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8 minutes ago Rand Paul announces 2016 campaign Posted by CNN Political Unit (CNN) - He's running. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul announced Friday he will be on ballots in November 2016, but he told voters in his home state that they might be the only ones with a chance to vote for him. The freshman Republican senator was returning to Kentucky from visits to a trio of states that hold sway in the presidential nominating process, visits which further stoked the speculation about his presidential interests. He indicated his intention to be on the ballot for re-election that year, but...

A long-simmering feud between establishment Republicans and tea partyers is in full view again with Sen. John McCain accusing younger colleagues of using tactics that might tempt Democrats to change Senate rules that now protect the minority party. How to deal with the government’s debt and spending became the latest quarrel between the GOP’s 2008 presidential candidate and tea party champions such as Senators Ted Cruz of Texas, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Mike Lee of Utah. …

Ok, the Fort Hood massacre was dubbed "workplace violence" and thus the families affected by said "violence" won't be fully compensated because the massacre wasn't called an act of terrorism? Check? We can't prosecute the Benghazi attackers because it has been said that we don't have enough evidence to try them in civilian court? Check? Lastly, these 4 Americans who were supposedly killed by drones (according to Holder) were killed without due process? Check? Seinfeld, meet Bizarro World?

On Tuesday, KY Sen. Rand Paul launched a spirited defense of Apple, whose tax strategies were subject to a hearing of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. "I frankly think the committee should apologize to Apple," Paul said. Paul went on to accuse the committee of "bullying" one of America's greatest companies, prompting Sen. John McCain to quickly defend the inquiry and say that Paul's remarks were "frankly, offensive."

Today was supposed to be a fun one for liberals on the Investigations subcommittee for the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee. They were going to haul in Apple’s CEO, CFO, and head of Tax Operations to browbeat them over their lack of — what, patriotism? Dumbness? — for having avoided tax liability last year. This was supposed to provide a little diversion from a week of wall-to-wall Obama administration scandals. Instead, Sen. Rand Paul rained on everyone’s parade, providing an exemplary rebuttal of the brain-dead populism that politicians so often engage in when it comes to corporate...

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul went on a great rant during today's Senate subcommittee hearing on Apple's offshore tax practices, slamming his Congressional colleagues for even holding the hearing in the first place. "Frankly, I'm offended by the tone and tenor of this hearing," Paul said, laying into those who take issue with Apple's tax policies. "I'm offended by the spectacle of dragging in executives from an American company that is not doing anything illegal," he added. "If anyone should be on trial, it should be Congress." Apple CEO Tim Cook is testifying before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations this...

“I’m offended by a government who convenes a hearing to bully an American success story.”

A hot microphone caught Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) coordinating which way members of the “Gang of Eight” who serve on the Senate Judiciary Committee would vote on immigration bill amendments, Breitbart News has learned. “Do our Republicans have a pass on this one if they want?” the microphone caught Schumer saying.

Why Sarah Palin? Because when I write a blog here on Jeb Bush or President Obama, it will bring in maybe 10 comments. A piece on Sarah Palin last week brought 135. Same every time. She strikes a chord which runs deep. She has a purpose here. She may be today the most important person in American culture and politics. She may always have been. The flak you draw tells of your truth and importance, and no one has taken more flak than Palin. Most has been neutralized now as Tea Party meets the mainstream with the IRS affair in...

The Talk Shows May 19th, 2013 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Pfeiffer, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; Rep. David Camp, R-Mich.; Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif.; former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. FACE THE NATION (CBS): Pfeiffer, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas; Sen. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah; Associated Press President and CEO Gary Pruitt.THIS WEEK (ABC): Pfeiffer; Sen. Robert Menendez, D- N.J.; Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio; Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga.; Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y.STATE OF THE UNION (CNN): Pfeiffer, Sen. Rand...

"To the petty dictators and one-world socialists who control the UN, the United States of America isn’t a “shining city on a hill” — it’s an affront to their grand designs for the globe."

The Right constantly claims devotion to our founding documents. The problem: Its policies completely violate them. Last month, 20 House Republicans, along with staffers from nearly 40 congressional offices attended the first meeting of the Congressional Tea Party Caucus. The three premises behind the Caucus, according to Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), who emceed the event, are “we’re taxed enough, we spend less than we take in, and we follow the Constitution.” This purported devotion to the founding documents echoes the themes reverberated at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in March, where Sarah Palin and former Rick Santorum declared that...

