NYT simultaneously swiping at the principled Ron and promoting the power-hungry Rand:Sen. Rand Paul is helping Florida GOP candidate David Jolly thwart a Libertarian rival polling at four to seven percent, recording a robocall that touts Jolly as someone who wants to “ensure you, not the government, are making decisions for you and your family.”
The call, funded by American Crossroads, a group former Bush aide Karl Rove helped found, will go out to about 20,000 households. The targets of the call are potential supporters of Lucas Overby, a Libertarian candidate who could take votes from GOP candidate Jolly.
“We need to make sure that Lucas Overby does not become a spoiler that gives Nancy Pelosi one more vote in the House. And no one in the center right has more gravitas to help here than Senator Rand Paul,” Steven Law, president and CEO of American Crossroads, said in a written statement to Breitbart News.
The idea that Rand Paul is the 2016 Republican front-runner, advanced recently by Peter Beinart in The Atlantic, seems dubious. (There is no front-runner.) But the libertarian was the favorite at the Conservative Political Action Conference, where he spoke to a packed audience. Young people in suits who could not find seats milled around the back of the room.Note: I watched the entire Rand speech, it was a pro-Rand crowd, but Rand did little to really fire up the crowd. They cheered, that was to be expected, but his delivery didn't come close to top speech givers like, say, Jesse Jackson. If you ever want to see how a speech should be delivered, forget his politics, but catch Jackson deliver a speech in person.
Speaking of suits, Mr. Paul did not wear one. He had on a white collared shirt, a tie and a blazer over jeans, as is his custom. His clothing style reflected his speaking style, both of which were meant to burnish his reputation as the cool conservative.
In his speech he mentioned historical figures such as William Lloyd Garrison and James Madison and explained why he thinks that the National Security’s data-mining programs are illegal under the Fourth Amendment. He used the term “forefathers” a lot, like you’d expect from a senator in a suit and tie.
But he also quoted Pink Floyd. “To those who had hoped that Barack Obama would somehow be a champion of civil liberties, Roger Waters might ask, ‘did you trade your heroes for ghosts?’” and did you “‘exchange a walk-on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?’” In other words, he talked like a guy in jeans—albeit a guy in jeans in 1975.
The crowd loved him.
Rand Paul’s father, Ron Paul, was also adept at inspiring conservatives, especially young conservatives. But the son has more mainstream potential than the father—in part because of the cool factor and also because his libertarian hobbyhorses are more easily communicated.
During the 2012 Republican primaries, I heard Ron Paul address high school students in Des Moines, Iowa. The students seemed into the speech, but also confused by the elder Paul’s long tangent on Austrian economics and the finer points of monetary policy.
No one seemed confused when, in decrying the surveillance state, Rand Paul said: “If you have a cellphone, you are under surveillance” and “I believe what you do on your cellphone is none of their damn business.”
(ht Jay Stephenson)
I live in this part of Florida and this comes to no surprise. It likely has something to do with the Bush's. Jeb is running a television ad down here also giving Jolly his support.
ReplyDeleteNote: I was in the crowd. It was definitely fired up. Don't talk out of your ass, Bob.
ReplyDeleteSo Rand is a "libertarian" now and Ron inspired "conservatives." I think this reporter is quite confused.
ReplyDeleteTo spell it out, Rand is a conservative and conservatives shunned and abhorred Ron....publicly. More mish mashing the libertarian message.
The song he quoted was "Wish you were here." The "you" is Syd Barret who wrecked his mind on LSD. So the question is posed to a acid causality. Guess it's appropriate question to pose to that crowd if they are enthusiastic about Rand Paul.
ReplyDeletePlease. Ron got much, much larger crowds than anything rand did and the young kids were going wild the whole time. The monetary Econ aspects prob confused the idiot regime reporter, but not the intelligent kids in the crowd who know far more
ReplyDeleteDo the apologists have any more doubt that Rand is working with neocons, for the survival of *establishment* GOP politics, and AGAINST the more libertarian candidates? Just look at what is happening in Kentucky with McConnell and the more libertarian candidate there.
ReplyDeleteHow many buckets of ice cold water does it require to wake you people up?
Anybody still cheering for Rand i consider to be a GOP shill. No more than that.
Lucas Overby is hardly a satisfactory "libertarian", but Jolly, who won't even support the legalization of MEDICAL marijuana, is much worse.
ReplyDelete