'Southern Avenger' Leaves Rand Paul's Staff

The Southern Avenger rides alone once more. Jack Hunter has left Rand Paul's employ amidst a firestorm of controversy about his past as a Confederate flag-wearing secessionist shock jock and columnist. Hunter first broke the news to his friend W. James Antle III at the Daily Caller. "I've long been a conservative, and years ago, a much more politically incorrect (and campy) one," Hunter said. "But there's a significant difference between being politically incorrect and racist." He intends to return to punditry.

Paul had previously stuck by Hunter. "I think the things he said about John Wilkes Booth are absolutely stupid," he told the Huffington Post two weeks ago. But "if I thought he was a white supremacist, he would be fired immediately." Instead it seems he's been fired slowly. Paul today said he and Hunter had come to a "mutual decision" that he should leave. "I think everybody occasionally has people that work for them who sometimes have a background that damages what you’re trying to do," Paul explained, according to CN|2. (More Rand Paul stories.)