When it comes to Ebola, tea party darling Sen. Rand Paul and his doctor dad, the former libertarian-turned-Republican Rep. Ron Paul, view it 180 degrees differently.
The senator from Kentucky thinks a ban on those traveling from African countries where the disease is raging “ought to be considered,” he said during an interview with Fox News radio a week ago.
“It’s not like AIDS,” Sen. Paul said then, Raw Story reported. “AIDS is difficult to transmit. You’re not going to go into a cocktail party and have someone cough and get AIDS. If you are in a cocktail party with someone with Ebola and they cough, you are at risk for getting Ebola.”
And his argument: “A temporary hiatus on flights [is] only reasonable,” Raw Story reported.
But his father, meanwhile, told a BuzzFeed reporter that the nation should go slow on the Ebola situation and get some “perspective,” he said. He also made similar claims during a broadcast interview on Newsmax TV.
“For a government to just ban all travel, I’m not much interested in that,” Ron Paul said, on Newsmax TV. “You’ve got to put it in perspective. What if you wanted to save 15,000 deaths from AIDS this year. Why don’t you ban certain practices that spread AIDS? So, we’re talking about one person that’s died [of Ebola in America] and we want to close down the world travel system.”
The former lawmaker from Texas then said up to 49,000 died each year from influenza — yet no one wants to enact a travel ban over that, Raw Story reported.
“So right now, I would say a travel ban is politically motivated more than something done for medical purposes,” he said, Raw Story reported.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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