Posted on 02/04/2015 4:51:34 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Sen. Rand Paul on Wednesday pointed to several ways he was personally open to teaming up with the White House, noting that the 2016 Republican nominee will be affected by whether the GOP-dominated Congress can accomplish anything.
Paul (R-Ky.), a near-certain presidential contender, offered those remarks to the Ripon Society, a Republican group, at the Capitol Hill Club in an early-morning speech the day after the State of the Union. During the speech, he also offered an impassioned defense of his foreign policy views.
“If we’re looking forward to 2016, and some of us are,” he said to laughs, “we need to show we can do something when we’re in charge and something that works.”
He noted a tax effort he’s working on that would bring back money from overseas to be reinvested in American infrastructure, saying that it could be a bipartisan success and “whoever our nominee is can move forward taking credit for it.”
Beyond infrastructure, the senator said he would be willing to work with the White House on a range of issues including criminal justice reform — he is a leading Republican advocate for restoring voting rights to nonviolent felons — and even said he would “compliment” the administration for moving to roll back civil forfeiture laws. The libertarian-leaning Paul, who visited Ferguson, Missouri, during the protests following the death of an unarmed teenager, described an “undercurrent of unease,” in which minorities feel that they aren’t being treated fairly by the criminal justice system, even as he was quick to stress he didn’t think police conduct was racially motivated.
“If the president wants to work with me, I have five or six bills,” many related to criminal justice reform, the senator said.
Paul, who is seeking to broaden the GOP base in part by reaching out to minority communities that don’t often hear from Republicans, also underscored his support for piecemeal immigration reform, though he did not back the comprehensive approach the Senate passed.
But the senator also spent plenty of time mocking the State of the Union, saying at times it was “frankly difficult to listen to with a straight face.” He said it took “chutzpah” and “gall” to tout cutting the deficit — by two-thirds, Obama said — at a time of significant debt.
“He should come to the Hill,” Paul said of the president. “He should talk to the legislators … for all the fire, I will work with him. I’ve offered to work with him.”
A frequent criticism of Obama, from Republicans and Democrats alike, is that he hasn’t invested enough time developing relationships on Capitol Hill.
Paul grew particularly energized in a question-and-answer session following his speech, when one attendee expressed concern that not having a muscular foreign policy was damaging American interests. The senator has long sought to assure members of his own party that his inward-looking foreign policy views don’t drift too far toward isolationism, and he pushed back hard on Wednesday, offering an answer that ran about nine minutes.
He ran through several countries that, he said are in shambles, despite America’s involvement, and made an apparent jab at the hawkish Republican Sen. John McCain, referencing a senator who “loves to project power everywhere, he’s for bombing both sides” in the conflict in Syria. Paul, who did not support arming moderate rebels there, also noted that none of those groups recognize Israel, saying that should cast doubt on just how moderate they really are (though several Arab countries with which America does business don’t officially recognize Israel, either).
“I am for protecting America’s vital interests around the world,” Paul said. “I see war as the last resort, not the first.”
He said many in his own party want to be involved in every conflict, all the time, but that he is moved by soldiers who have told him about the costs of military engagement, causing him to think more deeply about the costs of war.
“I say we’re somewhere, some of the time, when we vote on it in Congress,” he said, adding that that should put him toward the middle of the foreign policy spectrum.
Paul also blasted democracy promotion: “We can’t run the post office. How are we going to run other countries?”
“You see I feel passionately about this,” Paul said. “But I got going on it, but I think it’s important. I am in the minority, but I’m going to keep arguing about it because I want more people in our country to think about it.”
No Rand, you can’t work with the WH. Wake up.
Methinks Rand Paul is a flake.
Rand Paul is besmirching his clothing, talking of co-operating with an utterly uncompromising president and intalking to Ripon. No serious non leftist candidate has any useful truck with Ripon.
They (appeasers, GOP elitists, most elected Congressmen and Senators) just do not get it. The Republican majority that was just swept into office on a voter tsunami of disgust for Obama's policies, intransigence and actual record is totally lost on them. Here, I'm giving them the benefit of doubt that they don't get it. It's either that or the alternative that they DO get it and don't care.
Screw non-partisanship, screw working with Obama, SCREW working with Democrats on anything! I very reluctantly voted R this past November because I want them to undo EVERYTHING Obama has done. I want them to be the part of NO, HELL NO as far as anything Obama wants or Democrats want, period. THIS is what 'works' for me.
“If the president wants to work with me,
Rand, you have a R after your name; even people with Ds after theirs can’t get El-Presidente to listen to them.
I fear Paul would give them that opportunity to grow. At best he would be a reluctant commander in chief. Our next POTUS has to be ready to fight a very aggressive and determined WAR!
Yep, Rand is willing to make any sort of deal that he can right now, no matter how bad, so he can campaign as a ‘statesman’ (in contrast to Cruz).
Pretty much. How does one “work with” satan?
Son Of Paul is trying to keep his name out there.
That’s all there is to this.
Not that it matters whether you support Cruz, Walker, or Son Of Paul: the Uniparty has already annointed the Dauphin Bush as the GOP nominee.
The Uniparty is also selling Open Borders Walker as the “conservative” alternative, because they know another Bush dog might not hunt.
Paul Open to Working With Enemy islamism
This is why Paul is not a contender. With his approach (and the same approach of RINOS) is liberalism by means of a thousand/million paper cuts. You can ‘work with’ liberals all you want, but all it gets you is MORE liberalism! Buncha freakin’ jerks.
Paul is talking too much. He’s only making more enemies.
Does this mean Paul is going to establish a dialogue with the person in charge at the White House (Valerie Jarrett)?
I understand the frustration of conservative republicans in trying to cooperate with WH. My guess is Paul is laying the foundation for the general election, where majority of voters are low information voters. If those voters see a complete stand-off, lot of incumbents will be voted out of office. People want “something done”. Which is utterly stupid, because anything the government does will result in bigger government & less freedom (more taxes).
Don’t worry too much about Rand Paul. He ain’t winning GOP nomination. It will be either Jeb or Walker.
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