Archive for the ‘Rand Paul’ Category

Rand Paul Rouses CPAC, Defends His Foreign Policy

Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.), told an enthusiastic but hawkish audience Friday that his inclination to limit U.S. military intervention does not mean he opposes a strong defense.

We must our protect ourselves from jihadists without losing ourselves as a people, Mr. Paul told a meeting of thousands of activists at the three-day Conservative Political Action Conference.

Asked to address criticism that his foreign policy was insufficiently aggressive which some see as Mr. Pauls biggest liability in seeking his partys nomination the senator sought to portray his view as a middle ground.

Not all Republicans are the same on foreign policy, said Mr. Paul, one of several potential presidential candidates who tested their campaign messages at the annual conference. It is a spectrum. There are people who believe we should never be anywhere outside our borders. There are people who believe we should be everywhere all the time.

His audience at CPAC was packed with supporters especially young people who wore Stand with Rand T-shirts and chanted President Paul! President Paul! at various intervals, giving him one of the most raucous receptions of any of the candidates.

Many among them seemed receptive to his more restrained view of the use of military might, but the audience throughout the conference has responded enthusiastically to hawkish messages from the podium. Some of the best-received applause lines throughout the conference have been bellicose language and criticism of Mr. Obamas foreign policy.

Mr. Paul linked his call for foreign policy limits to the kind of anti-government rhetoric that is popular with conservatives.

We should not succumb to the notion that a government inept at home will somehow become successful abroad, that a government that is unable to deliver the mail will somehow be able to build nations abroad, he said.

On domestic policy, Mr. Paul promised that in the coming weeks he would be proposing the largest tax cut in American history and a plan to cut spending and balance the budget in five years. Asked how he would amend the constitution if he had only one amendment, he said he would call for term limits for elected officials as well as for out of control judges.

Jeb Bush on Immigration

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Rand Paul Rouses CPAC, Defends His Foreign Policy

No, Rand Paul’s Vaccine Comment Was Not ‘Taken Out Of Context’ – Video


No, Rand Paul #39;s Vaccine Comment Was Not #39;Taken Out Of Context #39;
Rand Paul thinks his words were taken out of context. Hmmm. --- NowThisNews is the rst and only video news network built for people who love their phones an...

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No, Rand Paul's Vaccine Comment Was Not 'Taken Out Of Context' - Video

Rand Paul’s balancing act: What to do with Ron Paul’s …

In 2012, Texas Republican Rep. Ron Paul was a force to be reckoned with in the presidential race. His group of supporters - including many young voters - was limited, but passionate. Though he wasn't considered a serious contender for the Republican nomination, he had a strong showing in both the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary, finishing third in Iowa with 21.5 percent of the vote and second in New Hampshire with 22.9 percent.

Now his son, Texas Sen. Rand Paul, is contemplating his own presidential bid. Both men come from the libertarian wing of the party, though Doug Wead, who has worked for both Pauls, calls the elder Paul a "classic libertarian" and the younger one a "practical libertarian."

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CBS News Political Director John Dickerson talks about Sen. Rand Paul's day of meeting with people in New Hampshire -- even though he won't make ...

And while Ron Paul was generally viewed as someone who ran for president to prove a point, his son could be a serious contender for the nomination. What he has to do is navigate the tricky dance of keeping his father's supporters engaged and on his side while attracting a whole other group of voters who might not have given Ron Paul a chance.

"His dad's base is not going to be enough,so he's got to find ways to expand the base and become, if not the favorite of different factions of the party, at least acceptable," University of New Hampshire Political Science Professor Dante Scala told CBS News. "He has to do that in such a way that doesn't make his father's base voters feel as if they're being betrayed or that Ron Paul's legacy is being compromised."

Politics isn't the first arena where Paul has followed in his father's footsteps. Like Ron Paul, who had a medical career that preceded his first run for office, Rand Paul also started out in the field of medicine. He was always active in politics, serving in the Young Conservatives of Texas club during college at Baylor University. He left for Duke University to attend medical school before completing his undergraduate degree, and he opened an ophthalmology practice in Bowling Green, Kentucky, after he completed his residency.

