Free Republic

Rand Paul has a little-discussed problem. Yes, he’s riding a wave. Yet another new poll brings happy tidings, putting him at the top of the GOP heap in both Iowa and New Hampshire (although still well behind “undecided”). He keeps doing these clever things that titillate the Beltway sages, like coupling with Democratic Sen. Cory Booker (ooh, he’s black!) on sentencing reform. All this, you know. He’s a shrewdie, we have to give him that. But here’s what you maybe don’t know. Paul is up for reelection in 2016. One assumes that he would want to hold on to his...

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul made yet another appearance Monday with Tennessee’s Lamar Alexander, who is facing a Tea Party primary challenger. While considered one of the most moderate Republicans in the Senate, Alexander has been working in recent months to look more conservative. Before anyone could ask, Alexander denied that he was trying to get political help from the Tea Party darling. “We’re not here to endorse each other,” he said, without prompting. “Rand hasn’t asked me to endorse me for the President of the United States, and I haven’t asked him to endorse me for the senate. We’re here...

Gov. Paul LePage understands hardship. He was homeless for a time as a boy. But tell that to Douglas Mpay, an immigrant from Angola who is seeking asylum in the United States and whose family relies on a municipal welfare program in Maine that the governor says will get no state funding if cities and towns continue to assist residents living in the country illegally. (SNIP) But LePage, who has made reforming welfare a priority since taking office in 2011, insists the new policy will preserve assistance for the most needy and bring the state into compliance with federal law....

I wrote here about Rand Paul’s unconstitutional plan to propose federal legislation that would enfranchise some felons. Now, Sen. Paul has addressedthe constitutional issue posed by such legislation. He argues, in essence, that states decide who votes in state elections, but the federal government has the final say on who can vote in federal elections. Roger Clegg makes short work of Paul’s contention: The U.S. Constitution itself explicitly gives the authority to decide who votes in federal elections to the states (consistent, of course, with other constitutional guarantees, like the prohibition of poll taxes). And the recent Supreme Court decision...

Recently, a friend emailed me with a very common claim, namely, that, “Paul hijacked Christianity with no personal connection with Jesus and filled his letters with personal opinions.” This could be rephrased in the more common claim: Paul invented Christianity.This claim is especially common among Muslim apologists who use it in an attempt to explain why the Qur’an simultaneously affirms Jesus as a true prophet while also contradicting the Bible at every major point. However, since my friend is not a Muslim and is not coming at the issue from that angle, I will just deal with the question more...

BILOXI, Mississippi — Former Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), a 2012 presidential candidate and one of state Sen. Chris McDaniel’s big name endorsers over Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS), told Breitbart News in a phone interview that he thinks the Washington, D.C., political establishment is “panicking” now that McDaniel may win his runoff on Tuesday.

"Rand Paul took, I think, a really wrong-headed step on the immigration issue last week. I mean, he’s not completely where Jeb is, but almost!"

Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press," Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) warned conservatives when it comes to immigration reform the party needs to “get beyond” the term amnesty and move the focus to border security and work visas. The Kentucky Republican said, "I don't think any immigration reform will get out of Washington. I do think there is a path to a secure border and an expanded work visa program." “I think that everyone needs to be for some form of immigration reform because the status quo is untenable," he continued. "So I consider myself a bridge to conservative community because...

Three senators are doubling down on their call for a sweeping end to the National Security Agency’s “dragnet surveillance.” Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Mark Udall (D-Colo.) pledged on Tuesday to fight against “limited” and “watered down” legislation to reform the spy agency, which they said includes the bill that passed the House last month. “This is clearly not the meaningful reform that Americans have demanded, so we will vigorously oppose this bill in its current form and continue to push for real changes to the law,” they wrote in an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times....

In the midst of all the foreign affairs stories it was probably easy to miss a bit of domestic political news coming out of the Hawkeye State yesterday. At the 2014 Iowa GOP state convention, political activists loyal to Governor Terry Branstad essentially ousted all of the “dissidents” loyal to Rand Paul, securing control of the state party for the perceived establishment. Establishment forces officially wrested control of the Iowa Republican Party from supporters of Rand Paul on Saturday, a development the victors said would help save the state’s first-in-the-nation presidential caucus from being marginalized and possibly spell the demise...

