GOP - Rand Paul's Presidential Highlight Reel w/ his Libertarian Twist

[Chef Ramsay]

Congressman Thomas Massie introduces and endorses Rand Paul at StandWithRand Rally in KY - 5/30/15
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=12&v=BI2yg9mCcv8
Great analogy by Massie, Rand is like a UFC fighter coming into a "Pro Wrestling" match.

[Chef Ramsay]

Big GOP donors shun Rand Paul over foreign policy and Israel

WASHINGTON — Some of the biggest donors and fundraisers in the Republican Party, still uncertain who should get their support in 2016, are sprinkling their money around a presidential field that grows by the day.

The largesse born of their indecision has a notable exception: Rand Paul.

The Kentucky senator has aggressively tried to raise money around his effort to curtail the surveillance powers of the National Security Agency, emailing supporters and posting messages on social media imploring people to “celebrate this victory” with their cash.

In doing so, he’s exacerbated the perception among some of the GOP’s most generous donors that his positions on foreign policy make him an unacceptable choice for the White House. This is especially so to those who consider an aggressive posture abroad and support for Israel paramount.

“I do not know of a single person in Mitt Romney’s donor network who will be with Rand Paul,” said Phil Rosen, a Manhattan attorney and top fundraiser for the 2012 Republican nominee. Rosen said he met with Paul and politely told him he wouldn’t be supporting him “because of his isolationist and libertarian policies.”

Rosen hasn’t settled on his choice in next year’s primary contest but expects to decide soon from a short list. Other prominent donors are doing the same, with some willing to give money to multiple candidates in the early stages of the campaign, but not to Paul.

Among them: Las Vegas casino owner Sheldon Adelson, New York hedge fund pioneer Michael Steinhardt and Ken Abramowitz, founder of a venture capital firm in New York. All three have given money to South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, who announced his presidential campaign on Monday by saying he wants “to be president to defeat the enemies trying to kill us.”

More...http://nypost.com/2015/06/02/big-gop-donors-shun-rand-paul-over-foreign-policy-and-israel/

[Chef Ramsay]

Fox News Poll - Rand in 4th with 9% (Ties 1st for 2nd choice)

1st and 2nd choice combined:

Paul - 20%
Bush - 20%
Walker - 19%
Rubio - 18%
Carson - 15%
Cruz - 13%
Huckabee - 13%
Christie - 9%
Perry - 7%
Trump - 6%
Santorum - 6%
Fiorina - 4%
Kasich - 4%
Pataki - 4%
Jindal - 3%
Graham - 3%

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/interactive/2015/06/04/fox-news-polls-only-36-percent-think-obamas-policies-have-helped-economy-voters/

[Chef Ramsay]

Rand Paul TIME op-ed: Don’t Trust a Lying Government

The USA Freedom Act, which the Senate approved Tuesday, still threatens the constitutional rights of Americans

This week President Barack Obama suffered a serious rebuke. Congress sent the president a bill that he signed that tells him his illegal bulk collection of phone records must end.

Apologists for collecting all the phone records of all Americans all of the time now belatedly say they are OK with ending the bulk collection program. They want you to know that your records are not really protected by the Fourth Amendment. They are only doing you a favor by granting you this reform.

Former Director of the National Security Agency and Central Intelligence Agency Michael Hayden writes in TIME that the law is clear. According to Hayden, your records—once held by the phone company—have no Fourth Amendment protection. Hayden writes: “The controlling legal authority here is a Supreme Court case decided in 1979, Smith v. Maryland, where the court held that metadata is not, repeat not, constitutionally protected.”

I think the Supreme Court has not yet caught up to an era in which one keeps one’s papers in a cloud, not a castle.

...

http://time.com/3906955/sen-rand-paul-lying-government/

[Chef Ramsay]

Rand Paul on Blocking the Patriot Act, GOP Hawks, and Edward Snowden (ReasonTV interview)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEZroWTlK5I

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has had a busy couple of months.

In April the junior senator from Kentucky announced that he was officially running for president. In May he released his new book, Taking a Stand, which argues that only a “new kind of Republican” can win a general election against Hillary Clinton, in part by embracing such cross-partisan issues as privacy, as he did most famously in a March 2013 filibuster about drone policy.

And as the clock struck down to June, Paul fulfilled a campaign vow – and pissed off a lot of Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and much of the 2016 presidential field – by blocking reauthorization of the Patriot Act.

Reason Magazine Editor-in-Chief Matt Welch sat down with Rand Paul in his Washington, D.C. campaign office Thursday to discuss his ongoing disputes with GOP hawks like Lindsey Graham, whether Edward Snowden should go to prison, and what will be the future of NSA surveillance.

http://reason.com/reasontv/2015/06/05/rand-paul-on-blocking-the-patriot-act-go

[iCEBREAKER]

Big GOP donors shun Rand Paul over foreign policy and Israel

Good.  When Rand defeats neoconservative neocolonialist Jeb/Hilldog, he won't have to give the Adelsons or any other warmongers the time of day.

