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

[Chef Ramsay]

Rand Paul on Hannity tonight to talk Jeb

MONDAY ON 'HANNITY'

Carly Fiorina sounds off about Hillary Clinton's campaign relaunch. Plus Rand Paul reacts to Jeb Bush's White House bid. And a Detroit woman recoutns how she fought off home invaders with her gun

video...http://video.foxnews.com/v/4298553680001/rand-paul-talks-hillarys-reset-jebs-white-house-bid/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+foxnews/video+%28Internal+-+Video+-+Latest%29#sp=show-clips

[Chef Ramsay]

Rand Paul's Strategic Ambiguity

Rand Paul is campaigning for president as a different kind of Republican. Since entering the U.S. Senate in 2011, he has staked out unorthodox positions on foreign policy and civil liberties, rejecting what he and many of his fans see as recklessly interventionist militarism. The GOP brand, he wrote in his 2011 book The Tea Party Goes to Washington, has become "tainted by neoconservative ideology."

But in the run-up to the Kentucky senator's April 7 announcement that he was officially running for president, Paul engaged in a series of rhetorical and parliamentary maneuvers that left many anti-interventionists openly worried about a politically inspired foreign policy drift.

...

Once he was in direct competition with other Republicans on the campaign trail, however, candidate Paul again showed signs of anti-interventionist foreign policy gumption. At a New Hampshire GOP meeting later in April, the senator thundered about how "the other Republicans will criticize the president and Hillary Clinton for their foreign policy, but they would just have done the same thing-just 10 times over...There's a group of folks in our party who would have troops in six countries right now, maybe more."

In a late April fundraising letter, Paul tried to rally his own core supporters by complaining that "many in our party—including many announced and rumored Presidential candidates—would double down on the failures of the Obama-Clinton foreign policy of reckless engagement. Will you stand with me as I fight back against the irresponsible policy of wild foreign intervention?"

Many of Paul's once and future supporters would like to stand with Rand. But it still seems to be an open question exactly what kind of foreign policy, and what specific interventions, a President Paul might pursue. And that may well be exactly the way he and his campaign want it.

...

http://reason.com/archives/2015/06/16/rand-pauls-strategic-ambiguity

[Chef Ramsay]

Rand Paul criticizes federal government’s power during Lexington speech

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul focused on what he said is a too-powerful federal government during a campaign stop in Lexington on Monday.

The Republican spoke to more than 200 people gathered inside a Veterans of Foreign Wars post just south of town. It was Paul’s only stop in South Carolina this week, although his wife Kelley visited the Berkeley County GOP in Moncks Corner later in the day and will be in the Charleston region on Tuesday.

Paul continued hammering on his usual points Monday, criticizing the NSA’s collection of phone records. At one point he even compared it to unpopular tactics that British customs agents used in Colonial-era America. “(The NSA’s) argument is: Well we’re not looking at them, we’re just collecting them,” Paul said during his 27-minute speech. “That would sort of be like the British soldiers saying, ‘We’re coming into your house and taking your papers, we’re just not going to look at them.’ I think the same objection to our privacy is that act of collecting and taking our records.”

...

More...http://www.southcarolinaradionetwork.com/2015/06/15/rand-paul-criticizes-federal-governments-power-during-lexington-speech/

Full speech:  http://cdn.southcarolinaradionetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Rand-Paul-RAW.mp3

[Chef Ramsay]

Rand on Hannity last night (over 2 million USA viewers) and lays into Jeb Bush's Prez run like the putz he is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcu3H37l1RA

[Chef Ramsay]

Mitch McConnell, Rand Paul: Clean water rule just more outrageous government overreach

By now it should be clear to all that the Obama administration's regulators at the EPA are no friends to Kentucky. They've already been waging a war on coal for years here, and now comes the latest salvo in the Environmental Protection Agency's assault: a rule known as Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) that would classify nearly all wetlands, including small ponds and ditches, as "navigable" waters and thus subject to interference from Washington.