All the while, though, Paul was helping his father with his congressional campaign and 2008 presidential bid, and he started a group called the Kentucky Taxpayers Union in his home state. His rise coincided with the rise of the tea party in 2009, and in 2010 he defeated Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson, the establishment pick for Kentucky's vacant Senate seat, to become a senator.

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Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ken.) used old-school filibuster tactics, speaking for 12 hours and 52 minutes to hold-up John Brennan's CIA nomination. CBS Ne...

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Sheldon Adelson signals hell bankroll effort to stop …

Casino magnate and Republican megadonor Sheldon Adelson, one of the GOPs most forceful advocates for a hawkish foreign policy, is willing to fund an effort to stop Rand Paul from securing the partys presidential nomination, should the libertarian-leaning Kentucky senators campaign pick up steam.

The revelation comes in a New York Times analysis of the GOPs internal divisions over foreign policy heading into next years campaign. The rise of the Islamic State militant group has reinvigorated interventionists like Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Marco Rubio (R-FL), both of whom would make national security and global affairs central themes of their presidential campaigns, should they run. Meanwhile, Paul is coming under withering intra-party criticism due to his general reluctance to support military force and his backing for the Obama administrations positions on the Iranian nuclear negotiations and the diplomatic rapprochement with Cuba.

The guy whos now got the biggest challenge because of this is Rand Paul, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, told the Times, speaking of the GOPs increased attention to foreign policy. The Rand Paul worldview, which I suspect will change, is just incompatible with reality.

While it remains to be seen how Pauls all-but-certain campaign will perform, Adelson is telling associates that hell bankroll an effort to thwart the senator should he come within reach of securing the partys nod, the paper reports.

Though Adelson has yet to back a 2016 candidate, GOP hopefuls are vying assiduously to secure his support in next years contest. Scott Walker, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Marco Rubio, Mike Huckabee, and John Kasich have all made sojourns to Las Vegas to curry favor with Adelson, who contributed $150 million to Republican candidates and outside groups during the 2012 campaign. Adelson backed Gingrich in that years GOP primaries, pouring $15 million into his campaign. While Gingrich lost the nomination to Mitt Romney, Adelsons contributions kept Gingrichs campaign afloat far longer than it would otherwise have remained above water.

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Mitt Romney, Rand Paul And A Porno Spoof

Former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney ponders a point as he addresses the student body and guests at Mississippi State University in Starkville, Miss., Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2015. Romney joked about his time as a candidate and addressed a number of world issues including terrorism, world economy and domestically "the need for strong American leadership," and job creation for Americans. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis) | ASSOCIATED PRESS

This story was originally published by The Center for Public Integrity, which is a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C.

Not long ago, former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney promised his administration would battle online smut by strictly enforcingobscenity laws and compelling businesses to installpornography filters on every new computer sold in the United States.

That's what makes it jarring that Romney's all-but-defunct 2012 presidential committee with an assist from U.S. Sen. Rand Paul is associating itself with astealthy front group that decries "government censorship" and is best known for producing a cheeky porno spoof that lambastes Internet regulation.

The motive? Cash.

Romney's committee continues to make money by renting the personal information of supporters to big data companies, which in turn peddle the information to most any special interest willing to pay for it, regardless of its views.

Paul, R-Ky., sent an emailon Monday in conjunction with an organization called "Protect Internet Freedom" that contends that "net neutrality" stands opposite freedom. The "net neutrality" debate concerns government rules that prevent Internet service providers from blocking or slowing online content, or prioritizing certain content in exchange for payment. The Federal Communications Commission isscheduledto votethis week on new "net neutrality" regulations, which manymajor telecom companiesandtrade groupshaveaggressivelyopposed.

Paul is a potential 2016 presidential candidate, and his father, Ron Paul, ran for president against Romney in 2012.

"These attempts to regulate the Internet are a direct attack on the freedom of information and an innovative market," Paul wrote in the email topped with a Protect Internet Freedom logo. "The government needs to stay out of the way ... We have to stop this aggressive, invasive and harmful regulation and we need all the help we can get to do it."

After Paul's signature come the message's disclaimers.

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Mitt Romney, Rand Paul And A Porno Spoof