A personal blog dedicated to supporting and reporting on Rand Paul's US Senate Campaign. And electing a true, honest, small government, Constitutional Conservative to the US Senate from Kentucky.
Thursday, Rand Paul was at duPont High School in Louisville (video below) along with Democratic contender Mongiardo giving their presentations about their respective philosophies about Government.
Apparently Mongiardo totally demolished Benjamin Franklin's famous statement "Those who sacrifice Liberty for Security deserve neither." Then he claimed it was Thomas Jefferson who said it. I don't have a recording of Mongiardo's speech but apparently it was pretty funny.
Gage has a flicker album here if you want to see more pictures.
In a recent Q and A with the Wall Street Journal Rand Paul talks about how most things should be local or state issues, the Iraq war, both his Tea Party, and Ron Paul bases, and currency debasement by the Federal Government.
Most interesting I think though is that he's reaching out to Sarah Palin.
Washington Wire: Do you want Sarah Palin to campaign for you? Paul: We’d love to have her come. We’ve made some overtures to her.
As readers of this blog know, Sarah Palin endorsed the Conservative candidate over the liberal Republican nominee in the NY-23 race. Her help would help Rand Paul a lot. Palin probably agrees more with Paul then she disagrees with him, and said some nice things about his father when he was running for Presidency so who knows? Read the rest.
I think it's healthy that Rand Paul is using his influence to raise money for local candidates. Rand can prove to the party that he can be a valuable asset, while at the same time he spreads his message and builds up his name recognition.
Bluegrass thinks the main issue for Republicans is redistricting.
With a new census next year the legislature will take up the issue of re-districting. In Kelly's old district only a balance of power in the Kentucky Legislature can prevent the potential harm to at least one of Kentucky's current republican votes in Congress, Brett Guthrie, who holds the seat vacated by Ron Lewis.
It's important that districts aren't gerrymandered. There needs to be some competition and gridlock in any given state legislature, or the government looses touch with their voters. Here in South Dakota, we pretty much have a 1 party state, and it creates a sense of "If you want to be in power, join the Republican Party." As such, the Republican party in this state isn't very small government or conservative, compared to states where the party has to work to maintain power. So for the benefit of liberty in Kentucky, it's important that the Republicans hold their seats, so a Democrat majority can't redistrict to their benefit. Especially if Higdorn is a small government conservative, I think this is a great move on Rand's part.
I'm a little late on this (I'm really trying to keep up with all the Rand Paul news for this blog, but he seems to be everywhere! That's a good thing, but it means I have more work to do.)
I'm sure if you're following Rand Paul you've seen this piece in the AP somewhere. (If not, here it is: Ron Paul's Son Borrows Tactics for KY. Senate bid). I first saw it on Google news thanks to Lew Rockwell. As he says, it's really something when the mainstream media start admitting that liberty is popular and a candidate that embraces it is likely to win.
The main stream media still doesn't get it though. They have it in their head that Ron and Rand Paul tell their people what to do and they do it. That's not the case at all. It's quite the opposite really. People who love freedom have chosen people like Ron Paul, Rand Paul, Peter Schiff, and others as people they can trust. Ron Paul wasn't running for the presidency. The people were and Ron Paul was their avatar. Now, in his race, Rand Paul has become a representative of people who love liberty, because of his past integrity.
MEMO TO POLITICIANS: If you want people to campaign for you in a grass roots, guerrilla, bottom-up manner, be honest. I know, I know. You're wanting to find out the Pauls' fancy schmancy techniques. I have news for you. They don't have any. They simply have a message that they believe in, and they practice what they preach.
A more recent article over at The Wall Street Journal, Underdogs' Senate Bids Pressure GOP is a very good review of how conservatives are sick of big government Republicans. The Rand Paul/Trey Grayson race in Kentucky is their prime example of this. (The Video's good too.) From the article, Trey is apparently trying to be seen as anti-establishment now.
Mr. Grayson said he was confident that primary voters in Kentucky know him as a "true conservative." He said he speaks regularly with Mr. McConnell, but that he is not shy about criticizing him, particularly on the financial system bailout. "I wouldn't have voted for it, and he did," Mr. Grayson said. "He and I talked about it, and I said, 'I'm going to criticize you on the campaign trail."
Of course we have excellent video of Rand Paul being a fiscal conservative from before the TARP bailout.
What proof does Grayson have that he was opposed to corporate welfare in the past at all until only 2 weeks ago? In fact, a few months ago Grayson openly grumbled at Rand Paul for criticizing his fellow Republicans who voted for the Bank Bailouts.
All in all, it's a good thing that the GOP establishment is being pressured to at least pander to Constitutional Conservatism.
The bailout's a tough question. I mean, it's not tough in the sense that, "it shouldn't have happened." It's tough in the sense that "now that it did happen, what do we do."
The fact is that bailout money was squandered -- lost in a black hole from which there is no return. The only real argument now for government to be so involved to the point of nationalizing industry, is that now government is trying to fix it's mistakes.
But the fact is, government can't fix it's mistakes. When it tries to fix things, it makes them worse.
Government is like a plumber who breaks more pipes then he fixes, only you can't fire him.
From this standpoint, it's obvious we need to get these companies back into the private sector ASAP. The longer government tries to manage these companies to make sure it recoups it's investment, the more taxpayer money is going to vanish into the ether. In other words, the best thing for the taxpayer, is for government to cut its losses, instead of spending more then what the bailouts cost trying to keep these zombie companies afloat.
Unsurprising, Paul wouldn't commit to their question about whether Paul would support McConnell for Senate Minority Leader.
