Rand Paul Allegedly Tried to Force College Classmate to "Take Bong Hits," According to GQ

By: Stephanie Condon
Topics: Republicans ,; Campaign 2010

(Credit: AP Photo/Ed Reinke)

A new article profiling Kentucky Republican Senate candidate Rand Paul's college days alleges that Paul and a friend once kidnapped a classmate and tried to force her to smoke marijuana.

The GQ Magazine article, written by Jason Zengerle, contends that Paul has cast himself as an outsider since his days at Baylor University in Texas, joining a "secret society" called the NoZe Brotherhood. The society was "a refuge for atypical Baylor students" and enjoyed needling the school's administration and its piousness, according to Zengerle.

The author relates an anecdote about Paul and another alleged member of the NoZe Brotherhood, shared by an unnamed woman who was reportedly a classmate of Paul's:

According to this woman, who requested anonymity because of her current job as a clinical psychologist, "He and Randy came to my house, they knocked on my door, and then they blindfolded me, tied me up, and put me in their car. They took me to their apartment and tried to force me to take bong hits. They'd been smoking pot." After the woman refused to smoke with them, Paul and his friend put her back in their car and drove to the countryside outside of Waco, where they stopped near a creek. "They told me their god was 'Aqua Buddha' and that I needed to bow down and worship him," the woman recalls. "They blindfolded me and made me bow down to 'Aqua Buddha' in the creek. I had to say, 'I worship you Aqua Buddha, I worship you.'

When Zengerle asked Paul campaign manager Jesse Benton about the incident, he replied: "During his time at Baylor, Dr. Paul competed on the swim team and was an active member of Young Conservatives of Texas."

Benton tells Slate, "We are investigating all our options -- including legal ones. We will not tolerate drive-by journalism by a writer with a leftist agenda."

Update Aug. 10, 6 p.m. ET: Paul denied the allegations in the GQ magazine article in an interview with Fox News.

"I think I would remember if I kidnapped someone, and I don't remember. And I absolutely deny kidnapping anyone ever," he said, according to Taegan Goddard's Political Wire.

Stephanie Condon
Stephanie Condon is a political reporter for CBSNews.com.
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by maniacai October 19, 2010 6:36 PM EDT: Why do I smell Karl Rove? This is a typical Rove move! If the people of Kentucky buy into this, then they deserve what they get! Can We just get back to the issues? Or can the democommies noT win that way!!; Reply to this comment


by tgace October 19, 2010 9:25 AM EDT: Good lord, how far back can we go to sling mud these days? Why not go back to when he kicked a puppy as a 9 yo?

Apparently theres no statute of limitations on yellow journalism.; Reply to this comment

by Sprice962 August 10, 2010 8:58 AM EDT

I know an anonymous source that says Jack Conway forced her to kill a puppy in a Satanic Ritual after they broke into a black baptist church... they drank the blood of the puppy and wrote racist graffiti with the blood.. it happened 20 years ago... but we were able to vet the story through a physic medium.

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by Bisk1 August 10, 2010 2:15 PM EDT: None of this has been DENIED by all involved as yet .... so what exactly is your point ??? Dumb repugs !!

by nagdt August 10, 2010 7:47 AM EDT

All I can say is I am SHOCKED CBS or any other publication would run a story in which the person telling the tale is not willing to share her identity. In addition no formal charges were ever made against Rand. This could be total fabrication and likely is. Disgusting.

This is exactly why CBS, NBC, ABC are losing viewers right and left.
Who, what, where, when, why. What ever happened to factual journalism?

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by ishikabe August 10, 2010 4:41 PM EDT: I'm shocked you think Fox News is any different. Maybe you should look up their story about how some anonymous man's wife got a text message from a Mexican drug cartel overlord calling for the Arizona chief of police's head.

Now that's some quality reporting!


by Birdman04 August 10, 2010 7:17 AM EDT: I don't remember having to force anyone back in those days to smoke pot.
Half the people admitted they smoked pot and most of the half flat out lying.; Reply to this comment


by scallywagy August 10, 2010 1:53 AM EDT: Hm. A conservative, second-generation politician from Texas with an affinity for Secret Society high-jinks, smoking pot, and not finishing what he has started? We?ve never see that before.

http://scallywagandvagabond.com/2010/08/rand-paul-senate-hopeful-would-like-to-announce-he-was-once-part-of-a-rebellious-clan-called-the-noze-brothers/; Reply to this comment

by nuttyworld August 10, 2010 12:51 AM EDT

Is he worse than a U.S. President who used cocaine, or a U.S. President who smoked marijuana and burned the American flag?

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by senorpedro August 10, 2010 10:41 AM EDT: "has openly expressed a wish to return to Jim Crow" Did you actually see his quote? Or did you just absorb what CBS reported about it? He wasn't advocating Jim Crow, he was just suggesting that some parts of the Civil Rights Act may have been unconstitutional. Specifically, the part where the government tells you who you have to serve at your business, thereby removing a business owner's right to refuse service to whoever he wants.

See, some people in this country think the Constitution is a good thing--something that keeps the government out of the citizens' lives as much as possible. Other people think the government should be able to do whatever it wants, just like Mr. Obama and Pelosi have been doing the past 18 months. Look at everything negative that's going on around the country, especially with the economy, and tell me that it's a good thing that they have this much power. And while you're at it, why don't you try to explain what this administration and Congress have done that hasn't created or exacerbated a problem.


by Bisk1 August 10, 2010 2:19 PM EDT: senorpedro, what PROBLEMS do you attribute to the POTUS Obama ??? Which problem did he either create or exacerbate ?? Or are you just a Dumb Dumb Repug ??

by troutfishyman August 9, 2010 11:41 PM EDT

Rand Paul is a very odd and creepy individual. Listen to him ramble on with his crazy libertarian nonsense sometime. He does not seem completely sane to me.

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by nuttyworld August 10, 2010 12:53 AM EDT: Joe Biden's long lost twin?


by truth-b-toll August 9, 2010 11:29 PM EDT: BONG HITS?
I was kidding!
Why would I waste good BONG-HITS on a scag?
sounds like a resonable fellow?
let's make him a congressman!
go gop!; Reply to this comment


by ronaldr5-2009 August 9, 2010 10:55 PM EDT: CBS picks up a Great Story!!
And it's authentic, too -- GQ, nonetheless!

"How low can you go?"
(I'm sure your web visitors will find out tomorrow or the next day . . .); Reply to this comment