Appearing on CBS’s “Face The Nation” with host John Dickerson on Sunday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) described his painful recovery from the attack by his Democratic neighbor as a “living hell.” Law enforcement officials arrested and charged Paul’s neighbor, Rene Boucher, for the attack in which he allegedly ran up and tackled Paul from behind.
“It was sort of, I guess, a living hell for the first four or five weeks,” Paul said. “Couldn’t get out of bed without assistance. Six broken ribs, damage to my lungs. Two bouts of pneumonia. It was really a tough go of it, but each day I feel a little bit better. This last month, I’ve been doing better.”
Dickerson then asked Paul if he has discussed with his colleagues how politics has become uglier in recent years. Paul was one of the Republicans that was attacked last summer during a baseball practice by Democrat activist-turned-terrorist James Hodgkinson, who attempted to murder the group of Republican lawmakers.
“You know, my colleagues come up all the time, and they want to make sure that there is some kind of deterrence, because people don`t want to think that it`s open season on our elected officials,” Paul continued. “I was also at the baseball field when we were shot at with automatic — semiautomatic fire, and Steve Scalise was severely wounded. And I was 10 feet from a young staffer who was shot in the leg.”
“We usually don’t ask if someone’s raped or mugged — why the person did it,” Paul noted. “We want punishment and deterrence, and I guess that’s what I’m mostly about. I just don’t think of any kind of motivation or justification, whether it’s political or personal, to attack someone who’s unaware from behind in their own yard.”
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