Posted on 06/18/2015 7:11:23 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The senator from Kentucky continues to takes the road less traveled through the GOP primaries.
Sen. Rand Paul took a risk Thursday. Speaking to an audience of religious conservatives in the wake of a racially charged shooting in South Carolina, Paul delicately suggested that Republicans might want to start focusing on other parts of the Bill of Rights than the Second Amendment.
"Everybody is for the Second Amendment. All 55 candidates running for president are for the Second Amendment—on our side," Paul told the crowd. "But the thing is that a lot of young people, that might not be their primary issue."
Leaving room, even rhetorical room, to one's right—particularly on an issue as important to the Republican base as gun rights—is a gamble in the crowded 2016 GOP primary. But it's one very much in keeping with the Kentucky senator's campaign of almost-gonzo optimism, and it's the type of decision backed by Paul's personal conviction that his libertarian philosophy can unite traditional Republican voters with more independent-minded young people and minorities.
Speaking at the Faith and Freedom Coalition summit, Paul's remarks also mentioned the Wednesday night shooting that killed nine black church congregants in Charleston, South Carolina.
"We had the shooting this morning in South Carolina. What kind of person goes in a church and shoots nine people? There's a sickness in our country. There's something terribly wrong, but it isn't going to be fixed by your government. It's people straying away, it's people not understanding where salvation comes from. And I think that if we understand that, we'll understand and have better expectations of what we get from our government."
Paul's discussion of the Second Amendment was only a snippet of a longer and broader speech, much of which focused on religious liberty and, in particular, Paul's efforts to defend Christians overseas. He touted an amendment in which he proposed to cut off foreign aid to countries that persecute Christians, and said it was a sign of Washington's disconnect from the country that it was voted down in committee by a wide margin.
The speech was sandwiched in between those of his Senate colleagues and fellow presidential contenders, Marco Rubio (who did not mention the Charleston shooting in his speech) and Ted Cruz (who spoke of the event and began his remarks with a moment of silence). As part of his quest to distinguish himself from his GOP competitors while not alienating base voters, Paul emphasized his record of visiting black communities in Washington, Baltimore, and Chicago.
Polling suggests Paul's gauge of young people's enthusiasm about guns is accurate. A 2013 Pew poll found that just 16 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds own a gun, compared to 24 percent of the total population. A 2013 Harvard University study found that young people are split in their opinion about the National Rifle Association.
But young people don't tend to vote in the Republican presidential primaries. At one point in the 2012 election, CBS found that white evangelicals made up half of Republican primary and caucus voters.
And therein lies Paul's big challenge: He's trying to win the White House by reaching well past the Republican base, but if he can't win over enough of the party's base in the primary, his general election aspirations will be over long before they ever begin.
yep....and without the butter.
We need the second in order to take back the government if the population wants to.
What makes you think that is butter?
I can’t imagine a primary where he would get five percent.
Move beyond the Second Amendment?
Then why not move beyond the First?
How about the rest?
Conservatives, it’s clear time to move beyond anyone with the last name of Paul.
Keep the libs off of it, and we'll stop worrying about it.
Jump the shark real good there, son of Ron Paul.
Wow. This is the week for candidates to turn establishment on us. First Cruz with TPA now Paul. These guys think we will forget?
A 2013 Pew poll found that just 16 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds own a gun, compared to 24 percent of the total population.
And how many places forbid an eighteen year old to own a gun? I would also suspect there are a lot who do but are “not tellin.”
You don’t know what the TPA is, do you?
The screwball Rand Paul is bat$hit crazy.
Also, too short and too funny looking to get elected to the presidency.
Paul delicately suggested that Republicans might want to start focusing on other parts of the Bill of Rights than the Second Amendment.
Keep the libs off of it, and we’ll stop worrying about it.
And while we’re at it, remind them all that the Second Amendment Protects All the Others!
Conservatives, it’s clear time to move beyond anyone with the last name of Paul.
Yep as much as I wanted to like the guy, he doesn’t just keep shooting himself in the foot, he keeps blowing his leg off with c-4.
Hey Rand, just a little fyi, we’re still fighting to keep 2nd amendment unmolested. When you get through pandering come back and join us, from the Senate floor.
I suspect the 24% number is due to many people not telling. I would not answer any question about gun ownership asked by a pollster.
That’s fine. Rand has already busted his pick as far as I’m concerned.
Of course I do. It virtually guarantees that TPP will now pass. It was a gift to Obama that just could not wait 17 more months - something the US Chamber of Commerce wants, that GOPe can’t wait to give them...
So the government that holds the little people in complete contempt and won’t listen to them now wants to disarm us?
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