Topic: GOP - Rand Paul's Presidential Highlight Reel w/ his Libertarian Twist - page 64. (Read 205829 times)

Rand Paul Stands Apart in His Pitch for Koch Brothers Cash


More...http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/rand-paul-stands-apart-in-his-pitch-for-koch-brothers-cash-20150126

The article makes it sound as if Rand didn't stand out in a positive way in relation to the other two on the stage. If that's the case, then this network of donors sounds awfully similar to the normal establishment donors that would back the likes of Bush or Romney based on hawkishness. There must be more to this then meets the eye so I'm withholding judgement on how this went for now.

Why not just bring the entire CIA crime family together?

Jeb & Chelsea vs Hillary & George P.

Bush/Clinton 2016: "What Difference It Make?"
-vs-
Clinton/Bush 2016: "America Deserves Hillary!"

Tuesday on Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said Saudi Arabia “needs to be working against radical Islam.”

In discussing President Barack Obama’s visit Paul said, “I hope he says to Saudi Arabia that we’d like them to help us and work with us instead of against us. I think a lot of the arms that Saudi Arabia and Qatar have poured into the Syrian war, the Syrian civil war have actually been hurting us. They have actually wound up in the hand of ISIS. So I hope the message to them is they need to be working against radical Islam. They need to quit funding radical Islamic schools in our country around the world and need to send ground troops in to help us fight ISIS.”

“So Saudi Arabia needs to step up to be on our side and not be provoking the situation,” he added.

January 26, 2015 Three Republican presidential hopefuls talked policy Sunday night at a panel sponsored by a group affiliated with the Koch brothers in hopes of winning over the influential billionaires' network of mega-donors. And while Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas seemed eager for approval from the influential audience, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul clashed with his colleagues on established GOP lines.

The panel, hosted by the Kochs' Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce in Palm Springs, Calif., and broadcast online in a show of transparency, offered a chance for the likely 2016ers, all first-term senators, to publicly vie for the far-reaching network's approval. Marking one of the first face-to-face forums in the contest, it gave a glimpse of the policy tensions that will arise if all three senators run.

For a presidential hopeful courting big-money donors, Rand Paul didn't seem too eager to please, frequently being greeted with awkward silence by the crowd while Rubio and Cruz saw applause.

He broke with his colleagues on Cuba, noting to the panel's moderator, ABC's Jonathan Karl, that, sitting between Cruz and Rubio, whose parents both emigrated from the country, "I'm kind of surrounded on this one." Calling his opponents' views isolationist, he said he supported President Obama's recent actions to thaw relations between the U.S. and Cuba.

"They behead people in the street in Saudi Arabia. I'm not a real big fan of a lot of these regimes, but I don't want to isolate ourselves and say we're not going to trade with people who aren't Western style democracies," Paul said. "Isolation hasn't worked."

As wise people often do.
I'm looking forward to another election between a Clinton and a Bush for 2016! How exciting would that be?!?

Rand will run when the time is right, and not sooner.  He is cagey as all get out, and so is Kelly.

He's young and may play kingmaker in 2016, setting himself up for it to be unquestionably 'his turn' in 2020 or 2024 (as he continues to gain stature and influence as a Senator).

The Paul family is playing the long game; they are running a marathon, not a sprint.   

Hopefully he will run

Rand Paul to open political office in Austin


More...http://www.politico.com/story/2015/01/rand-paul-austin-texas-office-114452.html#ixzz3Pf1kgv5D

How’s this for a political odd couple? Liberal Sen. Barbara Boxer and conservative Sen. Rand Paul working together on foreign policy.

The retiring Boxer (D-Calif.) and possible presidential contender Paul (R-Ky.) are teaming up to create a “moderate proposal” on Iran sanctions, Boxer said Wednesday morning. They aim to offer an alternative to bipartisan legislation that is gaining steam that would impose new economic penalties on Iran if Western nations fail to strike an agreement on winding down Tehran’s nuclear program. Those sanctions would begin taking effect in July.

Boxer said the sanctions proposal, written by Sens. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), would not “strengthen us at all” as negotiations continue with Iran. Paul, whose foreign policy style is less interventionist than that of many Republicans, did not co-sponsor similar bipartisan legislation when it was introduced last year, making him one of just two GOP senators to hold off on endorsing that bill.

For the first time, a private gathering of wealthy conservative political donors brought together by Charles and David Koch will allow a look inside its much-scrutinized conclaves.

