Another clown in the car

Surprising absolutely no one, Randal Howard "Rand" Paul, a first-term US Senator from Kentucky, has announced he’s running for president. He joins another first-term US Senator, Canadian-born Rafael Edward “Ted” Cruz of Texas, as the first two entrants in the Republican Clown Car for 2016.

Paul is trying to forge a brand for himself as “a different kind of Republican,” leaving sensible people to wonder, different HOW, exactly? Dan Savage sums it up well:

Rand Paul is a different kind of Republican! Rand Paul has all sorts of new ideas! New ideas like, um, opposing same-sex marriage, backing the "Life Begins at Conception Act" (which would make abortion illegal), and keeping marijuana illegal. Rand Paul also has a big new idea about climate change: it's not happening and Paul opposes efforts to regulate carbon emissions! Rand Paul wants to increase defense spending by $190 billion! He opposes Obama's nukes deal with Iran, and he fully backs the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision that allows unregulated and unlimited contributions to flow into campaigns! Rand Paul also supports the Supreme Court decision that gutted the Voting Rights Act! Paul opposes all gun control measures, has pledged to repeal Obamacare, and wants to use drones to police our border with Mexico and increase the number of deportations.

Rand Paul isn't like all of those other Republicans who want to do all of the exact same things Rand Paul wants to do.

Despite what he later claimed, Paul also said that he didn't like the fact that the1964 Civil Rights Act prohibited discrimination because businesses should be free to discriminate. This mindset is part of the reason that ThinkProgress said "Rand Paul Would Be The Worst President On Civil Rights Since The 1800s."

Yeah, Paul sure is different from other Republican politicians! Just like a glass of water is different from a glass of water.

Even more clowns will pile into the Republican Clown Car in the weeks and months ahead. All of them will be different kinds of Republicans, too.

There’s still 1 year, 7 months, 1 day until the 2016 presidential election.

Related: Raw Story lists “10 reasons why Rand Paul will never set foot in the White House – except on a tour”