Entertainment

Rand Paul Holds ‘Daily Show’ Bourbon Debate After Failing to Make Fox Business Lineup

CONSOLATION PRIZE

In lieu of tomorrow night’s primetime debate on Fox Business Network, this will have to do for Rand Paul.

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Earlier this week, Fox Business Network announced that Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) had not made the cut for the first GOP Debate of 2016. In turn, the candidate said he would not be participating in the channel’s so-called undercard debate because he deemed it beneath him.

Something that’s apparently not beneath Paul? A one-on-one debate with Trevor Noah on The Daily Show.

“I want to thank you, first. The thing is, I was worried I wasn’t going to make the debate and I did! I made the debate,” Paul joked after showing up as a surprise guest on the late-night show Wednesday. “I was so close to being excluded.”

Noah spun his debate-style lectern around to reveal an array of “the finest Kentucky bourbon” in Paul’s honor. With the candidate in jeans, it helped add to the casual nature of the whole affair. Noah vowed to take a shot every time he felt Paul was evading his question.

Right off the bat, Paul took shots at likely Iowa Caucus victor Ted Cruz, saying you hear Republicans say they want to make the “sand glow” and want to “carpet-bomb” ISIS. “But the problem is if you bomb civil centers and you kill civilians, will there be more terrorists or less terrorists?” he asked. “Now, I’m not saying that we don’t defend ourselves, but I’m saying we have to think about what we do before we do it, and we have to think about the ramifications of doing it.”

As Noah proceeded to ask Paul questions about deregulation and tax reform, he found himself drinking a lot less than he perhaps expected to.