Posted on 03/08/2013 3:42:57 AM PST by Moseley
The political world changed its orbit Wednesday as Rand Paul seized the spotlight in his March 6 filibuster. Rand Paul -- not this author's favorite before -- is probably now the 2016 front-runner for president. But the difference results from fundamental changes in substance.
How can one day be that big of a deal? Because Rand Paul demonstrated a reproducible, winning formula. It was as if Ronald Reagan were granted just one day to come back to Earth to remind the Party of Lincoln of "how it's done." Rand demonstrated a repeatable formula that all Republicans can copy. It is the template that is significant.
But was March 6 "Republicans' Last Stand" or "Rand's First Stand?" What is most optimistic as the basis for this analysis is that Republican senators started showing up. The Senate floor was more crowded at 10:00 and 11:00 PM than it was at 6:00 PM. They felt it. They saw it. They "got" it. (Excepting one superannuated senator from Arizona.) It clicked. In other words, Republicans might possibly do more of same. If Rand disappears back into the woodwork, then March 6 will have meant nothing.
Freshman Texas U.S. Senator Ted Cruz "got it." Cruz was all over it. Cruz gave voice to the moment best of all. Cruz threatened to go way over the top, reading from the movie "Patton" and Henry the Fifth's St. Crispin's Day speech on the eve of the Battle of Agincourt. Yet somehow, flirting with serious rhetorical dangers, Cruz captured the moment just right. Like a roller coaster, you gripped the car fearing Cruz was going to fly off into mid-air, yet to our great surprise Cruz hit his mark. He grasped the significance, to put it mildly.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Ted Cruz is the best vote I ever casted. Bar None.
No, Rand saw an opening an took it. Turns out it was Goober Graham who set up the dinner with Obama a couple of days in advance. The timing was coincidental, but fortunate, since it ripped open the split between the TEA Party Senators like Paul and Cruz and the GOP-E old guard apparatchiks like McCain and Graham (and their lackeys).
He voted against Brennan. I'm voting for Rand if he runs.
Fine, then vote for Hillary.
Really? It's all over the MSM. The Twitter and Facebook folks are all talking about it, pro or con, he made an impact. One of the most apolotical studio musicians I have ever know was in here yesterday laying some bass tracks for one of my client's commercial and he was talking about it.
I always figured he was a lefty like most the Madison Ave and Berkley School types I work with, but he surprised me with his concern over eroding freedoms.
A good article.Rand Paul made a symbolic stand for principles, and the Democrats were exposed as hypocrites (as commie Cusack pointed out in his frustrated tweets). We already knew McLame and Linseed were progressive termites. We only have a few notable people in Washington who we can rely on
Michele Bachmann (MN)
Jim Bridenstine (OK)
Paul Broun (GA)
Ted Cruz (TX)
Trent Franks (AZ)
Louie Gohmert (TX)
Steve King (IA)
Mike Lee (UT)
Rand Paul (KY)
Marco Rubio (FL) (for the most part)
There are probably others. Tim Scott is reasonably reliable I think.
Fear not- Tokyo Rove, Juan McCain, his butt buddy Lindsie and the GOP-E will undoubtedly take this upstart whippersnapper down several pegs, and put him in his rightful place. The nerve of a freshman Senator challenging the establishment, will be severely punished if not waterboarded.
March 6 is also the anniversary of the Fall of the Alamo (1836). To make Sen. Cruz’s presentation absolutely perfect, he could have read the last letter from Wm. B. Travis, Commander at the Alamo. It would have been very appropriate.
It isn't thick-headedness - it's that they fundamentally agree with the vision of an America that "simply isn't safe" unless it is heavily controlled, regulated, taxed, and policed. They aren't missing Rand Paul's point - they are rejecting it.
They aren't concerned with what Obama does with such powers as much as they are that they might lose the opportunity to use them themselves under a Republican President.
He got the leadership position by at least a lap. It is so early in the game, with so much time left, that a lot can change, and likely will, but I think that the young Paul has at least earned a guaranteed leading (for now) place in the 2016 race.
“Get real, and wake up. The general public didn’t noticice!”
Good gosh. What are you wanting? A public self immolation on Pennsylvania Avenue like the Buddhist monks in Vietnam? I can post a photo if that’ll soothe your pessimism.
You’re not on Facebook or twitter, or you? This is all people are talking about.
He is way beyond his expiration date.
“But NO, these GOP cowards don’t have the guts to do what’s right. To HELL with them all!”
Yes, direct your anger at the GOPEEs, not at Rand Paul.
(GOP Emasculated Elites)
“March 6 is also the anniversary of the Fall of the Alamo (1836). To make Sen. Cruz’s presentation absolutely perfect, he could have read the last letter from Wm. B. Travis, Commander at the Alamo. It would have been very appropriate.”
He did. It was. Check YouTube.
Add Thomas Massie of KY to the happy few. He voted against Boehner for Speaker, tax hike on the fiscal cliff and against VAWA.
Allll-rightee then.
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