Posted on 03/10/2014 7:36:29 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Count me as one who was not suprised at the size of Rand Paul’s victory [1] in the CPAC straw poll. I’m only surprised it wasn’t bigger — even though he nearly tripled the votes of his nearest rival Ted Cruz.
You could almost say that Paul is the ONLY interesting candidate on the immediate horizon — Republican or Democrat. I’m not going to badmouth the Republicans (I may have to vote for them), but Hillary is as dull, predictable and reactionary as Obama, if that’s possible. Neither of them has evidenced an ounce of creativity, or even an original thought, while in office.
It is this creativity that distinguishes Paul. He seems future oriented, unlike the rest of the potential candidates who mouth platitudes, liberal and conservative, bashing each other in the most tedious manner imaginable. Yes, the liberal side is by far more repellent, and old fashioned in ideology to the point of ridiculousness, but this does not absolve the right of the need to come up with forward-thinking solutions to the obvious American decline.
That is why Paul appeals to the young who are oriented, as they should be, toward the future. The whole Democratic Party is oriented toward the past and so are, alas, too many of the Republicans. The young see this. They’re smarter than we are. (They still have some brain cells.)
Paul is doing the right thing in seeking to expand the Republican base — appealing directly to minorities and students to explain how conservative/libertarian policies are better for them, instead of running and hiding from these liberal constituencies as Republicans normally do. That Paul is going into the very bowels of the beast in the next few days, UC Berkeley, to give a speech is commendable and dramatic. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had some interesting results. The time is certainly ripe. And beyond that, I think we all know that if we show people some respect they often — though certainly not always — return the favor.
The other potential Republican candidates would be wise to pay attention to Paul, to “learn from Chairman Rand,” as it were. In this digital age, history races along. We all know Obamacare is terrible and the deficit is bad, but if that’s all you have to run on, I don’t think you’re to get where you want. Ideas, please. Big ideas. Fortune favors the daring. (Incidentally, one big idea I might favor is to virtually abolish almost all of the federal government with the exception of defense, and let the states do almost everything. It is here we could “learn from Chairman Rick Perry.” More of this later.)
Speaking of which, as I wrote [2] last week, defense is Paul’s potential Achilles’ heel. He has to figure out how to negotiate his libertarian principles in an obstreperous world that, most of the time anyway, couldn’t care less about them. On a planet occupied by the likes of Vladimir Putin and Ayatollah Khamenei, he needs a foreign policy that doesn’t sound like naive wish fulfillment. Barack Obama already checked that box.
Unfortunately for Paul, in this area in particular he is in a position where the most minor of his tea leaves will be read. I was concerned, for example, that he referenced lyrics by Pink Floyd, and therefore Roger Waters, in his CPAC speech, when Waters has been closely associated [3] with the anti-Semitic BDS movement in the last few years. I sincerely hope this was a mistake or an oversight.
Still, if someone like me — once a neocon of a sort, I suppose — can be interested in Paul, something important must be going on. There’s no doubt that Barack Obama — we can assume inadvertently — has done his best to turn America libertarian. It would be deliciously ironic if that devotee of Saul Alinsky and Frank Marshall Davis would be responsible for electing our country’s first libertarian president (well, at least since the days of the Founders).
He is too scary for me. especially on forign policy.
To soon to tell...there is plenty of time for candidates to step on it, as in Rubio.
Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Rick Perry. Any one of them OK with me.
Free advice; libertarianism stops at the border. By disposition we want to leave all alone the evil world. It’s in their best interest to keep it that way.
His father won straw polls too. But that was the extent of his wins.
I’d rather he spent at least one term as Governor of Kentucky. Let’s see how he would run a state before we give him a chance to run the whole country.
You could almost say that Paul is the ONLY interesting candidate on the
immediate horizon — Republican or Democrat.
*************
Didn’t Ron Paul win the CPAC straw poll a few times but never made much
more than a blip on the GOP primary scene. Rand may be a contender but it
is still earlier in the process.
The poll, which is not a scientific sample by any stretch of the imagination, was dominated by the 18-25 year old age group, which represented 46% of the polling sample.The next closest age group was the 26-40 year olds, who made up just 18% of the vote.
Sounds a bit like the usual Paulista tactic of swamping the place with bussed-in bodies.
Rand Paul is winning straw polls the same way his father did. It may just mean the Ron Paul cult is behind him.
At least he HAS a foreign policy.....................;^)
Rand Paul is an open-borders pro-amnesty libertarian.
That’s all I need to know. Next candidate, please!
He won the last CPAC straw poll. The CPAC straw poll, as pretty much every other single straw poll, is about as meaningless as anything can possibly be. Right along with that silliness are online polls. Meaningless.
Polling is both art and science. It isn’t just pulling a bunch of people together and asking them questions.
Ouch! That's gonna leave a mark!...............
True but Rand won a Senate election in a state that historically is competitive between both parties.
I think he’s far more mainstream than his Dad.
It must be the hairpiece. Or using lyrics from anti-semites to illustrate his positions.
Exactly. CPAC straw poll = The Paulistas’ Big Day.
Ditto what you said ...
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