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

[Chef Ramsay]

Here's a nice little image I plucked from one of Nate Silver's newest articles on whether Jeb Bush is too liberal to win the GOP nomination. Nate's a top shelf pollster and is well followed. 2nd from bottom is my main point however.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/jeb-bush-president-republican-primary-2016/

[Chef Ramsay]

Rand Paul Breaks With Rubio and Bush Over Cuba

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is the latest potential presidential candidate to weigh in on policy changes to Cuba and the libertarian leaning Republican's position splits from other Republicans who are also considering a presidential run.
Paul told Tom Roten of News Talk 800 in West Virginia that the 50-year embargo "just hasn't worked" and normalizing relations with the island nation is "probably a good idea."



"If the goal is regime change, it sure doesn't seem to be working and probably it punishes the people more than the regime because the regime can blame the embargo for hardship," he said.
Potential challengers, Jeb Bush and Sen. Marco Rubio, both of Florida, denounced President Barack Obama's decision to open diplomatic and economic ties with Cuba. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas also slammed the deal.
Bush called it a "misstep" that "undermines America's credibility and undermines the quest for a free and democratic Cuba."
And Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, vowed to use his role as incoming chairman of a Foreign Relations subcommittee to block progress on policy.
"The White House has conceded everything," Rubio said, calling the policy "disgraceful."
Paul, who has often bumps heads with members of his party over foreign policy, expressed a similar position to another potential presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton.
"Despite good intentions, our decades-long policy of isolation has only strengthened the Castro regime's grip on power," Clinton said in a statement. "As I have said, the best way to bring change to Cuba is to expose its people to the values, information, and material comforts of the outside world."

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/rand-paul-breaks-rubio-bush-over-cuba-n270986

Audio link to interview on 800 WVHU...http://www.800wvhu.com/onair/the-tom-roten-morning-show-675/listen-tom-roten-talks-to-rand-13079928/

[Chef Ramsay]

Merry Christmas from Rand and Kelley Paul
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9h5QyPBtNQ

[Chef Ramsay]

Rand Paul says Marco Rubio is acting like an isolationist re: Cuba

Senator Marco Rubio believes the embargo against Cuba has been ineffective, yet he wants to continue perpetuating failed policies. After 50 years of conflict, why not try a new approach? The United States trades and engages with other communist nations, such as China and Vietnam. Why not Cuba? I am a proponent of peace through commerce, and I believe engaging Cuba can lead to positive change.

Seems to me, Senator Rubio is acting like an isolationist who wants to retreat to our borders and perhaps build a moat. I reject this isolationism. Finally, let's be clear that Senator Rubio does not speak for the majority of Cuban-Americans. A recent poll demonstrates that a large majority of Cuban-Americans actually support normalizing relations between our countries.

https://www.facebook.com/RandPaul/posts/10152695734571107

Nice to see Rand flipping the I word back onto the neocons, they really hate it when their meat and potatoes argument against a more restrained foreign policy is attached to their foreheads like a scarlet letter.

[Chef Ramsay]

Rand Paul Is More Right About Cuba Than Marco Rubio

The Republican response to President Barack Obama's historic opening toward Cuba this week has generally been awful and dispiriting to behold. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), for example, was the politician most single-handedly responsible for the United States re-establishing diplomatic relations with still-communist Vietnam two decades ago, saying at the time:

"Instead of vainly trying to isolate Vietnam, the United States should test the proposition that greater exposure to Americans will render Vietnam more susceptible to the influence of our values. Vietnam's human rights record needs substantial improvement. We should make good use of better relations with the Vietnamese to help advance in that country a decent respect for the rights of man."

What does McMaverick say now, with his co-conspirator Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)?

"It is about the appeasement of autocratic dictators, thugs, and adversaries, diminishing America's influence in the world."

The gap in both the writing and sentiment in those two passages speaks volumes about how far GOP foreign-policy thinking has degenerated over time. (It also speaks to McCain's own 100% malleability on key issues—back in 2000 he said "I'm not in favor of sticking my finger in the eye of Fidel Castro. In fact, I would favor a road map towards normalization of relations such as we presented to the Vietnamese and led to a normalization of relations between our two countries.")