<p>In theory, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has it largely right on immigration reform. Our current system is broken. We cannot deport everyone.</p>

Last year, American Crossroads, the super-PAC conceived of by Republican operative and fundraiser Karl Rove, hatched a plan: Inject itself into 2014 GOP primary races to protect incumbents from hard-line challengers in the mold of Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock who could cost the party winnable seats in Congress. Immediately, conservatives howled with outrage over an establishment group targeting tea partiers—Mike Huckabee called it "fratricide." The plan never got off the ground, and American Crossroads itself has largely shied away from picking primary fights. But here's an exception: A brand-new Crossroads ad slams Matt Doheny, who's vying with Elise Stefanik...

I am for immigration reform because I am against allowing 12 million more illegal immigrants into our country. If we do nothing, 12 million more illegal immigrants will come. We must be in favor of reform—smart reform that starts with border security. Characterizing that position as "amnesty" is simply untrue. What we have now is a lawless border. Current policy is a beacon for more illegal immigrants. The Obama administration’s lawless executive orders legalizing people who came here illegally will only encourage more illegal immigration—unless we act now with real, strong, verifiable border security.

A day after House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) lost his primary after Dave Brat hammered him on amnesty, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) embraced "immigration reform" on a conference call with Michael Bloomberg's pro-amnesty group and Grover Norquist.

Makes calls with Grover Norquist seeking conservative support Sen. Rand Paul on Wednesday waded deeper into an issue that has proved perilous to some of his GOP colleagues, throwing his political weight behind an establishment lobby effort to get Congress to reform the country’s immigration system this year. Mr. Paul, a libertarian-leaning Republican from Kentucky and possible 2016 presidential hopeful, participated in a telephone conference call to conservative and business leaders in favor of immigration reform in an effort brokered by anti-tax activist Grover Norquist, The Washington Times has learned. The business group, the Partnership for a New American Economy,...

In the wake of Rep. Eric Cantor’s stunning primary defeat Tuesday night, many conservatives have rushed to declare the outcome a referendum on Republican efforts to pursue immigration reform, a key wedge issue in the race. But tea party hero Sen. Rand Paul isn’t buying it. In a teleconference with Grover Norquist, a conservative champion of immigration reform, Paul told reporters Wednesday he wouldn’t back off his position on the issue. “I still am for it,” Paul said. “I say everywhere I go that I am for immigration reform.” He argued that Cantor’s loss to a little-known conservative economics professor...

Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.) voted against the Senate’s comprehensive immigration reform bill last year, but on Wednesday he plans to “discuss the need for immigration reform.” Mr. Paul will join former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Partnership for a New American Economy’s monthly series on immigration reform hosted by Grover Norquist.

1 Whenever I would grab a book to read and sit on the couch, and I could always count on my dog to come over, jump up and settle down next to me. Just about the time I kicked back to relax, she would lay her head on my lap and give me that look. Oh, how good she was at letting me know what she wanted! Inevitably, this would lull her into a calm, relaxed state of mind until I thought she had fallen asleep. I would stop pampering her, and pick up my book to start reading again....

Carter County officer's run for Congress chafes Oklahoma Republican Party chairman Anna Flatt, of Ardmore, is challenging U.S. Rep. Tom Cole in the Republican primary and it is causing some friction between Oklahoma Republican Party headquarters and the anti-establishment views of Ron Paul supporters. by Chris Casteel Modified: May 26, 2014 at 9:47 pm • Published: May 27, 2014 WASHINGTON — Anna Flatt has paid her dues for the Oklahoma Republican Party, doing the tough, no-glory work at the county level like knocking doors and organizing potluck dinners. Photo - Anna Flatt She became disillusioned with the party in 2008...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) says in a new interview that Republicans should embrace a more tolerant view of those who don't hold conservative positions on social issues."I think that the Republican Party, in order to get bigger, will have to agree to disagree on social issues," Paul told vocativ.com. "The Republican Party is not going to give up on having quite a few people who do believe in traditional marriage. But the Republican Party also has to find a place for young people and others who don’t want to be festooned by those issues."Paul's comments harken back somewhat to former...

