Posted on 05/14/2010 1:49:47 PM PDT by Christian_Capitalist
How Rand Paul became the Tea Party's Obama
His father's libertarian army and Rush Limbaugh's "Dittoheads" aren't natural allies. But Rand Paul has united them.
Friday, May 14, 2010 08:01 ET
On the afternoon of Dec. 16, 2009, the 236th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, Rand Paul left the office of his small ophthalmology practice in Bowling Green and drove 30 miles to Russellville, Ky. In an election year without the Tea Party movement, Rand Paul's campaign to become Kentucky's next U.S. senator would be just as quixotic as the bid his father, Ron Paul, made for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. The younger Paul has never before run for political office, and he shares many of his father's unorthodox views, including a desire to abolish both the Federal Reserve and the Department of Education. Yet, today he would address Kentucky's Logan County Republicans as the race's front-runner.
At the Republican Party headquarters in Russellville, Paul took the podium. Dimpled and handsome, 47 years old, with boyishly tousled salt-and-pepper hair, he surveyed the audience, a crowd of mostly retirement-age GOP stalwarts. Then, in a casual and articulate drawl, Paul committed an act of heresy that would have once doomed any Kentucky Republican: He attacked the state's senior senator, the minority leader, Mitch McConnell. The oratory opened with a display of subtle rhetorical agility worthy of Mark Antony.
"I got into this initially because there were rumors they were trying to push Jim Bunning out of office," Paul began. "I said to a reporter, 'I think that's wrong.'"
The two-term Sen. Jim Bunning was the slain Caesar of the stump speech. Playing the role of Brutus, of course, was McConnell, whose hand rests on the GOP's national fundraising taps, and who, with a twist of the wrist, had effectively forced Bunning into retirement. Without directly accusing the honorable Republican leader, Paul decried Bunning's martyrdom.
"I think he's done a good job for us," he said. "He has been conservative, and when the bank bailout came up, Jim Bunning had the courage to vote against it." Paul didn't need to tell this group that Bunning had done so in defiance of McConnell -- and he was too gentlemanly to belabor the point. The implication was clear: The party boss had taken Bunning down for his principles.
To take Bunning's place, McConnell had groomed Trey Grayson, a five-generation Kentuckian and fellow graduate of the University of Kentucky Law School -- the "leadership academy" of Kentucky politics, as some call it -- who is Kentucky's current secretary of state. Most impressive on Grayson's political résumé is that he won reelection in 2007, even as the state overwhelmingly elected a Democratic governor. In a state where 60 percent of voters are registered Democrats, Grayson (who is himself a lapsed Democrat) had valuable crossover appeal. When McConnell began assessing Bunning's electoral prospects in early 2009, Grayson must have seemed especially appealing in contrast. The insubordinate and gaffe-prone Bunning had recently responded to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's diagnosis of pancreatic cancer by coldly forecasting that she would be dead within a year.
Grayson started the race with party backing, a reputation for competence, an ideal political résumé, and a 6-foot-5 frame that gave him an air of authority that his unspectacular public speaking sometimes lacked. When the first polling was done in September '09, Grayson had a 34-25 percent lead. Within four months, though, the numbers had reversed, and Paul told the Logan County Republicans why.
"If there's ever a year for an outsider who has never held office before, this is the year," Paul said. He recounted tales of Tea Party events. Seven hundred people in his hometown of Bowling Green had rallied on April 15; there were 4,000 in Louisville a few months later. By contrast, Paul said, "The biggest GOP event I've been to in the last seven months -- 200 people in Louisville. You can see how the Tea Party movement is big and it captures the discontent that's out there, and sometimes discontent with both sides."
The political divide between Paul and Grayson broadly represents a larger fault line within the GOP: It's Republicans who blame the Democrats versus Republicans who blame the government. A day earlier, on Dec. 15, 2009, a coalition of Tea Party groups had held an emergency "Code Red" rally in a park just north of the Capitol. Addressing the crowd was Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina, who appears to be making a bid to replace McConnell as the leader of the Senate Republicans.
