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Rand Paul in 2016? He Admits ‘We’re Thinking About It’

Feb. 15, 2013 2:28pm Becket Adams

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) in a wide-ranging USA Today interview filmed Wednesday but released on Friday admits he’s “thinking about” running for president in 2016.

“Your dad, [former]Texas Congressman Ron Paul, ran for president a couple of times. Do you want to follow in his footsteps?” interviewer Susan Page asked. “Would you like to run for president?”

“We’re thinking about it,” Sen. Paul replied. “We haven’t made any kind of decision — we won’t for a couple of years — [but] I do want to be part of the national debate, I want to be part of deciding what the Republican message is, and who the republican leaders are.”

Paul also talked about the president’s use of unmanned drones, immigration reform, and the future of the Tea Party. You can watch it all below, although the video will start at the point where he talked about his possible presidential aspirations:

Now it’s worth noting that this isn’t the first time Sen. Paul has fueled rumors of a presidential run by dropping little hints. In fact, considering that he delivered the official Tea Party response to the president’s State of the Union address on Tuesday, we’d say the Kentucky senator is doing a pretty good job of keeping these rumors alive.

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Comments (123)

nonofmybiznez
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 4:02pm
Maybe if the Dems start do demonize him now, people will forget by 2016. The GOP needs to have somebody out there drawing the fire so to speak.

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- justangry
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 5:25pm
  Oh believe me, they are demonizing him big time. Of course all they have is calling him a b a gger.
  
  Report this comment
- justangry
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 6:18pm
  You know nothing of Libertarians and the environment or you’d know that government is the number one polluter in the country. Get lost.
  
  Report this comment
- jman-6
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 6:30pm
  Proud- Your name says all anyone with at least two brain cells needs to know: Your a Drone and refuse to think for yourself because either your lazy or dumb or both!
  
  Report this comment
- DRSAVAGE24
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 6:34pm
  Interesting how Rush and Hannity have been doing everything in their power the last few days to not mention Rand’s name, even after he crushed the Tea Party response to the Obama SOTU. Instead, they spend much of their shows talking about and defending Rubio drinking water in the middle of his speech. It’s clear that they are in the tank for Rubio and they fear Rand as much as the left does. The mask is coming off these guys more and more every day. They claim to be down with the struggle as Tea Partiers, but they barely give a mention to the Tea Party response to Obama? It’s all just lip service and more and more of us real conservatives are catching on. When the rubber meets the road, Rush, Hannity, and Levin will ALWAYS carry the water for the statist in the race, whether it’s Romney, McCain, Santorum or Rubio.
  
  I’m very critical and suspicious of Beck, but at least he has been giving Rand some coverage the last few days. As for the rest of the conservative media, the blackout of Rand Paul 2016 has already begun.
  
  Report this comment
- RepubliCorp
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 10:54pm
  justangry I use a Linux OS and I still don’t understand you
  
  Report this comment
- justangry
  Posted on February 16, 2013 at 8:52am
  @Republicorp there were many comments on this topic by lefty trolls that were deleted by the moderators. I was responding to one of those comments, so no it doesn’t make any sense without the proper context.
  
  Report this comment
DefyTYRANNY
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 3:57pm
I am a potential voter for him, but if he does so under the Republican banner, I am out.

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- jakartaman
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 5:00pm
  Good – But I hope he has a more realistic foreign policy view than his old man.
  Love his domestic policies as I did the old mans.
  Those who think he should run a third party are nuts. At best he would get 10-12% of the votes. But then again the Paulbots are nuts.
  We need to cut into the Democratic plantation voters. That’s hard – Barry has them on the 21st century slavery big government plantation dole.
  
  Report this comment
- BoldQuestioner
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 6:12pm
  It’s time for someone to stand up to the Republican Party elites and say “ if you don’t get back to the core principals of conservatism, I’m out of here and I’m taking my base with me”. The Republican Party has been slowly becoming “Democrat Lite” for the last 30 or so years. They seem to think that the only way to win is to appeal to the very voters that want more “free stuff” instead of those that want a strong constitutional republic.
  