Two senatorial exceptions to that rule have been Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), who has long advocated lifting the U.S. embargo, telling Reason TV in 2011 that "If someone's going to limit my travel, it should be a communist, not my own government”; and also Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who came out in qualified support of Obama's actions yesterday.
...
But Rubio and the GOP are wrong, and wildly so, about a number of their Obama-Cuba critiques. This move was not "appeasement"; increased American travel and remittances do not "only" serve "to benefit the regime," and this does not mark a retreat from fighting for the freedom of Cubans.
...
But how, precisely, is this appeasement? The U.S. got one of its longtime intelligence operatives, plus an innocent-seeming human rights activist, out of Cuban prisons in exchange for three genuinely awful Cuban spies whose work was linked to the death of Americans. Now, that two-for-three swap is certainly unequal, and may indeed (as Rubio worries) incentivize bad actors to take innocent Americans hostage in the future, but as Israel for one can certainly testify, sometimes countries that genuinely value their own citizens' lives accept numerically and morally disproportionate prisoner exchanges. Frustrating, yes, but not definitionally appeasement. Should Reagan have left Nick Daniloff rot in Soviet prison just because he, too, was most likely a hostage?
...
Rubio, to my knowledge, has never visited Cuba outside of the U.S.-controlled Guantanamo Bay facility. My 1998 experience of attempting to live in Havana convinced me beyond a shadow of a doubt that three of the most important and attainable things Cubans need, both for their basic human dignity and for their struggle against their totalitarian overlords, are 1) exposure to Americans; 2) increased access to non-governmental sources of money, and 3) increased access to information. Obama's moves help on all three fronts.
...
Once upon a time, "appeasement" meant ceding the Sudetenland to an expansionist Adolf Hitler without even allowing Czechs a seat at the negotiating table. Now it somehow means a two-for-three prisoner swap, a slight easing on unconscionable restrictions against Americans, promises of 53 political prisoners being freed, the same diplomatic engagement the U.S. has had with Venezuela since 1835, and a net increase in individual Cuban latitude? Republicans not named Paul or Flake (or Amash) may want to start rethinking their hyperbole. Sadly, there's little reason to believe that they will.
...

More...http://reason.com/blog/2014/12/19/rand-paul-is-more-right-about-cuba-than

[Chef Ramsay]

Rand Paul Will Bring Up The Senate Debate Over Police Militarization Next Year

Next year, Sen. Rand Paul will reintroduce a bill that goes after the federal programs that send military-grade equipment to local police departments, staff for the Kentucky Republican told BuzzFeed News.

Paul’s decision to keep bill, which was crafted by the retiring Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn, alive will be a significant test for the political viability of the issue. Paul will be trying to force a Republican-controlled Senate to examine federal programs that funnel millions in grant money and surplus to arm local police forces with weapons and vehicles designed for the battlefield. Paul’s expected presidential run, which will likely launch next year, could put the issue back on the national agenda as well.

Coburn’s bill — which is very similar to legislation Democratic Rep. Hank Johnson of Georgia has vowed to reintroduce in the House next Congress — targets a small fraction of the millions of dollars worth of military surplus shipped by the Pentagon to local law enforcement each year under the Defense Department’s so-called 1033 program. Most of the surplus equipment is mundane — office furniture, uniforms, etc. But the most controversial 1033 shipments see vehicles and weapons used by the U.S. armed forces sent to local police. Coburn’s bill would ban that practice while keeping the non-lethal surplus flowing.

More...http://linkis.com/www.buzzfeed.com/eva/hcYfw

Considering the recent police executions in the US and the killings of black men by police, this will be an interesting debate to see. When these situations happen, it seems more people support the police by default and especially white people on average. I wonder if peoples' minds can be detached from their police support to realize they shouldn't have military grade weapons.. The problem is and very few will openly admit it: if the police need those kinds of weaponry to keep us safe from throngs of ghetto rioters, then so be it. Most people just don't realize how these police are being trained lately and combining that with hardcore weapons is bad mojo.