"I like both of them and I don't know that I could make a judgement. I have to win the primary first," Paul laughed,
"So I don't think I'd make a judgement on how I'd vote for leader, but I think obviously Kentucky having a leader is good
for Kentucky."
I think Paul handled this "trap" question well. "I'm not running against McConnell," he said. Indeed, in my mind, it is a question set to trap him, because if he answers yes, he looses his support base because philosophically at least, Mitch, is part of the problem: e.g., Mitch voted for the bailouts.
If he answers no though, then he's attacked for being anti-Kentucky, etc.
Being truthful and saying, "I don't know." is the only way to handle this. At the same time, he sort of made a play for DeMint.
Personally, it sounds to me like DeMint and McConnell are both jockeying to see how they can use Rand now that it appears like he might actually win this primary race. Though I could be way off base here.
I'll report on Rand's meeting with Mitch as soon as I know more.
WHAS11 is reporting that Rand Paul is reaching out to Mitch McConnell! This is very interesting news, as Mr McConnell sort of represents the Republican Party Establishment being the Senate Minority Leader. Will the 2 camps be able to come to terms? If nothing else this is further evidence that Trey Grayson is loosing support. If the same person that threw him a bailout ball is willing to negotiate with Rand Paul, at the very least his support for Grayson must be cooling.
I love this quote, This is the mark of a principled politician, as opposed to one who tried to be "all things to all people." You might not agree with him on everything. But you know where he stands. This kind of attitude is why "Regan Democrats" existed. If you want soft Democrats and independents to vote for you in the general, having integrity is the best way to attract their vote.
If the Republicans want to win in November, they need to realize that.
It's also great to see the support he's getting from his family.
I want to thank everyone who joined our conference call last Tuesday night. Over 19,000 people participated in our discussion about eight of the most important Senate races taking place across the country.
--snip--
KENTUCKY - There are several Republicans and Democrats running to fill this open seat. The most viable Republicans in the race are Secretary of State Trey Grayson and Rand Paul, an eye surgeon and son of U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX). It's not clear yet which candidate conservatives should support.
If you have information about this race, please send us your tips.
http://senateconservatives.com/index.php?p=contact&c=
Personally, I'm a bit confused.
Rand Paul won their web poll: 706 (87.9%) to Trey Grayson's 62 (7.7%) with 19 (2.2%) undecided. 1 person voted "other."
I can only wonder if the reason for the above wishy-washy e-mail is, maybe they're feeling pressure from big donors and establishment types. It might be a good idea to mention to them, how Rand Paul can help increase their legitimacy and exposure, more then his conservative credentials.
Rand Paul certainly would be a better candidate for them to endorse from that perspective. He can get on national TV fairly frequently, which would help their profile if they endorsed him. He also practices what he preaches, whereas Grayson, by being a career politician likely won't, which will bring them shame in the future. Considering Grayson used to b a Bill Clinton supporter, it's possible he'll hurt their profile in the short term as well.
So, feel free to send them a tactfule-mail, encouraging them to support Rand Paul. No yelling, or screaming, or cussing. It's vitally important that we elect a principled honest Constitutional Conservative in the US Senate. It might be worth mentioning Rand Paul just received the endorsement of the Republican Liberty Caucus, as it shows that Rand Paul is a true small government guy, as well as show that he's a credible candidate who can win.
Liberty fans across the country will be pleased to note that the RLC (Republican Liberty Caucus)endorsed Rand Paul in his bid to become U.S. Senator in Kentucky, and Peter Schiff in his bid to represent Connecticut in the Senate. (My parenthesis).
I, for one, think this is great news. In a time where more and more Republicans are at odds with the National Leadership of the Republican Party, an RLC endorsement, I think, helps show potential voters that Rand Paul is the real deal.
Unfortunitely I wasn't able to get ahold of full video of this event. Apparently our friends over at Blue Grass Bulletin were going to be live streaming the event. For whatever reason, unfortunately, this didn't happen :(
Kentucky Grassroots Radio however did get audio of the event in it's entirety. Great listening for your I-Pod or listening to the internet while you're working around the house. Click here for it.
I do have some video though. The campaign posted an excellent behind the scenes video.
And we do have video of one question and answer. You can kind of tell from the question in the following video this gentleman really hasn't thought this through. He wants a sales tax for health care, then complains that the consumers are getting killed. No one is buying cars, etc. So on one hand he wants to raise the price of goods then complains about the economy. Rand does a great job of teaching. This was one of the great things about Rand's father in that Ron Paul wasn't really a politician. He used his position as a platform for teaching and education.
I'm glad to see Rand Paul is learning well how to play this same role as teacher/statesmen. This is what makes Rand different. Instead of telling people what they want to hear. He "speaks the truth in love"* if I may borrow a Biblical phrase.
The 2nd event I found out was actually a meet and greet with some supporters north of Louisville in Prospect. Don't know if I'll get any footage or video of that, but my understanding is that it went well. :)
On December 16th, 1773, American colonists dumped tea into the Boston Harbor to protest an oppressive tax. This December 16th, American citizens will dump thousands of contributions into Rand Paul's senate campaign to protest the unprecedented expansion in the size and scope of government. Pledge here: http://www.randsteaparty.com/
It's not complete yet. If anybody has some cool You-Tube videos they want to make to promote the event feel free to mention it in the comments.
Edit: Apparently there's been some confusion. The TeaParty site isn't mine. It's been put together by the good people at Rand Paul Forums.
Thursday, Rand Paul was at duPont High School in Louisville (video below)
along with Democratic contender Mongiardo giving their presentations about their respective philosophies about Government.
