Posted on 03/10/2013 5:39:40 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Rand Paul is the hottest commodity in Republican Party politics right now. But how high can he rise?
We put that question to a wide cross section of veteran Republican hands in the wake of the Kentucky Republican’s filibuster of John Brennan’s confirmation as CIA director last week and got a nearly unanimous response: Paul is already a national leader within the party and will be a major factor if (but really when) he runs for president in 2016.
“The filibuster is the single largest leap I can recall from one act,” said Dave Carney, a New Hampshire-based GOP strategist who served as a senior adviser for Rick Perry’s 2012 presidential bid. “The old guard’s gratuitous and meaningless tantrum attack the next day further solidified his sole position as leader of the new right.” (In the wake of the Paul filibuster, Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina defended the Obama administration’s stance on drones.)
Paul demonstrated two very important political traits during the filibuster:
1. He is a person of principle, taking a stand on an issue (drones) that almost no one cares about.
2. Paul has a showman’s sense of the moment, a rare and underrated ability in politics. “He is a PR machine who has an uncanny ability to galvanize the conservative base,” acknowledged one establishment Senate insider granted anonymity to speak candidly. (If you need evidence of that trait, look at how Paul kept chatter about the filibuster going; he did a series of television appearances and penned an op-ed explaining himself on the front page of The Post’s Outlook section Sunday.)
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Like when he votes for Chuck Hagel. I need to see more, and a willingness to recant his statement on social issues in the Republican Party, before I'd go all-in for him.
BUT NO MORE bushes!! not after “wmd”.
Paul can yak and yak but his vote for Hagel is a problem
Frankly, I still don’t trust him.
Christie and Rove will work with the NYTimes to hurt Rand.
The creation of the DHS is enough to ensure W’s place along side FDR.
Hip, hip, hooray for Rand Paul! He is despised by the GOPe, Rove and the RINOS. AFAIC, the perfect position to be in. Mr. Cojones. Just what we need to lead.
Now, where do we find a bunch more just like him? Let’s take it back.
DHS needs to get those light armored personnel carriers up to Detroit real soon and start killing those that will soon be rioting for food.and Cleveland, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Houston. It will be real bad there . Good hunting Big Sis!!
IMO, Rand Paul may have already made himself the leader of the GOP. There has been a huge void for years, and this week, he FILLED it quite nicely. If he follows up on this with something, he will be in the driver’s seat.
The ‘Neocons’ had best run and hide.
Conservative talk about forming a separate party is fast becoming moot, soon Conservatives will have no place to go as the GOP will be Libertarian if folks like Rand are successful...
We have been leaderless for too long. He connected with people because he believed what he was saying, it wasn’t just politics. Hopefully other Conservatives will be encouraged to follow suit.
CNN, other liberal/left news outfits, then the Washington Post? They must have really liked Paul’s vote for Hagel.
Rand Paul Explains His Surprise Vote For Chuck Hagel (1 of only 4 Republicans to vote for)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2991511/posts
No, just made himself a ‘voice’ of the Party- cutting into Linsey and McCain’s talk show tine... and boy did they resent that.
If he boosts House and Senate candidates in 2014 he’ll be the leader.
NYTimes trying to triangulate him this soon is a good sign though.
Now it appears Rand Paul is going to the left of Rubio on this issue if you read his column in The Washington Times.
Rand refers to illegal aliens as "undocumented citizens" in the first sentence of the fifth paragraph, which is overly gracious wording not even the liberal media uses. Rand says Rubio's plan for fines and penalties for those who came here illegally as a means of making restitution is too harsh because many of them "are poor and may not be able to ever pay ten years of back payroll taxes. I would be willing to forego the fines and back taxes in exchange for a longer and significant time period before these folks are eligible to enter into the green card line." Rand never says who's going to be paying for those people that wait even longer for amnesty.
Rand says he would "normalize" illegals (aka amnesty) at a rate of two million per year, beginning with what he refers to as "Dream Act kids." I remember hearing from many Ron Paul people who criticized Mike Huckabee during the 2008 Iowa Caucuses because he was too soft on the illegal immigration issue. I wonder what those same people think after reading this? At least Rand was smart enough to write it in a conservative newspaper, and not pose for a photo-op with two liberals and the ultimate RINO as Rubio did.
Whether valid or not, I think that uncanny ability stems from the sense people of the conservative base have that he's not a "PR machine", but rather comes across as genuinely believing the principled stance he is taking.
Rand Paul’s foreign policy is a problem. He’s an isolationist and no friend of Israel. I expect Dick Cheney to weigh in forcefully in the coming months.
Here we go again. Theatrics winning GOP hearts. Or GOPe setting up golden boy?
2016 outlook.
Jeb--Amnesty
Rubio--Amnesty
Rand--Amnesty
Joy.
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