Topic: GOP - Rand Paul's Presidential Highlight Reel w/ his Libertarian Twist - page 90. (Read 205829 times)

These kind of mete out the latest CNN numbers in rolling average form.
RCP average: Paul 13.8, Bush 12.8, Huckabee 12.7, Christie 11.0, Ryan 10.8, Rubio 7.3, Cruz 6.8, Walker 5.0, Perry 4.8, Santorum 4.0, Jindal 2.7
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/us/2016_republican_presidential_nomination-3823.html
Cruz and Walker are possible VP picks under Rand.

Rand Paul’s drug war talk in Iowa was important, but not for the reason you think

BY RADLEY BALKO
June 18 at 9:54 AM

Vox notes that last weekend, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) talked about the drug war’s disproportionate effect on communities of color.

If you look at the war on drugs, 3 out of 4 people in prison are black or brown. White kids are doing it too, in fact, if you look at all the surveys, white kids do it just as much as black and brown kids. But the prisons are full of black and brown kids because they don’t get a good attorney, they live in poverty, it’s easier to arrest them than to go to the suburbs.

Paul also touched on a theme we’ve explored here at The Watch — the overlooked value of redemption.

Most of us are Christians or Jews or of the Judeo-Christian faith, and it’s like, we believe in redemption. We believe in a second chance. Should a 19-year old kid get a second chance? I think yes. Let’s be the party that has compassion, that doesn’t say the behavior is right, but says, ‘You know what? When you’re done with your time, you get the right to vote back.’ Let’s be the party that is for extending the right to vote back to people who have paid their time, who have reformed their ways.

I’d point out that a fair number of we nonbelievers think redemption is important, too. Still, this is an important thing to hear from a U.S. senator, and particularly from a Republican senator with presidential ambitions. (But I repeat myself.)

...

It’s a rare thing for a politician positioning himself for a presidential run to go to an early primary state and say things about the criminal justice system that the people he’s courting may not want to hear. There’s nothing politically opportunistic about telling a bunch of white Iowa GOP caucusers that we need to stop locking up black teenagers for drugs — or that those who have been locked up should get back the right to vote.

Paul isn’t just refusing to pander, here. He’s actually trying to lead.

If Rand Paul beats Rubio in Fla, then the nomination race will quickly be over, if they are the top 2 contenders.
Rand will have to have strong results in both Iowa and New Hampshire to have any real chance.

Rubio's Hispanic background won't do any good for Rand Paul. But his links with the tea party could help him gather a few more votes, and that might help him to win the state of Florida.

Rubio's Hispanic background won't do any good for Rand Paul. But his links with the tea party could help him gather a few more votes, and that might help him to win the state of Florida.

chris christie's reputation is sullied, and ted cruz is known as an asshat to most of the populous.. i'd guess marco rubio is the best candidate, especially since he's hispanic.

it's kinda funny that huckabee is so popular, but he isn't even looking to run.

Those who backed Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum in 2012 are giving Rand Paul a long, hard look.

By David Catanese
June 17, 2014 | 11:16 a.m. EDT

DES MOINES, Iowa – Ramona Heller walked into the state Republican convention with an impression of Rand Paul largely formed by his father – and it wasn’t good.

As a local party official in a small village outside of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, she had witnessed firsthand the brash takeover of her beloved GOP in 2012 by the so-called “Paulites” -- the term used to describe supporters of former Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas – after his third place finish in the last presidential caucus.

“A lot of the things they tried to do to take over and get in were very unethical,” Heller says.

The procedural tactics employed by the Paulites won them control of the party, but left mainstream Iowa Republicans seething and bitter. So when Rand Paul took the dais at the Hy-Vee Convention Center Saturday to address the assembled 2,000 GOP delegates, Heller – a Rick Santorum supporter in 2012 – was prepared to sit on her hands.

“I wouldn’t have even considered him before this morning. He wasn’t even on my radar,” she says.

Instead, her reaction surprised herself.

“Holy shit, I would vote for this guy,” she thought afterward. “Yes, I was impressed.”

Nice to see Paul at the top. But who would he chose as a running mate? If he could get Cruz (is he suitable?), the he is up to 23%. Chris Christie and Marco Rubio are also good choices.

One year ago this month, Americans learned that their government was engaged in secret dragnet surveillance, which contradicted years of assurances to the contrary from senior government officials and intelligence leaders.

On this anniversary, it is more important than ever to let Congress and the administration know that Americans will reject half-measures that could still allow the government to collect millions of Americans' records without any individual suspicion or evidence of wrongdoing.

It is time to end the dragnet — and to affirm that we can keep our nation secure without trampling on and abandoning Americans' constitutional rights.

For years, in both statements to the public and open testimony before the House and Senate, senior government officials claimed that domestic surveillance was narrow in focus and limited in scope. But in June 2013, Americans learned through leaked classified documents that these claims bore little resemblance to reality. In fact, the NSA has been relying on a secret interpretation of the USA Patriot Act to vacuum up the phone records of millions of law-abiding citizens. Under a separate program, intelligence agencies are using a loophole in the law to read some Americans' emails without ever getting a warrant.

Dragnet surveillance was approved by a secret court that normally hears only the government's side of major cases. It had been debated only in a few secret congressional committee hearings, and many members of Congress were entirely unaware it. When laws like the Patriot Act were reauthorized, a vocal minority of senators and representatives — including the three of us — objected, but the secrecy surrounding these programs made it difficult to mobilize public support.

Newer poll #s from CNN out

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2014/images/06/15/cnn.poll.hillary.democrats.pdf

So, the Ace is up a point since the last one.

Newer poll #s from CNN out

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2014/images/06/15/cnn.poll.hillary.democrats.pdf

So, the Ace is up a point since the last one.

CNN poll: Paul 14, Bush 12, Huckabee 11, Ryan 10, Cruz 9, Christie 8, Rubio 8, Perry 6, Walker 5, Santorum 4

i can't believe ryan is still actually popular. that guy has proposed some nefarious bullshit, not to mention he wanted to increase the defense budget by how many billions it was?

basically he wants to cut medicaid, but increase defense spending. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/02/us/politics/paul-ryan-budget.html

Mitt Romney’s ideas summit in Park City, Utah, was intended to be a passing of the torch to the Republican Party’s would-be saviors, with five potential 2016 presidential candidates jetting in to schmooze with many of the GOP’s biggest donors and present their agendas for the country’s future.

Instead, the scene at a luxury resort in the Rocky Mountains quickly became a Romney revival. Minutes after the 2012 Republican presidential nominee welcomed his 300 guests, Joe Scarborough, the former GOP congressman and MSNBC host, urged them to begin a “Draft Romney” movement in 2016.

“This is the only person that can fill the stage,” Scarborough said at the opening night private dinner, according to attendees.

The Republican elite rose early yesterday morning to go skeet shooting with 2016 hopeful Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. Then over breakfast they questioned Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, another potential candidate, about how he thinks he could defeat Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.

....................

The establishment lights here eyed Paul with interest. He made the case that he is growing the Republican Party and talked about his recent visits to black and liberal audiences.

When a donor asked whether Clinton was beatable, Paul said he believed she was “really vulnerable” on foreign policy and for being too hawkish, according to one attendee.

That is just BS. Singapore is a 100% democratic society, without any sign of a totalitarian regime. The same can be said about many other countries which are having extremely low crime rates, such as Japan, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Iceland and Denmark.

you know what kind of countries have the lowest crime rates? totalitarian regimes, like in the book 1984.