The Rand Paul Coalition
Sen. Rand Paul received a standing ovation at the famously liberal, UC Berkley this week. We debate whether Paul #39;s libertarian ideals can pull voters from bo...
By: yazchat
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Senator Rand Paul Reveals Nanny State Spies on EVERYONE
Alex covers the news coming out that Rand Paul has struck a chord with the trendies in california, waking them up to the fact that they are being watched con...
By: THElNFOWARRlOR
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Senator Rand Paul Reveals Nanny State Spies on EVERYONE - Video
Rand Paul is the most intriguing and for Democrats, perhaps the most frightening figure in todays Republican Party. The Kentucky senator, who is more than flirting with a 2016 presidential run, is making a smart play for the millennial generation that was key to President Barack Obamas twin victories and that his own party has convincingly repelled.
Pauls unlikely pilgrimage to the progressive precincts of the University of California, Berkeley offered the most convincing evidence so far that he is serious about carving out this (sorry, President Clinton) third way space and a demonstration of his potential appeal to this lost demographic, more attuned to personality than party.
Watch the video of Paul at Berkeley the other day, and you think: This guy doesnt even look like a Republican, with his jeans and cowboy boots, his tie-but-no-jacket look, his mop-in-need-of-cutting coiffure. Mitt Romney tried to rock those jeans, but no 20-something no 30-something, actually looked at his Brylcreemed hair and thought: I want to hang out with this guy.
More important, listen to the substance, and it is difficult to detect much Republican in Pauls remarks. Indeed, his cross-brand pitch was explicit, and exquisitely attuned to the youre-not-the-boss-of-me ethos of the younger generation. Now you may be a Republican or a Democrat or a Libertarian, Paul began his speech. Im not here to tell you what to be.
With the laconic delivery and soft bluegrass accent that lent a certain stoner quality to his speech, Paul bonded with the Berkeley audience with pretty much the identical message he delivered to the Conservative Political Action Conference the week before, where he won the straw poll.
If you own a cellphone, youre under surveillance, Paul warned. I believe what you do on your cellphone is none of their damn business, waving his phone and winning applause.
But Paul did not stop there. He compared Edward Snowden to Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King Jr., and found Snowdens desire to escape draconian punishment for his civil disobedience reasonable. He compared Snowden to director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and found the latter wanting.
Clapper lied in the name of security; Snowden told the truth in the name of privacy, Paul said, adding that the intelligence director should be tried for perjury.
Most important, Pauls theory of broadening his partys appeal beyond its old white-guy base is not limited to issues of privacy. Remember, Dominos finally admitted they had bad crust? he asked. Republican Party, admit it: OK, bad crust. We need a different kind of party.
One example: expressing fear about indefinite detention of U.S citizens in ways that resonate beyond a libertarian audience. If youre African-American, Japanese-American, Jewish American, Hispanic, have there ever been times when the government didnt treat you fairly? said Paul, who has proposed lower mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes and restoring voting rights for nonviolent felons. Have there ever been times when you said, You know what, the war on drugs has had a racial outcome, 3 out of 4 people in prison are brown or black so somethings gone wrong?
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hide captionKentucky Sen. Rand Paul could catch a political updraft from President Obama's decision to restrict NSA telephone data collection efforts.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul could catch a political updraft from President Obama's decision to restrict NSA telephone data collection efforts.
It's too early to gauge the political impact of President Obama's plans to tame the NSA's data-gathering effort. The full details of the proposal haven't been made public yet.
But it's not too soon to say that Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., appears to be a winner. Paul, whose activities are fueling speculation about a 2016 presidential run, said Tuesday he didn't want to "take all the credit" for the president's decision, but the lawsuit he and others filed against the administration got Obama's attention.
Ever since Edward Snowden's 2013 disclosures revealed the NSA was collecting data linked to the telephone calls of millions of innocent Americans, Paul has inveighed against those practices.
His stance has turned him into a champion for voters worried about federal government surveillance especially young voters. Polls consistently show that it's under-30 voters who are the most concerned about the NSA's activities.
At a recent speech at the University of California, Berkeley a liberal stronghold where he castigated Obama for the NSA surveillance, Paul became the rare Republican to receive a warm reception.
Not only does Paul get to claim he helped push the administration toward a policy change many Americans desired, but he also increases his stature among young voters by being out front on an issue they follow closely.
"Young voters are certainly the most concerned about this of anyone, and Sen. Paul has been out speaking on this issue for a while now," Doug Stafford, executive director of Rand PAC, told It's All Politics. "I think he certainly has helped bring this issue to the forefront. And I think he can claim no small part in the fact that it's being addressed. Whether it's going to be addressed to everybody's satisfaction, we'll withhold judgment on. But the fact that it is being addressed is in no small part due to the attention he's brought to the issue."
Young voters, of course, aren't the only ones who care deeply about the NSA surveillance issue. It also matters a great deal to those in the Tea Party and libertarians. Paul could already lay claim to many of those voters, but the president's move to rein in the NSA certainly seems likely to energize those voters to the Kentucky senator's benefit rather than rally them to Obama's side.
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The Political Winner From The Proposed NSA Changes? Rand Paul
Appearing on Fox News Fox and Friends on Tuesday morning, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul offered some advice to President Obama in regards to his upcoming meeting with Pope Francis.
He ought to explain to the pope why he is telling businesses in America they cant remain true to their faith and stay in business, Paul said.
The Hobby Lobby case is being discussed [at the Supreme Court] today, Paul continued, and I think its important that he tell the leader of the Catholic Church why he thinks that businesses owned by Catholics cant make their own decisions with regard to health care.
After misrepresenting the Hobby Lobby case, Paul went on to agree with a prior comment from the Vaticans chief justice, Cardinal Raymond Burke, to the effect that the Obama administration was hostile toward Christian civilization.
I think it is something that really should be discussed in our country, Paul said. Most of us, whether youre Republican or Democrat, believe in free exercise of your religion. But if theyre telling you that your tax dollars have to go to something you find morally reprehensible, I think thats not free exercise of religion.
Near the end of the interview, Paul cracked a joke about the presidents surveillance programs, saying that Obama should tell the pope hes not going to spy on him anymore.
You can watch Paul talk about all the ways Obamas failed Pope Francis below, via Politico:
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