Recommended read from Salon.com: Rand Paul's twisted race lies: His new views on civil rights are as phony as the old ones

"If you Google "Rand Paul Civil Rights Act," the first prompt that comes up is "unconstitutional," so it was definitely heartening to see his apparent about-face on the act's 50th anniversary, when he attended a local commemoration at the Shelbyville, Kentucky, home of Dr. Maurice F. Rabb, a prominent civil rights activist in the 1940s and '50s. “Every major civil rights activist that came to the South stayed with my parents,” Chris Rabb said. “They were not allowed to stay in hotels.”

Paul has previously voiced his objection to the Civil Rights Act precisely because it put an end to such private-sector discrimination. But on this occasion, he released a statement saying, “'It is simply unimaginable to think what modern America would be like if it were not for the brave men and women who stood up for the rights of all Americans. The legislation changed the future of our nation by enforcing the belief that all men and women are created equal."