  Report this comment
- circleDwagons
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 6:16pm
  @J-man. The founders where nuts. Love the name calling. Dr. RAND PAUL should run as a republican. DR RON PAUL should run as a democrat. PAUL for President
  
  Report this comment
- soybomb315_II
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 6:59pm
  10-12% of the vote would be enough to force republicans to adopt their platform. The effect of Ross Perot is that republicans became fiscally conservative
  
  Report this comment
- DefyTYRANNY
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 7:37pm
  Jakarta – I have always voted Republican, but I am done with them. They are 66% progressive at least, and all of the Tea Party candidates that got in under their nose they have attempted to ostracize.
  
  They have stated quite clearly that they want to become even more “Democrat-Lite” than before. Once again, I am done.
  
  If they fail to win votes, so be it. Maybe the whole system needs to go down. I think it is beyond saving through political means. Where that leaves us, you can draw your own conclusions.
  
  Report this comment
- PhrostByte
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 11:09am
  I am with you on that. The thing that bothers me with the Republican Party as of late is this whole focus on religion and abortion… both of which have no place in government. I know many of you will disagree with me, but let’s be honest, a lot of what has hurt the republicans lately is the nut jobs talking about rape and abortion. They sound like lunatics and have outdated views. When the media gets a hold of that, then it makes the entire republican party look like some outdated sack of whackjobs from the 1700s on the verge of burning books, witches and heretics. The republicans need to distance themselves from being this Christian Right movement and focus on actual policies that matter. War on Christmas is absolutely pointless when we have major problems with the economy. Correct me if I am wrong, but Jesus isn’t returning to wipe out our debt, so slide those religious issues to the back and focus on things that matter like jobs, debt, money, government corruption and greed, the environment etc.
  
  Until then, I will be voting Libertarian because the Republicans seem a bit like the Catholic Church from a few hundred years ago.
  
  Report this comment
betsyyoung
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 3:57pm
I think you have that backwards!

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blackfeather
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 3:52pm
this looks a h–ll of a lot better than “rahm” thinking about running.

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- JRook
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 3:56pm
  Good he should run. Will provide a stark contrast that will demonstrate how insightful and cogent his father is. And of course similar to M. Bachmann and others reinforce how psychotic individuals who speak first and then put their brain in gear are. But its all about the attention and buzz so why let rational thought get in the way.
  
  Report this comment
- Al J Zira
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 7:59pm
  JROOK: so why let rational thought get in the way.
  
  Because you never do!
  
  Report this comment
KnightFire
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 3:29pm
I’d vote for him in a heartbeat. He’s one of the very few currently in office whom has a shred of common sense and would be light years better than the current repugnant, loathsome, and socialist divider-in-chief. To think, he might actually perform his duties commensurate with the oath of office?!?! Wouldn’t THAT be refreshing!!!

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- betsyyoung
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 3:59pm
  Ditto!
  
  Report this comment
- Small World
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 4:20pm
  Mega dittos.
  
  Report this comment
- savagenatn
  Posted on February 16, 2013 at 1:49am
  absolutely agree. currently he is by far the best prospect and i don’t even want to hear any more about jeb “open borders” bush. That clown needs to shut the he ll up and move on. Are the w. mush family insane to think they will get voted in yet again?? 12 years of helping destroy the R party is more than enough you genius RINOs.
  
  Report this comment
- Brewer37
  Posted on February 16, 2013 at 9:36am
  I couldn’t agree more, Knight.
  
  Report this comment
- 1stKENTUCKYREGULAR
  Posted on February 16, 2013 at 4:14pm
  @KNIGHTFIRE
  
  Couldn’t agree with you more. However we must first replace the republican elitists with tea party minded people. After all the establishment has allready declared war on the tea party(by extension the american people). Lets concentrate on 14 and winning that battle before we focus or speculate on 16. I for one will be doing everything possible to have McCONNELL primaryed with a like minded RAND PAUL candidate.God willing, KENTUCKY will help save the constitution.
  
  it is so
  
  Report this comment
usedCZARsalesman
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 3:23pm
You can tell that they’re TERRIFIED of rand by the legion of liberal spawn that couldn’t wait to post a cookie cutter comments about it being a “waste of time” and a “joke” for him to run…

Guys, when you come on so strong it’s a dead give away. We still have to SURVIVE to 2016, and that isn’t even close to a sure thing

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- Nevermind
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 3:32pm
  Noone is scared slick, thats the same line you guys were running in November saying we were scared of Mittens winning in a landslide. How did that work out for you?
  
