Sen. Rand Paul opens tech office in Austin
Sen. Rand Paul opens tech office in Austin to engage with voters "where they are."
By: The Dallas Morning News
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Sen. Rand Paul opens tech office in Austin - Video
WASHINGTON -- The reason Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) signed onto a controversial letter to the leaders of Iran was to give President Barack Obama more leverage in his negotiations over the country's nuclear program, the would-be presidential candidate said Sunday.
"There's no one in Washington more against war and more for a negotiated deal than I am," Paul said in an interview at SXSW in Austin, Texas. "But I want the negotiated deal to be a good deal. So my reason for signing onto the letter, I think it reiterates what is the actual law, that Congress will have to undo sanctions. But I also signed onto the letter because I want the president to negotiate from a position of strength which means that he needs to be telling them in Iran that 'I've got Congress to deal with.'"
The Kentucky Republican framed the issue as a matter of separation of powers, arguing that Obama ought to respect Congress' role in the process. He maintained that if he were in a similar situation as president, he would "run things in a different way."
"Instead of stiff arming Congress, I would go to Congress and engage them," Paul said. "He needs to come and sell it to Congress, individually, member by member."
Forty-seven Senate Republicans sparked a firestorm last week after they addressed an open letter to Tehran, noting that any deal it reaches with the administration could be revoked by a president or Congress. Obama mocked the missive at the Gridiron dinner in Washington, D.C. on Saturday.
You dont diminish your office by taking a selfie. You do it by sending a poorly written letter to Iran. Really. That wasnt a joke," he said.
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Rand Paul: I Signed Iran Letter In Order To Help Obama
Trying to make the case that he is the tech communitys candidate in 2016, Senator Rand Paul took the stage at SXSW this weekend to discuss privacy and youth political engagement.
Drawing applause from the room, the Republican from Kentuckysaid that he is the only candidate for 2016 who wants to bring an end to the National Security Agency (NSA) programs collecting bulk telephone metadata in an interview with Texas Tribune CEO Evan Smith. He argued that President Obama has lost popularity he once had among young voters under the age of 30 because he has failed to protect the civil liberties he said he would when he first ran for president.
He showed much less regard for privacythan the Republicans did before him, Paul said.
Paul argued that many of the NSA programs began under President George W. Bush but were expanded under the Obama administration. Although Paul is correct to say the Obama administration has done little to curtail the NSAs program, its hyperbolic to say the Obama administration has done less to protect privacy than the Bush administration, which oversaw the creation of todays surveillance state in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.
Not missing his opportunity to criticize his potential opponent Hillary Clinton, Paul made many jokes about the recent controversy over her decision to use a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state.
He gave a preview of a potential strategy to paint Clinton as part of an old guard of politicians unfamiliar with new technology, making jokes that she did not know that one phone could be connected to multiple email accounts. He lampooned her recent statements that the server was secure because it had been guarded 24/7, saying that hackers would not be coming through her window.
What does she think theres like floppy disks down there? he said.
But Paul dodged questions from Smith about whether or not he uses a private email account, repeating that rules are different for Congress.
Looking ahead to his hypothetical campaign and possible presidency, Paul talked about how technology could be used to reach out to a new generation of American voters who have become disengaged with politics. Paulwas one of the first politicians to use Snapchat.
He thinks his privacy message will resonate particularly well with young voters, who according to polls are most opposed to government surveillance of electronic communicationsand most supportive of Edward Snowden for leaking troves of government documents that revealed NSA practices. In the past hes made the point that just like young voters wouldnt want their parents to read their texts, they wouldnt want the government to either.
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Senator Rand Paul Courts Techs Support For His Likely ...
U.S. Sen. Rand Paul speaks with Evan Smith of the Texas Tribune at South by Southwest Interactive on Sunday. Photo by Texas Tribune.
In his continued campaign to reach nontraditional GOP voters, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul stopped in Austin on Sunday to speak with the hip, young and plugged-in at the South by Southwest Interactive conference.
While the crowds he speaks to are unconventional, part of his message criticizing Democratic rival Hillary Clinton and President Obama, was standard issue.
Asked how technology might transform the Oval Office for the next president, Paul volunteered, One of the key differences, and probably what my advice would be for whoever wins, is dont use your private email server.
The dig at Clintons use of private email as Secretary of State came as he acknowledged that he keeps a private email account and that he doesnt necessarily favor governments penchant for stockpiling emails.
But the rules are different for Congress than they are for the executive branch, and so are the national security concerns, Paul said.
And the email controversy plays up deeper perception problem for Clinton, he said.
The Clintons kind of think the law is for you ordinary people. Theyre somehow above the law, Paul said. Theres a certain arrogance and hypocrisy that is going to difficult for her to overcome.
Clinton has said she did not break any law, and that she has turned over 55,000 pages of emails. Others also have defended her use of a private email, saying other secretaries of state had similar practices.
Paul, who was one of the 47 Republican senators who signed a letter to Iran warning about its nuclear negotiations with the president, said he thought the letter would help Obama deal from a position of strength. He said he reasoned that negotiators could say that the president had to force certain issues otherwise Congress would not agree to the deal.
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Rand Paul talks tech and Clinton emails at SXSW ...
In trying to expand the Republican coalition, Mr. Paul is fighting political and demographic trends that are pushing more voters away from his party. A new generation is less socially conservative on issues like same-sex marriage, and a growing minority population is increasingly Democratic.
His campaign, which he is expected to announce early next month, will be a test of whether the kind of Republican rebranding he is attempting can happen in the next year, or whether it will take much longer, if it happens at all.
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"It's not always easy," Mr. Paul said in an interview here. He insisted that the political operation he is building is aimed at 2016, not some later date. But he acknowledged that he is not expecting instant results.
"Unless you are somehow this miraculous faith healer," he said, "it's going to be a gradual thing in the sense that people will open up to considering you. But most of them are saying things like: 'We're happy that you're competing for our vote. We're happy to see you coming where Republicans haven't come before.'"
"If we don't let it happen," he added, "I think we're not going to win national elections again."
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At South by Southwest, that approach drew curious spectators like Charlie Maas, who works in advertising and was visiting from Los Angeles. "I saw Rand Paul on the schedule and said: 'Huh. I'd go to that. That's interesting.'"
Interesting is the adjective so often used to describe Mr. Paul. The other word that many people often use after hearing him speak is "but" as in they were happy to listen to him, but they were not yet convinced that they could vote for him.
"It's one thing to be interesting; it's another thing to be compelling," said Matthew Dowd, who was a top strategist for George W. Bush. "They've got to see him sitting in the Oval Office. And I do not think Rand has crossed that threshold yet."
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Rand Paul captures a new audience