Drago said...
Quite so. Quite so.
Nothing to say - ever. Troll.
AReasonableMeltdown: "Nothing to say - ever."
Except for my 5:36pm comment which showed you how "steadfast" your anti-war "steadfasters" were NOT being.
LOL
Again, it's clear you have a difficult, actually very difficult, time with following discussions, timelines etc.
I just wanted to talk about Tetris...
I never played tetris. Or any other video game except chess on the VIC-20.
Oh except I wrote the physics for a fairly decent flight simulator in 1980, that ran on a pdp-11/70 with vector graphics.
Did Blogger slip a cog here?
Drago said...
Except for my 5:36pm comment which showed you how "steadfast" your anti-war "steadfasters" were NOT being.
You failed to acknowledge your mistake so now I have to point out another. I was referring to the small subset of Dems and one independent who have be steadfast against more foreign military engagement.
Deliberate misreading or stupidity. Troll.
AReasonableMeltdown's later comment: "You failed to acknowledge your mistake so now I have to point out another. I was referring to the small subset of Dems and one independent who have be steadfast against more foreign military engagement."
LOL
AReasonableMeltdown's actual earlier comment: "He folded before Obama did. He is better than Hillary on this issue but, given that he has no actual power and could have said pretty much anything, the fact that he folded so quickly when other war skeptics remained steadfast seems pretty damning to me. I think he blew it."
"...other war skeptics...."
Not "...the small subset of Dems and one independent who have be steadfast against more foreign military engagement."
You are so lost in your pretend world that you forget what you post from moment to moment.
Again, this is indicative of a seriously undermedicated mentality. As are your repeated meltdowns.
Of course, I cannot guarantee that reposting ARMeltdown's precise, exact words will not result in an unfortunate series of ARMeltdown postings.
I apologize in advance for what may follow.
And to echo Revenant, there isn't a chance in hell that any "anti-war" anything on the dem side is going to get close to the dem nomination.
BTW, when can we expect all those "steadfast" anti-war dems to rally in NYC?!
Never.
Because they aren't "anti-war".
They are anti-Republican/liberatarian/conservative and they know better than to shoot their mouths off when obambi is running his "not really a war" war.
Drago said...
And to echo ...
Failure to acknowledge two mistakes. Double Troll.
Three irrelevant posts. Triple Troll.
Can't you go back to echoing Crack?
He seems to enjoy it.
I was referring to the small subset of Dems and one independent who have be steadfast against more foreign military engagement.
I'm one if it's Hillary. The first true fuck you vote I would cast in a long time. But, of course, I have my doubts that Rand Paul could do anything about military engagements. I will say I admire him for a few positions he has taken that don't necessarily win him immediate support from the right, like prison conditions for juveniles and voting rights. The incarceration rates for bullshit offenses this country is just insane. I would love to see a president kick that door wide fucking open.
I see that having your own words layed out if front of you causes you discomfort.
Denial of the obvious might just be the best ongoing strategy for you.
Drago said...
I see that
Irrelevant post. Troll.
Now that we have dispensed with the charade of anyone on the left seriously opposing what obambi is doing in his "non-war" war, we must consider the ramifications of a Hillary candidacy in which she is well to the right of Paul when it comes to Middle East engagement.
And how, exactly, does that play out when Hillary criticizes Paul for supporting obambi's policies?
Will it really win Hillary votes in the middle that weren't already committed to her? Further, to hear garage tell it, there might be a number of those on the left who might just opt out of the Hillary "celebration".
Hillary and pals will have to double down on the aqua buddha and similar stuff to keep the campaign conversation well away from the more "uncomfortable" truths.
I must give credit to ARMeltdown.
His most recent posts are, though unfortunate, a significant improvement over "coward, coward, ......coward, coward."
So, in some small measure, congratulations are in order.
garage mahal said...
I'm one if it's Hillary.
A Hillary - Rand Paul contest would have been an easy vote for me up until recently. Now we have McCain saying what a great guy Rand Paul is, that he has 'matured'. Pretty much the kiss of death.
The Repubs, by claiming Obama is asleep at the wheel, are currently creating the perfect conditions for a Hillary election. What better corrective than her officious bossiness?
"Did Blogger slip a cog here?"
I screwed up, writing in a seemingly new window that was in fact an earlier draft of this post.
I figured out the problem and reconstructed this post from a Google cache, preserving all the comments that belong here.
Whew!
Althouse: "I figured out the problem and reconstructed this post from a Google cache, preserving all the comments that belong here."
How long did that take?
This makes me more likely to vote for him, not less. The Aqua Buddha, I find, is sort of endearing.
"Failure to make a coherent point - weak invective. Troll." - ARM
Umm, I appreciate that you prefer strong invective, but your failure to see a point does not in fact, as you seem to believe, invalidate it.
BTW, ARM, how is your earnest acceptance and defense of the Secret Service's "admirable restraint" looking?
If I were a campaign operative, this is exactly the sort of story I'd have leaked for my candidate, as it provides a bit of an innoculation. Enough of a story to get the candidate talked about, and while it seems like a "scandal" that the candidate doesn't want out there, it doesn't actually make him look bad but rather humanizes him. College antics that didn't hurt anyone? Check. Goofy rituals to let off steam? Check. A bit of distance from religious fundamentalists to make the candidate appear less captive to the religious wing of the party? Check.
I don't see how any of this hurts. In fact, by giving readers a sense that "this is his scandal, and it's not a big deal" it releases Rand Paul from the suspicion that he's too squeaky clean and must have something far worse in his closet.
tim in vermont said...
BTW, ARM,
Irrelevant post. Troll.
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