Topic: GOP - Rand Paul's Presidential Highlight Reel w/ his Libertarian Twist - page 88. (Read 205829 times)

FYI, futures market (predictious, which is similar to intrade) shows hilary as a heavy favorite to win the presidential elections.. almost 3x as likely than rand paul at the moment.

FYI, futures market (predictious, which is similar to intrade) shows hilary as a heavy favorite to win the presidential elections.. almost 3x as likely than rand paul at the moment.

LOL!  So I've noticed.

...  Paul's staff is really good at hustling libertarian beliefs in a more populist way that is acceptable and tolerable to conservatives...

how is he all that special among other candidates if he's willing to sell out on his values

WASHINGTON (AP) — Describing a nation "in a full-blown spiritual crisis," leading Republicans on Friday vowed to fight against abortion rights and protect the role of faith in public life as they courted religious conservatives with an eye on the 2016 presidential contest.

"I will stand up for unborn children as long as I'm privileged to be in office," Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul declared while addressing the Faith and Freedom Coalition, a group led by longtime Christian activist Ralph Reed hosting its annual conference in Washington.

"America is in a full-blown spiritual crisis," the tea party favorite continued. "What America needs is a revival."

Paul led a parade of ambitious Republicans on a Friday speaking program — including New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and 2012 presidential candidate Rick Santorum — that featured aggressive defenses of social conservative priorities, including opposition to abortion, gay marriage and funding for Planned Parenthood. The gathering highlights the delicate balancing act Republican leaders face as they work to bridge divisions within the party and improve the GOP's image.

Organizers said more than 1,000 evangelical Christian leaders were attending the conference, designed to mobilize religious conservative voters in advance of the upcoming midterm elections and the 2016 presidential contest. While polls suggest that social conservatives are losing their fight against gay marriage, Republican officials across the political spectrum concede that evangelical Christian voters continue to play a critical role in Republican politics.

"You can ignore them, but you do so at your own peril," said Republican operative Hogan Gidley, who worked for Santorum and for former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee during his 2008 campaign for the presidential nomination.

by Sam Stein
06/21/2014 8:00 am EDT

WASHINGTON -- The divisive role that Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has played within the Republican Party on matters of foreign policy was amplified on Friday amid ongoing chaos in Iraq.

At a gathering of social conservatives in Washington, D.C., Paul’s call for more measured U.S. engagement -- if not outright restraint -- was criticized by fellow attendees, including a potential rival for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.

In an interview with The Huffington Post outside the Faith and Freedom Conference, former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), a 2012 presidential candidate, offered a message “to the Rand Paul types” within his party.

“You can see what happens when America creates a vacuum,” Santorum said. “Other people fill it, and it is not to our security interests.”

Paul's remark that President Barack Obama wasn't to blame for the rise of Sunni militants in Iraq drew even more admonishment from the neoconservative wing of the party, which has begun openly fretting about the possibility that the Kentucky Republican could end up becoming the GOP standard-bearer.

Michael Goldfarb, founder of the unapologetically hawkish Free Beacon, distilled Paul’s message on foreign policy into a simple: “Don’t blame Obama.” After tweeting his disdain, he elaborated in an email to The Huffington Post.

The Republican National Committee has opened a pathway to the presidential nomination for Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul with a primary schedule that favors the potential libertarian-leaning tea party candidate.

The Daily Beast says that the committee’s format calling for Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada to hold their primaries first gives Paul a "huge advantage" over rivals like former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

Paul’s father, former Rep. Ron Paul, laid the groundwork for his son while campaigning over the years as a Libertarian to become president, and "those same ties" give Paul a vital head start in three of the early primary states.

"If the senator were to win or even put together a decent showing there, Republicans say he may have momentum that is impossible to slow," said the Beast’s David Freelander. "No Republican has won Iowa and New Hampshire and failed to win the nomination.

"Of course, no one can discuss the 2016 presidential race without massive caveats about handicapping a race at least six months before a single candidate has declared. But the champagne-popping in the Paulite corridors has not gone unnoticed."

Matt Mackowiak, a Texas-based Republican consultant and a veteran of George W. Bush’s re-election campaign, concurred, saying, "If Rand were to win two of those first three or three of those first four, he would be a train gathering a lot of steam."

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anyway, concerning the koch brothers, i believe they are ancaps.. they want complete obliteration of any form of government. and since they can't get that, they decided to meddle.

i might want to get the koch brothers book.. they sound like "interesting" people.

I didn't follow in '11/'12 after Ron dropped (actually, I followed and participated in the Libertarian Party until they nominated Barr over Ruwart). If you asked me in early-mid '12, though, I may've said McCain was running against Obama. What kind of libertarian ideals do you think the Kochs have? Selective tax breaks?

Paul led a parade of ambitious Republicans on a Friday speaking program — including New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and 2012 presidential candidate Rick Santorum — that featured aggressive defenses of social conservative priorities, including opposition to abortion, gay marriage and funding for Planned Parenthood. The gathering highlights the delicate balancing act Republican leaders face as they work to bridge divisions within the party and improve the GOP's image.

ha, you can't just cast them away as "not one of us" when they become unpopular. they are definitely right-wingish, but they also have libertarian ideals.. just like rand paul.

i'm glad there are people who think like you do, so i can win money off them. did you think romney had a chance in 2012?

Kochs are arguably libertarians, but I'd disagree. Maybe they were at some point, like Alan Greenspan allegedly was. There's a pretty decent and comical book going over almost all the libertarian factions - "Radicals for Capitalism." It covers everyone from the Kochs to Ayn, to my personal favorite, Robert Anton Wilson. It obviously has some libertarian bias, but it's a fun, detailed book no matter your political orientation. If I didn't lose the book in a warehouse I lived in for a while, I'd offer to ship it to you at no charge.

I'd take you up on the bet, but I'm financially strapped at the moment. How about reverse bragging rights based on the party which wins the '16 GE? I'll be sure to remind you when I win either way.

if i knew you, i'd love to make a bet with you. democrats the underdog? i don't think so.. i'm not saying i want them to win, but objectively speaking, the republicans are getting in their own way. whether anyone likes it or not, hilary is much more popular than any republican i can think of.. it's why fox has been bashing her so much lately.

the funny thing is that.. the koch brothers are actually libertarians 

I'd argue Rand's biggest opponent in 2016, especially if he gets to the GE, is going to be the Kochtopus association, which is about as popular as Dick Cheney (at least in MI, where pretty much the only TV political ads have been bashing Terri Land for months over her alleged Koch connections). Democrats, though, I really doubt have any chance of a '16 pres. victory unless maybe they do a Hail Mary with someone like Warren. A good part of Rand winning the GOP primary, I think, will be reaching out to Dems and suggesting they should switch parties in undemocratic states where you need to "pre-affiliate" yourself with a party to vote in their primary, while the chance of this happening greatly increases if traditional Dem affiliates buy the premise premise that Dems have bleak '16 odds and they need to settle with a lesser of evils within the GOP. It's going to be a very interesting year, I think.