Media coverage of the South Carolina special election focused upon the candidates, Elizabeth Colbert-Busch and the winner, Mark Sanford. Yet the real winner could turn out to be somebody who isn’t from South Carolina: Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul.... ...Anyone who follows presidential politics knows that South Carolina is a key primary state. Ron Paul came up short both times, only getting one percent in the crowded primary captured eventually by Arizona Sen. John McCain with 33 percent in 2008. Four years later, Paul did much better, getting 13 percent of the votes. But Paul finished fourth of four candidates in...

During a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Tuesday, Sen. Paul made a comparison between the Gang of Eight's proposed immigration bill and ObamaCare which, on its face, might be considered fightin’ words betwixt the circles of the GOP — but, he was really making a solid point about the intricacies and potential implementation pitfalls of massive legislative packages pushed hastily through Congress.CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO I, for one, am for immigration reform. … That being said, I’m worried that the bill before us won’t pass. May pass the Senate, may not pass the House. I...

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's "dereliction of duty" regarding security at the U.S. diplomatic outpost at Benghazi, Libya, should preclude her from holding any office, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said. Benghazi Failures Show Clinton Unfit for Office, Paul Says The New American 07 May 2013 Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's "dereliction of duty" regarding security at the U.S. diplomatic outpost at Benghazi, Libya, should preclude her from holding any office, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said in a speech to the Missouri Republican Party last week. The Missouri Republicans released a video of the entire speech Tuesday morning...

SEN. RAND PAUL: I am worried that the bill before us won't pass. It may pass the Senate, may not pass the House. I want to be constructive in making the bill strong enough that conservatives, myself included, conservative Republicans in the House will vote for this because I think immigration reform is something we should do. In this bill I am worried, though, and this is similar to what Senator [Ron] Johnson said, that it says, well, you have to have a plan to build a fence, but you don't have to build a fence. And if you don't...

There are two power centers in the Senate Republican Conference. One is the official leadership under Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. The second is the Tea Party Troika of Ted Cruz, Mike Lee and Rand Paul. It's not that there are two Republican parties. Nor is there a chasm running along ideological lines. The new dynamic is this: The official leadership has even less power than Senate leadership typically has, and the Tea Party Troika, mastering what's called the "inside-outside game," has more power to swing their colleagues than backbenchers normally have. Senate floor leaders are typically called "cat herders." Individual...

I seldom post more than once per day, but I believe this warrants the occasion. I was doing my morning rounds of reading the news and blog posts I read almost every day and came across something that troubles me greatly. It has to do with the push for more gun control, restrictions on the 2nd Amendment and how gun owners are portrayed in the media. If you have read Political Realities for any length of time, you should be aware of my stance on gun control. I do not believe it is a good thing, much less constitutional. I...

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid has essentially agreed with Kentucky U.S. Sen. Rand Paul that the Senate should address weaknesses in the U.S. immigration system in light of last month’s attack in Boston. U.S. Senator Rand Paul had sent a letter to Senate Majority leader Harry Reid after the Boston bombing expressing concern over the refugee program. That program allowed two individuals to move to Bowling Green where they were planning a terrorist attack. “I am not for saying no to an immigration bill, I think the immigration system is broken and we do need immigration reform and I am...

The Rand Machine Ramps Up by Bob Costa Rand Paul’s chief strategist is leaving his Senate post to run the Kentucky Republican’s political shop. Doug Stafford, who is widely seen as Paul’s closest adviser, will soon resign as chief of staff to manage Paul’s national political operation. Today’s news is the clearest sign yet that Paul, a potential 2016 contender, is building a presidential campaign.

Yesterday, I noted Sen. John McCain’s recent comments, where he lamented: “There are times these days when I feel that I have more in common on foreign policy with President Obama than I do with some in my own party.” Today, my bloggingheads colleague Bill Scher ups the ante, positing the theory that a Rand Paul nomination for president might cause the McCains of the world to jump on the Hillary bandwagon. From his column at The Week, Scher asks: Where might the “new Republican internationalists” go if Paul wins this intra-party battle? Considering that likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton...