Harvard Law professor David Barron is a former acting assistant attorney general in the Obama administration. While in President Obama’s Office of Legal Counsel he wrote memos justifying the extrajudicial killing of an American citizen abroad. Last year, the president nominated Barron to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and a vote on his nomination is expected this week. I am going to fight this nomination, because I believe Barron has disqualified himself from serving as a federal judge. I’ve read the Barron memos concerning the legal justification for killing an American citizen overseas...

Little guy, Rand Paul…smart guy, good platform shoes, but the thing is, he needs platform shoes to run. Short guys can’t win, I’m sorry to tell you. This isn’t the first time Savage has made an issue of Rand Paul’s height. In June 2013, Savage joked that Paul was out shopping for “elevator shoes”.

A new campaign-trail pledge to vote against any immigration increases took center stage in the Nebraska GOP Senate primary race on Friday, when candidate Shane Osborne slammed his rival for not signing the pledge and also charged him with deception. “Nebraskans are learning that Ben Sasse isn’t the candidate he’s pretending to be [and] on the most important issues of the day, from Immigration to ObamaCare, Sasse is no conservative,” said a statement from the campaign, only four days before voting begins on Tuesday.

David Dewhurst picked up a pair of big endorsements ahead of the May 27 runoff election for the Republican nomination for Lieutenant Governor. The endorsements came from former Congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul and also Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson

If Rand Paul wants to continue his father’s revolution he has a funny way of showing it. Either that, or he’s hired the same consultants that worked for Mitt McDole in advance of his 2016 presidential run. Last week it was his wishy-washy talk on the life issue. You can read more about that here. Now there’s this from Matt Barber at Liberty University, quoting Rand Paul’s fatalism on Obamacare:

Whenever I would grab a book to read and sit on the couch, and I could always count on my dog to come over, jump up and settle down next to me. Just about the time I kicked back to relax, she would lay her head on my lap and give me that look. Oh, how good she was at letting me know what she wanted! Inevitably, this would lull her into a calm, relaxed state of mind until I thought she had fallen asleep. I would stop pampering her, and pick up my book to start reading again. That’s...

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is making an 11th hour plunge into the North Carolina Senate race, aiming to boost his preferred candidate and block the GOP establishment’s favorite, state House Speaker Thom Tillis, from scoring a clean win in Tuesday’s primary. The Kentucky Republican and potential presidential candidate said in an interview that he will stump on Monday for Republican Greg Brannon, a libertarian-minded candidate who is trying to ride a tea party wave into a runoff against Tillis, who is backed by the party establishment and is reportedly expected to receive the endorsement of Jeb Bush. Tillis is looking...

A new poll shows that only 15 percent of Americans want former Florida Governor Jeb Bush to run for president. The latest YouGov/Economist poll shows that 47 percent indicated that they did not want Bush to run. Thirty-eight percent indicated that they were not sure. The poll also shows that both Bush and former Governor Chris Christie get a 49 percent favorability rating among those that identified themselves as Republicans. Christie, however, is disliked by 37 percent of Republicans, which is a higher unfavorable rating than Jeb Bush – who got 25 percent. Forty-two percent of respondents who identified themselves...

NEW YORK — The biggest parlor game on Wall Street and in corporate boardrooms these days is guessing whether former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will run for president and save the GOP’s old establishment base from its rising populist wing. The second most popular game is guessing what happens if Jeb says no. Two dozen interviews about the 2016 race with unaligned GOP donors, financial executives and their Washington lobbyists turned up a consistent — and unusual — consolation candidate if Bush demurs, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie doesn’t recover politically and no other establishment favorite gets nominated: Hillary Clinton....

Rand Paul calls for Republican shakeup - ‘Evolve, adapt or die’(after meeting Team Romney yesterday) "National Republicans — still smarting from Democratic drubbings in the last two presidential contests — face a stark scenario of “evolve, adapt or die” as they plot their next campaign to take back the Oval Office in 2016, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky told the Herald yesterday in an exclusive interview. Paul ... said the Republican Party has to rewrite its standard platform to woo minorities into a broad coalition that can win national races. A Tea Party favorite and a former ophthalmologist,...