  Noone is scared, i encourage him to run. It will make for some great TV and will keep me laughing for months.
  
  Report this comment
- doomytram
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 3:51pm
  No one is scared. Huh?? Hurricane Obama is destroying this country and no one is scared. Huh?? The odds of a third term for Obozo are now 3-1 and narrowing fast in Europe bookie shops. Would you grade the decimation of the poor and middle classes under Obama an A+++ 125% or just perfect? Would you blame only Bush, ATM’s, the Arab Spring, the fiscal cliff, no shovel ready, the sequestration and republicans? Would you, like Bozo, only Blame the republicans and Bush for the horrible predicament that this country is in now?
  
  Report this comment
- catty
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 5:29pm
  Then they are really terrified of Ashley Judd!
  
  Report this comment
Nevermind
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 3:07pm
This was a good laugh for the end of my week. Please Please Rand run in 2016, it will be another loss for the GOP. Can we sweeten the deal by have Palin and the VP ? What a joke

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- may40
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 3:24pm
  Hey informed liberal go listen to/read the brilliant journalism they spout over at MSNBC. That’s definitely more your speed. You may actually end up learning something on the conservative sites and we don’t want that now do we?
  
  Report this comment
- SocialistSlayer
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 3:25pm
  He would certainly be a better choice than Rubio, Clinton, or Biden ! Who knows maybe by 2016 America will wake up to the Communist Agenda !
  
  Report this comment
- Christian_33
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 3:44pm
  Actually this dude is dead on. You people are living in a dream world if you think this moron has a chance. nothing to do with being a liberal MSM marxist. Just the truth.
  
  Report this comment
- doomytram
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 3:54pm
  Nevermind you are a good laugh. Brag about being a Bozo zombie but everyone else is an idiot. Right, right, your the one that has it all figured out. IKR…LOL
  
  Report this comment
- betsyyoung
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 4:01pm
  You are so aptly named…..Nevermind!
  
  Report this comment
Verceofreason
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 3:03pm
Rand Paul couldn’t win a ******* contest with a corpse.

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- usedCZARsalesman
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 3:11pm
  Articulate as always…thanks for playing for the other team, I would hate to think trash like you would be on the side of liberty
  
  Report this comment
- sparkyrules
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 3:11pm
  He’s a Senator.He didn’t achieve it by losing.
  
  Report this comment
- progressiveslayer
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 3:15pm
  You exposed yourself as a necropheliac,be gone puffer!
  
  Report this comment
- may40
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 3:26pm
  Another voice of reason. As I’ve said before you really shouldn’t move from the brilliant journalism you have over at MSNBC, you may end up learning something here and we couldn’t have that now could we?
  
  Report this comment
- Anonymous T. Irrelevant
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 3:30pm
  Are you talking about the “corpse” that couldn’t even call Ambassador Stevens when they were being attacked? Couldn’t be bothered to make a call to another embassy or our assets in the area?
  
  Report this comment
- betsyyoung
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 4:02pm
  You will eat those words treason!
  
  Report this comment
AbrahamsSheepdog
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 3:03pm
I hope so cause we have few true warriors in this battle. 0 is a master cheater so asume the worst starting yesterday. God bless you and grant wisdom, buddy.

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justangry
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 3:01pm
Question is… how is he going to beat Rove, the other socialist republicans, and the CFR media that are used to deciding who our leaders should be? We know Feaux News will be going the other direction.

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- The-Real-Enrico
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 3:21pm
  We have four years. Hopefuly by that time TheBlaze will have their ish together and competing/beating the other networks on all platforms.
  
  Fox news is losing ratings weekly so one could hope. I hope other libertarian and conservative platforms and networks could grow in between that time.
  
  If we could get one tracked minded people like Limbaugh and others on our band wagon it wouldn’t be hard to imaging. We just need to keep waking people up.
  
  Report this comment
- soybomb315_II
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 7:00pm
  @The-Real-Enrico
  It will be a real struggle cuz the base of the republican party is the older voters. The older voters as a whole are not down with the tea party and support the moderates
  
  Report this comment
Saff SGT
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 2:58pm
I want to see some Liberals with black eyes broken arms and legs then Ill know we have real men challenging these Communist bastards

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- BenKatz
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 5:31pm
  Your tough guy schtick is pathetically endearing.
  
