Salon.com > Rand Paul http://www.salon.com Wed, 30 May 2012 06:12:34 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Ron Paul sets up Rand for 2016 http://www.salon.com/2012/05/16/ron_paul_sets_up_rand_for_2016/ http://www.salon.com/2012/05/16/ron_paul_sets_up_rand_for_2016/#comments Wed, 16 May 2012 16:50:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12921474 So Ron Paul says he is going to stop actively campaigning, but his supporters will continue to rack up delegates by storming state conventions. What will he do with these delegates? That is still unclear. (Barter them for gold?) What is the point of this strategy, exactly? Also unclear, but the Daily Beast's Ben Jacobs today says it's part of a "sneaky maneuver" to help his son Rand out. Ron will continue to consolidate power but will not appear to be actively sabotaging the party's nominee. Dave Weigel says the maneuver is less sneaky and barely a maneuver: He doesn't want it to be a huge embarrassment when he loses Kentucky, the state his son represents in the Senate.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/05/16/ron_paul_sets_up_rand_for_2016/feed/ 108 Is Rand Paul as dumb as he sounds? http://www.salon.com/2011/06/24/rand_paul_playing_dumb/ http://www.salon.com/2011/06/24/rand_paul_playing_dumb/#comments Fri, 24 Jun 2011 12:30:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/news/politics//war_room/2011/06/24/rand_paul_playing_dumb Here, via Oliver Willis and Steve Benen, is a clip of Sens. Al Franken, Bernie Sanders and Rand Paul discussing a bill that would help prevent senior hunger:

As Sanders and Franken explain: If we make sure old folks have money for and access to adequate nutrition, fewer of them will need to be hospitalized or placed in nursing homes. Because Medicare would pay a lot more money for hospitalization or nursing home care than it would cost to make sure these old folks don't go hungry to begin with, this program is cost-effective in addition to being humane.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/06/24/rand_paul_playing_dumb/feed/ 300 Rand Paul: Deport the Tea Partiers! http://www.salon.com/2011/06/01/rand_paul_jail_tea_parties/ http://www.salon.com/2011/06/01/rand_paul_jail_tea_parties/#comments Wed, 01 Jun 2011 18:15:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/news/politics//war_room/2011/06/01/rand_paul_jail_tea_parties "Tea Party" Senator Randall "Rand" Paul (R-Ky.) says he supports free speech, but does he actually want his own supporters jailed for sedition? Definitely yes, according to a shocking audio recording!

Paul is mostly good on civil liberties -- he was one of the few senators to oppose the extension of the Patriot Act -- but he is also kind of dumb, and he often makes dumb arguments, especially when speaking extemporaneously. And that is how, on Sean Hannity's radio show last Friday, Rand Paul announced his support for the deportation of Tea Partiers:

The transcript (emphasis ThinkProgress's):

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/06/01/rand_paul_jail_tea_parties/feed/ 56 Rand Paul, America’s dumbest senator, will not be enslaved by your “right” to basic healthcare http://www.salon.com/2011/05/12/rand_paul_dumb/ http://www.salon.com/2011/05/12/rand_paul_dumb/#comments Thu, 12 May 2011 19:30:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/news/politics//war_room/2011/05/12/rand_paul_dumb Rand Paul is stupid. Or, at least, he is not very bright. I say that not because I disagree with him politically, but because he regularly says stupid things. Stupid things that he thinks are very clever. (Also, he seems pretty ignorant of the history of the state he was elected to represent and the powers of a senator, but ignorance is different from dumbness.)

So considering his history of smugly saying stupid things, no one should be surprised that Sen. Paul said this:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/05/12/rand_paul_dumb/feed/ 86 Paul Versus Paul http://www.salon.com/2011/04/04/paul_versus_paul/ http://www.salon.com/2011/04/04/paul_versus_paul/#comments Mon, 04 Apr 2011 20:45:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/news/politics//war_room/2011/04/04/paul_versus_paul Texas libertarian Ron Paul will probably run for president again. But if he doesn't, his son, brand-new Republican Senator Rand Paul just might run instead. Which one would make the better candidate? Which one has even a shot at winning a single primary or caucus, anywhere? Probably neither one, but that is no reason why we cannot compare and contrast their "strengths" in a hypothetical 2012 match-up:

