Posted on 05/14/2010 1:49:47 PM PDT by Christian_Capitalist
How Rand Paul became the Tea Party's Obama
His father's libertarian army and Rush Limbaugh's "Dittoheads" aren't natural allies. But Rand Paul has united them.
Friday, May 14, 2010 08:01 ET
On the afternoon of Dec. 16, 2009, the 236th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, Rand Paul left the office of his small ophthalmology practice in Bowling Green and drove 30 miles to Russellville, Ky. In an election year without the Tea Party movement, Rand Paul's campaign to become Kentucky's next U.S. senator would be just as quixotic as the bid his father, Ron Paul, made for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. The younger Paul has never before run for political office, and he shares many of his father's unorthodox views, including a desire to abolish both the Federal Reserve and the Department of Education. Yet, today he would address Kentucky's Logan County Republicans as the race's front-runner.
At the Republican Party headquarters in Russellville, Paul took the podium. Dimpled and handsome, 47 years old, with boyishly tousled salt-and-pepper hair, he surveyed the audience, a crowd of mostly retirement-age GOP stalwarts. Then, in a casual and articulate drawl, Paul committed an act of heresy that would have once doomed any Kentucky Republican: He attacked the state's senior senator, the minority leader, Mitch McConnell. The oratory opened with a display of subtle rhetorical agility worthy of Mark Antony.
"I got into this initially because there were rumors they were trying to push Jim Bunning out of office," Paul began. "I said to a reporter, 'I think that's wrong.'"
The two-term Sen. Jim Bunning was the slain Caesar of the stump speech. Playing the role of Brutus, of course, was McConnell, whose hand rests on the GOP's national fundraising taps, and who, with a twist of the wrist, had effectively forced Bunning into retirement. Without directly accusing the honorable Republican leader, Paul decried Bunning's martyrdom.
"I think he's done a good job for us," he said. "He has been conservative, and when the bank bailout came up, Jim Bunning had the courage to vote against it." Paul didn't need to tell this group that Bunning had done so in defiance of McConnell -- and he was too gentlemanly to belabor the point. The implication was clear: The party boss had taken Bunning down for his principles.
To take Bunning's place, McConnell had groomed Trey Grayson, a five-generation Kentuckian and fellow graduate of the University of Kentucky Law School -- the "leadership academy" of Kentucky politics, as some call it -- who is Kentucky's current secretary of state. Most impressive on Grayson's political résumé is that he won reelection in 2007, even as the state overwhelmingly elected a Democratic governor. In a state where 60 percent of voters are registered Democrats, Grayson (who is himself a lapsed Democrat) had valuable crossover appeal. When McConnell began assessing Bunning's electoral prospects in early 2009, Grayson must have seemed especially appealing in contrast. The insubordinate and gaffe-prone Bunning had recently responded to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's diagnosis of pancreatic cancer by coldly forecasting that she would be dead within a year.
Grayson started the race with party backing, a reputation for competence, an ideal political résumé, and a 6-foot-5 frame that gave him an air of authority that his unspectacular public speaking sometimes lacked. When the first polling was done in September '09, Grayson had a 34-25 percent lead. Within four months, though, the numbers had reversed, and Paul told the Logan County Republicans why.
"If there's ever a year for an outsider who has never held office before, this is the year," Paul said. He recounted tales of Tea Party events. Seven hundred people in his hometown of Bowling Green had rallied on April 15; there were 4,000 in Louisville a few months later. By contrast, Paul said, "The biggest GOP event I've been to in the last seven months -- 200 people in Louisville. You can see how the Tea Party movement is big and it captures the discontent that's out there, and sometimes discontent with both sides."
The political divide between Paul and Grayson broadly represents a larger fault line within the GOP: It's Republicans who blame the Democrats versus Republicans who blame the government. A day earlier, on Dec. 15, 2009, a coalition of Tea Party groups had held an emergency "Code Red" rally in a park just north of the Capitol. Addressing the crowd was Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina, who appears to be making a bid to replace McConnell as the leader of the Senate Republicans.
The crowd was about 1,000 strong and half were wearing bright red jackets and hats, to signify the imminent threat posed by the healthcare bill, which at the time seemed close to passing. Several were waving the yellow Gadsden flags of the American Revolution, which feature the words "Don't Tread on Me" and the image of a coiled rattlesnake ready to strike. Most of the protesters were middle-aged and white, more men than women -- a representative sampling of the Tea Party movement, which (polling has since shown) is slightly older, wealthier, better-educated and angrier than the average American.
"Over a year ago," DeMint said, "Americans voted for a president who promised to cut taxes, cut spending, cut debt." His amplified voice drowned in a chanted chorus of "liar, liar." A woman with short gray hair and rosy cheeks that matched her red sweat shirt held a sign that read "Obama bin Lyin."
DeMint finished his attack on Obama, then pivoted to Republicans.
"Democrats and Republicans, if they're not standing up for our Constitution, for a balanced budget and the principles of liberty ... then you send us people that believe as you do that this country is about freedom and now is our time to fight for it," he said, and waved to the applauding crowd....
[Snip...]
...In an election rife with symbolism, the most telling augur came a month ago, on April 14, when the ousted Bunning announced his endorsement. Bunning had once given Grayson his blessing to form an exploratory committee to run for his seat, and in many he ways owed his political career to McConnell. Yet Bunning is best understood as the Hall of Fame pitcher he was -- one man alone on his mound, and a cantankerous competitor to the end. He seemed determined to defy McConnell’s call for a fresh arm, and, in the spirit of militant individualism, handed the ball directly to Paul.