It’s natural after an attack such as the Boston Marathon bombings to want to ratchet up security, but Americans are starting on a “slippery slope” when they start allowing more cameras in public places, claims Sen. Rand Paul. … Paul clarified that he has no problem with private businesses putting cameras outside their buildings to protect their property. But government, he argued, has enormous power that can be abused. …

Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY), Mike Lee (R-UT) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) now each appear to be positioning themselves in the fight against the push for the “Gang of Eight” immigration bill in much the same way the Senate’s Tea Party triumvirate knocked down the left’s push for new gun control legislation.

Senator Rand Paul‘s media tour following his “misunderestimated” statements on drones brought him to Glenn Beck‘s radio show Friday, where the two men discussed the prospects of a terrifying future where police cars have “robotic firing arms” that take down criminals with the push of a button. If that ever happens, Beck told Paul, “the Second Amendment is absolutely dead.” After confirming earlier in the week that he would be OK with armed drones being used to kill American citizens if they were, say, coming out of a liquor store brandishing a gun, Paul explained to Beck he’s not talking...

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul (shown) clearly had a good month of March. First, he engaged in a March 6-7 Senate filibuster to ensure that “no American should be killed by a drone on American soil without first being charged with a crime, without first being found to be guilty by a court.” The 13-hour filibuster won plaudits across the political spectrum and raised Paul to a national figure even more than his stunning Tea Party-inspired election over the anointed GOP establishment candidate in 2010. Even enemies of the constitutionalist movement were driven to say that Rand Paul was engaging in...

The biggest question mark over Ron Paul has always been his affinity for unsavory wack jobs on the fringes of American politics, but these days he’s turning that question mark into an exclamation point. The Daily Beast reports that the ex-Texas Congressman is creating the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity, a think tank concerned with what Paul considers important foreign policy and civil liberty issues. It appears that the institute’s board contains some truly bizarre characters: Putin shills, Serb genocide apologists, 9/11 truthers, and pro-Confederate loons. Here’s a summary of one of the members, John Laughland: A prominent...

Here's the statement he released last night, following the Cavuto segment that Ed wrote about yesterday. I think he's right: Even during the filibuster, he allowed for the use of military force (i.e. drones) to stop an attack on U.S. soil that's in progress. His objection was to the White House using drones to liquidate someone who was merely plotting, who hadn't lifted a finger (yet) to do any actual damage. “My comments last night left the mistaken impression that my position on drones had changed.“Let me be clear: it has not. Armed drones should not be used in normal...

I posted an article yesterday on the confusion around Senator PaulÂ’s position as reported by the AP after he gave a speech to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. With the inside information from Eric Erickson at Red State, it seemed as though the AP had overstepped its assumptions. Later in the day Rand Paul posted to his Facebook a comment and a link to the Red State post which seemed to me to be a vindication of EricÂ’s position about Senator PaulÂ’s position. This morning, thanks to Red State once again, I learned of a February 8th column in the...

An important clarification from Senator Rand Paul, who made headlines for a rare talking filibuster challenging Barack Obama to explain the difference between using drones against American citizens overseas and using them in the United States. Neil Cavuto asked Paul about the distinction yesterday in light of the manhunt for American citizen Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on Friday, in which a drone or two with real-time infrared downlook capabilities above Watertown might have saved a little time. Paul told Cavuto that this wasn’t the use to which he objected: “If there’s a killer on the loose in a neighborhood, I’m not against...

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., was “surprised” by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s sworn testimony in a Senate hearing in which she claimed that she did not know whether the U.S. mission in Libya was procuring or transferring weapons to Turkey and other Arab countries. It was Paul who asked Clinton the question during the hearings. His inquiry focused on alleged weapons shipments out of Benghazi to arm the rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Speaking on “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio” on New York’s WABC Radio, Paul was reacting to Clinton’s testimony in light of a New York Times...

Former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin wrote a tribute for Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) to honor his selection as one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people of 2013. ... "When the Tea Party movement wanted to send a message to the Senate in 2010, it elected a clear-sighted eye doctor from the Bluegrass State," Palin wrote in Time. "There’s more where that came from for this bold Senator with 20/20 vision willing to take a stand for liberty." Paul has driven the establishment and the mainstream media crazy because he has lived up to the...