Ron Paul Rand Paul
Wise and experienced Young and dynamic
Already has kick-ass logo Much better at sucking up to money
More time in office Senator outranks Representative
Actually interesting to listen to Not 100 years old
Didn't rename himself "Rand" like an idiot Didn't publish racist newsletters like an idiot
 Is a real doctor, not just a silly "eye doctor" Has message from tea parties
Already has kick-ass logo Prickly demeanor, droning speaking style denote "authenticity"
Wars he opposes no longer managed by Republican president More "mainstream" than father due to not talking about libertarian stuff that freaks out Republicans
Understands that deficit is caused mostly by giving healthcare to immigrants Has decided Constitution needn't be read literally when dealing with immigrants
Long history of voting no on everything appeals to childish, nasty feeling of resentment at heart of American dream Hates mountains
Supporters will rent blimps Supporters will stomp on heads until he is elected

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/04/04/paul_versus_paul/feed/ 18 Ben Quayle knocks the hell out of fancy gala dinner http://www.salon.com/2011/03/31/ben_quayle_gala_dinner/ http://www.salon.com/2011/03/31/ben_quayle_gala_dinner/#comments Thu, 31 Mar 2011 18:01:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/news/politics//war_room/2011/03/31/ben_quayle_gala_dinner Ben Quayle was elected to Congress to represent Arizona's third district despite the fact that he never voted in local elections, posed with children that weren't his in a mailer, released a series of remarkably creepy ads, has led a life of few accomplishments, is known solely for being the son of a national punchline, co-founded and contributed to a misogynistic website of frat humor and dirty pictures, and was alleged by his former "Dirty Scottsdale" colleague to have had some sort of run-in with a "crazy hooker." On the other hand, he promised to "knock the hell out of" Washington DC, if elected. And last night, this outsider dressed up in a tux to attend and tell jokes at the 67th annual Radio-TV Correspondents Dinner, one of those regular gala events where Washington's powerful pols mingle and party with the journalists who cover them. Just knocking away at those Beltway elites, that Ben Quayle.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/03/31/ben_quayle_gala_dinner/feed/ 15 Rand Paul: The Pat Buchanan of 2012? http://www.salon.com/2011/03/23/rand_paul_president/ http://www.salon.com/2011/03/23/rand_paul_president/#comments Wed, 23 Mar 2011 16:43:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/news/politics//war_room/2011/03/23/rand_paul_president Perhaps the biggest surprise of Rand Paul's nascent Senate career is that it took him nearly three months to begin flirting with a 2012 presidential campaign.

After all, the logic of a Rand '12 bid has been obvious since even before he won the GOP nomination in Kentucky last May. His family's libertarian brand has never been so fashionable within the GOP but, at 77, Rep. Ron Paul may not be the ideal national messenger in '12. So why not run the younger, more camera-savvy Sen. Rand Paul instead?

Rand Paul was in South Carolina on Monday and will soon make appearances in Iowa and New Hampshire. On Monday he told reporters that "the only decision I've made is I won't run against my dad. I want the Tea Party to have an influence over who the nominee is in 2012."  An unnamed "Paul family advisor" also told CBS News that "there's better than a 50/50 chance that there will be a Paul in this race."

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/03/23/rand_paul_president/feed/ 33 Jon Stewart vs. Rand Paul http://www.salon.com/2011/03/08/jon_stewart_rand_paul/ http://www.salon.com/2011/03/08/jon_stewart_rand_paul/#comments Tue, 08 Mar 2011 12:09:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/news/politics//war_room/2011/03/08/jon_stewart_rand_paul Rand Paul's new book, "The Tea Party Goes to Washington," provided Jon Stewart the opportunity to bring the sometimes controversial junior Senator from Kentucky onto his show. Discussing everything from the bloated budgets to the bailouts, this straight-forward but detailed interview provides some insight into Rand's reasonable side.

PART ONE

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Exclusive - Rand Paul Extended Interview Pt. 1
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/03/08/jon_stewart_rand_paul/feed/ 26 Rand Paul to EPA: Don’t protect Kentucky http://www.salon.com/2011/03/07/rand_paul_epa_coal_mining/ http://www.salon.com/2011/03/07/rand_paul_epa_coal_mining/#comments Mon, 07 Mar 2011 20:59:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/technology/how_the_world_works//2011/03/07/rand_paul_epa_coal_mining If there was one form of disastrous pollution you would think everyone would readily agree the Environmental Protection Agency should regulate, it would be mountaintop removal coal mining. It's hard to think of a modern industrial practice that does more damage than the one that blows up the top of mountains, fills up stream beds and valleys, and poisons the local water supply.

