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Could Ron Paul Ruin Rand Paul’s Path to the Presidency?

Mar. 20, 2013 4:15pm Mytheos Holt

With his filibuster on the floor of the United States Senate over the nomination of John Brennan, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul launched himself to the top of the Republican field of Presidential contenders, to the point where at least one veteran political observer says Paul is “riding a wave” of support that could take him as far as the White House.

Rand Paul Can Either Succeed Ron Paul or Ronald Reagan, Experts Say

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. , speaks at the 40th annual Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Md. , Thursday, March 14, 2013. (AP)

This is quite a shift for a man whose earliest supporters say didn’t even know running for office was an option for him as recently as four years ago. Those supporters, in fact, were just a handful of Californians in their early 20s running a “Draft Rand Paul” website out of their garage. Nevertheless, Paul now looks to have the potential to be the first self-proclaimed libertarian conservative to become his party’s nominee for the presidency since Ronald Reagan, who told Reason Magazine in 1975:

If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism. I think conservatism is really a misnomer just as liberalism is a misnomer for the liberals–if we were back in the days of the Revolution, so-called conservatives today would be the Liberals and the liberals would be the Tories. The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom and this is a pretty general description also of what libertarianism is.

However, experts also say that in the event that he runs, Paul faces the temptation of following a doomed political figure to irrelevance – namely, his own father, Ron.

Ron Paul (AP)

Granted, it’s not clear that Rand Paul is running for president at all. The Kentucky Senator has said he won’t decide whether to make the run until next year. However, Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia, and one of the media’s most frequently cited election prognosticators for his regular “Crystal Ball” column, sees White House ambitions in Paul’s actions if not his words.

“If Rand Paul isn’t running for president, he is certainly giving a good imitation of it,” Sabato told TheBlaze. “Paul is riding a wave after ‘droning on’ in the Senate filibuster and making a popular speech at CPAC. His problem is going to be breaking out of the 10% to 20% his father could muster and becoming a real contender. It’s still not entirely clear how much of his father’s philosophy he embraces. The more he becomes Dad’s clone, the less likely he is to be the nominee in 2016.”

Certainly, the Paul name has dogged Rand in some less-than-pleasant ways since he joined the political scene. In fact, according to popular talk radio host Rush Limbaugh, the fact of Rand’s descent from Ron may explain a large measure of the pushback against him after his filibuster. On the March 8 edition of his show, Limbaugh argued (emphasis added):

I’ll tell you who else upset by this, and I’ll explain this as the program unfolds. The neocons are paranoid. The neocones are paranoid because Rand Paul comes from his father’s gene pool. This isolationist wing is worried about maybe there’s something more going on here than simply opposing drone strikes. There’s all kinds of ramifications. Well, they might think he’s a kook, but they’re worried that he’s a kook that nobody thinks is a kook, and so they’ll follow him. He’s a stealth kook. [...]

Here’s the substance of this. There is a fear among McCain, Lindsey Graham, and others who favor an interventionist foreign policy. Think of the neocons. Think of going into Iraq and not just securing Iraq, but building a democracy. Nation building, if you will. Think of the outbreak of the Arab Spring and the people on our side who thought, “Wow, this is wonderful. This is the outbreak of American democracy,” when it wasn’t. It was the exact opposite. Rand Paul, they’re asking themselves, is he his father’s son or is he on his own here? They’re worried that he’s his father’s son. They’re worried that Rand Paul is an isolationist. They’re worried that Rand Paul’s diatribe on drones really means that Rand Paul wants to bring the military home and not use it unless we’re attacked. He doesn’t like it being used in an intervention. This is what they fear. And as he succeeds in making a connection with the American people, they are worried, the neocons are worried that they are being undermined by this.

Limbaugh’s words are borne out by the reaction of famed neoconservative Bill Kristol, who dismissively referred to Rand Paul as leading the “Code Pink faction of the GOP” and reacted with pique to Paul’s description of large swaths of the GOP as having grown “stale and moss-covered.” Most of this anger arguably only makes sense if you attribute it to fear of Ron Paul, rather than Rand Paul, given that the elder Paul was known to do things like defend Wikileaks source Bradley Manning as a “hero” and openly profess to disapproving of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. Rand Paul has yet to make statements this controversial, and indeed, given that he has already angered his father’s original support base by endorsing GOP nominee Mitt Romney last year, the signs suggest that Rand Paul wants to be his own man.

That’s not to say that Rand Paul supporters never cross-pollinate with supporters of his father. Indeed, it’s almost certainly the case that if it weren’t for a few dedicated Ron Paul supporters, Rand never would have even though to run for office at all.

Anthony Astolfi, who currently runs the Human Action Super PAC, which is devoted to making Rand Paul the 2016 GOP nominee, was one of those Paul supporters. He and three other Ron Paul supporters were the first to hit on the idea of having Paul the younger run for national office, all the way back in 2009. Astolfi explained the process that brought Rand Paul to national attention in an email to TheBlaze:

Back in 2009 we started PEAC PAC in order to draft Rand Paul to run for U.S. Senate… out of our garage. At the time Rand Paul wasn’t widely known, we only knew of him from obsessively watching YouTube videos of his father Ron Paul. We liked what Rand had to say and how he said it. We did some research and found he lived in Kentucky and saw that the Senate seat would be a good race for him.