Sen. Rand Paul said Monday that the immigration reform debate should be halted until Congress first understands what went wrong in Boston, where two brothers who came to the U.S. legally under the asylum program have been accused of the deadly bombings at last week’s marathon. The Kentucky Republican had given the immigration issue a big boost when he said earlier this year he supported taking action. But in light of last week’s bombings, Mr. Paul said things have changed. “The facts emerging in the Boston Marathon bombing have exposed a weakness in our current system. If we don’t use...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid United States Senate Washington, DC 20510 Dear Majority Leader Reid, As our thoughts and prayers continue to go out to those affected by the tragedy in Boston, I urge you to incorporate the following national security concerns into the comprehensive immigration reform debate. Before Congress moves forward, some important national security questions must be addressed. I believe that any real comprehensive immigration reform must implement strong national security protections. The facts emerging in the Boston Marathon bombing have exposed a weakness in our current system. If we don't use this debate as an opportunity to...

Rand Paul U.S. Senator, 50 By Sarah Palin When the Tea Party movement wanted to send a message to the Senate in 2010, it elected a clear-sighted eye doctor from the Bluegrass State. In a D.C. too often defined by the venal equivocations of a permanent political class more interested in consolidating its own power than in upholding the Constitution or defending the common good, Senator Rand Paul is a voice of reason awakening the public to what must be done to restore our prosperity and preserve the blessings of liberty for future generations. His brand of libertarian-leaning conservatism attracts...

George Bush Says Brother Jeb Best Man For The White House April 21, 2013 Since leaving office in 2009, former President George W. Bush has offered few political insights. But when it comes to his brother, Bush has a firm opinion: Jeb Bush is the best man to be president. “Yeah, he’d be the best candidate,” tells Parade Magazine in an exclusive interview published today. “I told him he ought to run, and he didn’t answer me. No, he’d be great. “He’s got a proven track record. He was a governor of a big state. He’s very articulate. He could...

Anyone who considers Marco Rubio suitable for the presidency should read this piece by Rich Lowry. We would expect a president to be able, at a minimum, to hold his own in negotiations with the smartest people in the opposition party. As Lowry shows, Rubio has failed that test: ... Schumer managed to hold Rubio and win his grudging respect, while selling him a lopsided deal. Rubio traded amnesty — although he refuses to call it that — for an enforcement plan on paper and a commission to be named later. ... Schumer’s genius is to have placated Rubio not...

Secret emails obtained exclusively by Breitbart News show the libertarian Cato Institute, Americans for Tax Reform, and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) are colluding on immigration reform messaging in the wake of the Boston Marathon terror attack in order to push the “Gang of Eight” bill that was released this past week. On Friday afternoon, political consultant Peggy Ellis of Ellis & Company, who is supporting the Gang of Eight immigration efforts, emailed “Talkers from Rubio” to the group of organizations supporting their efforts such as Cato and ATR. The email was headlined: “Rubio talking points re: Boston terrorists vis a...

The Gang of Eight member said their package would help prevent attacks on the homeland. The Senate's immigration reform package would make the country safer from attacks on home soil, a leading author of the bill said this week. ... "Our bill, while certainly it gives a path to citizenship and legalizes people right away, we will know the identities of everybody. And that makes the country safer," Schumer said in an interview with Univision set to air Sunday. "So I think our bill would actually – it's too early to tie it to any specific incident – but overall,...

Ma ran a spa out of her house. Alyssa Kilzer was a recurring customer. And while there, she saw arranged marriages, wife-beating, the hijab, Islamic piety and references to the Qur'an, and finally, hateful Islamic conspiracy theories about 9/11. Does the apple fall far from the tree? "I know the Boston bombers," by Alyssa Kilzer for FoxNews.com, April 20 (thanks to Andrew Bostom): I started getting facials from Zubeidat Tsarnaeva (pronounced Zu-bey-da) six years ago when I was 17 at a spa in the Boston area. She soon after left the spa and contacted my mom to have us start...

WASHINGTON — Sen. Rand Paul is calling for conservatives to embrace the cause of immigration reform, outlining a proposal that would grant some form of legal status to the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants after the federal government has certified that the border is secure. Paul’s proposal, outlined in a speech to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Washington on Tuesday, carefully avoided the term citizenship. Instead, the Kentucky senator said he sought a middle ground that would include a multi-year process of granting visas to undocumented workers that would hinge on the annual verification of the security of the...