If this rule is allowed to take effect, it would wreak havoc on the coal, agriculture, commercial development, real estate, construction and contracting industries statewide. It would hurt traditional farming practices. And it would trample upon many Kentuckians' private property rights.

Although the EPA claims the mandate of the Clean Water Act in promulgating this rule, it is really about controlling and putting limits on private land use. The rule would extend to any small pond or ditch that holds water, infiltrates groundwater or is used by animals, birds, or insects. In short, it is a colossal act of government overreach.

The rule will force landowners, homebuilders, farmers, mine operators, manufacturers, utility providers, state and local governments and a host of other property owners to seek permits from Washington bureaucrats before they can begin a wide range of development projects or activities, even activities as simple as building fences or spraying and pulling weeds.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2015/06/16/3903605_mitch-mcconnell-rand-paul-clean.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy

[Chef Ramsay]

Stephen Moore: Rand Paul to Reveal Ambitious Flat Tax Plan

Sen. Rand Paul will debut his plan for a flat federal income tax Thursday as he outlines a key platform of his 2016 bid for the Republican presidential nomination, Stephen Moore, chief economist for The Heritage Foundation, has revealed to Newsmax TV.

"This thing is going to be really exciting. It's got really low rates, it clears out all the pollution in the tax system," Moore said Monday on "The Steve Malzberg Show."

"Rand calls this the biggest reform to the income tax system since 1916. So you know when you talk about who is bold, that's going to be the standard by which all other plans are."
Moore said the Kentucky Republican's plan is "really simple" and "really fair" because every American will pay the same federal tax rate.

"If you make 10 times more than I do you pay 10 times more tax. It gets rid of a lot of the special interest provisions and loopholes in the code," Moore said.

"So that's all pretty cool stuff. I'll be interested to see, by the way, what Jeb Bush has to say … Jeb hasn't really put out firm policy positions yet and that's going to be critical to him, to his success."

More...http://www.newsmax.com/Newsmax-Tv/Stephen-Moore-Rand-Paul-Flat-Tax-fair/2015/06/15/id/650602/

[Chef Ramsay]

Sen. Rand Paul: Privacy Is A Real Concern For Most Americans

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Senator Rand Paul told Talk Radio 1210 WPHT midday host Dom Giordano that most of America agrees with him when it comes to privacy concerns.

“Inside the Beltway, I’m very unpopular. I’m maybe the least popular person in Washington right now, but once I leave the Beltway and I get out and I visit voters in New Hampshire, or Kentucky or Iowa or wherever I go, South Carolina, we have hundreds of people who show up to every event and to a person, they think the government has gone too far. They don’t trust the President with their information and frankly, they don’t trust any president. If you interview people under 40, 83% of them in a recent survey said that the government has gone too far in collecting our records.”

He feels that at least half of the other Republican candidates for president disagree with the 83% of people in that survey, and they are in turn “out of touch.”

“They’re welcome to have that opinion. They’re welcome to viciously attack me, but in the end, I think the position that I’ve taken is the correct one with regards to the 4th Amendment, but I think it’s also the one that ultimately, the American people will rally around.”

More...http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2015/06/16/sen-rand-paul-privacy-is-a-real-concern-for-most-americans/

[Possum577]

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/8-most-donald-trump-things-222600785.html

Here's an article about Donald Trump being a douche, errr the Donald.

This guy is such a character, if he weren't so fake and obvious he'd actually be funny.

[Sethtabiah]

Rand Paul is not like other potential presidential candidates.

The Kentucky senator, who announced his candidacy for the White House on Tuesday morning, doesn't fit neatly into the molds of either party.

Socially liberal on issues of crime and punishment — especially when it comes to drug sentencing — against a federal ban on same-sex marriage, and no foreign policy hawk, he's not your prototypical Republican.

As a fiscal conservative and an opponent of abortion rights, though, he's certainly no Democrat either.