[Chef Ramsay]

Rand Paul knocks out Marco Rubio like Ali over Foreman

Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican, has delivered a knock out punch against Sen. Marco Rubio to normalization of relations with Cuba to benefit the United States. The punch was as decisive as Muhammad Ali’s knock out of George Foreman in the Rumble in the Jungle 40 years ago. Mr. Rubio’s presidential ambitions are over.

The Florida senator’s implacable hatred of Fidel Castro and Cuba’s Communist regime has driven him to anti-democratic tirades and to a policy of Cuban ostracism that sneers at Presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.  His child-like immaturity and conflicting loyalties between Cuba and the United States disqualify him for the White House.

Mr. Rubio is the son of Cuban immigrants who fled under the dictatorship of Fulgencia Batista.  He has apparently forgotten that as a U.S. citizen and senator, his sole allegiance is to the U.S. Constitution and to the general welfare of the people of the United States. If there is a conflict between Mr. Rubio’s sympathies for the Cuban people and the best interests of the United States, he is required to abandon the former in favor of the latter.

The United States forged an alliance with Joseph Stalin during World War II to advance the interests of the United States, not to advance the cause of human rights or democracy in the Soviet Union.

More...http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/dec/22/rand-paul-knocks-out-marco-rubio-like-ali-over-for/

The rest of that article is really enlightening and not just a puff piece on Rand. Great historical context is presented.

[jaysabi]

Rand Paul knocks out Marco Rubio like Ali over Foreman

Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican, has delivered a knock out punch against Sen. Marco Rubio to normalization of relations with Cuba to benefit the United States. The punch was as decisive as Muhammad Ali’s knock out of George Foreman in the Rumble in the Jungle 40 years ago. Mr. Rubio’s presidential ambitions are over.

The Florida senator’s implacable hatred of Fidel Castro and Cuba’s Communist regime has driven him to anti-democratic tirades and to a policy of Cuban ostracism that sneers at Presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.  His child-like immaturity and conflicting loyalties between Cuba and the United States disqualify him for the White House.

Mr. Rubio is the son of Cuban immigrants who fled under the dictatorship of Fulgencia Batista.  He has apparently forgotten that as a U.S. citizen and senator, his sole allegiance is to the U.S. Constitution and to the general welfare of the people of the United States. If there is a conflict between Mr. Rubio’s sympathies for the Cuban people and the best interests of the United States, he is required to abandon the former in favor of the latter.

The United States forged an alliance with Joseph Stalin during World War II to advance the interests of the United States, not to advance the cause of human rights or democracy in the Soviet Union.

More...http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/dec/22/rand-paul-knocks-out-marco-rubio-like-ali-over-for/

The rest of that article is really enlightening and not just a puff piece on Rand. Great historical context is presented.

Article doesn't provide much Rand content at all. Much more of a diatribe against Rubio (not that he doesn't deserve it).

[Chef Ramsay]

Rand Paul's Break With Conservative Correctness On Cuba Could Play Well In Iowa

Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, and even Scott Walker have denounced the U.S. thaw in relations with Cuba, but Rand Paul is breaking with the GOP pack:

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul said Thursday that starting to trade with Cuba "is probably a good idea" and that the lengthy economic embargo against the communist island "just hasn't worked."

Paul became the first potential Republican presidential candidate to offer some support for President Barack Obama's decision to try to normalize U.S. relations with Cuba....

"The 50-year embargo just hasn't worked," Paul said. "If the goal is regime change, it sure doesn't seem to be working and probably it punishes the people more than the regime because the regime can blame the embargo for hardship...."

Here's the key point, I think:

He also said many U.S. farmers would back Obama's moves because the country is a new market for their crops.

Rand Paul really, really wants to win Iowa, and, as Peter Baker noted in The New York Times today, the Obama policy shift is backed by "major agricultural interests."

And if you look at the local press, you get the impression that it's backed by Iowa agricultural interests. Here's a story about the policy change from the Ottumwa Courier:

... Bob Bowman said Iowa farmers stand to benefit, along with several other Iowa industries. And Bowman should know. He's a DeWitt farmer, chairman of the Iowa Corn Promotion board and serves on the Corn Board of the National Corn Grower's Association. He also has firsthand experience in Cuba.

