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

[Chef Ramsay]

Rand Paul mulls China medical mission

By MIKE ALLEN | 9/10/14 6:54 AM EDT

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), after spending six days in Guatemala this summer doing free eye surgeries, plans a similar pro bono mission for next summer, perhaps in China, he told POLITICO in an interview.

Paul, who traveled with three staff members, journalists from five news organizations, plus conservative filmmaker David Bossie, worked with six other eye surgeons. The group performed about 250 surgeries, and he did about 20 of them.

Here is a lightly edited transcript of a phone conversation with the senator, who spent 17 years as a practicing ophthalmologist in Bowling Green, Ky.:

...

More...http://www.politico.com/story/2014/09/rand-paul-guatemala-medical-mission-110799.html

[Chef Ramsay]

For the past several months, I was not following the GOP nomination for POTUS 2016. But I was quite disappointed when I saw the latest polls. A poll by McClatchy/Marist has Rand Paul in the 7th place, well behind Chris Christie and Jeb Bush. Quite worrying... I have to say. The establishment republicans are trying hard to sideline Paul. He will have to fight really hard. 

IIRC, the sampling size on that seemed a little weak and way different than the usual 4 companies that show him at or near the top, nationally. He tends to yoyo by how often he's in the press and getting in front of a certain issue of the day. Meanwhile, he's laying every piece of fabric needed to create a foundation for locking the front runner status while the others in the GOP primary trade places like Cain/Bachmann/Perry/Gingrich etc (aka flavors of the month).

IMO, there's been a constant black ops going on since in or around the Benghazi debacle to systematically create a new and spicier version of al qaeda since the American people are getting bored at the concept of constantly "going over there in search of dragons". When even republicans were trending against intervention to now when they're leaning back the other way to some extent, the media has done their job of trending fear again. However, we're just getting started again going over there and there's no way to know how this will develop going into the primary season although we do know how the media will present it to the public especially on right wing talk shows. But, I am confident in Rand's abilities to make his arguments iron clad yet attract the ankle biters like Cheney and Santorum.

[tvbcof]

You might be happy to know that rather than do a protest vote in a Clinton v. Paul contest, I'll almost certainly vote for Paul now.  I might even campaign for him in the primaries to some extent if I thought it could make a difference.

I remain leery of the Libertarian party line philosophies in some ways (while agreeing as strongly as ever with a lot of others) and I remain suspicious that Paul could be corrupted.  More than that, I am concerned about the reliability of a lot of people who align with the Libertarian party and they would be empowered by a Paul in the executive.  What has changed is my recognition about how much power the 'collectivists' actually have managed to amass.  I've always been worried that 'collectivism' would be subverted by corporatism if it ever did get traction.  I recognize now that it has gotten more traction than I realized and it has been driven and animated by corporatism the whole way.  The term 'public-private partnerships' is openly used as a good thing but in my mind I consider it straight-up fascism with totalitarianism rarely being far behind.  And it's hard not so see the skeletal framework of totalitarianism forming (or being completed) rapidly before our eyes.

Now, would a president Paul disassemble some of the totalitarian frameworks being developed, or would he pull an Obama?  This is hard to know and I'm plenty leery of it.  He's our best realistic shot however.  Unfortunately that isn't saying much.

[justahack]

Paul would be interesting as an independent candidate. I don't see the GOP nominating him.

[Lethn]

Paul would be interesting as an independent candidate. I don't see the GOP nominating him.

Politicians don't have the balls do go independent, well except for Jesse Ventura and at least Gary Johnson isn't a part of the two party system.

[justahack]

Paul would be interesting as an independent candidate. I don't see the GOP nominating him.

Politicians don't have the balls do go independent, well except for Jesse Ventura and at least Gary Johnson isn't a part of the two party system.

It's tougher, without the alliances, fundraising, and clout of a major party. But today's GOP would not nominate Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, or Bob Dole. All would be too moderate for today's extremist brand.

[Kluge]

Paul would be interesting as an independent candidate. I don't see the GOP nominating him.

Politicians don't have the balls do go independent, well except for Jesse Ventura and at least Gary Johnson isn't a part of the two party system.

You need $millions just to get signatures to be on the state ballots (we have a very anti-third-party/anti-independent voting scheme in the US -- our largest third party hasn't had a presidential candidate on all ballots in recent history). -And then you won't be allowed to participate in debates, you won't receive media coverage (except to make fun of you when you're forcibly prevented from trying to go to the debate), and you need to work multitudes as hard as the others to convert voters. You can't just show up in a suit and have people assume you're credible -- independents & third party candidates in the US are crazy until they manage to get someone's ear and prove otherwise. Previous high-profile independents like Ventura, who shakes in rage when he isn't shouting at someone, and James Traficant haven't helped eliminate the stigma. I think we generally assume if they aren't in the Two Parties, it's because they didn't pass the crazy test (the test has a LOT of false negatives, though).

