GOP Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky announced his candidacy for presidency this week. Shortly thereafter, he had a tense interview with Today Show anchor Savannah Guthrie. It was contentious enough to attract a lot of media attention afterward. What happened? Was the line of questioning biased? Did Paul react the way he did because the interviewer was female? Here's a look at what's being said about what happened across the media spectrum.
Snippets from the Right
Hot Air
"'To read Today’s take on this interview is to come away with the impression that it was a collegial exchange in which Paul essentially praised President Barack Obama’s negotiating skills vis-à-vis Iran. 'Rand Paul on Iran nuclear deal: ‘I’m going to keep an open mind,’' the headline read. The story’s three paragraph write-up of the interview contained only a handful of quotes, all of which indicated that Paul was supportive of the outcome of negotiations with Iran.
But anyone who watched the six-minute exchange probably came away with a distinctly different impression. The interview was tense and confrontational. Paul and Guthrie regularly clashed, and Paul took visible offense at the number of times in which his positions were mischaracterized."'
Snippets from the Left
New York Times
"'Before we go through a litany of things you say I changed on, why don’t you ask me a question: Have I changed my opinion? That would be sort of a better way to approach an interview,' he said. As Ms. Guthrie tried to repeat her question, Mr. Paul — the Republican senator from Kentucky who was interviewed remotely from New Hampshire, where he is spending a full day campaigning after his announcement to run for president on Tuesday — cut her off.
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The interview drew criticism on social media, reviving a Twitter hashtag “#Randsplaining,” a play on the term “mansplaining,” which is used to describe a conversation in which a man speaks in a condescending manner to a woman. The hashtag became popular months ago, after Mr. Paul was criticized for telling a female anchor, Kelly Evans of CNBC, to “calm down” during a February interview."
Snippets from the Center
CNN
"'I think I've been universally short tempered and testy with both male and female reporters. I'll own up to that,' [Paul] said.
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The interview on Wednesday took a contentious turn when Guthrie began to detail what she said were shifts over the years in his foreign policy views.
'You have had views on foreign policy in the past that are somewhat unorthodox, but you seem to have changed over the years,' Guthrie said. 'You once said Iran was not a threat, now you say it is. You once proposed ending foreign aid to Israel, now you support it, at least for the time being. And you once offered to drastically cut --'
Paul, who was speaking by satellite from Nashua, New Hampshire, tried to interject. 'Why don't you let me explain instead of talking over me, OK?' Paul said."