"I was down there about five years ago along with Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey. They were begging us to expand trade. We couldn't do that because of some of the restrictions our government placed on trade," Bowman said. "This announcement, I'm excited. Iowa Corn is excited."

It's not just Bowman who is excited. Bob Stallman, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, released a statement saying the bureau supports the decision to normalize relations.

"Improving trade relations between the U.S. and Cuba will expand access to a market of 11 million consumers for U.S. agriculture. That's good for Cuba and good for America, too. We look forward to working closely with the administration on this issue."

Why do farmers stand to gain so much? Cuba imports a large percentage of its food. That includes food from the U.S., which was allowed after some loosening of restrictions more than a decade ago....

Also, the Business Record has this editorial, written just before the Obama announcement, by Jay Byers and Gene Meyer, respectively the CEO and president of the Greater Des Moines Partnership:

Guest Opinion: Time to lift the Cuba trade embargo

In late October, the Greater Des Moines Partnership, in conjunction with the Ankeny Area Chamber of Commerce and the Urbandale Chamber of Commerce, led a group of 70 Central Iowans on a cultural exploration mission to Cuba.... During the trip, participants were able to observe the Cuban economy firsthand, meet with the Cuban people and learn more about the recently implemented economic reforms. The trip was the latest activity in Partnership efforts dating back almost 15 years to ease travel and trade restrictions with Cuba....

There is no doubt that Cuba's poverty is the direct result of a half century of failed Marxist economic policies. However, the embargo has allowed the Castro regime to blame its problems on Washington, D.C. The U.S. represents a natural trading partner for Cuba and its 11.2 million residents, located just 90 miles from our shores. Due to the embargo, American farmers and businesses have missed out on significant economic opportunities....

Continuing to maintain a trade policy with Cuba based on an antiquated Cold War dispute no longer makes any sense. Ending the embargo would remove Cuba’s excuse for economic failure, help promote a transition to democracy and a free market economy in Cuba, improve the lives of the Cuban people and bring significant economic opportunities to American farmers and businesses.

The time for change is long overdue.

I don't know about the political affiliation of the other guys named above, but Iowa's agriculture secretary, Bill Northey, is a Republican; as noted, he led an agricultural delegation to Cuba a few years ago.

Farmers want to do business with Cuba, more than they want to cling to Cold War-era ideological purity. So I think, at least with regard to Iowa, Rand Paul is making a very smart move.

http://crooksandliars.com/2014/12/rand-pauls-break-conservative-correctness

[Chef Ramsay]

Postmodern Conservative
Rand Paul and 2016

Peter Lawler has wondered if maybe Rand Paul will be tough to beat for the Republican nomination. Paul is well positioned to inherit his father’s voting base, but his father’s voting base was not nearly large enough to be a real threat to win the Republican nomination.

There are several factors that make Rand a potentially more formidable candidate than his father. He doesn’t come across as a fanatic and a sectarian. He has a chance to reach beyond his father’s voting base to conservative voters who are frustrated with the establishment and don’t see anyone else who is standing up to the GOP’s Washington elites.

Paul is also helped by the peculiar dynamics of 2016. Ted Cruz could conceivably challenge Rand Paul for the party’s anti-establishment voters but, as Henry Olsen has pointed out, Cruz actually has a pretty narrow path to the nomination and could get taken out early in Iowa by Ben Carson. It is quite possible that Rand Paul could emerge from Iowa and New Hampshire as the only breathing alternative to the establishment candidates. Rand Paul could end up being both the Ron Paul of 2016 and the Rick Santorum of 2016. It is also possible that the Republican establishment will fail to coalesce around one candidate and that the establishment Republican vote will either split several ways going into South Carolina and/or the establishment candidates will bankrupt and destroy each other in the course of pursuing their ambitions.

That is a lot of ifs. My best guess is that the most likely scenario is one where Paul finishes a very strong second (think Clinton in 2008 rather than Santorum in 2012) to the surviving establishment candidate.