He can truthfully point out they had their chance to support him or stay neutral, but chose instead to oppose.

I think he's following his parents' advice to smother them with honey and then kill them with kindness.   

[Chef Ramsay]

Big GOP donors shun Rand Paul over foreign policy and Israel

Good.  When Rand defeats neoconservative neocolonialist Jeb/Hilldog, he won't have to give the Adelsons or any other warmongers the time of day.

He can truthfully point out they had their chance to support him or stay neutral, but chose instead to oppose.

I think he's following his parents' advice to smother them with honey and then kill them with kindness.   

Totally, even though it's a hit piece, it's nice to see that Rand can showcase himself as the man of the people w/ most big money not wanting to support him - thus him not being for sale. I surmise that some of the lukewarm billionaires he's been cultivating will shell out cash as they see his performance and poll numbers continue to be hot. His latest filibuster over the Patriot Act and the surveillance portions are raising eye brows in a large way.

[Chef Ramsay]

[Video] Rand Paul speaks at press conference for declassifying 28 pages of 9/11 report

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ozSLcVT8nM

Rand opens the press conference and also takes a few questions at 29:00 and 36:00. Walter Jones speaks at 6:00 and Thomas Massie at 13:25.

--------------

Y'all gotta see this, it's pretty powerful especially if you have a thing for the conspiracy theory world as it brings to life the rationality of the whole thing as Rand wouldn't bring it up in a presidential season if it was going to make crack pottery out of him. Lot's of talk about the Saudis and their potential involvement in this.

[Chef Ramsay]

Rand Paul Demands White House Release Trade Deal Text Immediately

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Saturday it “boggles the mind” that the White House has not yet released the text of trade deal it’s pushing, known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

“It kind of boggles the mind,” Paul said in an interview with Breitbart News. “Who’s in charge of the administration that decides to keep a trade treaty secret? To keep it classified makes no sense at all.”

Paul said the administration should immediately release the text of the trade deal so members of the Senate can decide how to vote later on.

The Senate recently voted to fast-track the trade deal, which would allow an up-or-down vote on it. House GOP leaders could hold the fast-track vote as early as next week despite opposition from groups in both parties.

“To me, it’s kind of you put the cart before the horse to give the permission to do something you haven’t seen,” Paul said. “They claim you’ll get to see it, again but you’ll only get an up-or-down vote with no amendments. Also, they get rid of some of the rules on — I guess it’s not, you can’t filibuster it either. It passes with a simple majority.”

More...http://thehill.com/policy/finance/244220-rand-paul-demands-white-house-release-trade-deal-text-immediately

[Chef Ramsay]

Rand Paul more favorable than Rubio/Walker/Bush among independents in NC

Paul 35% favorable
Rubio 31% favorable
Walker 30% favorable
Bush 20% favorable

http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/2015/PPP_Release_NC_60415.pdf

Paul is also tied for 2nd in NC:

Bush 19%
Rand, Walker and Rubio 12%
Cruz 11%
Huckabee 10%
Carson 9%
Christie 8%
Fiorina 2%


Head to Head in NC Rand ties Clinton at 44% only other Republican to tie Clinton is Walker at 45%

Rubio 44-45 = -1
Huckabee 44-46 = -2
Carson 44-46 = -2
Christie 40-43 = -3
Fiorina 40-46 = -6
Cruz 42-49 = -7
Bush 40-47 = -7

[Chef Ramsay]

[Video] Rand Paul speaks at "Pints for Liberty" event in Greenville, SC - 5/29/15

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeEJMO-jT2A

Full House! Rand heavily invokes the 9th Amendment and the 4th, 5th and 6th.

[Chef Ramsay]

EXCLUSIVE — RAND PAUL SLAMS RUBIO OVER OBAMATRADE: ‘WE SHOULD READ LEGISLATION BEFORE WE VOTE ON IT’

MERRIMACK, New Hampshire — Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is opening fire on Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and everyone else who backed or is backing Obamatrade without reading the text of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) that Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) would fast track.

In an interview on Saturday morning, when asked about the revelation that Rubio and others in the Republican Party voted to fast-track the TPP in the Senate—and many in the House GOP leadership have been pushing it—without reading the text of the TPP in the secret room inside the Capitol, Paul went ballistic.

