Rand is not a real doctor. He's an osteopath - they claim to have the same training as MDs but don't. I would not use one for any serious health problem... maybe herpes.

Ron Paul is also not a real physician - he teaches in some Texas college. And then there's this:
"According to a 1998 study published in the American Journal of Political Science, [Ron] Paul had the most conservative voting record of any member of Congress since 1937.

Ooh, I was all ready to answer "Paul Constant" before reading the rest.

I want a politician who constantly mentions Douglas Adams.

I want a politician with a short skirt and a long jacket.

@4: Surely you've had enough of Sarah Palin by now?

Please tell me all Paul's sons' names begin with the letter "R". Please, please, please!

Atlas Shrugged opens today. Go see it and make fun of it and feel good about yourself.

@1:

Rand is not a real doctor. He's an osteopath - they claim to have the same training as MDs but don't. I would not use one for any serious health problem... maybe herpes.

Bull-fucking-shit.

Osteopaths not only "claim" to get the same training as MDs, they do. And a smattering (or more, if they want it) of osteopathic manipulation training as well.

Osteopaths regularly enter allopathic (MD) residency programs; to do so, they participate in "the match" process exactly as do fourth-year students at the MD schools. There are osteopaths in every specialty and subspecialty of medical practice -- cardiologists and psychiatrists, proctologists and anesthesiologists, oncologists and pulmonologists.

And besides, you're wrong about Rand Paul's medical credentials. Unless, that is, the Duke University School of Medicine was an osteopathic medical school in 1988.

(This is in no way a defense of Dr. Paul. I'm only interested in refuting the assholic prejudice and misinformation displayed in comment #1.)

@#3: LOL! :)

Wake me when Ru Paul runs for something.

@1, @8, if I needed a heart transplant, I'd want a heart specialist MD, but I can report anecdotally that when it comes to more prosaic ailments like crippling lower back pain, the MDs at Group Health offer exactly ZERO relief, only pain pills that don't work. I mean absolutely jack shit. I couldn't walk unaided, and it wasn't going better, and all they had was pills. Here, try another one.

Meanwhile their website suggests that, hey, you know, it's your decision, but you should know that pain pills are the best there is, and any kind of body manipulation might, you know, paralyze you.

But when I went to a chiropractor who also specializes in osteopathic manipulation (I don't know or care what kind of degree he has), he fixed it almost instantly. The osteo table is pretty awesome, swoop swoop swoop.

I dunno that I want him to run for Congress, but when it comes to fixing real world health problems, my own scorecard currently reads Chiro 2, Osteo 2, Giving it time 3, Group Health 0.

Um, @1, @8 and @11: Whatever you may think about the profession of osteopathy, Rand Paul is not one of 'em. He is an OPHTHALMOLOGIST, but not board certified. (He says he "chose not to register" with the American Board of Ophthalmology, and created his own organization, the National Board of Ophthalmology, out of whole cloth.)

Am I the only one to be reminded of the Westboro Baptist Church?

I heard 'Atlas Shrugged' is a movie now.

I shrugged.

I made it less than halfway through Atlas Shrugged before I went Galt on Rand's horrific ideology and poor storytelling skills. So, forgive me when I say I missed the part where the underappreciated rich people get fed up with society and run to become members of Congress or the head of the national bank.

Seriously, libertarians and/or objectivists: if you don't like government, stay the fuck out of it and let some competent people in.

I didn't get my job by telling my employer how much I didn't believe in my work.

In regards to the first comment, I must respond to that woefully ignorant assesment.

Ron Paul is an OB/GYN and Rand Paul is an Eye Surgeon, and they both received an MD from Duke University School of Medicine.

Neither of them is an osteopathic physician, but I think you were referring to Ron's other son Robert Paul, who is a DO in texas. The term "osteopath" is misleading, and refers to someone who only performs osteopathic manual techniques (like a chiropractor). An osteopathic physician, on the other hand, is a fully licensed doctor who has legal and professional parity with an MD, with equal privileges to perform surgery and prescribe medicine in all 50 states. In fact, the president of the AMA (which represents both MDs and DOs) is (or was recently) an osteopathic physician.

Not only do osteopathic doctors complete the same residencies as MDs, they take the same boards and licensing exams (those that do an allopathic residency, that is). If you look at teh best hospitals in the country, you will find DOs in many specialties including, but not limited to, neurosurgery, eye surgery, internal medicine, and every other specialty. They go through 4 years of medical school, then 3-7 years of residency (alongside MD as colleagues), and the only difference is that in medical school they do a few months worth of a technique called Osteopathic Manipulation, which the vast majority of DOs disregard (any specialist DO, at least). Robert Paul (a DO), is a physician specializing in family medicine.

Sorry for the rant! I am an MD, but I always cringe when I read these sorts of comments, as many of my colleagues in my specialty (anesthesiology) are fantastic DOs.