I just wish that the GOP establishment was less of an arm of the Washington business lobbies and that Tom Cotton had a few more years in the Senate.

http://www.nationalreview.com/postmodern-conservative/395471/rand-paul-and-2016-peter-spiliakos

[Chef Ramsay]

Just Asking: Rand Paul on why helping people see again is easier than politics

Rand Paul, 51, is a Republican senator from Kentucky. He is often mentioned as a potential presidential candidate for 2016.

I’m not going to ask you if you’re going to run for president.

Good.

I’ll let the pros handle that question. Do you think most Americans have a good sense of who you are?

Most Americans have a vague notion of who different politicians are. People who live in your state who have met you and interacted with you probably have a little more understanding of who you are. We do get a general understanding seeing people on television. The longer the interview, the more detailed, the better chance people have of knowing who you are.
 
Time magazine called you one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Is Time right?
That’s a difficult question for someone to answer about themselves. That’s somebody else assessing it, so it would be presumptuous to say, “Hey, I’m the most interesting person in Washington.” Self-analysis or talking about yourself is a difficult thing to accomplish with any sense of decency about it.

What do you miss most about being a full-time ophthalmologist?
The interaction with folks and seeing the smile on someone’s face as they sit up and say, “I can see again.” I was able to revisit some of that in Guatemala over the summer, and it truly is priceless. It’s also: You have a problem, you diagnose it and you fix it. Whereas in politics we’re still debating half the time over what the problem is. We can’t even agree on the problem, much less the solution.

Everybody runs against Washington. What do you really like about Washington?
Of the things in the Senate that probably excite me more than anything else, it’s engaging in a debate over where power should reside and over the restraint of power. I’m able to stand up on the floor and ask a question. Does the president have the ability to drone an American citizen not involved in combat? Does the president have the right to incarcerate someone forever without an attorney? Discussing and trying to defend the liberties enshrined in the Bill of Rights and knowing that I can stand on the same floor as Henry Clay or Daniel Webster or discuss the same issues that James Madison discussed, and Thomas Jefferson, to me that’s sort of phenomenal for a guy who, four years ago, was a small-town physician.

Who is more of an establishment Republican, you or Ted Cruz?
I don’t think it’s really my role to figure stuff like that out.

Is there anyone your dad would vote for over you in a presidential election?
That one I think I can answer. No.

More...http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/just-asking-rand-paul-on-why-helping-people-see-again-is-easier-than-politics/2014/12/18/0f84e5a4-7b3f-11e4-84d4-7c896b90abdc_story.html

[Chef Ramsay]

Challenges Loom for Rand Paul as He Speeds Toward 2016

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Rand Paul may only yet be a candidate for re-election to the Senate in 2016, but the first-term Kentucky Republican already is sprinting toward the race for president.

The libertarian-minded lawmaker is set to visit several Western states this month before reintroducing himself to voters in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, and his team is working to strengthen his political network in nearly every state.


At the same time, he is readying for a leading role in the GOP's new Senate majority while pushing to improve a Republican brand he says is "tattered."

Aides insist that Paul has not finalized his decision about the White House, but his aggressive steps leave little doubt about his ambitions.

"Everything's being prepared as if it's happening, with the knowledge that the final trigger hasn't been pulled yet," said Paul senior aide Doug Stafford.

Some see the son of former Texas Rep. Ron Paul, a two-time presidential candidate, as a transformational figure capable of expanding the GOP's appeal beyond its traditional base of older, white men.

While calling for a dramatic reduction in the size and scope of the federal government, the 51-year-old Paul plays down social issues such as gay marriage, criticizes a criminal justice system that overwhelmingly incarcerates blacks, and favors a smaller U.S. footprint in the world.

Rand Paul should expect challenges every step of the way.

More...http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2015/01/04/challenges_loom_for_paul_as_he_speeds_toward_2016_125141.html#ixzz3Nrzk1ehq

[Chef Ramsay]

Rand Paul’s Passive-Aggressive Trolling Campaign

It's a Paul World After All

When former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush announced in mid-December that he would “actively explore” running for the Republican presidential nomination, curious parties took to Google to learn more about him. While they were there, many of them were greeted by another politician’s name at the bottom of the page—one they hadn’t searched for.