  Report this comment
hauschild
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 2:58pm
Rand is so head-n-shoulders above any of his contemporaries that it’s almost laughable. Rubio is so scared of making a mistake that he’s already lost – not to mention many of his views are not rooted in conservatism.

But – will those on “our” side have the courage to support him??? Or, will they take short-term refuge with who the establishment decides is the “proper” candidate (like McCain and Romney and Dole)???

I hope you people have learned your lesson not to eat your “own”.

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- soybomb315_II
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 3:19pm
  if Rand Paul is the nominee, expect a jeb bush or rick santorum to run as an independent – thereby showing the hypocrisy of the republican party
  
  Report this comment
- progressiveslayer
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 3:23pm
  I’ve always liked Rand and he’d make a great president,he’d be a hell of a lot better than the Marxist POS currently dismantling the constitution. Paul would govern within the bounds of the constitution unlike the fraud we have now,he’s bent on ending capitalism. As to weather or not he’ll get enough support it’s hard to say right now since most people even with an R next to their name don’t have a clue what a constitutionalist stands for. I’d like top think they’d support him but who knows maybe we need to go through the real pain that Barrys going to heap on us before people realize that the size of government matters and in this case the smaller the better.
  
  Report this comment
- JacquesChirac
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 3:54pm
  I’m with Slayer. This…country faces tough choices, not someone who will continue to kick the can down the road while the other side continues to tell us what pieces of crap we are because we don’t pay our fair share.
  
  While the theatrics between biden and hilarious will be fun, Rand Paul would have to win two battles – one against Karl and the RINOS and the other against the queen. I’m not sure ANYONE could make it through both of those alive.
  
  One thing we know for sure, however, the establishment will NEVER EVER NEVER back Rand Paul for POTUS. If Rand Paul runs, I fear it will be have to be as a third party candidate. This will allow the queen to be coronated, which will make our lives even more complete; the first black (?) president AND the first woman president. Won’t Chris Mathews be all a-tingle then??
  
  (However…if a third party could pull itself together that quickly, wouldn’t it be fun to have louder conservative voices in both chambers of the legislative branch to gum things up??)
  
  Report this comment
Christian_33
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 2:57pm
hahahahah. Hey Rand Paul. How about you throw your money directly down the toilet and save us all some time and energy

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sparkyrules
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 2:56pm
Ben Carlson .A non-politician,a non-lawyer.A Doctor in private practice.I would like to think he could do it wihout demonizing his opponent(Hillary).I can dream can’t I?
I’m sick of anybody with a established R or D before their name.

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- sparkyrules
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 5:18pm
  ***Ben Carson of course.
  
  This is why I don’t like to draw attention to other peoples typo errors.I do plenty of my own!
  
  Report this comment
pragmaticpatriot
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 2:55pm
Anyone but a progressive! Anyone karl rove backs im running away from

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Outfitr
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 2:55pm
Lamestream media would chew him up and spit him out before he even had a chance.

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- hauschild
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 3:02pm
  He’s pretty cagey and sharp on the draw – and not curmudgeonly like his old man. I don’t believe he’s an easy out – not even close to as bad as Romney or McCain.
  
  Report this comment
Saff SGT
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 2:52pm
well he probably cant win but can draw away votes. And I wont have to wast a vote for a republican any longer. They are cowards and liars I want a person to go for the jugular of left Wingers and fight ferociously and draw much blood as they can. that’s my man

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- hauschild
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 2:58pm
  “well he probably cant win”
  
  You’ve already taken the bait and have been trapped.
  
  Report this comment
Salvelinus
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 2:52pm
I like Rand Paul – But the way the country is going (see last election) I doubt a good Conservative like him would ever get a elected. A Fake Conservative (pro-gay marriage fake Catholic) Like Newt Gingrich might lie and cheat his way in though….

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- soybomb315_II
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 2:56pm
  we saw how McCain positioned himself in 2000 to be the establishment candidate in 2004. In 2004, it appeared to be huckabee but he decided early on that he would not run again and Romney spent a couple years mingling with the establishment and by 2007 – he was the guy.
  
