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

[Chef Ramsay]

Notorious and much needed swing state for republicans
Colorado (Quinnipiac): Paul 46%, Clinton 43%

Paul: 46% (+3)
Clinton: 43%

Christie: 40%
Clinton: 42%

Bush: 40%
Clinton: 44%

Huckabee: 41%
Clinton: 44%

More...http://www.quinnipiac.edu/news-and-events/quinnipiac-university-poll/colorado/release-detail?ReleaseID=2060
Cross tabs are interesting, Paul absolutely dominates w/ 65+older crowd which is something his dad could never do.

http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/blog/broadway_17th/2014/07/hillary-clinton-edges-most-republicans-except-rand.html

[Ron~Popeil]

Notorious and much needed swing state for republicans
Colorado (Quinnipiac): Paul 46%, Clinton 43%

Paul: 46% (+3)
Clinton: 43%

Christie: 40%
Clinton: 42%

Bush: 40%
Clinton: 44%

Huckabee: 41%
Clinton: 44%

More...http://www.quinnipiac.edu/news-and-events/quinnipiac-university-poll/colorado/release-detail?ReleaseID=2060
Cross tabs are interesting, Paul absolutely dominates w/ 65+older crowd which is something his dad could never do.

http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/blog/broadway_17th/2014/07/hillary-clinton-edges-most-republicans-except-rand.html

If there were ever a time for a non establishment candidate it is now. All of the other players mentioned in these polls are part of the establishment that no one has faith in anymore regardless of party. I would love to see a poll like that for Pennsylvania or Michigan in the near future. 

[Chef Ramsay]

Rand Paul is right where he wants to be in the 2016 race

By Aaron Blake
July 17

Watch any NBA or NFL draft, and you will quickly grow nauseous at all the allusions to a particular player's "upside." This little word (which we're not sure actually exists in nature) refers to someone who might be a little undervalued and probably won't excel -- but has all the tools to become a superstar.

In the 2016 Republican presidential race, that player/candidate is Rand Paul.

There is little that surprises in the two new polls of the 2016 Iowa and New Hampshire presidential primaries from NBC News and Marist College. In both states, Hillary Rodham Clinton leads Joe Biden by 50-plus points, and the GOP field is a cluttered mess that is nearly impossible to make heads or tails of.

But dig a little deeper, and you see Paul's potential. Moreso than any other candidate, Paul seems to have real paths to victory in both states -- something that has never happened before. It's far too early to say with any certainty what will happen (and we can't emphasize the limited value of early polling enough) but the potential is clearly there.

For a few reasons:

...

Check out more...http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/07/17/rand-paul-is-right-where-he-wants-to-be-in-the-2016-race/

[Chef Ramsay]

Rand Paul: The Republican Candidate Whom Young Non-Republicans Fear the Least

By David Weigel
JULY 17

The new Quinnipiac poll out of Colorado and new NBC/Marist poll out of Iowa should please Democrats only for the residual pain they might cause Dick Cheney. In Colorado, Rand Paul performs absolutely the best against Hillary Clinton, among any of the 2016 Republicans—he leads her 46–43, and has led consistently since the pollster started trial heats last year. In Iowa, Paul is the only Republican who leads Clinton (within the margin of error), 44–44.

This is the summer of Rand Paul; in a way, all of 2014 has been a summer of Rand Paul. No Republican gets more positive coverage. Reporters (myself included) love to cover a politician who riffs with so little dependence on talking points. Readers click on anything Paul-related, which is among the reasons why Paul's criminal justice reform bill co-sponsored with Sen. Cory Booker got universally happy write-ups, from NPR to Politico. (The big news from Politico's Paul/Booker event was that the men took a selfie together.)

Where does Paul's support come from? The Quinnipiac poll, which offers up its crosstabs, finds that Paul is marginally more popular than other Republicans across most age groups. But he's far more popular among voters under 30. He wins them by 7 points; Chris Christie wins them by 4, Jeb Bush loses them by 4, Mike Huckabee loses them by 7. That's a small mound of evidence for the theory that Paul's "liberty movement" politics, his identification with privacy and drug law reform, etc., cracks the millennial voter code.

...

http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2014/07/17/rand_paul_the_republican_candidate_that_young_non_republicans_fear_the_least.html

When the real hit pieces come out, it'll be interesting to see how Team Paul flips the script on them because they will be nasty.

