Mitch McConnell Thinks Rand Paul “Has Said Quite Enough For The Time Being” On National TV

It must have been painful for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to say anything about Rand Paul after his Civil Rights Act comments other than “told you so,” but somehow he managed to pull together and give the GOP Senate candidate some advice on how to repair his image after last week, after distancing himself from Paul’s comments on the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Visiting CNN’s John King, McConnell, who endorsed Paul’s opponent Trey Grayson in the Kentucky Senate Republican Primary, McConnell gave some comments on Paul’s discomfort with Obama’s adversarial tone towards BP– namely, that it was completely justified. “Criticism of BP is obviously well-founded,” he noted, “there’s plenty of blame to go around.”

As for Paul himself, McConnell pointed out that he is “in a very good position to put this Senate race in Kentucky in GOP hands,” but that he must not focus on Kentucky residents and not the national spotlight– “speak to the people who are actually voting in this election.” He concluded, with a bit of a muted sigh, “I think he’s said quite enough for the time being in terms of national press coverage.”

The interview, from tonight’s edition of John King USA, below:

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!