Friend, I’m excited to announce that I’ll be hosting a telephone town hall with NRCC Chairman Greg Walden on April 30th. This call will be a great opportunity to discuss with you the issues facing our nation and also to hear from you about what’s important to your local community. This call is open to anyone with an up-to-date 2014 NRCC Membership. I’m looking forward to a good discussion on April 30th. I hope you decide to take part. Space is limited and we need to know right away if you’re in. Thanks again for your support. Paul Ryan

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky is the strongest candidate in Colorado in the 2016 presidential race, topping former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton 48 - 43 percent. There is a huge gender gap as men back the Republican Paul 55 - 35 percent while women go with the Democrat Clinton 50 - 40 percent. Independent voters back Paul 48 - 37 percent. In other possible matchups: Clinton ties New Jersey Gov. Christopher Christie 42 - 42 percent; Clinton leads former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush 45 - 40 percent; Clinton gets 45 percent to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's 44...

Former Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole weighed in on his party’s likely 2016 contenders recently, and concluded that some of the most talked-about names just aren’t ready yet. In a new interview with the Wichita Eagle, Dole calls out Ted Cruz and Rand Paul specifically to say they lack the experience to run in 2016.He takes a few shots at Obamacare too, calling the rollout a “disaster� and casting serious doubt on the administration’s claims they successfully enrolled 7 million people, while charging that Democrats don’t get nearly the kind of blame Republicans do for partisan gridlock and congressional inaction.But...

Endorsments can be overrated but in a conservative primary with a lot of noise and mud, could a high-profile name give a candidate the edge? Congressional District 19 candidate Lizbeth Benacquisto recently got the backing of Sarah Palin, who held a fundraiser and sang the candidate's praises on Fox News. Yesterday, Curt Clawson scored the endorsement of Sen. Rand Paul, among the first tea party backed candidates to make it big. "Washington is desperate for outside leadership," Paul said. "Curt Clawson is an outsider who will bring refreshing ideas to the halls of Congress. Today, I proudly stand with Curt...

I don't normally care what a person believes when it comes to one's faith, well I do but I don't argue with them. Last night though .. I was outraged! Am I the only one to have heard the program?

Evolve, adapt or die. That is the fate of our current Republican party. We must evolve as a party and find a way to attract millennials to the conservative movement or we will never succeed in realizing our ideals of individual freedom and freedom from government interference. Initially, I received criticism from political pundits for speaking to non-traditional audiences. I was told it was a waste of time to reach out to these audiences, specifically students from both Howard University and University of California, Berkeley. My response is this: I have never been one to watch the world go by...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Caterpillar Inc. executives defended a tax strategy Tuesday that has saved the manufacturing giant billions in U.S. taxes. They got support from Republican senators, including one who said the company deserves an award. Caterpillar has avoided paying $2.4 billion in U.S. taxes since 2000 by shifting profits to a wholly-controlled affiliate in Switzerland, according to a report released by Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich. Levin chairs the Senate investigations subcommittee. On Tuesday, Levin grilled Caterpillar executives and their accountants at a hearing on the company's tax strategy. "Caterpillar is an American success story that produces iconic industrial machines,"...

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul is hard at work laying the groundwork for an almost certain presidential campaign in 2016, but as he broadens his support among libertarian and younger voters, there’s a budding countercampaign to take him down if he becomes a threat to actually win the nomination. At the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) meeting in Las Vegas this weekend, Paul was nowhere to be found, but his presence was felt in the form of a straw man — and frequent worry. Speaker after speaker, from former Florida governor Jeb Bush to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, laid into Paul’s...

Sen. Rand Paul has become the first Republican to assemble a network in all 50 states as a precursor to a 2016 presidential run, the latest sign that he is looking to build a more mainstream coalition than the largely ad hoc one that backed his father’s unsuccessful campaigns. Paul’s move, which comes nearly two years before the primaries, also signals an effort to win the confidence of skeptical members of the Republican establishment, many of whom doubt that his appeal will translate beyond the libertarian base that was attracted to Ron Paul, a former Texas congressman.

Rand Paul is the most intriguing — and for Democrats, perhaps the most frightening — figure in today’s 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 Obama’s twin victories and that his own party has convincingly repelled. Paul’s unlikely pilgrimage to the progressive precincts of the University of California at 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...