[Chef Ramsay]

Rand Paul eyes tech-oriented donors, geeks in Bay Area

Rand Paul goes hunting in San Francisco starting Thursday for two things Democrats usually expect to have locked up in the Golden State: rich technology donors and computer geeks game to leave their jobs to work on a White House campaign.

Focusing on a libertarian sliver of the Bay Area’s tech crowd, the Kentucky Republican hopes the three-day trip can tap into a powerful resource that could boost his fundraising skills, message delivery and voter turnout — potent technology tools that were a crucial component in President Barack Obama’s two general election victories.

But Paul also has a more lofty agenda — using his strongly held views on National Security Agency surveillance, Internet privacy and free markets to broaden the traditional GOP coalition — and perhaps even persuade California voters to turn their state red for the first time since George H.W. Bush in 1988.

“I think it has to be someone with the right message, but I think there’s room for us out there,” Paul said in an interview where he called on Republicans to “run a 50-state strategy.”

...

More...http://www.politico.com/story/2014/07/rand-paul-tech-donors-bay-area-108998.html
&
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/14/07/16/0449219/rand-paul-and-silicon-valleys-shifting-political-climate

[theonewhowaskazu]

Just FYI, usually I vote democrat, even though I don't sound like one. I don't support going off and bombing places, nor do I support government being involved with what women do with their own body. When you get down to it, the economic policy of both candidates in most races (at least on the national level) tend to be almost the same: See Obama & Romney. So I don't see how its worth risking someone like McCain coming out and starting Iraq 2.0 and causing an even bigger deficit than Obama's favorite handouts.

But Rand Paul is different, at least, his father was very different and I'm assuming Ron has significant influence on Rand. I get that he doesn't agree with me on everything (ex, abortion) but to be honest, any policy he puts in place there will be extremely temporary, so I'm willing to put up with that. He supports military spending, but his dad was so much against it that I doubt he's going to do something insane like bomb Iran or something stupid. He's the best bet for actual change so I support anything he can do.

I think that in order to finally get anything done, people who support the libertarian agenda are going to have to concede some views on any given election. Libertarians tend to be independent thinkers, which is obviously a good thing. This means that they don't flock to some source like Fox/MSNBC to get their political views set for them. Bad news? It means that their views tend to be more fractured. To get our big ideas across, we're going to have to disregard the details and unite behind whoever has the best chance of doing something. I have a feeling the rest will just fall into place right, given enough time.

Edit: Also FYI, I am from the Bay Area as that information seems relevant in this thread.

[Chef Ramsay]

^Nice post, as an ancap I've long said that the good isn't the enemy of the perfect. In order to move the ball at all towards liberty, we gotta stay out of the weeds and coalition build wherever we can. Lots of populism building up in America today on both sides of the isle.

[hologram]

Is Rand a drug prohibitionist ? Cause USA have an insane prison population...

[Chef Ramsay]

Is Rand a drug prohibitionist ? Cause USA have an insane prison population...

One of Rand's latest issues he's leading on is getting mandatory minimums reduced or done away with. And, he's working on this with liberal democratic Senator Cory Booker from NJ. Also, restoring voting rights for non-violent drug offenders. His rhetoric may seem weak to some, as in it's not as iconoclastic as his dad, but it does signify his willingness to push for reforms while not being vilified or demagogued by right media personalities if he runs for president.

[Bit_Happy]

Notorious and much needed swing state for republicans
Colorado (Quinnipiac): Paul 46%, Clinton 43%

Paul: 46% (+3)
Clinton: 43%

Christie: 40%
Clinton: 42%

Bush: 40%
Clinton: 44%

Huckabee: 41%
Clinton: 44%

More...http://www.quinnipiac.edu/news-and-events/quinnipiac-university-poll/colorado/release-detail?ReleaseID=2060
Cross tabs are interesting, Paul absolutely dominates w/ 65+older crowd which is something his dad could never do.

http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/blog/broadway_17th/2014/07/hillary-clinton-edges-most-republicans-except-rand.html

Hillary beats everyone except Rand Paul in Colorado!
Glad to see the good news is still flowing. 

[theonewhowaskazu]

Is Rand a drug prohibitionist ? Cause USA have an insane prison population...

His father was vilified for being so anti-prohibitionist. I highly doubt the son will do anything stupid in this regard.

[fdiini]

Is Rand a drug prohibitionist ? Cause USA have an insane prison population...

His father was vilified for being so anti-prohibitionist. I highly doubt the son will do anything stupid in this regard.

Because the prison industry lobby and union are powerful enough to shape election landscape.

[theonewhowaskazu]

Is Rand a drug prohibitionist ? Cause USA have an insane prison population...

