"Why Rand Paul Matters"

A reader writes:

While I think that Rand Paul was smart to take a step back from the national microphones and skip this week's "Meet the Press," I think his decision highlights a larger problem: politicians on the right will not venture beyond the safe confines of Fox News.  MSNBC's Joe Scarborough rhetorically asked this question on his show on Friday: "What the hell was Rand Paul doing on MSNBC?"  That says it all.  As you have chronicled much on your blog about the separation between red and blue states, this is just another nail in the coffin of debate in this country.  When the right and left of this country will not share the same TV shows to discuss or debate the issues facing our country, we all lose.