It’s about guns, it’s about the midterms, and maybe it’s about the first primary states in 2016, too. Democrats thought they would win confirmation for more of President Obama’s nominees by waiving the 60-vote filibuster hurdle for executive branch appointments, but they didn’t factor in nervous red-state senators afraid of taking tough votes that could sink their reelection in November. The latest apparent casualty is Vivek Murthy, a 30-something British-born American doctor, whose parents are from India, and whose Ivy League credentials and activism on public-health issues includes co-founding Doctors for America, which launched in 2008 as Doctors for Obama....

RUSH: Rand Paul went to Berkeley yesterday, last night. Rand Paul got a standing O from the students at the University of California-Berkeley. Do you know the issue that he hit on that they just jumped out of their seats and applauded him on was the government spying on the citizens? He came out firmly against it, highly critical of it, and they couldn't be quiet. They were just cheering him like Republicans don't get cheered on college campi. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Rand Paul "delivered a scathing rebuke to the US intelligence community Wednesday, calling it 'drunk...

Rand Paul wowing them at Berkeley

Sen. Rand Paul is set to offer a dark portrait of the intelligence community on Wednesday, raising the prospect of “dystopian nightmares” in a speech at the University of California-Berkeley. The Kentucky Republican, who is heavily weighing a 2016 presidential bid, is speaking at the historically liberal bastion at a time when he is seeking to broaden the GOP base. He has long pointed to privacy concerns as an issue that could woo young people to a more libertarian-leaning Republican brand — like his.

“Every Republican likes to think he or she is the next Ronald Reagan,” he wrote in an op-ed for Breitbart News, responding to an attack by Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. “Some who say this do so for lack of their own ideas and agenda. Reagan was a great leader and President. But too often people make him into something he wasn’t in order to serve their own political purposes.”“[A]lmost all of us in the party are big fans of Ronald Reagan,” Paul told Sean Hannity on Fox News in yet another defense of his foreign policy. “I’ve always been a big fan...

Washington (CNN) - Rand Paul has done something his father never did - top the list of potential Republican presidential candidates in a national poll. According to a new CNN/ORC International survey, 16% of Republicans and independents who lean toward the GOP say they would be likely to support the senator from Kentucky for the 2016 nomination. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the 2012 Republican vice presidential nominee, garnered 15%, with longtime Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who's considering another bid for the White House, at 11%. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a 2008 GOP presidential candidate, is the only other...

Washington (CNN) - Rand Paul has done something his father never did - top the list of potential Republican presidential candidates in a national poll. According to a new CNN/ORC International survey, 16% of Republicans and independents who lean toward the GOP say they would be likely to support the senator from Kentucky for the 2016 nomination. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the 2012 Republican vice presidential nominee, garnered 15%, with longtime Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who's considering another bid for the White House, at 11%. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a 2008 GOP presidential candidate, is the only other...

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul is warning Republicans that if they expect to be relevant in the future and grow the party they will have to soften on social issues. In an interview with vocativ.com, Paul said he had "sort of a Jeffersonian belief in unity, peace and commerce with all" and that the best way to build the GOP for the future is to include people with whom they don't agree on every issue. "I think that the Republican Party, in order to get bigger, will have to agree to disagree on social issues," Paul advised. "The Republican Party is...

In the midst of the war of words between Senators Rand Paul (R-Ky) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) over who best represents Ronald Reagan’s foreign policy, the late president’s son Michael Reagan has weighed in on Twitter. “Rand Paul Gets it” Reagan wrote Tuesday, Tweeting the link to Paul’s Breitbart op-ed, “Exclusive–Rand Paul: Stop Warping Reagan’s Foreign Policy.” Reagan is an author, talk host and adopted son of our 40th president.

Sen. Rand Paul blasted fellow GOP Sen. Ted Cruz’s frequent references to Ronald Reagan on Monday, deepening the rift between the two potential 2016 presidential candidates. In an op-ed for Breitbart News, Paul (R-Ky.) took several shots at Cruz for espousing a foreign policy framework in the mold of Reagan. He also criticized Cruz’s frequent bashing of the GOP for nominating insufficiently conservative presidential candidates like Bob Dole, John McCain and Mitt Romney. “I don’t claim to be the next Ronald Reagan nor do I attempt to disparage fellow Republicans as not being sufficiently Reaganesque,” Paul wrote. “I will remind...