  So based on what we saw in 2011/2012, who is the ‘next establishment’ candidate? I would say it is Santorum – because he stayed in the race and played nice with Romney.
  
  Report this comment
- hauschild
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 3:01pm
  Rubio will most definitely be the establishment candidate because of some of his progressive views and he’s the one “everybody likes”.
  
  Report this comment
cast
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 2:50pm
I hope Rand Paul does run for president in 2016 but with a different message than his father has.

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- justangry
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 10:38pm
  What don’t you like about Ron Paul? His stance against progressive war on drugs or his stance on the progressive war on the rest of the world?
  
  Report this comment
- LibertyOrDeath12
  Posted on February 16, 2013 at 12:04am
  It won’t be too much different.
  
  Report this comment
FlagWavingPatriot
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 2:49pm
It won’t matter. Have you seen Billary’s approval ratings? As much as I hate to think so, she’ll be our next president. It’s a slam dunk. And it makes me sick.

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- neverending
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 4:40pm
  Or moochelle?
  
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MonkeyBeagle
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 2:42pm
.. Be nice to Rand, he is the only one keeping the globalist tyrants in washington honest.. He asked Hillary the only tough question on Benghazi, he is willing to stand alone and try to block Brenner from be confirmed as CIA director, if some tough questions are not answered, Its True Rand is not his father, but their are some Pro’s and Con’s to that. I for one, wish we had many more Rand Pauls in office.

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GoodStuff
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 2:42pm
Avoid the Paul family like the plague.

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- doomytram
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 2:46pm
  Avoid Obozo’s third term or Hillbo like the plague. Paul is right of center and Romney and McCain can’t really say the same.
  
  Report this comment
- justangry
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 2:47pm
  How much is media matters paying you?
  
  Report this comment
- soybomb315_II
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 2:52pm
  yea cling to the Bush/McCain/Romney progressives….what a great idea
  
  Report this comment
- Saff SGT
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 2:56pm
  repubs are cowards and cant fight. they get nothing done we have a majority in the house and they could defund any DC department and kill it. Do you see any of this going on. We are losing any advantages here
  
  Report this comment
gyro
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 2:38pm
Stop this asking stuff it is 4 years away
get a grip wait till last year
stupid
:)

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- Cavallo
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 2:53pm
  Nowadays the campaigning never ends. We may have to get used to every year being treated as a campaign year.
  
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- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 3:08pm
  GYRO, I’m pretty much with you on that and have no desire to start putting our eggs into one basket so soon. I do like Rand, and he makes a lot more sense that pappy ever did. But, at the same time I will keep my eyes open to see what he does in the near future. Also, yapping about any picks now will just help the left to arm itself with anything that it can dig up to exploit or to make up in advance.
  
  Report this comment
huey6367
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 2:37pm
At this point, he is the best candidate for the job. I loved Romney for his private AND public sector experience and his economic knowledge. But Romney would not demonize his opponent. Rand, you better demonize your Democratic challenger. He/she will do it to you.

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- soybomb315_II
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 2:53pm
  it is better to reasonize than demonize
  
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- smwk
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 3:12pm
  No more voting for the lesser of two evils for me. I no longer consider myself republican, and I would consider voting for Rand Paul..
  
  Report this comment
- huey6367
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 3:24pm
  @soy
  
  I understand and agree that reason is better than demonization but when you are dealing with uninformed voters, the Dems demonize. So you have to beat them at their own game. I dothe same thing in deposition by using samantics without sounding smug. But above all, tell the truth and challenge your opponent when they say something that is not true.
  
  Report this comment
- sta
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 3:55pm
  I don’t care if he “demonizes” but I do care that he has the guts to call it how it is.
  McCain wouldn’t and Romney wouldn’t.
  Paul has a spine and something between his legs that so many GOPers have seemed to misplaced.
  
  Report this comment
soybomb315_II
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 2:32pm
hold the presses!!

You mean the guy that endorsed Romney (even though he did not like him) and supports a form of amnesty (even though it is bad in the long-run) is hoping for a big political windfall? You dont say…

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- nonofmybiznez
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 3:58pm
  Sounds just like Obama doesn’t it?
  
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