Paul cancels 'Meet the Press' appearance
By Joseph Gerth • jgerth@courier-journal.com • May 21, 2010
U.S. Senate candidate Rand Paul, following a difficult week of controversial interviews, has canceled an appearance Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."
Paul, who won the Republican primary Tuesday, said in an interview that he is "exhausted" and needs to spend time with his family because his son is being confirmed at church.
"I'm getting feedback from my homestead that I need to be going to my middle son's confirmation," he said. "The exhaustion of the whole campaign and everything, probably has something to do with it, but there definitely is my son's confirmation and that is at least part of it."
Paul had agreed Wednesday to appear on the show, but sent a message to NBC Friday saying that he needed to cancel his appearance.
The Washington Post reported that "Meet the Press" executive producer Betsy Fischer said they tried to get Paul to reconsider but hadn't heard back from him.
"We tried to impress upon them that this is a big deal," Fischer told the Post. "The only other two people to cancel have been Louis Farrakhan and Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia."
When asked if he was gun-shy after an interview earlier in the week on NBC's sister network, MSNBC, that put him in the center of a controversy over civil rights, Paul said, "For people to be dishonest about you is tough to take."