His father was vilified for being so anti-prohibitionist. I highly doubt the son will do anything stupid in this regard.

Because the prison industry lobby and union are powerful enough to shape election landscape.

Exactly. But I bet he just changed his tune to match their preferences. I don't think he's going to suddenly go insane once elected.

[hologram]

Thanks for your answer.

I read a book about Rand Paul few weeks ago "Rand Paul ou le réveil de l'amérique", in English "Rand Paul or the wake up of America", where it's explained that Rand Paul play the politics game unlike his father. I follow American politics cause i think America is the best chance for libertarianism. As example Switzerland (a country i know) have a more libertarian economy but people hasn't the same culture of liberty than libertarian American.

[Chef Ramsay]

Thanks for your answer.

I read a book about Rand Paul few weeks ago "Rand Paul ou le réveil de l'amérique", in English "Rand Paul or the wake up of America", where it's explained that Rand Paul play the politics game unlike his father. I follow American politics cause i think America is the best chance for libertarianism. As example Switzerland (a country i know) have a more libertarian economy but people hasn't the same culture of liberty than libertarian American.

Yep, Ron was old school and lived the almost solitude political life all the while trying to give speeches wherever he could talking about Austrian economics and the like. Rand saw what his dad went through and found out what worked and what didn't work. How to address the media and when to either shut up or steer the discussion his way. Rand has built a top notch political organization and has big talent on his payroll and in place in damn near every state or at arm's length. A winner usually isn't the professorial type but one who knows how to play the game well and make pleasantries to keep from getting stoned to death in the media. Things are getting exciting and only more so as time goes by. All of us Bitcoiners need to be of use to help the cause and Rand is at the apex of the battle for American liberty, which in turn, will stop our military from being over-extended abroad. With real liberty comes real prosperity and maybe once again the USA can be that beacon of liberty that others from abroad aspire to.

[Chef Ramsay]

Can Rand Bring Blacks Back to the GOP?
Fifty years after Goldwater, the Kentucky Senator is trying to repair the GOP's image with African-American voters.

James Poulos

Fifty years ago this week, a divided and feverish Republican Party nominated Barry Goldwater to lead them to victory. Instead, he led them to a smashing defeat.

There are many reasons for that catastrophe, and some on the right enjoyed a hearty last laugh when Lyndon Johnson abandoned the White House. But ridding themselves of Johnson did not mean that Republicans got back the black vote. Black Americans deserted the Goldwater GOP en masse, and they never came back—not even in the party’s ultra-dominant Reagan years. To be sure, the Reaganaut Jack Kemp made African Americans a powerful pitch. But Kemp belongs to a different time, and that time has now been long in passing.

Now it’s fallen to Rand Paul to revive his party’s standing with black Americans. After the splashy performances that sealed his reputation (a filibuster here, a standing ovation at Berkeley there), Paul has settled into something of a grind as the rest of the GOP’s presumptive presidential contenders take turns trying to cement themselves as the party’s antithesis to all things Paul.

Most recently, that’s meant a public poking contest between Paul and Rick Perry over the merits and demerits of Barack Obama’s Iraq policy, such as it is. Their dueling opinion columns crystallized the party’s central conflict: re-litigating the Bush legacy at large.

...

More...http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/07/18/rand-paul-s-righteous-race-crusade.html

Also, check out these lefties on MSNBC talking about Rand Paul and his democratic colleague regarding the bipartisan effort to restore voting rights for non violent felons in addition to other drug war issues.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFZIgrNRJ7M

[Chef Ramsay]

Rand Paul is a Republican With an Eye on the World

...
Many of them, however, are already trawling Iowa and New Hampshire, the first states up in the primary season. "I will be back a lot," Christie ominously declared during a visit to Iowa last week. But if there is a front runner at this absurdly early stage of proceedings, it's probably Rand Paul.

It's not so much that he holds wafer-thin leads in both states, according to recent, near-meaningless polls. Nor that he's the son of Ron Paul, who made quixotic bids for the White House in both 2008 and 2012, acquiring along the way a modest but ferociously dedicated following. Nor even that he's a born opportunist, supremely quick to spot and exploit an opening. The simple fact is that Paul Jnr has an appeal that extends into odd corners of his own party, and beyond.