“The American people are frustrated by Congress—Congress has about a 10 percent approval rating,” Paul said. “I think part of that is that they don’t think we’re taking the amount of time to do an adequate job to read the legislation. It’s sort of twofold: They don’t give us enough time, and they also make the bills too long. I have a bill called Read The Bills Act, and in it there’s a requirement that you have to wait one day for every 20 pages of legislation. So 800-page legislation [like Obamatrade] would wait 40 days. You’d wait 40 days so we’d have adequate time to read it. Yeah, I’m a believer that we should read legislation before we vote on it.”

Paul’s interview with Breitbart News came inside Joey’s Diner, where several presidential candidates campaign. Paul gave brief remarks to kick off an event with local conservatives, then shook hands, talked with patrons, and took pictures with them.

Paul also said that “absolutely” President Barack Obama should immediately release the TPP text, instead of keeping it hidden from the public.

...

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/06/06/exclusive-rand-paul-slams-rubio-over-obamatrade-we-should-read-legislation-before-we-vote-on-it/

[Chef Ramsay]

Rand Paul seeks to tie Pentagon funding to release of classified 9/11 docs

The Kentucky Senator and GOP presidential candidate Rand Paul filed an amendment to a military funding bill, demanding the release of 28 pages from the 9/11 report that have been classified since 2002 and allegedly link Saudi Arabia to the attacks.

Paul originally submitted a separate bill, titled the “Transparency for the Families of 9/11 Act” (S.1471), earlier this week, with the backing of Senators Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York). On Friday afternoon, however, he said there would also be an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) – a bill funding military operations for the next fiscal year.

“For over 13 years, the family members of the victims of September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks have been deprived of the details surrounding the redacted 28 pages of the 9/11 Congressional Inquiry,” Paul said. ”I firmly believe the American people deserve a government that instills trust and a restoration of their sense of security, and think my amendment is a step in the right direction.”

While the wording of the amendment is not known, Paul says it would “require” the President to declassify the pages within 60 days of the NDAA’s adoption.

More...http://rt.com/usa/265375-rand-paul-28-pages-pentagon/

[Chef Ramsay]

HUNDREDS PACK MANCHESTER OFFICE TO HEAR RAND PAUL BASH ‘ARROGANT WASHINGTON MACHINE’: ‘THEY DON’T READ THE BILLS’

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire — At least two hundred people packed into a tiny office space in downtown Manchester to hear 2016 GOP presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY)93%
 bash the “Washington machine” and hammer both parties in Congress for failing to read legislation like Obamatrade before voting on it.

He also touted his big victory this past week against the National Security Agency (NSA) bulk data collection program, and the PATRIOT Act—which he forced to expire. Paul said as the crowd of hundreds—which started arriving more than an hour before the senator came—cheered:

Tonight we’ve got a message, a message for the Washington machine: We’ve come to take our liberty back. Some in Washington say that you have to trade your liberty for security so we had a big grand debate, 10 and a half hours on one day then we came back for a few more hours. Now some in the Washington machine didn’t want me to be there and they didn’t want to be there. They wanted to be on vacation. We caused them to give a little bit of their vacation up to have a very important debate: Can you have your liberty, can you keep your liberty and can you also have security?

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/06/05/hundreds-pack-manchester-office-to-hear-rand-paul-bash-arrogant-washington-machine-they-dont-read-the-bills/

[Chef Ramsay]

Ron talks about Rand on CNN w/ Michael Smerconish

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVNlTTzSCms

Ron tells it like it is like he always has. Very supportive of Rand, his son.

[Chef Ramsay]

Meet Rand Paul’s Nerd Army: Like Mathletes, but for Liberty

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/06/03/meet-rand-paul-s-nerd-army-like-mathletes-but-for-liberty.html

Behind every good liberty-loving crusader is a liberty-loving posse.
When Senator Rand Paul left the Capitol on Sunday evening, after successfully causing the temporary death of several provisions in the PATRIOT Act, he and Congressman Justin Amash piled into a shiny, black Tesla, driven by Congressman Thomas Massie.

With his opposition to mass government surveillance on the American people, Paul stands alone in the wilderness among his Republican colleagues in the Senate. In the House, however, Paul has a band of cheerleaders—and they seem to follow him everywhere.

Amash and Massie had spent the duration of Paul’s lengthy speech observing from the benches in the back of the Senate chamber and out in the hallway, promising to block any measure the Senate sent to the House in the event that they were able to get something passed before the PATRIOT Act expired at midnight. Amash said he and Massie—along with members of the Liberty Caucus—had remained in D.C. last week to “guard the House” from any leadership attempts to pass the renewals.

More...http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/06/03/meet-rand-paul-s-nerd-army-like-mathletes-but-for-liberty.html

[Chef Ramsay]

How Harry Reid just helped out Rand Paul

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) might have just done Rand Paul a solid.

Allow us to explain.