[Chef Ramsay]

Quinnipiac: Paul +1 vs Clinton in PA, Tied OH

http://www.quinnipiac.edu/images/polling/sw/ps06172015_S63hvd.pdf

Looks like Florida has gone blue, with the only people remotely contesting it being state darlings Rubio -3 and Bush -4. Paul down by 7. Ohio and Pennsylvania are solidly purple, at least for Paul. Performs best in these two states against Clinton among GOP field, though they aren't too far behind, with a 45-44 showing in PA(Rubio 44-43) and tie in Ohio(43-43) with Kasich having the obvious win there (47-40).

In general, Rubio is doing second best. Jeb still has a way to go.

If I were to analyze this data general election data, I would say the top tier is Rubio, Paul and Bush.
Of course summaries of the data simply say that Rubio is now a frontrunner.

[Chef Ramsay]

Another poll to vote for Rand in for fun.

Scroll down a little ways, its on the right hand side of the page.

http://www.kwtx.com/

[Chef Ramsay]

Rand's WSJ Op-Ed: Blow Up the Tax Code and Start Over
Apply a 14.5% flat tax to personal income and to businesses. Cut deductions. Watch the economy roar.

Some of my fellow Republican candidates for the presidency have proposed plans to fix the tax system. These proposals are a step in the right direction, but the tax code has grown so corrupt, complicated, intrusive and antigrowth that I’ve concluded the system isn’t fixable.

So on Thursday I am announcing an over $2 trillion tax cut that would repeal the entire IRS tax code—more than 70,000 pages—and replace it with a low, broad-based tax of 14.5% on individuals and businesses. I would eliminate nearly every special-interest loophole. The plan also eliminates the payroll tax on workers and several federal taxes outright, including gift and estate taxes, telephone taxes, and all duties and tariffs. I call this “The Fair and Flat Tax.”

President Obama talks about “middle-class economics,” but his redistribution policies have led to rising income inequality and negative income gains for families. Here’s what I propose for the middle class: The Fair and Flat Tax eliminates payroll taxes, which are seized by the IRS from a worker’s paychecks before a family ever sees the money. This will boost the incentive for employers to hire more workers, and raise after-tax income by at least 15% over 10 years.

Here’s why we have to start over with the tax code. From 2001 until 2010, there were at least 4,430 changes to tax laws—an average of one “fix” a day—always promising more fairness, more simplicity or more growth stimulants. And every year the Internal Revenue Code grows absurdly more incomprehensible, as if it were designed as a jobs program for accountants, IRS agents and tax attorneys.

Polls show that “fairness” is a top goal for Americans in our tax system. I envision a traditionally All-American solution: Everyone plays by the same rules. This means no one of privilege, wealth or with an arsenal of lobbyists can game the system to pay a lower rate than working Americans.

More...http://www.wsj.com/articles/blow-up-the-tax-code-and-start-over-1434582592

[Chef Ramsay]

Rand Paul, struggling in his presidential bid, works to court evangelicals

Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, running for president on a platform of keeping the government out of people’s business, took a deep breath when asked at a recent stop in Philadelphia whether he’d make addressing abortion a part of his campaign.

“I didn’t run for office because of the social issues,” Paul answered. “It wasn’t what got me to leave my practice. I ran for office mainly because I became concerned that we’re going to destroy the country with debt.”

The libertarianism that launched Paul’s political career can be a tough fit with the religious right, which plays an outsized role in the primary elections to select the Republican nominee for president. In the latest Fox News poll, Paul ranked seventh in the Republican field in support among white evangelical voters, with 7 percent of them saying they’d back him.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/government-politics/article24796168.html#storylink=cpy

Hit piece but the picture shows him greeting a family in a diner in NH where evangelicals aren't much of a voting block at all. All to talk about some event in DC this week. Hence my no linky.

[josephliton]

It's been obvious to anyone who lingers in the comments sections that Rand Paul's base has disappeared. I'm sure long time Atlantic commenters remember how just the inclusion of his name in the headline guaranteed 1000 comments about Freedom!™ and Liberty!!™ and Let's Take Our Country Back!!!™.