On Sunday night, the group will share with news organizations a live Web stream of one of its final panels set to be held in the weekend at a luxurious Palm Springs resort. The session will feature three potential 2016 presidential contenders: Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Marco Rubio of Florida.

The three Republicans will participate in a discussion of economic prosperity, health care and energy titled the “American Recovery Policy Forum,” moderated by ABC News chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl. ABC is billing the event as the first forum of the year featuring presidential hopefuls.

"Our members care deeply about the future of our nation, and we're honored to host some of today's most influential and respected leaders in shaping public policy,” said James Davis, spokesman for Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, the tax-exempt advocacy group backed by the Kochs and other major donors that hosts the gathering.

“We hope that this panel will give each participant the opportunity to lay out their vision of free markets and the role of government,” Davis said in a statement. “Our goal in 2015 is to help inform the national debate around key domestic economic issues, and this forum is the beginning of that conversation."

It’s a dramatic change in approach for the Koch-backed operation, which has withheld information about previous donor seminars, held under tight security. The events – typically held in Palm Springs in the winter and in Colorado in the summer – feature prominent GOP officials as guests and high-brow panel discussions about economic and political theory.

The Kochs and their allies have also used the seminars to rally donors to support their far-reaching political network. At a session last year, the organization declared its goal of spending $290 million in the run-up to the 2014 midterm elections.

This story was originally published on Ozy.

It’s true that the Republican Party remains a lot older, whiter and male-er than the American population as a whole. But that doesn’t mean the party isn’t changing — it’s just not changing in a way that’s always visible to the naked eye. In fact, the GOP is undergoing a kind of evolution as it figures out how to maintain unity among its pro-business, social conservative and libertarian factions. Those dividing lines are going to be on sharp display as the 2016 presidential campaigns gear up.

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is, of course, the poster child for the libertarian movement within the party, but he’s not the only one embracing a more laissez-faire attitude on certain issues, such as drugs and gay marriage, that social conservatives abhor. More mainstream Republicans, like former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, also offer some crossover appeal on social issues. Paul lines up with the pro-business side in supporting President Barack Obama’s recent moves to ease the long-standing embargo on Cuba. Where they diverge is on spending, particularly on government programs that benefit the business community. There, the right wing and the libertarian movement are on the same page, happy to whack away at spending even at the expense of businesses.

The growing power of libertarian ideas in the Republican Party is no flash in the pan, according to anti-tax icon Grover Norquist. Rather, libertarianism is “a long-term trend with no obvious roadblock in sight,” he writes in an OZY op-ed. Paul, in other words, is just the beginning.

Sen. Rand Paul is planning to open a political office in Austin, tapping into Texas technology talent ahead of a likely presidential bid.


The space is slated to open in spring or early summer, said Doug Stafford, Paul’s chief political adviser. The Kentucky Republican is also opening a Silicon Valley office in the coming months.

ustin is a rare haven for liberals in deep-red Texas, but it’s also a hot spot for start-ups and technology companies. The libertarian-leaning Paul has made overtures to the technology community — even in California’s progressive Bay Area — as he prepares for a 2016 campaign.

“Our intention is to crowd source many things — innovations, applications, volunteer efforts on the digital and political side,” Stafford said in an email. “Austin has a lot of supporters and a lot of talent, and we plan to take advantage of both and have a Team Rand hub there.”

Vincent Harris, the digital strategist for Paul’s political arm, RANDPAC, is based in Austin, which he referred to as “Silicon Hills.”

The city “has energetic, supportive, creative talent,” Harris said. “There’s a large, active, liberty crowd. Since coming on board, we’ve had smart people literally just show up at my company’s office wanting to get involved, it will be a place to channel them.”

The Lone Star State will loom large in the 2016 GOP primary. Paul and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush grew up in Texas. They, along with former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, all are expected to run for the White House.

“We want to attract the best talent possible to help motivate the largest amount of people possible, and Austin’s market will allow the senator to do that,” Harris said.

Four leading Republican presidential prospects are expected to appear this weekend
in the California desert before an exclusive gathering of rich conservatives convened
by the Koch brothers’ political operation, several sources tell POLITICO.

Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Rand Paul ofKentucky and Marco Rubio of Florida, and Gov.
Scott Walker ofWisconsin, received coveted invitations to speak to the vaunted
network assembled by the billionaire industrialist mega-donors Charles and David
Koch, the sources said.

The meeting, set to be held at a Palm Springs hotel, is the annual winter gathering of
Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, the nonprofit group that oversees the
network offiscally conservative groups formed with help from the Kochs and their
operatives.