Full article at LINK
On May 18th -- we win, you lose.
All the sour grapes in the world won't change that.
I have no dog in the Kentucky fight. My fight is against the Pauls and their jihad loving, Jew hating, dope smoking truther cult. That doesn’t end next week. It’s just getting started.
In the Kentucky race, it's Rand Paul versus Trey Grayson. If you're anti-Rand Paul, you can scarcely claim that you haven't a dog in that fight.
Fortunately, on May 18th, your dog loses.
Happy days are here for the Hizballah wing of the Republican Party. Viva la Kokesh!
"Those grapes were probably sour, anyway," whined the fox.
Over his career, yes.
However, in fairness, it should be mentioned that in the National Taxpayer Union's most recent survey, the honorable Senator Jim DeMint actually beat Congressman Ron Paul's "Taxpayer Friendly" Fiscal Conservatism score for this session, by 1%. (Hey, when you're both in the high 90s, there's not a whole lot of margin between the top few scores).
Jim DeMint who... just endorsed Rand Paul. (Which hopefully means that Rand Paul will feel like he owes Jim DeMint a big favor. Because he kinda does).
This is going to be sooooo good. I’m going to crack the seal on a 15 year old bottle of good scotch to celebrate Rand’s election and then return to FR threads to read RINO screams of anguish!.
Then again, I only drink liquor maybe 2 or 3 times a year any more -- mostly just to remind myself of why I stay away from liquor. I might find myself draining a couple glasses of merlot come the 18th, though.
The scotch was a birthday present that I recd’ as a present. I was saving it for a special occasion, and Tuesday will be it!
Regards, Nucluside
Made calls for Rand Paul. Most people responded favorably. A few Dem householders said they were looking forward to voting for him in the fall!
Our prayer.
As far as 2012 -- I'm still with Palin, for now.
DeMint might make a great President, but unfortunately(?) he may be too humble and insufficiently ambitious to seek the office. Although some people would call those Character Virtues, not Vices.
"I want to continue doing what I’m doing. Leadership is a liability for somebody like me who’s trying to build grassroots support around the country for conservative candidates." -- Senator Jim DeMint, 5/13/2010
Keep at it, Jim.
Don't get me wrong. I love Palin. I trust her to follow her heart. I just want to be absolutely sure her heart is in the right place. I'd love to see her really come out against statism with intellectual conviction. If you've got some quotes that demonstrate her commitment to eviscerate the elitist federal leviathan (#1 target: Department of Education), please post them.
Sure! I'll mention just the first one that comes to mind, here, and then give it some additional research:
Former Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin used her first trip to Asia to attack the Federal Reserve for creating asset bubbles and encouraging excessive risk-taking that hurt working-class Americans.
The Fed and the government sent a message to companies that “the bigger that you are, the more problems that you get yourself into, the more likely the government is to bail you out,” Palin said in the closed door speech, according to a tape of the event given to Bloomberg News. “Of course the little guys are left out then. We’re left holding the bag, all the moms and pops all over America.”
Palin criticized Obama’s plan to give the Fed powers to monitor risks to the financial system. A meltdown last year led to $1.6 trillion of bank losses and writedowns and triggered a global recession.
“How can we think that setting up the Fed as monitor of systemic risk in the financial sector will result in meaningful reform,” she said. “The words ‘fox’ and ‘henhouse’ come to mind.”
While much blame must be laid at the feet of pork-barreling Congressmen and Imperial Presidents, I submit that The Federal Reserve's ability to serve as the Government's constant "lender of last resort", by directly monetizing the Government's debt if necessary, and the corrosive devaluing effects these policies have on the value of the currency, as well as the work and saving ethics... altogether makes the Federal Reserve perhaps one-third to one-half responsible for the extreme depth and severity of our current financial problems and dangers. And, as noted, steady corrosion of the value (i.e., "trustworthiness") of a society's money money is not even completely innocent of baneful effects on that society's public morals, as well.
By attacking this most sacrosanct of Big Government institutions, Sarah Palin does seem to have her heart in the right place on this important issue -- which is to say, she's rightly skeptical of the Fed and its operations. "Who is that man behind the curtain, anyway?"
As the author of the linked article says: "...'we the people' finally get to learn more about the 'Hockey Mom' from Alaska. And so far ... I like what I'm hearing!"
Thanks, me too!
If what’s going on in Washington right now is defined as sanity, sign me up for the nutcases!
Palin can beat Obama and win in 2012 if the right can resist running or encouraging a third party.
It's not a question of the right resisting anything. It's a question of liberty minded conservatives finding candidates that are truly, deeply, intellectually, ideologically liberty minded conservatives with convictions, that can articulate and fight for the truth, and give God the victory or the consequences.
Palin, DeMint, Rand Paul are all viable. Who will God choose?
That, more and more, is exactly how I see things shaping up.
As an unreformed political and news junkie, I find myself day by day looking up, and seeing this in the context of a much larger battle and a much larger battlefield.
At the present, I hope and expect that both of the latter two will probably want to continue doing fine jobs as Senators; so, my way-early prospective Presidential support continues to rest with the Governor. But that's just my own sentiment.
Especially so, however, if the chief alternatives turn out to be Romney, Gingrich, Huckabee and the like. Palin may not be perfect, but sheesh -- in the midst of those clowns, she practically glows.
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