“Join a movement working to shrink government. Not grow it,” read one of the ads, placed by RandPAC, the political action committee supporting Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who is himself expected to run for the nomination. Another read: “We need leaders who will stand against Common Core.”

A few weeks later, when former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee announced that he would leave his talk show at Fox News to ponder a presidential bid, the phenomenon occurred again: “Less Taxes Not More… We Need Leaders Who Will Cut Taxes Not Raise Them. Join Us!”

For Team Paul, this passive-aggressive trolling campaign is the equivalent of lurking in the back of the room during your opponent’s debate prep and pelting them with spitballs.

The ads have a dual purpose. First, they allow Paul to siphon off attention from whichever potential candidate is making news. Second, they allow his campaign to underscore the weaknesses of other candidates by highlighting Paul’s strengths.

With a verbal wink, Paul’s senior adviser Doug Stafford said they had chosen this method of pre-campaign campaigning “mostly because we like to amuse ourselves.”

More good behind the scenes stuff...http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/01/05/rand-paul-s-passive-aggressive-trolling-campaign.html

[Chef Ramsay]

Rand Paul: 'We Could Try Freedom for a While'

(CNSNews.com) - Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) says the new Republican-led Congress will vote to repeal all of Obamacare. And when President Obama vetoes that, they'll vote to repeal parts of Obamacare.

And what happens if Republicans are successful in repealing Obamacare? Fox New's Greta Van Susteren asked the senator Monday night.

"We could try freedom for a while," Paul responded. "We had it for a long time. That's where you sell something and I agree to buy it because I like it. That is how we operate in most of rest of the marketplace other than health care. Now the president has said you can only buy certain types of health care that I approve of, and anything I don't approve of, you are not allowed to purchase. We could try freedom. I think it might work. It works everywhere else."

Paul rejected Van Susteren's suggestion that poor people would "end up back at the hospitals, and the hospitals would be providing free care again, and now we've got the financial burden back on the hospitals."

The burden is still on hospitals, Paul said: "Even under Obamacare, there are people that get subsidized insurance. But that has a $6,000 deductible. What do you think they do with that $6,000 deductible? They are still a non-payer" (when they go to the hospital).

Paul noted that even before Obamacare, the government took care of the bottom 5-10 percent of the public who were on Medicaid.

"And then there is also charity. There are different ways that we take care and help the poor. Nobody is saying we would not still do those things if we didn't have Obamacare.

"What Obamacare did was take some of the things we did for the poor and expanded the government to basically the whole marketplace. That I think will ultimately bankrupt the country and then nobody will have good health care."

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/rand-paul-we-could-try-freedom-while

Link to his appearance on Greta (big show on Fox) last night http://insider.foxnews.com/2015/01/05/rand-pauls-health-care-suggestion-we-could-try-freedom

[Chef Ramsay]

Rand Paul's New Tech Guru Wants to Build a 'Crowdsourced Campaign'

It's hard to deny that 2014 was a very good year for the Republican Party. Two years after its 2012 train wreck, the GOP returns to Washington this week with an eight-seat majority in the Senate and a deep bench of contenders who want to take on Hillary Clinton in the next election. And while the party hasn't quite managed to shake its reputation as a political nursing home for jowly white dudes, Republicans managed to creep out of the tech Stone Age this fall, and finally started making dents in the Democrats' digital campaign juggernaut.

Vincent Harris isn't impressed. The 26-year-old Republican strategist, best known for putting Ted Cruz on the internet, has relentlessly criticized his party for their technological backwardness, telling any reporter who calls that the GOP's digital operations are second-rate and that the party's claims of progress are "a lot of talk." Begrudgingly, other Republicans have started to listen, bringing Harris on to translate the 21st century for high-profile conservative campaigns.

The interview and the meat of the article...http://www.vice.com/read/rand-paul-tech-guru-wants-to-build-crowdsourced-campaign-107

This guy is an ace and I'm really looking forward to what he's cooking up for 2016.

[Chef Ramsay]

Rand Paul Slams ‘Moderate’ Bush, Christie, Pushes Cuts To Obama Spending

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) says former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a fellow likely 2016 GOP presidential candidate, is a “moderate.”

