ROCHESTER, N.H.—Eight questions into his meet-and-greet at the Pink Cadillac Diner Kentucky, Senator Rand Paul made his first accidental policy. One of the Stafford County Republicans who’d shown up for breakfast asked Paul about the heart-rending crises in the Veterans Affairs administration. Was it time, she asked, to “overhaul the VA and let it go to the private sector?”
“Yes,” said Paul. Three dozen Republicans put down their coffee and applauded. Then the senator explained himself. “In Kentucky, we’re building an $800 million new VA hospital,” he said. “That would buy a lot of insurance just to go to the doctor, any doctor… I think the care is for the most part good, but the distribution’s bad. When you think VA, think single payer system.”