Reid's home state, Nevada, has the chance to be a major player in the 2016 presidential nominating contest. That's because in 2008, then-Majority Leader Reid successfully maneuvered to make Nevada one of four early nominating states for Democrats. Not to be left out, Republicans followed suit.

There was one catch: Nevada's parties would hold a caucus -- the better to not upset New Hampshire, which understandably waned to maintain its status is the first state to hold a primary. (Nevada was originally scheduled ahead of New Hampshire, though today it holds its caucuses after the Granite State.)

The problem: A caucus is more difficult to put on than a primary and has lower turnout. It's also much more unpredictable. Across the nation, caucuses generally draw 5 percent of voters, while primaries can draw anywhere from 15 percent to 25 percent, Darrell West, an elections expert with the Brookings Institution, told me this spring.

[How Rand Paul may have just gotten lucky in Vegas]

In 2012, just about 8 percent of the state's Republican voters participated in the Nevada caucus, the AP's Nicholas Riccardi reported. That's higher than your average caucus, but Nevada is supposed to be a crucial state, where one would expect higher turnout.

...more...http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2015/06/03/how-harry-reid-just-helped-out-rand-paul/

[Chef Ramsay]

19 Things in Rand Paul’s New Book No Other GOP A-Lister Would Be Caught Dead Saying

One of the main selling proposition in the 2016 presidential campaign of Sen. Rand Paul (R–Ky.) is that he's "a new kind of Republican." In fact, that's the title of Chapter 5 in his new book Taking a Stand: Moving Beyond Partisan Politics to Unite America, which continuously makes the argument that the GOP needs to attract several new constituencies if it is to ever again win a national election.

As Paul puts it in a chapter about his outreach to inner-city voters:

Right now, the Republican brand sucks. I promised Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, that I would stop saying the GOP sucks, and I will (except for this last time). But both Reince and I know that the same old begets the same old. I believe the Republican Party and minorities have common ground. The Republican Party can rightly serve minority communities if we stay true to our core, be open to new ideas, and boldly profess what we believe in.


https://reason.com/blog/2015/06/05/19-things-in-rand-pauls-new-book-no-othe

[Chef Ramsay]

Rene Plummer hosted dinner for Rand in NH tonight

Portsmouth power broker who seems to know just about everybody, and it was her ability to leverage those connections that helped her to fill the office buildings at Pease when it was an up-and-coming business park.

Plummer is vice president of marketing for Two Interna- tional Group, a commercial real estate development firm that was one of the driving forces leading the successful transformation of Pease International Tradeport from a shuttered Air Force base into a thriving business and industrial park.

Since 1997, Two International Group has built 16 buildings with 850,000 rentable square feet and developed more than 70 acres at the tradeport, which is widely lauded as one of the most successful military base redevelopment projects in the country. The company also owns One and Two Harbour Place in downtown Portsmouth.

When Two International Group was breaking ground on its first tower at Pease, it faced a daunting task: they were building on spec without any tenant commitments, not to mention pessimism from some observers that the base wouldn’t be able to attract businesses. So Plummer had an idea – she phoned a Wall Street Journal reporter, and was able to convince him to write an article on the redevelopment at Pease. The article created a buzz, tenants began to show interest “and the rest is history,” said Plummer.

Of course, the many high-powered contacts that Plummer had made through her numerous volunteer pursuits and political activities didn’t hurt, either. For years, she had been involved with Exeter Hospital’s Fashions by the Sea fundraiser, through which she met many corporate executives (who would ask Plummer to secure good seats for their wives).

more...http://www.nhbr.com/February-21-2014/Renee-Plummer-2014-Outstanding-Woman-in-Business/

[Chef Ramsay]

Barron's Cover Story has Rand in Top Tier, but thinks he is "isolationist libertarian rerun"

Loath to be outdone by Fox’s winnowing, we’ve narrowed the field further, to seven we think will still be in the running for the nomination next March, after 57% of the 2,470 GOP delegates have been selected. They include Jeb Bush, a former two-term Florida governor who hasn’t campaigned since 2002, and who, we are told, will try branding himself merely as “Jeb”; former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, who had a second career on Fox News; and first-term Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a conservative hero noted for his debating skill and his support from the conservative billionaire Koch brothers.

Also in the running are crusty two-term Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who also spent 18 years in Congress and is the most experienced candidate; first-term Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, an isolationist libertarian rerun of his father, former Rep. Ron Paul; and first-term Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, the most charismatic candidate and a brilliant campaigner, who has billionaire Miami auto dealer Norman Braman in his camp.

http://online.barrons.com/articles/who-will-win-the-gop-nomination-1433557143?mod=BOL_hp_highlight_1

Not highlighting link considering it's a major hitpiece on Rand while glorifying Jeb and Rubio. The writer is a major DC establishment hack.