National Review’s Robert Costa reported last night that Mitt Romney and Rand Paul met privately for about 30 minutes in Washington.
There's speculation all over the net what this means. I suspect we will know by the RNC.
At this time all that's clear is that Romney has to fear Paulites and the Tea Party and is looking for a way to pull them in under the big tent. Whether that can be done remains to be seen, especially as far as the Paulites go.
Rand plays a shrewd, game so there's no surprise in him not turning down a meeting with Romney.Further, Rand has much more of an establishment game than his father, so who knows what he said to Romney during their conversation. That said, I really don't think Rand can have a major influence over his father's supporters. If Romney's purpose was to try and get Rand to influence Paulites, then Romney is as clueless about Paulites as he is about the degree of threat Russia is to the U.S.
The meeting also signals that Rand could be a rising star at the RNC. How he plays his cards, and how libertarian he stays, could be the most interesting thing we learn from the August convention.
If Rand Paul sells out, the whole thing is hopeless.
ReplyDeleteI like Rand Paul. For a Paulite like me, he's bit like our version of Chuck Schumer.
ReplyDeleteI don't mean that in a bad way, let me explain:
1) Socialists like what Schumer does, but they feel he doesn't go far enough. I like what Paul does, but I don't feel he goes far enough.
2) Leftists really don't like Paul, I really don't like Schumer.
3) Schumer and Paul maintain enough credibility within their party without rocking the boat too much to be realistically labeled as extremists by the other side.
I think Rand will start going after the root causes of our problems (such as the fed and foreign policy) only if it's safe to do so without losing the re-election.
Have always been skeptical of Rand Paul, with some small straw of hope he's acting as an establishment politician, deciding not to show his extreme libertarian principles until it's safe to do so.
ReplyDeleteAs you said, we can't really say anything from his acceptance of meeting with Romney. There was no doubt he would accept a meeting like that. Hopefully, nothing twisted comes out of it.
It's quite an accomplishment for Rand Paul that Romney has to even spend time with him although I guess they know each other socially.
ReplyDeleteThis is probably more about Romney reaching out to "Tea Party" types rather than Ron Paul supporters in hopes of rekindling the 2010 midterm voter enthusiasm.
ReplyDeleteIf this is the case, Romney has better advisors than I'd have guessed, since Rand was the keynote speaker at the seminal 2007 Tea Party rally at Faneuil Hall in Boston.
Romney knows he can't win without the Paul vote, and if he can get Paul supporters to vote for him, he knows he at least has a chance to win. So why wouldn't Romney make an effort to get Paul supporters on board. It's no coincidence that he's treated Dr. Paul very politely in all the debates and even referred to him as a "expert on the constitution." A Rand Paul Vice Presidency would setup very nicely the chance for a Paul in the Whitehouse in 2020; that is if everything goes well for Romney. The real question is though, is picking Rand as his VP enough to get the Paul supporters to sell their souls? I mean if you don't vote or vote 3rd party Obama or Romney wins so theres no change there, but if Paul is the VP there is a small chance that he could potentially end up running for President down the road...
ReplyDeleteThere is a precedent for the VP to run the government with his own portfolio, perhaps starting with Gore on thru Cheney. Does Biden do very much? There is wisdom in keep the VP role limited to begin with.
DeleteI'm holding out judgment on Paul. He may just be taking a different approach than Ron Paul. Paul has built the movement, no doubt. What Rand does with it from here on should be interesting. The way that Paul went with a stealth delegate strategy makes me wonder if Paul is a stealth politician. Frankly, nothing would surprise me.
ReplyDeleteNot supporting Romney is not the same as not fighting him. So if Rand gets something worthwhile to not fight him YET not support him at the convention, he can stick to his principles and Liberty marches forward. Since we live in the real world, one must carefully pick one's battles.
ReplyDeleteSeems to me that the Paul family is conducting a two-pronged approach. Maybe even the 'good cop, bad cop' routine.
ReplyDeleteThe next couple of weeks will surely be interesting to watch especially once we get to the RNC.
What we see on our 'news' channels is only 1/3 of the political process. Backrooms are filled and midnight oil is being burned...