None ofthe White House prospects invited to the meeting this weekend responded
to questions about whether they planned to attend and, if so, what they planned to
discuss. A spokesman for Freedom Partners declined to comment on the function,
which is closed to the press.

It comes at a pivotal time for both the Koch network, which has become increasingly
involved in partisan politics, and for the sprawling Republican presidential
field, which some party insiders fear could be headed for a chaotic and costly
primary.

Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney, both of whom are eyeing runs oftheir own, are
considered the favorites of rich Republican donors from the party’s
establishment wing, who traditionally have exerted great sway over presidential
nominating fights.

But neither is necessarily a perfect fit for the donors and operatives in the Kochs’
expanding donor network, where small government, free market policies tend to be
valued over aggressive stances on military intervention or social issues. That
could present an opening for prospective presidential hopefuls who have emphasized
fiscal issues more than foreign policy, like Paul, Walker and Indiana Gov. Mike
Pence. Pence is not expected in Palm Springs this weekend. But he has spoken at past
gatherings and is considered a favorite of the Kochs’ allies, as is Walker, whose
fight against his state’s public employee unions over collective bargaining
rights made him something of a test case for the expansion ofthe Koch network and
its most robust political arm, Americans for Prosperity.

Stan Hubbard, a billionaire Minnesota media mogul and mega-donor who has
attended Koch donor gatherings, but is not headed to Palm Springs, called Walker “a
hell of a good man.” Yet, Hubbard also had positive things to say about Bush, a
former Florida governor (“a really nice guy”) and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (“a
good communicator”), while dismissing Romney, a former Massachusetts governor,
as “a terrible candidate,” and questioning whether Cruz or Paul could win a general
election.

“What scares me is the ultra-right-wing people – which I would be, but you can’t get
elected being ultra-right-wing – so what scares me is them screwing it up by
supporting someone like the senator from Texas,” said Hubbard of Cruz. “I mean,
forget it.”

Cruz and Rubio have staked out aggressive foreign policy stances that in some ways
seem out of step with the more non-interventionist ofthe Koch network’s donors.
But they’re also seen as unlikely to be able to keep up with Bush or Romney when it
comes to corralling support from more hawkish mega-donors in the GOP’s Wall
Street or country club wings.

Major donors are expected to play an outsized role in the 2016 presidential election,
especially in the primaries, thanks partly to a pair of 2010 federal court rulings that
paved the way for super PACs that can accept unlimited checks to support
candidates.

While the Kochs’ operation has stayed out of GOP primaries, the possibility ofits
donors or groups backing a candidate in the 2016 GOP presidential primary has
tantalized the political class.

The 2012 general election marked the first time that AFP aired ads expressly
opposing a candidate — President Barack Obama. AFP went on to spend heavily on
ads attacking Democratic Senate candidates in the run-up to the 2014 midterms, and
was credited with helping Republicans capture the Senate. All told, the groups in
the Koch network combined to spend about $290 million ahead ofthe midterms.
The Freedom Partners donor meetings – which started in 2003 and are now held
twice a year – are central to the expansion ofthe Koch network. Dubbed “seminars”
within Koch circles, they bring together dozens of conservative business leaders from
across the country – including a healthy contingent ofheartland industrialists like
the Kochs – for three days of presentations from top conservative politicians,
operatives and thought leaders, including American Enterprise Institute President
Arthur Brooks, pundit Erick Erickson and pollster Frank Luntz.

The seminars typically conclude with a fundraising session of sorts where donors
pledge donations that can reach into the seven figures to support policy and political
efforts discussed during the seminars. Freedom Partners, which was formed in late
2011, disseminates the cash among a host of groups in the network.
There’s a lot of discussion among donors and strategists within the Koch operation
about whether to wade into the Republican presidential primary, according to an
operative familiar with the operation.

“These funders just had a very successful cycle and I imagine some of the folks want
to go for the big enchilada,” said the operative, asserting the Koch network could
have a major impact on the presidential race ifit decided to engage heavily. “They are
the most sophisticated operation, which would be a huge asset” for Republicans.

Through New Initiative #TheTalk, MTV to Engage its Audiences in a “Color Brave” Conversation Led by Cultural Figures Including Kendrick Lamar, Common, Big Sean, Ava DuVernay, David Oyelowo, Penn Badgley, Jordin Sparks, Pete Wentz, Sen. Rand Paul, Rep. John Lewis, Sen. Cory Booker and more

NEW YORK, Jan 18, 2015 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- today announced an expansion of its Look Different anti-bias campaign called #TheTalk, a multiscreen effort to encourage its audience to have candid, confident and “color brave” conversations on race with family and friends. According to a 2014 MTV study*, 73% of Millennials believe having more open constructive conversations about bias would help people become less prejudiced.

