Rand Paul's 'Detainment' Doesn't Look Too Harsh
Another piece of evidence casts doubt on whether or not Sen. Rand Paul was really "detained" at Nashville's airport. Security footage found by the The Tennessean shows Paul peacefully sitting in a TSA glass cubicle. Video of a guy peacefully waiting in airport security before being escorted out of the airport would be awfully boring if the man in question wasn't a firebrand libertarian whose father is running for president. Earlier this week, Paul insisted he was "detained" by the TSA while flying on Monday. "I tried to leave the cubicle to speak to one of the TSA people and I was barked at: ‘Do not leave the cubicle!’" Paul told reporters after refusing a full-body pat-down when he set off airport scanner alarms. "So, that, to me sounds like I’m being asked not to leave the cubicle."
RELATED: Rand Paul Describes His TSA 'Detention'
TSA countered that Paul was never detained. Because there's no audio, we have no way of knowing what was said. And while we can disagree on whether what happened to Paul constitutes "detainment," the way Paul was treated (not a finger laid on him) doesn't quite illustrate the harshness that word usually suggests. As Gawker's Max Read argues, Paul blew the whole thing out of proportion (probably for publicity). But one thing we did notice in Paul's defense: At no point did he seem "irate" in the video, despite the police report calling him so.
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