Politics

Rand Paul's Randy Supporters: "Adult website operator among Rand Paul donors"

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Among Rand Paul's supporters is Cyan Banister, who kicked $4,800 toward the Kentucky pol and founded Zivity.com with her husband Scott (full disclosure: The Banisters have supported Reason Foundation, the nonprofit that publishes this website).

Cyan Banister said in an e-mail [to the AP] that she was drawn to Paul's libertarian views, a philosophy shared by his father, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, whom Banister also supported financially during his unsuccessful presidential run as a Republican in 2008.

"My point of view is that our country is in danger of losing some of its most valued freedoms," she said in the e-mail. "The Pauls have strong values that resonate with mine. I believe they support limited government, tax reform, are against nationalized health care."

Zivity describes itself on its blog as "full of hot awesome," and says it has 64,000 subscribers.

Cyan Banister said the website's photos range from fashion to "art nude."

"It is a celebration of the human body, specifically female," she said.

Paul's response?

Paul's campaign issued a statement saying the Republican candidate—a father of three boys and husband of a church deacon—condemns pornography and considers it degrading to women. The campaign said it "cannot be expected to run background checks on all 25,000 donors who share his stances on issues like balanced budgets, reduced federal spending, opposition to 'Obamacare' and the reckless behavior in Washington."

That strikes me as a disappointing response. If he in fact finds porn an issue (and thinks Zivity qualifies) then he should return the money. After all, the background check has done for him in this case. Or he might point out that he is not in any way bound by the occupations of his donors or he might not like porn but considers a fully legal activity so leave it alone already. I want the Aqua Buddha Paul back, not the distancing-from-libertarian version! Kentucky voters grok freedom just like the rest of us! Read the whole story here.

Anyhoo, decide for yourself whether Zivity is indeed FOHA.