Posted on 01/20/2013 2:01:28 PM PST by JohnPDuncan
Sen. Rand Paul said on Sunday that he will make a decision on a 2016 presidential run within two years and plans to be a force in the refashioning the Republican party regardless of whether he seeks the Oval Office.
“We will continue to pursue and, you know, try to make that decision over the next two years or so,” the Kentucky Republican told WABC Radio’s Aaron Klein when asked about a potential White House bid.
In the meantime, Paul said, he will “try to be part of the national debate” and added that he hopes to play a major role in directing the future of the Republican Party.
Paul added that there are major areas of concern for the party, noting “we are not popular and we have not been competitive out in California, on the West Coast, or in New England.”
And his particular brand of conservatism could play well in those regions and with other voters who may not currently identify with the Republican Party, Paul said.
“So we think a little more of a libertarian Republican, someone who is a strict Constitutionalist, but also believes in a strong, defensive military but not necessarily in an overly aggressive or bellicose lets get involved in everybody’s civil war military, I think that has more appeal to independents and some people who have given up in the Republican Party,” Paul said.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
This is just stupid. Geeze, grow up and stop spouting this kind of ridiculous stuff that makes conservatives sound unhinged.
There will be a presidential election in 2016 and Obama won't be on the ballot. Besides, why would the left want a "dictator" when they are winning elections anyway. Soft tyranny works so much better.
I’ll take Rand Paul any day over the current crop of GOP-E losers that the Republican Party is planning to foist on us (again) in 2016, if Obama has not abolished both that election and the 22nd Amendment by Executive Order by then.
Yes. Rand is right.
I don't like being told what to do or think by conservative authoritarians any more than I like being told what to do or think by liberal authoritarians.
Individual liberty.
Heh...they were pretty much demanding one last week, but I guess you missed those stories.
Make no mistake, what is being talked about here is conservatives dropping the social issues.
I agree. That said, our biggest problem (as a political alternative to socio/communism) is that half of us WANT to go along to get along and are willing to compromise.
And I mean voters calling themselves ‘conservative’, not politicians.
Look through my post history. While you may not agree with my positions in any/all cases, it’s the people I argue with and the rationales they are using that I am talking about.
They WANT compromise. Their positions on the issues are nothing BUT compromise. Yet they bitch about the GOP compromising and support them when the chips are down. Compromise and all.
Until we define who and what we believe and get rid of the enemy within, we go nowhere. Some say that if we do that we reduce our numbers and enter obscurity. My reply to that is “We are there now”. And until we change course, IE dump the people who insist on holding us on the plantation, we will stay there.
That is actually a very powerful point you just made.
Let me repeat it:
By standing down last election and handing the nomination to Romney once he had it, there was no seek-and-destroy mission on the right. Sure there was a strong campaign but most everyone came out of it just fine.
Romney lost. Fair and square. Romney was nominated. Had the entire party lined up behind him. No Palin. No distractions at all.
And he lost.
Lost.
That is a very important lesson to have learned. Romney and the so-called moderate Republicans, do not win.
The GOP learned a number of lessons last time, but the one which has been visited the least, is what of Sarah Palin.
We shall certainly see.
Obama is acting as an imperial president, but that is not the same thing as there being no election in 2016 and Obama remaining in office past his second term.
The executive branch quite often tries to usurp the authority of the other branches of government. This isn’t a new phenomenon and doesn’t mean elections have ended and Hussein will be dictator.
Hmmm, then why is your source linked to Politico, a left wing propaganda rag?
If it's on his FB page, why not link that?
That said, I like his pov on somethings, but my patience with amnesty supporters is over.
No solutions will come from DC.
DC is the problem.
Nothing other than higher taxes and less freedom will come from Washington.
Time to stop looking to the political class in DC for solutions to the problems they have created.
If Rand Paul and the GOP and the communist faction Democrats really want to help us citizen tax payers outside the Beltway, they all ought to commit suicide.
It does?
Power pushes, maybe, usurpation, no.
Always defending obama, curious.
Fight for your social issue of choice at the state and local level.
That is what I mean when I say we still have Willard's and Tokyo Rove's people around.
They did not and wouldn't not except Sarah again.
It's either that or GOP loses in perpetuity and Conservatives seek another path separate from them.
Rand would have a tough time just getting renominated for the Senate in 2016, but I will vote for him if he is the presidential nominee.
Bump, bump, freaking BUMP to your outstanding post!
Washington is in need of a massive, dare I say, DOUCHE!
Maybe you missed it, but she was part of the establishment ticket that lost to Obama the first time. And people don’t like her with the exception of her little cargo cult.
OK we seem to recall that race, somewhat differently.
:)
The irony is Rand is hugely social conservative, he just thinks the Feds shouldn’t be involved.
He is against abortion with no exceptions
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgCy4jyIs_s
And he said he wouldn’t vote to legalize drugs in his state but he doesn’t want it to be a federal issue.
He is socially conservative at the state level!
If he was Governor of Kentucky he would behave differently as President of the United States.
It’s kind of like having a split personality.
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