But today's Republican Party disagrees. Last Thursday, the two Republican senators from Kentucky, Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul, introduced a bill aiming to restrict the EPA from clamping down on mountaintop removal.

The Hill reports:

"I think this is a good first step to reining in an out-of-control, unelected bureaucracy. I think the EPA has gone way beyond its mandated duty and is now at the point of stifling industry in our country," Paul said Thursday.

The bill would give EPA a 60-day deadline to veto Clean Water Act permits issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, or else they will go forward.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/03/07/rand_paul_epa_coal_mining/feed/ 30 What do Charlie Sheen and Rand Paul have in common? http://www.salon.com/2011/03/01/charlie_sheen_rand_paul/ http://www.salon.com/2011/03/01/charlie_sheen_rand_paul/#comments Tue, 01 Mar 2011 14:01:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/news/politics//war_room/2011/03/01/charlie_sheen_rand_paul I'm not sure how many witnesses to Charlie Sheen's current dramatic extended flameout remember this fact, but in 2009, Sheen made headlines for a bizarre piece he wrote in which he imagined interrogating President Obama about 9/11 conspiracy theories. The fantasy dialogue was accompanied by this video:

All of this was published at PrisonPlanet.com, one of the many websites founded and run by talk show host Alex Jones, along with his various acolytes. It was on Jones' show, last week, that Sheen began his recent media blitz and probably ended his profitable sitcom. Anyone familiar with the long, strange career of Jones probably enjoyed his train-wreck appearance on "The View" Monday:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/03/01/charlie_sheen_rand_paul/feed/ 71 Rand Paul favors cutting US aid to Israel http://www.salon.com/2011/01/28/us_gop_senator_israel/ http://www.salon.com/2011/01/28/us_gop_senator_israel/#comments Fri, 28 Jan 2011 17:20:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2011/01/28/us_gop_senator_israel Freshman Republican Sen. Rand Paul is calling for deep cuts in foreign aid, including eliminating U.S. money for Israel, a plan that has drawn criticism from Democrats and Republicans.

The tea party-backed Paul unveiled a budget proposal this week that would slash overall government spending by $500 billion, saying the growing debt requires nothing less. It makes significant cuts in education, energy and defense while eliminating some agencies.

The Kentucky senator also is calling for cutting billions from foreign aid, and told CNN he would end the $3 billion in foreign military assistance to Israel.

The Republican Jewish Coalition called the idea misguided. Rep. Nita Lowey of New York, the top Democrat on the Appropriations subcommittee on foreign operations, said the U.S. can't renege on an ally.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/01/28/us_gop_senator_israel/feed/ 104 Rand Paul kicks Big Labor when it’s down http://www.salon.com/2011/01/27/rand_paul_kicks_big_labor_when_it_is_down/ http://www.salon.com/2011/01/27/rand_paul_kicks_big_labor_when_it_is_down/#comments Thu, 27 Jan 2011 23:35:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/technology/how_the_world_works//2011/01/27/rand_paul_kicks_big_labor_when_it_is_down Looks like Rand Paul is still smarting from some of the nasty things that representatives of organized labor said about him during the Kentucky senate race last year. Earlier this week, he sent out sent out an e-mail asking supporters to sign a petition urging the Senate to hold a vote on the "National Right to Work Act."

Dear Concerned American,

They snickered when I said I came to the U.S. Senate to change Congress. But their laughter stopped when I sponsored the National Right to Work Act to free U.S. workers from forced unionization and break Big Labor's multi-billion dollar political machine forever. President Barack Obama and Big Labor allies in the Senate are now feverishly scheming to bury the National Right to Work Act without a vote. So I have a question for you. Will you be my sledgehammer? Your signature on the petition to your Congressman and Senators is what is needed to bust through the opposition and force a vote on the National Right to Work Act.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/01/27/rand_paul_kicks_big_labor_when_it_is_down/feed/ 81 Rand Paul, David Vitter join forces to violate Constitution http://www.salon.com/2011/01/27/paul_vitter_citizenship/ http://www.salon.com/2011/01/27/paul_vitter_citizenship/#comments Thu, 27 Jan 2011 19:01:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/news/politics//war_room/2011/01/27/paul_vitter_citizenship Freshman Tea Party pseudo-libertarian Sen. Rand Paul and Louisiana embarrassment David Vitter are introducing legislation that will end birthright citizenship. While birthright citizenship stems directly from the 14th Amendment, which means that banning it would require a constitutional amendment, Vitter and Paul have figured out a loophole: Their bill claims that the 14th Amendment doesn't mean what it says. Brilliant!

