A word of advice for aspiring presidential candidates (and regular people): Don’t "shush" reporters. And, definitely don’t shush female reporters while telling them to “calm down.”
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican who’s all but thrown his hat into the ring as a 2016 presidential candidate, made both of those mistakes on Monday in an interview with CNBC's Closing Bell co-anchor, Kelly Evans. (You can see it below at around 3:20.)
Paul was responding to a nuanced question from Evans about a tax proposal he recently floated. “Let me finish, hey, hey, let me finish,” Paul said over a retort from Evans — still pretty acceptable territory for a politician who’s having his feet held to the fire. So, where did he go wrong? About the time he put one finger up to his mouth and admonished Evans with a shush. “Hey, hey, shhh, shhh,” Paul told the reporter. “Calm down a bit here, Kelly.” A bit later in the interview, he admonishes her (on live TV) for conducting her interview poorly.
His performance is a master class in being patronizing. Overt "mansplaining" is not a great idea for a candidate of a party known for missing the mark on women’s issues.
Sen. Paul was on TV to talk about yet another statement that had gotten him in some hot water: The Senator had responded to the current measles outbreak by saying that all vaccines should be voluntary.
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