Among my left leaning friends who saw the potential for a new kind of foreign policy (best described by me as "Not Drones") he's been outed as a two faced fraud in a bed head hair piece and they find his flailing attempts to court F undies alarming.

So, you know, good riddance Aqua Buddha. Thanks for letting me say to my friends, one more time, "Told you so."

[Chef Ramsay]

EXCLUSIVE — RAND PAUL: OBAMATRADE TAX HIKES ON SMALL BUSINESSES MEAN REPUBLICANS SHOULD OPPOSE REVIVAL EFFORTS

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is calling on Republicans in the House—and the grassroots nationwide—to oppose efforts by House Ways and Means Committee chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)58%
 to revive Obamatrade via a tax increase hidden inside the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) portion of the deal.

Paul said when asked to react to an article from Breitbart News from late Sunday evening exposing the tax increase in the deal:

You know typically to pass these kinds of things, the establishment will try to buy off Democrats by sprinkling money so they have some money in there. To get the money, under our budget rules, we have to pay for it—so they want to pay for it with a fine on small businesses. But I thought a point that was made in the article which was pretty good is this is similar to the fines they wanted to do in Obamacare with 1099s and there was such an outcry it’s the only part of Obamacare we ever repealed. So I think when people discover they’re sticking a tax increase in there I think people will be even more unhappy.

Paul said he recommends all Republicans vote against TAA when Ryan and House GOP leadership bring it back up on Tuesday for an attempt to revive it after it embarrassingly failed 302-126 when they tried to pass TAA last week in the House. To send Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) to President Obama’s desk, TPA and TAA have to pass as a package. A bipartisan coalition formed to take down TAA last week, therefore temporarily killing Obamatrade as a whole—but House GOP leadership, at Ryan’s insistence, is going to try to change the game and pass TAA again on Tuesday despite the fact it raises taxes on small business.

...

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/06/15/exclusive-rand-paul-obamatrade-tax-hikes-on-small-businesses-mean-republicans-should-oppose-revival-efforts/

[Sethtabiah]

Rand Paul's problem is that among my right leaning friends who saw the potential the Rand wasn't an anti military isolationist kook , he's been outed as a two faced fraud. IOW, he's managed to convince people with diametrically opposed foreign policy views that he can't be trusted.

[Chef Ramsay]

Neil Peart: Rand Paul ‘hates women and brown people’
Rush’s famously Ayn Rand-inspired drummer/lyricist will only vote Democrat, because health care and compassion

The Canadian prog-rock trio Rush has always held a special place in many libertarian hearts, largely due to drummer/lyricist Neil Peart's fondness for individualist themes (the band had an early song called "Anthem," fer chrissakes). FreedomWorks honcho Matt Kibbe became a libertarian after hearing Rush's Ayn Rand-inspired 2112. You can read a Scott Bullock (of Institute for Justice fame) interview with Peart in this 1997 edition of Liberty. The magazine whose website you are reading ran an effusive and nerdy letter praising the band—"Rush is a living example of what a group of people can do if they continually apply and uphold the principles that they believe in"—back in 1986.

So I imagine that some fans may be distressed to learn that, according to this excellent new Rolling Stone profile of the band, Peart's self-described "bleeding-heart libertarian" tendencies include automatically voting Democrat, and sending cease-and-desist letters to an allegedly racist Rand Paul:

More:  http://reason.com/blog/2015/06/16/neil-peart-rand-paul-hates-women-and-bro

Interesting that I turned down tix to Rush's concert in Detroit last Sunday night, now this.

[Sethtabiah]

EXCLUSIVE — RAND PAUL: OBAMATRADE TAX HIKES ON SMALL BUSINESSES MEAN REPUBLICANS SHOULD OPPOSE REVIVAL EFFORTS

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is calling on Republicans in the House—and the grassroots nationwide—to oppose efforts by House Ways and Means Committee chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)58%
 to revive Obamatrade via a tax increase hidden inside the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) portion of the deal.