Vitter and Paul do not believe that the 14th Amendment confers birthright citizenship to the children of illegal aliens, either by its language or intent. This resolution makes clear that under the 14th Amendment a person born in the United States to illegal aliens does not automatically gain citizenship.

And here is what the amendment says: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/01/27/paul_vitter_citizenship/feed/ 89 Open tabs: Modern Stone Age senator http://www.salon.com/2011/01/20/open_tabs_6/ http://www.salon.com/2011/01/20/open_tabs_6/#comments Thu, 20 Jan 2011 00:20:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/news/politics//war_room/2011/01/19/open_tabs
  • Look at Rand Paul's hilarious pre-historic iPhone protector! (His iPhone is actually a literal angry bird, and when he's done using it it sighs and says, "it's a living.")
  • I'm not particularly confident that Henry Blodget is getting anyone's salary correct in this post, but it is a true fact that Howard Kurtz, Peter Goodman, and Tim O'Brien are hilariously overpaid, especially compared to the interns who curate the slideshows.
  • Say hello to the new American home, an "8,400-square-feet single-family mausoleum" with a windowless room for your TV screen.
  • Did you read that Times Magazine piece on how a bunch of guys are struggling with the jobs crisis? Not, like, unemployed guys, but rich White House guys.

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    ]]>     http://www.salon.com/2011/01/20/open_tabs_6/feed/ 0     Who will be the Ron Paul of 2012? http://www.salon.com/2010/11/23/ron_paul_2012/ http://www.salon.com/2010/11/23/ron_paul_2012/#comments Tue, 23 Nov 2010 14:01:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/news/politics//war_room/2010/11/23/ron_paul_2012 "People ask me if I think about it, and I do," Ron Paul says, talking about the possibility of making another presidential run in 2012. "I haven’t decided. It is going to be several months before I need to, or expect to, make a decision like that."

    As he mulls his options, the 75-year-old Texas congressman finds himself -- not for the first time -- in a peculiar situation. Last time out, in 2008, his campaign was roundly mocked by media commentators and Beltway insiders, but in the end he bested several supposedly more serious candidates, notably erstwhile New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson.

    Admittedly, Paul was never within reach of capturing the GOP nomination -- but he also proved himself to be much more than a punchline to the pundits' jokes. He racked up ten second-place finishes (it helped that he refused to drop out even after every other aspirant had conceded to John McCain) and seventeen third-places in primary contests, and his campaign raised more than $30 million, powered by fierce grassroots enthusiasm.

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    ]]>     http://www.salon.com/2010/11/23/ron_paul_2012/feed/ 16     Shocker: Rand Paul already disappointing libertarians http://www.salon.com/2010/11/08/rand_paul_earmarks/ http://www.salon.com/2010/11/08/rand_paul_earmarks/#comments Mon, 08 Nov 2010 18:30:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/news/politics//war_room/2010/11/08/rand_paul_earmarks Uh-oh! Rand Paul's been a senator-elect for less than a week and he's already a total sellout. (This will, I'm sure, shock everyone who hasn't read most of the public statements he's made since winning the GOP nomination.)

    But he's not just moving toward the establishment Republican line on foreign policy. He actually seems to have already abandoned one of the core libertarian tenets of his campaign.

    Veronique de Rugy, of the libertarian Mercatus Center, Reason magazine and the National Review, reads a piece contrasting Paul with pork-lovin' wasteful spender Roy Blunt. And guess who has learned to love earmarks?

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    ]]>     http://www.salon.com/2010/11/08/rand_paul_earmarks/feed/ 41     Will Sen. Rand Paul sell out Rep. Ron Paul? http://www.salon.com/2010/11/03/senator_rand_paul_rep_ron_paul/ http://www.salon.com/2010/11/03/senator_rand_paul_rep_ron_paul/#comments Wed, 03 Nov 2010 00:59:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/news/politics//war_room/2010/11/02/senator_rand_paul_rep_ron_paul Now that Rand Paul has won himself a six-year term in the U.S. Senate, it's worth asking: is he going to feel freer to get back to the more absolutist libertarianism of his father, Congressman and 2008 presidential candidate Ron Paul?