In 2008, I knew even less than I do now. I watched a "lesser known candidates debate" (being one of maybe a thousand in the US who did). Between some crazed faggot sprinkling glitter on a Christian nut and another fellow named Vermin Supreme trolling, I automatically assumed the fellow harping on about thorium was batshit insane and deserved to be mocked. I noticed later, when looking into it incidentally years later, I automatically dismissed thorium having any legitimate use by association with that guy (who I wrote off as insane because of his "associates" in that debate).

[bryant.coleman]

Politicians don't have the balls do go independent, well except for Jesse Ventura and at least Gary Johnson isn't a part of the two party system.

Paul running as an independent can only help Hillary. Suppose there is a three-way fight between Hillary, Rand Paul and Chris Christie. Here, Hillary will be carrying the entire Democrat vote (especially the Blacks and Latinos), while the right-wing vote will be split between Christie and Paul. The establishment wing will vote for Christie, while the Libertarians will vote for Paul.

That said, it is too early to come to such conclusions.

[Chef Ramsay]

Rand Paul Opposes Obama's Plan To Arm Syrian Rebels In Fight Against ISIS

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) does not support arming and training Syrian opposition forces, a key element of President Barack Obama's new strategy to destroy Islamic State militants in the Middle East.

"Senator Paul believes arming the same side as ISIS was and is a strategic error and would oppose such action," Paul's senior aide, Doug Stafford, told The Huffington Post on Wednesday.

The news was first reported by The Daily Beast.

...

By opposing the arming of opposition forces in Syria, Paul echoed Sen. Mark Begich, a vulnerable Democrat up for re-election in Alaska, who expressed similar concern that U.S. arms would end up in the wrong hands. In a statement following the president's speech, Begich said he was "gravely concerned by reports of ISIS seizing and utilizing U.S. weapons intended for those fighting against" Assad.

...

More...http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/10/rand-paul-syria-isis_n_5801510.html

[Chef Ramsay]

Rand Paul can attract black voters. Hillary Clinton should take notice.

BY ISSAC BAILEY
September 11, 2014

Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican who is on record questioning a part of the Civil Rights Act and has been associated with neo-Confederates, has a shot at winning over a significant minority of black voters in 2016 if he keeps doing what he’s been doing over the past year or so.

Hillary Clinton fans should not take for granted that as of now the biggest obstacle to such a seemingly unlikely feat is not the former Secretary of State, but Rand’s own party.

I know because I’m one of those gettable black voters who haven’t gotten much attention the past few election cycles because we were, frankly, not gettable in 2008 and 2012, not only because of the historic nature of those races, but because then candidate Barack Obama spoke eloquently on the issue Paul has taken up as his own.

I voted for Obama twice, the first time I was motivated by his work in Illinois to revamp the criminal justice system, to make it just a little less unfair. During his time as president, he has helped to close what was a 100 to 1 crack to powder-cocaine disparity and cleared the way for tens of thousands of non-violent drug offenders to receive reduced sentences.

It’s been a good start, but Paul not only plans to carry that torch, he is speaking about it in ways Obama has seemed reluctant to since he’s been in the White House.

...

More...http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/2014/09/11/4466931_issac-bailey-blog-rand-paul-can.html?rh=1

[tvbcof]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/09/11/why-rand-paul-suddenly-wants-to-bomb-syria.html

Jeez. it's only the most obviously phony and contrived proxy war in recent memory dude!  I'd say that there are high odds that the people who support Paul thinking he is just playing politics will be as disappointed as those who supported Obama for the same reason.  I'd still favor him over Clinton just in case, but hold out very little hope.  The only silver lining is that it could be a boost for Ventura who, quite frankly, strikes me as our only semi-realistic hope.

The solution to ISIS is the same as it has been for all of these Islamic groups for the last three or four years.  Let Assad handle them which he could do within a few months if we'd leave him and his country alone.  And  the end result would be that Christian communities can live in peace, women could attend university, etc, etc just like before we put the heat on by funding the Islamists.  That would be super simple, but it is obviously not what we want in that region.  Paul seems to have gotten the memo and has probably been briefed on why it is important to our national security to disrupt things.

[Chef Ramsay]

The Secret to Rand Paul’s Foreign Policy: His Father
If you want a real insight into how Rand Paul truly views the world, check out his dad’s record in Congress during the Cold War.

W. James Antle III


Rand Paul is struggling to demonstrate that a presidential candidate can be skeptical of military adventures while still being tough on foreign enemies when necessary. And so far, all he is getting for his trouble is charges of flip-flopping.

Is there any recent precedent for a reluctant but strong warrior in Republican politics? Paul has been citing Ronald Reagan, but there is another, and perhaps more surprising, model: Ron Paul, the Kentucky senator’s own father.