“I think the party is big enough to have moderates in the party,” Paul in an exclusive interview with Breitbart News. Paul was discussing the appearance of inevitability created by the establishment media around Bush’s announcement he is actively exploring a potential presidential candidacy.

“When we have a primary, voters will have to pick whether they want a moderate leading the party or a conservative,” Paul says. “That’s what the primary will be about, people presenting their ideas and they’ll have to decide whether they want Common Core, whether they want more spending, more taxes, whether they want a candidate who will not pledge to not raise taxes. There’s a lot of things that will go on, we have plenty of time for that, but I would say that time will tell.”

Calling a Republican who’s seeking the GOP nomination a “moderate” is a clear insult in Republican presidential primary politics. During that selection process, each of the candidates is likely to focus on highlighting conservative credentials to please GOP base voters. Paul further hinted Bush would be open to tax increases and more government spending, positions no candidate is likely to take while trying to win the nomination.

It’s not the first time Paul has zeroed in on Common Core as being a killer issue for Republican presidential candidates.

More...http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/01/08/exclusive-rand-paul-slams-moderate-bush-christie-pushes-cuts-to-crap-obama-spending-with-purse-power/

[Chef Ramsay]

Sen. Paul Introduces Defend Israel by Defunding Palestinian Foreign Aid Act of 2015

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Sen. Rand Paul today introduced S.34, the Defend Israel by Defunding Palestinian Foreign Aid Act of 2015. This legislation will call for the immediate halt of U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority until it withdraws its request to join the International Criminal Court (ICC). Under the current U.S. law, America is prohibited from assisting the Palestinian Authority if it seeks ICC claims against Israel. Thus far, the Obama administration has not committed to taking any actions and appears disinclined to cut off aid. The bill text can be found below.

“It is up to the new Republican-led Congress to move on its own so that the President does not once again circumvent clear funding restrictions. We are currently sending roughly $400 million of U.S. taxpayer dollars to the Palestinian Authority,” Sen. Paul said. "Certainly groups that threaten Israel cannot be allies of the U.S. I will continue to do everything in my power to make sure this President and this Congress stop treating Israel's enemies as American allies."


LEGISLATION TEXT:

To prohibit assistance to the Palestinian Authority until it withdraws its request to join the International Criminal Court.
114TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.


This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Defend Israel by Defunding Palestinian Foreign Aid Act of 2015’’. SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) On December 31, 2014, Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian Authority, signed several international conventions in an attempt to join the International Criminal Court.
(2) The Palestinian Authority has indicated that it will seek to use the International Criminal Court as a means to pursue charges against Israel.
(3) The Palestinian Authority remains engaged in a unity government with Hamas, a terrorist organization responsible for countless deaths and whose charter declares that ‘‘there is no solution to the Palestinian question except by Jihad’’.
(4) The United States provides more than $400,000,000 in assistance to the Palestinian Authority each year.
(5) Section 7041(i)(2) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2015 (division J of Public Law 133–235) includes limitations on assistance to the Palestinian Authority if it seeks to join the International Criminal Court.
(6) The United States Government must make immediately clear to the Palestinian Authority that its attempts to join the International Criminal Court will carry serious consequences.
DAV15028 S.L.C. 3

. 1 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON FUNDING.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no amounts may be obligated or expended to provide any assistance, loan guarantee, or debt relief to the Palestinian Authority, or any affiliated governing entity, until the Palestinian Authority withdraws its request to join the International Criminal Court.

More...http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/rand-paul-aipac/2014/05/01/id/569021/

Oh, and remember, AIPAC fought against Rand for trying to do this last time around.

[Chef Ramsay]

Book tour puts Rand Paul's 'secret' weapon on national stage

Should Rand Paul join the crowded 2016 Republican field later this spring, as widely expected, Kelley Paul will join the ranks of prospective first ladies who help define their husband's political brands. It's a high-profile role that is challenging at best, yet those who know the family suggest that she would adapt well to the next step in her husband's career.

