BLOWING OFF MTP? SMART. DOING IT DEFENSIVELY? NOT SMART.

I've been thinking that Rand Paul's recent dealings with the media are likely to be a lot less problematic for him in Kentucky than they seem to us non-Kentuckians, because he can just defiantly say that he's being set upon by the same evildoers the right-wing rank and file has been trained to hate for years. And so I thought even his decision to cancel his Meet the Press appearance might redound to his advantage back home.

But the way he did it is all wrong:

... the campaign of Kentucky U.S. Senate candidate Rand Paul tells me it has canceled the candidate's upcoming appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press" -- something the show's host and producer are currently sounding the alarm about on Twitter.

"Rand did Good Morning America today, set the record straight, and now we are done talking about it," said campaign spokesman Jesse Benton. "No more national interviews on the topic."

No, no, no -- that's not what you say. You don't bristle and try to drop the subject.

You brag about your decision to cancel your appearance on national TV. You say, "I admit I was a bit naive. I thought I could get fair treatment from the liberal media. I'm a political outsider -- I didn't know the ways of the press in New York City and Washington, D.C. But now I see how these people operate, and I'm through with them. They don't care about this country. They don't care about the truth. They don't care about you and me and the things that matter to us. All they care about is...."

Do I really have to finish this? You could write a speech like this yourself, off the top of your head. I'm amazed Rand Paul can't.

Come on, Rand, it's easy. Your pal Sarah Palin could thumb out a tweet like this with one hand while stirring a pot of moose chili with the other (or getting a manicure on the other). You can't pull this off? You can't know this basic recipe for taking lemons and making lemonade? I guess you really aren't ready for the big leagues.