This may seem counterintuitive. While the elder Paul’s two Republican presidential campaigns put noninterventionism back on the political map, his rhetoric is often a textbook example of how not to sell such foreign-policy ideas to the wider GOP base.

Ron Paul’s first stints as a Republican congressman from Texas were during the 1970s and ‘80s, however. As a libertarian-leaning lawmaker, he frequently disagreed with his GOP colleagues on foreign policy back then too. But, unlike some more militant libertarian thinkers, Ron Paul never dismissed the threat of communism during the Cold War.

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More...http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/09/12/the-secret-to-understand-rand-paul-s-foreign-policy.html

[Chef Ramsay]

Rand Paul Meets With Sir Richard Branson (BTC) to Discuss War on Drugs

There is also positive movement in the corridors of power here in the US. This morning in Washington we had a highly productive meeting with Senator Rand Paul, who has been taking huge steps forward in building bipartisan support for sensible, humane drug policies. Later, we enjoyed a livestreamed debate on why it is Time to Rethink Global Drug Policy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Online, masses of people have been getting in touch to pledge their support.

link...http://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/put-down-the-handcuffs-and-legally-regulate-drugs

https://twitter.com/richardbranson/status/510150888749809664/photo/1
retweet it

[Razick]

There is very little chance of Rand Paul winning the race. Even if he is ahead, the other "mainstream" Republicans such as Bush and Huckabee would gang-up together to defeat him.

The media will try to marginalize him and make him out to be an extremist as they always do with candidates who actually stand for something. They'd prefer someone nonthreatening and easy for the Democrats to beat like Mitt Romney.

[Possum577]

Clinton and Bush HAVE TO BE OUT! The US needs to stay clear of the dynasty family presidencies, the 4 year max on term is circumvented if spouses end up in office, which completely goes against the democratic process.

[Chef Ramsay]

First, the good news:
CNN New Hampshire poll: Rand Paul 15%, Bush 10%, Ryan 10%, Christie 9%, Huckabee 9%

BASED ON 383 REGISTERED REPUBLICANS AND REGISTERED INDEPENDENTS WHO SAY
THEY WILL VOTE IN THE 2016 REPUBLICAN PRIMARY -- SAMPLING ERROR: +/- 5
PERCENTAGE PTS.

5. Thinking ahead to the 2016 presidential election, if the Republican presidential primary were
held today, please tell me which of the following people you would be most likely to support.
Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Texas Senator Ted
Cruz, Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, Kentucky
Senator Rand Paul, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, Texas Governor Rick Perry, Florida Senator
Marco Rubio, Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum,
or Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. (RANDOM ORDER.)


Sept. 8-11, 2014

Paul.......15%
Bush.......10%
Ryan.......10%
Christie....9%
Huckabee....9%
Perry.......7%
Rubio.......7%
Walker......7%
Cruz........6%
Jindal......3%
Santorum....3%
Pence *
Someone else (vol.) 3%
None/No one (vol.) 4%
No opinion 7%

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2014/images/09/15/cnn.orc.new.hampshire.poll.top.pdf

[Robert Paulson]

this is probably the last chance America has to save itself before it crumbles economically.
if Rand Paul is elected there is a chance he will end the fed and bring honest money and free markets back.

if Hilary Clinton is elected America will go down the socialist path of the Soviet Union.

[Chef Ramsay]

And the annoying:
Rand in 3rd with 7% in New Iowa Poll

CNN/ORC

Huckabee: 21%
Ryan: 12%
Paul: 7%
Bush: 6%
Christie: 6%
Perry: 5%
Walker: 5%
Rubio: 5%
Cruz: 4%
Jindal: 4%
Santorum: 3%

http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/12/politics/clinton-huckabee-iowa-poll/index.html

Some people aren't sure as to whether Huckabee is running but Rand does have a solid operation in place in IA so there's plenty of room to build. As usual, the social conservative block is rearing it's ugly head in Huck's % here and are the biggest bunch of useful idiots on the right. I typically refer to them as the puritans as they usually vote along faith lines w/o regards to economics as the leading issue.

[Chef Ramsay]

Here's a short clip of Rand on CBS this morning talking about ISIS action, foreign aid and growing the GOP. Keep in mind, this is a network station that is a 'free' channel that most of the peasants get and view their news on. Much different than, say, Fox or MSNBC.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz58SG0eXEg

[Chef Ramsay]

He was also on Fox this morning chiding Hillary for her role in Benghazi, military options in Iraq, the past arming of radical Islam and if there were to be boots on the ground in Iraq - the 1st 10k should be Iraqis, the next 10k should be Saudis (calls them out for supporting radical Islam) and also from Turkey. The opening part of Hillary addressing an Iowa drone crowd is super annoying.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvFs6FuSZ4I