“Millennials believe strongly in fairness, but they can also find it difficult to talk openly about race – to be not simply ‘color blind’ but ‘color brave,’” said Stephen Friedman, President of MTV. “Our audience is looking for a way to bring the national conversation on race into their homes and this campaign will give them a forum to express true color bravery.”

#TheTalk will begin at 9:00 a.m. ET/PT on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day when MTV will kick off a 12-hour period in which all programming will air in black and white for the first time in the network’s history. Every commercial block will begin with personal reflections on race from luminaries including Kendrick Lamar, Common, Big Sean, Ava DuVernay, David Oyelowo, Penn Badgley, Jordin Sparks, Pete Wentz, Sen. Rand Paul, Rep. John Lewis, Sen. Cory Booker and more.

Republican presidential hopeful Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., made his first campaign visit to Reno Saturday only to find out that his father has already done a lot of groundwork to boost his popularity.

Former Texas U.S. Rep. Ron Paul captured 22 of Nevada's 25 delegates to the National Republican Convention in 2012 -- even though Mitt Romney easily won that year's Nevada GOP presidential caucus. And Ron Paul's good name now gives his son a ready-made set of supporters in Reno.

A meeting at the Atlantis with local GOP activists and some elected officials was standing-room-only, thanks to his father.

"I support Rand because of his father, Ron, who was the most honest person in government," said Jim Uprichard, who attended the meeting. "I feel that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. So Rand has to be following in his father's footsteps."

Rand Paul, in a private interview, acknowledged that his father has laid groundwork for him in Nevada. However, Rand Paul said he must be his own man if he expects to win the Nevada GOP caucus or the GOP presidential nomination in 2016.

"If I end up doing this (running for president), I really have to be my own person and present my ideas and issues," Rand Paul said. "That doesn't mean my father and I are not from the same tradition in the sense that we believe in limited government that is strictly bound by the Constitution, a belief in a reasonable and rational foreign policy that sees some of the unintended consequences of some of the entanglements overseas. I believe, like dad, about the all-consuming problem about (the federal government) spending money we don't have."

Senator Rand Paul’s still unofficial presidential campaign reached a small but significant milestone in early January: The executive director of the Orthodox Union’s advocacy center, Nathan Diament, publicly praised him in an official press release.

For many candidates, that might not mean much. But for Paul, the O.U.’s January 6 statement, lauding his sponsorship of a bill to defund the Palestinian Authority, marked something new. Long shunned by the organized Jewish community as hostile to Israel, Paul is attaining a degree of acceptability, if not yet embrace, in at least some quarters of American Jewry.

It has been a steep learning curve for the up-and-coming libertarian. On top of his own longtime views against foreign aid to any country, the Kentucky Republican labors, justly or not, under an additional burden in the eyes of some Jews as the son of a former congressman who has been associated with anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. Yet within less than two years, the Kentucky senator has gone from pariah to pareve in the eyes of many Jewish GOP supporters. And the O.U.’s statement meant something more: a first-time nod from an avowedly nonpartisan national Jewish group. The group stressed, however, that its statement was limited only to Paul’s legislative initiative and should not be viewed as an endorsement.

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul says he has patched things up with U.S. Sen. John McCain, whom he angered last year by repeating a bogus Internet claim that the Arizona Republican had posed in a photo with Islamic State extremists in Syria in 2013.

"I think we've made up," Paul, R-Ky., told The Arizona Republic Thursday while in Scottsdale to meet with supporters and raise money.

"When we talked, I said, 'You know, sometimes, I can get overboard, and, sometimes, both of us can get overboard.' And that's the best way to acknowledge a dispute. Disputes take two to fight, and for the most part, we have many, many things in common as Republicans. ... It was a mistake to make that too personal on my part."

Paul, a potential 2016 Republican presidential candidate, and McCain, the 2008 GOP nominee, have sparred on and off over foreign policy and other issues since the libertarian-leaning Paul joined the Senate in 2011. McCain, R-Ariz., famously had to apologize for referring to Paul as one of the Senate's conservative "wacko birds."

But tensions strained further after Paul ripped McCain in a September interview with The Daily Beast, an online news website. Paul said McCain had met with Islamic State fighters "and had his picture taken, and didn't know it was happening at the time."

Rand Paul Gets a Gift Not Made in America


More...http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/01/16/?entry=8531&_r=0