    Many people remember, for example, Ron Paul's rousing performance in a 2008 Republican presidential primary debate in New Hampshire, in which he denounced the Iraq War and the ideology of preemptive war. Rand campaigned extensively for his father that year.

    But during his Senate campaign, Rand Paul has conspicuously deemphasized foreign policy, telling National Review in July, "I’m not thinking about Afghanistan; foreign policy is really a complete non-issue." He likely felt vulnerable to attack on the issue; Democrats did attack him on other libertarian positions, like cutting federal drug enforcement.

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    ]]>     http://www.salon.com/2010/11/03/senator_rand_paul_rep_ron_paul/feed/ 25     Rand Paul wins Senate seat in Kentucky http://www.salon.com/2010/11/02/us_senate_1/ http://www.salon.com/2010/11/02/us_senate_1/#comments Tue, 02 Nov 2010 23:24:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2010/11/02/us_senate_1 Political newcomer and tea party champion Rand Paul won the Kentucky Senate race Tuesday, spearheading a likely cadre of libertarian-leaning Republicans who will press party leaders to be more adamant about lower taxes, less spending and smaller government.

    Paul, who defeated Democratic state Attorney General Jack Conway, helped fuel the tea party movement in May when he walloped the Republican establishment's hand-picked candidate in the primary. An ophthalmologist who had not sought office before, he is the son of Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, a hero to many libertarians.

    Democrats once held slim hopes of possibly winning the Kentucky seat being vacated by GOP Sen. Jim Bunning. Those hopes faded in the campaign's closing weeks.

    Winning re-election as expected were Sens. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.

    Indiana voters gave Republicans their first Senate pickup of the election, sending Dan Coats back to the chamber after a 12-year absence. Coats, who spent a decade in the Senate before stepping down in 1998, defeated Democratic Rep. Brad Ellsworth.

    President Barack Obama narrowly won Indiana in 2008, but the state's voters seem to have returned to their traditional GOP leanings. Coats was U.S. ambassador to Germany from 2001 to 2005. He won the seat being vacated by retiring Democrat Evan Bayh.

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    ]]>     http://www.salon.com/2010/11/02/us_senate_1/feed/ 0     This week in crazy: Tim Profitt, head-stomper http://www.salon.com/2010/10/30/this_week_in_crazy_rand_paul_head_stomp/ http://www.salon.com/2010/10/30/this_week_in_crazy_rand_paul_head_stomp/#comments Sat, 30 Oct 2010 15:01:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2010/10/30/this_week_in_crazy_rand_paul_head_stomp Just a few short days ago, Kentucky Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Rand Paul was happy to be seen with Tim Profitt, the volunteer Bourbon County campaign coordinator for the Paul campaign. Profitt's name was listed prominently in a full-page Rand Paul ad. The same day that ad ran, though, Profitt kinda-sorta stomped on a woman's head. And it was caught on tape.

    (In case you haven't seen this yet, it's not very pleasant.)

    The victim is 23-year-old Lauren Valle, a MoveOn.org activist who was attending Monday's Senate debate to confront Paul for his fealty to corporations. Paul's supporters, apparently, thought that made her a threat, and so they threw a slight 23-year-old woman to the curb and stepped on her neck and head, to restrain her from ... briefly annoying Rand Paul. Valle suffered sprains and a concussion.

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    ]]>     http://www.salon.com/2010/10/30/this_week_in_crazy_rand_paul_head_stomp/feed/ 191     The best of Taiwanese animated midterm coverage http://www.salon.com/2010/10/30/animated_midterm_clips/ http://www.salon.com/2010/10/30/animated_midterm_clips/#comments Sat, 30 Oct 2010 14:01:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/news/politics//war_room/2010/10/30/animated_midterm_clips Now that Election Day is finally in sight, you may be in the mood for a quick recap of the most memorable moments from this year's campaigns. And there's plenty of that out there. But today, we're pointing you in the direction of some of the liveliest and (literally) most animated reporting we've seen ... and it comes from Taiwan.

    So sit back and enjoy the following highlights from legendary Taiwanese CGI group NMA's 2010 election coverage. Watch out for clever references to everything from Aqua Buddha and Carl Paladino's bad e-mail habits to Sharron Angle's confusion over whether Latino students were also Asian. (Two videos are available only via link, and the last three videos, sadly, seem only to be available without English subtitles -- but in an odd way, maybe that makes them more fun?)

     1. Delaware: Christine O'Donnell

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