Reserved but politically savvy, Kelley Paul worked for a Republican consulting firm whose clients included another potential presidential candidate, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, before resigning more than a year ago. She is the mother of three sons, ages 15, 18 and 21, already joins team meetings and conference calls, edits speeches and helps prepare her husband for tough media interviews.

"She's a tremendous asset," said John McCarthy, a former Kentucky GOP chairman who has closely followed Rand Paul's rise. "She a very confident person, very comfortable, and she complements him well."

Having sporadically appeared publicly on her own in recent years, Kelley Paul's public profile has begun to grow.

On Tuesday she kicked off a six-stop speaking tour to Republican women's clubs in her home town of Russellville, where she fondly recalled riding in the annual tobacco festival parade and cheering at high school football games. Her 20-minute speech focusing on her Irish immigrant grandmother moved her audiences throughout Kentucky to tears.

This spring, she has media events and speeches planned for Washington, New York and Memphis, Tennessee, before publisher Hachette releases her book, "True and Constant Friends," in April.

More...http://news.yahoo.com/book-tour-puts-rand-pauls-secret-weapon-national-234800529--politics.html

[Chef Ramsay]

‘Rand Quixote’? Paul says he won’t run if he can’t win

Sen. Rand Paul is a near-certain presidential contender, but he stressed on Thursday that he won’t run a “quixotic” campaign.

Paul, the libertarian-leaning Kentucky Republican, outlined his thinking on a presidential bid during an appearance on conservative media personality Sean Hannity’s radio show.

He reiterated that a final decision will come in the spring. Paul is still weighing family considerations, he said, but in the coming months will also continue to test whether his message appears to be “resonating.”

“If it looks like we’re at 1 percent, not in the top tier, [that it would be a] quixotic sort of run. I’m not going to do it just for educational purposes,” he said, adding that he would “want to be in to win.”

Earlier Thursday, Paul suggested to Breitbart News that likely GOP rival Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida and an establishment favorite, is a moderate, according to that conservative publication’s write-up.

Asked about that statement by Hannity, Paul said the 2016 Republican primary contest will be a battle between conservatives and moderates, and that “we have room for moderates in the party, but their road to victory is more difficult.”

Paul was elected in 2010 as a conservative tea party candidate. He said that he will travel next week to the early-voting states of New Hampshire and Nevada.

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/01/rand-paul-2016-elections-114091.html

[Chef Ramsay]

Rand Paul v. Hillary Clinton: Will Pot Give Him the Electoral Edge?

Interesting supposition from a good Rolling Stone article from Tim Dickinson surveying all the victorious fronts of the recent past and likely future in the rolling back of our evil war on drugs:

Among likely 2016 contenders, of either party, the Kentucky senator [Rand Paul] is the most progressive on marijuana. He's sponsored legislation to make medical marijuana fully legal in states that have adopted it. In the last election, Paul championed the right of D.C. voters to decide on legalization for themselves. Paul has also been a vocal advocate for decriminalization, decrying the practice of booking kids for cannabis. "I don't want to encourage people to do it," he has said. "I think even marijuana is a bad thing to do. But I also don't want to put people in jail who make a mistake."

If Paul were to face off in a contest with Hillary Clinton, pot could emerge as an unlikely wedge issue for the Republican – particularly in libertarian-leaning swing states like Arizona and Nevada, where legalization initiatives are expected. That's because Clinton has continued to talk like a 1990s drug warrior, recently fretting over the dangers of marijuana edibles to children in Colorado, and even declaring that "the feds should be attuned to the way that marijuana is still used as a gateway drug."

The political logic here is not mysterious. White male independents – those most open to a Paul candidacy – are firmly in the legalization camp. (In Oregon, this slice of the electorate voted 65 percent to tax and regulate.)...

More...http://reason.com/blog/2015/01/09/rand-paul-v-hillary-clinton-will-pot-giv

Not that it will matter much in a GOP primary other than showcasing via polling how much better Rand will do against a hypothetical matchup against Hillary and thus offering loads of credibility to his candidacy in said primary where none of the others will have this edge. Let's face it, not only will it help in swing states but many of the teachers and liberals I know are very sympathetic towards legalizing but many either use it themselves, recreationally, or know plenty others who do. Thought?