The crowd was about 1,000 strong and half were wearing bright red jackets and hats, to signify the imminent threat posed by the healthcare bill, which at the time seemed close to passing. Several were waving the yellow Gadsden flags of the American Revolution, which feature the words "Don't Tread on Me" and the image of a coiled rattlesnake ready to strike. Most of the protesters were middle-aged and white, more men than women -- a representative sampling of the Tea Party movement, which (polling has since shown) is slightly older, wealthier, better-educated and angrier than the average American.
"Over a year ago," DeMint said, "Americans voted for a president who promised to cut taxes, cut spending, cut debt." His amplified voice drowned in a chanted chorus of "liar, liar." A woman with short gray hair and rosy cheeks that matched her red sweat shirt held a sign that read "Obama bin Lyin."
DeMint finished his attack on Obama, then pivoted to Republicans.
"Democrats and Republicans, if they're not standing up for our Constitution, for a balanced budget and the principles of liberty ... then you send us people that believe as you do that this country is about freedom and now is our time to fight for it," he said, and waved to the applauding crowd....
[Snip...]
...In an election rife with symbolism, the most telling augur came a month ago, on April 14, when the ousted Bunning announced his endorsement. Bunning had once given Grayson his blessing to form an exploratory committee to run for his seat, and in many he ways owed his political career to McConnell. Yet Bunning is best understood as the Hall of Fame pitcher he was -- one man alone on his mound, and a cantankerous competitor to the end. He seemed determined to defy McConnell’s call for a fresh arm, and, in the spirit of militant individualism, handed the ball directly to Paul.
Full article at LINK
I’m willing to give Rand the benefit of the doubt because I like Jim DeMint.
I think DeMint might be the next president.
I'm still with Palin, for now. Would love to see DeMint as Senate Majority Leader.
Unfortunately there is no one better in that race.
His nutcase father has been the most consistent fiscal conservative over his career.
I wouldn’t elect him president but we need more like him in the legislature.
Palin is high on my list too.
DeMint, Palin, Bachmann, Ryan, the ones who have been speaking up while everyone else has been waiting to see which way the winds blow.
Exactly.
If you think that, then you are the nutcase. Watch a long form interview with Rand Paul, he is far from a nutcase, and much closer to real conservatism than George W. Bush will ever be.
You can disagree with him, but the nutcase label is just....well...insane.
And she knows WAY more than normal folks, you should listen to her.
Right? Goddess-like understanding far surpassing that of mortals? Right?
Okay, but is Adam Kokesh a nutcase? Next
As usual, proudly proclaiming your ignorance to the world.
Kentucky politics matter little to those of us in Texas.
We rarely pay attention to the antics of lesser states.
Paul, however, is linked to our 14th CD.. and is a nutcase.
Got a problem with that?
Tea Party Obama is like a Communist Reagan - both oxymorons. Actually O is just a moron.
Don’t forget Adam Kokesh and Alex Jones, too.
That’s swell. Barack Obama won a few polls himself. These things happen when morons overrun the country.
L. Ron Jr. is still a whack job and a fraud. All the polls in the world can’t change that.
Video: Rand Paul and truther nutjob Alex Jones
Show me your friends, I'll show you who you are.
Like kook father, like kook son.
(the YouTube comments are interesting too)
I dont care WHO supports the creepy Kokesh Kock sucker...he’s going to prove to be bad news....and that seems to delight you for some reason...
Well, in addition to Sarah Palin, you can add in Jim DeMint, James Dobson, Jim Bunning, Steve Forbes, Dick Armey, the Concerned Women For America, and the Gun Owners of America.
But, heck, if you think that ALL of them are wrong, then why don't you sing us the praises of RINO boy Trey Grayson. Hey, you've still got almost 4 days to beat Rand Paul!
(Shrugs). As I've said many a time, in the NM 3rd District race, I do not support Adam Kokesh. Republicans have a more proven and experienced Pro-Life, Pro-Gun, Fiscally-Conservative Anti-War Republican candidate in Kokesh's opponent, Tom Mullins.
I've expressed that sentiment plenty of times, so I don't know why you keep lying about me in that regard. Perhaps it's just that Lies are all you have left.
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