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Rand Paul on Disabilities, Take Two
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/rand-paul-disabilities-take-twoA couple of weeks ago, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) raised a few eyebrows by complaining about Americans receiving disability benefits. “Over half of the people on disability are either anxious or their back hurts. Join the club,” the senator said at a New Hampshire event. “Who doesn’t get up a little anxious for work every day and their back hurts? Everybody over 40 has a little back pain.”...
But there’s a far more substantive concern here. At his campaign stop, Paul referenced anxiety as effectively meaningless – practically everyone, he said, gets “a little anxious for work every day.” His office, however, pointed to “mood disorders,” which as Glenn Kessler’s report explained, refers to the part of the population that suffers from “conditions like bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, and dysthymia (persistent depressive disorder).”
The senator seemed to think this was some kind of punchline, as if those with bipolar disorder just get “a little anxious” before leaving for work.
Or more to the point, Paul seems to believe that those dealing with severe mental health issues are necessarily undeserving of disability benefits – or as he put it at the time, “gaming the system.”
But there’s a far more substantive concern here. At his campaign stop, Paul referenced anxiety as effectively meaningless – practically everyone, he said, gets “a little anxious for work every day.” His office, however, pointed to “mood disorders,” which as Glenn Kessler’s report explained, refers to the part of the population that suffers from “conditions like bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, and dysthymia (persistent depressive disorder).”
The senator seemed to think this was some kind of punchline, as if those with bipolar disorder just get “a little anxious” before leaving for work.
Or more to the point, Paul seems to believe that those dealing with severe mental health issues are necessarily undeserving of disability benefits – or as he put it at the time, “gaming the system.”
Um, doesn't he have prosthetic hair?
6 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
But there's a reason we call Rand the Rug Doctor. 
