Rand Paul May Have Skipped The RNC, But What He Was Doing Instead Is Way More Important

Plenty of senators were no-shows at the RNC this year. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who briefly ran for the 2016 Republican nomination, was one of them. Unlike his Senate colleagues, some of whom had less-than-convincing excuses (looking at you, Jeff Flake), Paul actually had an excellent reason to not attend: he was in Paducah, Kentucky performing free eye surgeries.

Paul, an ophthalmologist, posted pictures on Facebook and Twitter of some of the patients he operated on.

Rita has been legally blind for 6 years until today. This is why I love being a Dr. and doing pro-bono surgeries. pic.twitter.com/o1FqEenWl3

— Dr. Rand Paul (@RandPaul) July 19, 2016

Thank you to @barbbowersmd for joining me in surgery today. Great day in Paducah, KY for a great cause. pic.twitter.com/6HxuVVdR1n

— Dr. Rand Paul (@RandPaul) July 19, 2016

Last year, Paul traveled to Haiti to perform free eye surgeries there.

Good for him. The RNC is a four-day circus; fixing someone's eyesight is life-changing. I think that's an easy choice to make.

This post has been edited to fix an error.