Paging Dr. Paul! And by doctor, I mean a real one. Rand Paul is a quack:

Republican U.S. Senate nominee Rand Paul belongs to a conservative doctors’ group that, among other things, has expressed doubts about the connection between HIV and AIDS and suggested that President Barack Obama may have been elected because he was able to hypnotize voters.

But let’s not jump to conclusions. I’m sure this group (Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, based in Arizona), a doctors’ organization after all, is sound. Physicians are bright, caring people with lots of training. Hey, I don’t watch Grey’s Anatomy for nothing.

Dr. George Nichols, Kentucky’s former longtime medical examiner, said the AAPS’ positions sound like a combination of “pseudo-science, public policy and mysticism.”

And Mother Jones, a liberal magazine that wrote about the group earlier this year, has said the group is “hardly part of a mainstream medical society. Think (Fox News commentator) Glenn Beck with an MD.”

On second thought…

My dad is a retired internist. I don’t think he was ever into mysticism.

[O]ne of the AAPS’ most disconcerting positions is to question whether the human immunodeficiency virus is the cause of AIDS. [...]

On its Website, the AAPS included an article in October 2008 titled, “Is Obama a Brilliant Orator … or a Hypnotist?” It cites an unsigned paper suggesting that Obama used hypnotic techniques and speech patterns in his 2008 campaign. [...]

The AAPS article notes that the Obama campaign logo “might just be the letter ‘O,’ but it also resembles a crystal ball, a favorite of hypnotists.”

And it suggests that hypnosis is the reason some Jewish people backed him.

“It is also interesting that many Jews are supporting a candidate who is endorsed by Hamas, Farrakhan, Khalidi and Iran,” the article says. [...]

The AAPS advances the claim that women who have abortions are at a higher risk for breast cancer, although the National Cancer Institute and the American Cancer Society say there is no such link.

And they don’t limit themselves to loony medical opinions.  Dare I even type it … “9/11″?

In its fall 2003 issue, the AAPS journal published a report suggesting that the twin towers at the World Trade Center collapsed on Sept. 11, 2001, because the New York City Port Authority, fearful of lawsuits and complying with new federal restrictions, stopped the use of flame-retardant asbestos midway through construction of the north tower.

A man is known by the company he keeps…

On a more serious note, a man whose beliefs and professional opinions fly in the face of reality has no business holding public office. Not in this century, anyway.