Whether or not you admire the bold individualistic leadership of Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on other issues, I know you will be disappointed and maybe even shocked by the immigration platform he outlined this morning before the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. KEY POINTS OF THE RAND PAUL AMNESTY •The 11-19 million illegal aliens would get to live permanently in the United States. •One year after passing the amnesty, illegal aliens can start getting work permits to compete directly in the legal job market with Americans. •New illegal aliens who are enticed by the amnesty will continue to have a relatively open...

Ron Paul made an impassioned plea for shuttering Guantanamo Bay Wednesday at a launch event for his new Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity. Just hours earlier, his son Rand Paul said he does not favor closing the prison. The generational split highlights the conflicting goals between a politician on the make and an ideologue riding off into the sunset. “I don’t talk to him in detail for the precise reason that I’m not looking to sort that all out,” Ron Paul said. “He has his opinions. You’ll have to ask him where he disagrees. Not me.” A background...

When confronted with the Republican Party’s poor standing among minority communities, GOP politicians have usually taken one of two approaches: claim these communities constitute “natural conservative constituencies” or advocate a broad change in policy or ideology to attract minority voters. Neither one of these tactics has been effective, for various reasons–chief among those reasons is that the communities under consideration are usually not “natural conservative constituencies.” Take Hispanics, for example. It is often noted by GOP politicians that Hispanic immigrants are hard-working, family-oriented strivers who tend to be religious. That may be true, but polls showed that while Mitt Romney...

Rand Paul, Kentucky’s junior Senator and Tea Party favorite, announced today of his plans to pursue the Republican nomination for President in 2016. Paul announced early Wednesday at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor, that he will be visiting the primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina this summer – the first major candidate to make such an announcement from either side.....

Confronted with critical quotes from Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh on Fox News Thursday morning, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) stood firm on his immigration reform stance and fired back at anyone who would try to question his resolve. After Paul explained his stance on border security, the conversation shifted to undocumented immigrants who are already in the country. Fox host Bill Hemmer said, "you know you're a ripe target for the word amnesty," and then played clips of what media figures like Coulter and Limbaugh have been saying about the senator since he indicated his openness to a "pathway to...

Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, popular with conservatives and libertarians in the GOP, said Wednesday he is considering a presidential campaign in 2016 but will not make a decision before next year. Paul said at a breakfast sponsored by The Christian Science Monitor that he wants to be part of the national debate and said that remaining open to a presidential bid would give him a broad audience on a number of policy issues. …

The most bizarre argument that advocates of amnesty are making is that we have “de facto amnesty” now. The argument goes that since we have de facto amnesty now, we should just have the real thing and get it over with. Marco Rubio and Rand Paul have gone around repeating it. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) responded Thursday to critics on the right who say the immigration reform he supports will be catastrophic to the Republican Party and, more importantly, the country. “I’ve got a news flash for those who want to call people names on amnesty: What we have now...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Wednesday he has introduced a bill to repeal mandatory minimum sentencing for drug use and told the story of two young men—Barack Obama and George W. Bush—who were said to use drugs but did not go to jail. “In this story, both young men were extraordinarily lucky. Both young men were not caught using illegal drugs, and they weren’t imprisoned. Instead, they went on to become presidents of the United States. Barack Obama and George Bush were lucky,” Paul said in a speech at Howard University, a historically black college in Washington, DC. “The law...

Yet, even if you buy that oversimplified view of history, as conservatives with selective memory often do, Paul completely omitted a much more important sea change, the seismic racial realignment that followed President Lyndon B. Johnson's 1964 Civil Rights Act. In fact, Republican nominees continued to receive sizable black support; 39 percent to Dwight Eisenhower in his 1956 re-election, according to the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, and 32 percent to his vice president, Richard Nixon, in 1960. But after conservatives nominated Sen. Barry Goldwater, who voted against the civil rights bill, to oppose Johnson in 1964, LBJ...

These are turbulent times for gay rights in America. The 2012 presidential election saw referendums approving same-sex marriage in Maine, Maryland, and Washington (bringing the number of states in which gay couples can marry to nine, plus Washington DC). Polls show public support for gay marriage hitting all-time highs, and the Supreme Court is currently deciding whether to extend federal benefits to married gay couples and strike down bans on same-sex marriage in California and beyond. But the most significant shifts—small in scale, but seismic in implication—are occurring where one least expects them: on the right. Indeed, when controversial Republican...