Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) has been detained by the TSA for refusing a full-body patdown in the Nashville airport. At about 10AM, Moira Bagely, his communications director, tweeted: "Just got a call from @senrandpaul. He's currently being detained by TSA in Nashville[.]"
About half an hour later, Congressman Ron Paul corroborated the story via Twitter, saying: "My son @SenRandPaul being detained by TSA for refusing full body pat-down after anomaly in body scanner in Nashville. More details coming."
CNN's Lisa Desjardins tweeted more information shortly thereafter, noting the reason for the detention: "IMPORTANT in Rand Paul story: The issue is he refused a pat down, wanted to go through scanner instead. That triggered detention."
Apparently, the scanner didn't like something in Paul's knee -- and thanks to the delay, he will not make it back to Washington for the first day of the Senate's first official session in 2012.
U.S. Sen. Rand Paul says he was stopped briefly by security at the Nashville airport when a scanner found an "anomaly" on his knee.
The Republican who frequently uses the airport about an hour from his Bowling Green, Ky., home told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that he asked for another scan but refused a pat down by airport security. He said he was "detained" at a small cubicle and couldn't make his flight to Washington for a Senate session.
Now don't you all feel safer?
Ironically, Senator Paul has been a vocal opponent of the body scanners, noting that they delay travelers who don't pose any sort of threat, and frequently go off thanks to technical problems. Seems like Janet Napolitano may have earned an "I told you so" from the Senator.