Paul said when asked to react to an article from Breitbart News from late Sunday evening exposing the tax increase in the deal:

You know typically to pass these kinds of things, the establishment will try to buy off Democrats by sprinkling money so they have some money in there. To get the money, under our budget rules, we have to pay for it—so they want to pay for it with a fine on small businesses. But I thought a point that was made in the article which was pretty good is this is similar to the fines they wanted to do in Obamacare with 1099s and there was such an outcry it’s the only part of Obamacare we ever repealed. So I think when people discover they’re sticking a tax increase in there I think people will be even more unhappy.

Paul said he recommends all Republicans vote against TAA when Ryan and House GOP leadership bring it back up on Tuesday for an attempt to revive it after it embarrassingly failed 302-126 when they tried to pass TAA last week in the House. To send Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) to President Obama’s desk, TPA and TAA have to pass as a package. A bipartisan coalition formed to take down TAA last week, therefore temporarily killing Obamatrade as a whole—but House GOP leadership, at Ryan’s insistence, is going to try to change the game and pass TAA again on Tuesday despite the fact it raises taxes on small business.

...

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/06/15/exclusive-rand-paul-obamatrade-tax-hikes-on-small-businesses-mean-republicans-should-oppose-revival-efforts/

Rand Paul has the highest rating (93%) of any Senator, except for Mike Lee.
However - the Conservative Review has played some dishonest games with the scoring.

Rand Paul took a hit for opposing the phony "Freedom Act" because in the opinion of CR, voting for it represented the best opportunity to reign in the Patriot Act. Apparently filibustering the Patriot Act causing it to expire, and forcing it to not get reauthorized at all isn't good enough for the Conservative Review!

[Chef Ramsay]

It's been obvious to anyone who lingers in the comments sections that Rand Paul's base has disappeared. I'm sure long time Atlantic commenters remember how just the inclusion of his name in the headline guaranteed 1000 comments about Freedom!™ and Liberty!!™ and Let's Take Our Country Back!!!™.

Among my left leaning friends who saw the potential for a new kind of foreign policy (best described by me as "Not Drones") he's been outed as a two faced fraud in a bed head hair piece and they find his flailing attempts to court F undies alarming.

So, you know, good riddance Aqua Buddha. Thanks for letting me say to my friends, one more time, "Told you so."

Rand Paul's problem is that among my right leaning friends who saw the potential the Rand wasn't an anti military isolationist kook , he's been outed as a two faced fraud. IOW, he's managed to convince people with diametrically opposed foreign policy views that he can't be trusted.

Thank you for the intelligentsia and views to my Rand Paul for President thread, much appreciated and full of substance.

Donation link - https://secure.randpaul.com/

[Chef Ramsay]

GOP presidential hopeful Rand Paul's wife stops in Bluffton

Kelley Paul said Wednesday she’s not afraid to be out on the front lines while on the presidential campaign trail stumping for her husband, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky.

“I enjoy it. I tell people sometimes it’s actually easier to be out in front of the camera and speaking and engaging one-on-one with people,” said Paul, whose husband is one of 12 current Republican hopefuls vying for the party’s 2016 nomination.

Paul was in Bluffton Wednesday for an event at Okatie’s Mi Tierrita restaurant hosted by the Republicans of Sun City and Hilton Head to promote her recent book, “True and Constant Friends,” and to field questions from a group of about 25 people about the presidential race.

She said her husband’s willingness to engage voters and other politicians openly was a key reason he should be the GOP’s nominee next year.

“After only a year or two in the Senate and being very new to politics, he was one of the most well-known faces,” Paul said of the freshman senator. “He tries to enlarge the debate, tries to include more people in the debate and tries to talk about things that perhaps we haven’t talked about before.

More...http://www.blufftontoday.com/bluffton-news/2015-06-17/gop-presidential-hopeful-rand-pauls-wife-stops-bluffton#.VYJYaPlViko

She definitely is his secret weapon.