Rand Paul kicks up more controversy: 'I wasn't sure [Obama's] views on marriage could get any gayer'

Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky caused a firestorm over the weekend after remarking that he didn't think President Obama's "views on marriage could get any gayer." (Video after the jump.)

Paul, the son of libertarian candidate for president Ron Paul and a Tea Party favorite, was speaking in Iowa at the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition Spring Kickoff event.

Even the conservative evangelical leader Tony Perkins who leads the Family Research Council took issue with Paul's comment. "I think we should be civil, respectful, allowing all sides to have the debate," Perkins said on Sunday's Face the Nation on CBS.

But history shows that Paul is usually happy to court controversy. A couple of his choice remarks over the years.

• Criticized the Obama administration for going after BP following the Gulf oil spill.

"What I don't like from the president's administration is this sort of, 'I'll put my boot heel on the throat of BP. I think that sounds really un-American in his criticism of business."

• Questioned some components of the Civil Rights Act and Americans with Disabilities Act before walking his comments back.

"I don’t like the idea of telling private business owners—I abhor racism. I think it’s a bad business decision to exclude anybody from your restaurant—but, at the same time, I do believe in private ownership." 

• He made this comment on government services following Hurricane Katrina.

  "I think we can take care of those in our society who are the have-nots, the can-nots, the mentally ill... without government."