HOLIDAY SPIRIT

Rand Paul Has a Few Festivus Grievances

<p>The Kentucky senator seems to be making the <em>Seinfeld </em>holiday a tradition on Twitter. Just don’t expect him to erect a pole made of beer cans.</p>

Who needs Santa when there’s George Costanza?

That seems to be the attitude of Sen. Rand Paul, who took to Twitter on Tuesday to celebrate Festivus, the holiday created by Costanza’s father on Seinfeld. For the second year in a row, Paul engaged in one of the holiday’s many traditions: the airing of grievances.

Paul’s grievances ranged from the serious (attacking the Obama administration on the NSA and the Patriot Act, as well as what he sees as wasteful government spending on “Swedish massages for rabbits”) to lighthearted complaints (“Politics doesn’t involve enough puppies. People like puppies.”).

The Kentucky Republican also mentioned several potential GOP rivals in 2016. He praised Rick Santorum, famous for wearing sweater vests in 2012, for running a “fashion forward campaign.” Paul avoided reopening his recent skirmish over Cuba policy with Marco Rubio and simply wished the Florida Republican “an early Merry Christmas.”

Yet while Frank Costanza created Festivus as an alternative to Christmas and some Americans really do seem to treat it as such, Paul may not be taking the holiday so seriously. In his last tweet, he wished his followers a “Merry Christmas.” Asked whether the senator took part in other Festivus traditions, such as raising a Festivus pole made of empty beer cans or engaging in feats of strength, top Paul strategist Doug Stafford responded with an all-caps email to The Daily Beast: “PLEASE TELL ME YOU ARE JOKING.”

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Ben Jacobs

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