Free Republic

No one expects the Spanish Inquisition! Senator Rand Paul was on his way from his home in Bowling Green, Kentucky to Washington, D.C. Monday morning, when he caused some kind of “anomaly” in a body scanner at the airport in Nashville. Agents of the Transportation Security Agency declared that he would have to submit to one of those legendary full-body pat-downs, but before a single rubber glove had snapped into place, Senator Paul refused. He wanted a new scan instead, but the TSA agents really had their hearts set on that pat-down. This ended with Senator Paul parked in a...

The worst part of this is Jay Carney's vaguely creepy insistence on using bureaucracy lingo in referring to Paul throughout as "the passenger". That's actually a nifty reflection of TSA's philosophy of treating fliers equally badly so long as they're treated equally. We're all random passengers, none of us any more or less a security risk than anyone else. If someone flying in from Saudi Arabia has to submit to a patdown because he set off the scanner, than darn it, a U.S. senator on his way to speak at a rally on the Mall has to submit too. (The...

The White House is standing by the Transportation Security Administration in its standoff with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and his father, Republican presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) The elder Paul called the TSA a "police state" Monday after Sen. Paul was reportedly detained by TSA after he refused to take a pat-down from TSA officials at the Nashville International Airport. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Monday that he didn't have any reaction to Paul's comment about "police state."

On the list of stupid things the Transportation Security Administration could do for their public image: detaining Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, the politician most anxious to abolish them, is probably right near the top. But that's exactly what just happened, his Communications Director, Moira Bagley has confirmed it in a tweet. Kelly O'Donnell is reporting that aides say Paul was detained when he refused a full-body pat-down, after the scanner went off. Paul lifted his pant-leg to show he had no metal, and asked to be re-screened. He was denied this request.

<p>Posted by Ron Paul on his Facebook page: "My son Rand is currently being detained by the TSA at the Nashville Airport. I'll share more details as the situation unfolds."</p>