Up to a point, he's a conventional low-tax, small-government Republican, much loved by the Tea Party. He's for guns and against gay marriage. What sets him apart, though, is the libertarianism he inherited from his father. Paul is pro-privacy and a sworn foe of the blanket NSA snooping revealed by Edward Snowden. He opposed renewal of the post 9/11 Patriot Act – an article of faith for most Republicans – on the grounds that it infringed individual liberties. He even did a real, 12-hour filibuster on the Senate floor in protest against the use of drones. And not least, he has a libertarian's distaste for foreign entanglements.

All of this allows him to venture into places where most Republicans don't. In March, he got a standing ovation after a speech to students at the liberal redoubt of UC-Berkeley. Now he's reportedly making tracks back to California to tap the tech moguls of Democrat-leaning Silicon Valley for money, and enlist young digital whizzes to help to hone a 2016 campaign.

Above all, though, the Paul siren song extends to foreign policy, on which his party is deeply divided. The differences in part reflect the eternal American clash between isolationism and interventionism, the former personified in GOP presidential races as recent as 1992 and 1996 by the old bruiser Pat Buchanan.

In fact, Paul is not a true isolationist, of the "stop the world, I want to get off" variety. He admits that America's armed forces have a role abroad, a role that includes permanent foreign military bases. But he's profoundly sceptical of the use of military force and of the US ability, trumpeted by Bush and the neocons, to create a democratic garden in the stony deserts of sectarianism and authoritarianism.
...

Pretty interesting overall read...http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/rand-paul-is-a-republican-with-an-eye-on-the-world-9616870.html

[Chef Ramsay]

Gallup: The most well known and well liked Republican contenders are … Mike Huckabee and Rand Paul

“Huckabee/Paul.” Say it aloud. Go on.

It sounds like music, doesn’t it?

Seriously, though, I’m surprised. Not by Huck’s standing, but by Rand’s:



Huckabee’s well known because he’s a former candidate and he’s been on Fox News for years. Paul Ryan’s well known because he was on the Republican ticket in 2012. Rick Perry’s well known because he ran in 2012 and has been ubiquitous on TV lately thanks to the border crisis. But how did Rand Paul get that sort of name recognition? This would kinda sorta make sense to me if it was a poll of all adults or all registered voters because Paul’s been trying so hard this year to get the attention of independents and disaffected Democrats. But it’s a poll of Republicans and leaners, and yet Rand’s “familiarity” score is 10 points higher than his Senate contemporary Rubio’s — and Rubio had plenty of air time last year from conservative media because of the Gang of Eight bill. I can only assume that libertarians are the difference. If you’re a fan of the Pauls but ignore mainstream Republican politics, you might (grudgingly) identify as “lean Republican” for a poll like this even though Rand’s the only guy on your radar screen. That means you’re largely unfamiliar with Rubio, Cruz, and Walker but very familiar with, and supportive of, Paul. Good news for him, if true — these are the voters he’s counting on to give him an edge in Iowa and New Hampshire while the rest of the field divvies up mainstream Republicans and tea partiers.

...

More...http://hotair.com/archives/2014/07/18/gallup-the-most-well-known-and-well-liked-republican-contenders-are-mike-huckabee-and-rand-paul/

Yet, Huckster won't be able to turn out independents as he's got too much churchie baggage going on. Plus, conservatives will get to have another look at his dismal record as Governor of Arkansas and will sour on it. No doubt Rand will get attacked from all the usual places but the team and donors that he's compiling will be able to make quick work of that crap. Just recently, he's been fending off attacks on his foreign policy vision and owning them in the process.

[beetcoin]

do you guys think that, if rand does go on to win the GOP primaries, he should make a promise to amnesty snowden once he becomes president? it might be a good idea, since most of the public is for snowden. honestly, i'm not planning on voting for him, but  if he made that promise i would strongly consider it.

[hologram]

Yep, Ron was old school and lived the almost solitude political life all the while trying to give speeches wherever he could talking about Austrian economics and the like. Rand saw what his dad went through and found out what worked and what didn't work. How to address the media and when to either shut up or steer the discussion his way. Rand has built a top notch political organization and has big talent on his payroll and in place in damn near every state or at arm's length. A winner usually isn't the professorial type but one who knows how to play the game well and make pleasantries to keep from getting stoned to death in the media. Things are getting exciting and only more so as time goes by. All of us Bitcoiners need to be of use to help the cause and Rand is at the apex of the battle for American liberty, which in turn, will stop our military from being over-extended abroad. With real liberty comes real prosperity and maybe once again the USA can be that beacon of liberty that others from abroad aspire to.

Thanks for this inspired post.

And i'm impressed how Rand and his father Ron are more and more know around the world, they do a very good job for liberty.