Our PAC created bumper stickers, radio ads, T-Shirts, setup meetup groups, money bombs, YouTube videos, attended conventions, yard signs, setup phone banking, we did just about everything a candidate that was actually running would do. One day we got a phone call. “From whom” you ask? Rand Paul. He said he never knew he could tap into the support his dad had and that he wanted to form an exploratory committee and would like our help to kick start a campaign with fundraising and a website. So we closed the PAC and got to work… To our surprise Rand even mentioned us on MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow show as “the young guys from California” who set up his website, shown in the video featured above.

Rand Paul won the seat we prepared for him and is now one of the greatest defenders of individual liberty the U.S. Senate has ever known.

Funny thing is, when we first drafted Rand we often talked about him winning the Senate seat, then running for President. Now everyone is talking about that same thing.

So given that Astolfi and his compatriots started out as Ron Paul supporters, does that mean they think of Rand as the second coming of his father? The answer is complicated. According to Human Action PAC’s “Five Reasons to Support Rand Paul,” penned by Astolfi himself, the answer would seem to be “no”:

2) Rand Paul IS NOT his father.

We get it, Rand Paul is no “Dr. No”, on every single vote. While, Rand and his father agree and vote similarly on nearly everything from economics to foreign policy, they do differ (often subtly) on a few issues and points of strategy. Ron Paul as a philosopher and educator championed a movement and woke up a generation. However Ron’s massive success in spreading the message of liberty has not yet translated into many political victories for this movement. We believe Rand Paul will be the leader to take us to this next level and accomplish the tangible results needed to shift our country back toward laws based on the Constitution and sound free market economics. Rand gives us a chance to reach across the aisle, communicate to a larger audience, make the message even more palatable. With our help he’ll get more people on our team. He is an incredible communicator, and will help us change Washington from the inside out.

At the same time, Astolfi told TheBlaze he sees commonalities between Rand Paul and his father.

“I would say they philosophically are very similar,” Astolfi said, “but I think Rand has more tact politically.”

Paul’s office did not respond to requests for comment on the question of this philosophical similarity. However, in the event that Rand Paul runs for office, he can expect to see it probed relentlessly by opponents looking to tar him with the same brush as his eccentric father. Paul may have made that a bit easy for them in at least one respect, given that his opponents like to cite his opposition to the 1964 Civil Rights Act, a belief that, while not grounded in racism, will probably be tied to his father’s explicitly racist newsletters from several decades ago.

Will this be enough to sink a potential Paul presidential bid? Time will tell, though his commitment to reaching out to demographics previously underserved by the GOP may blunt the charge. Certainly, Paul appears closer to mainstream respectability than his father, to the point even of attracting kind words from Karl Rove, the consummate establishmentarian. His CPAC win, something his father managed twice, is another feather in the cap of the younger Paul, though probably not a decisive one.

Ultimately, though, the choice Rand Paul faces is deeply personal: Does he feel more loyalty to a coalition that could make him the second coming of Ronald Wilson Reagan, or to the ideology that will make him the second coming of Ronald Ernest Paul?

In CONTROL, Glenn Beck presents a passionate, fact-based case for guns that reveals why gun control isn’t really about controlling guns at all; it’s about controlling us. Find out more HERE.

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Comments (116)

nonofmybiznez
Posted on March 20, 2013 at 5:45pm
Even if he doesn’t run for President, just the mere thought of it has given him a platform to provide a new face to the Republican Party. We just have to make sure the “Old Guard” goes away. They have grown tired and moss covered. Not to mention they lack the dream of a better nation. The new kids don’t believe they have to settle for the same old party.

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- ashestoashes
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 6:25pm
  I would be surprised if there is ever another president in office..
  
  Report this comment
- marybethelizabeth
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 7:00pm
  The “Old Guard” was banished last summer. Both former President Bushes weren’t at the convention. I don’t think they showed both videos of the presidents speaking in prime time. Maybe neither. It was as if they never existed.
  
  I know all Republican radio was saying that Romney had the election all but won, but they knew they were going to lose all the way back in August.
  
  Report this comment
- fastfacts
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 7:07pm
  I am not sold on him or anyone. Not on Rand because he could be just like his father and just not telling his full intentions. I like most of his proposals but there are still questions. Especially with Hagel and then Brennan, who he said he would vote on for principle but never did. Where were the principles. I can’t say I am excited by anyone yet. Their immigration talk worries me, almost talking out both sides of the mouth, all of them. Here is Rand Paul talking about it last night, he sounds just like Rubio: http://www.thedailycandidate.com/video/2013/mar/rand_blitzer_pathway.html
  
  Time will tell, we still have over 3 years before we have to decide.
  
  Report this comment
- pauli101
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 7:10pm
  Rand Paul = Rubio.
  
  Both are cheap labor, open border whores. Let one-Billion people from Africa, Latin America, Asia come in.
  
  Report this comment
- paultard
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 7:48pm
  Tired of Glenn running these articles. I just RE-signed with The Blaze because he re-launched as a libertarian network!! He now writes a headline that “leads” you to believe Rand Paul’s father is going to bring him down? The talking points today that Glenn uses daily on his own program would not be here if it weren’t for Ron Paul. Many of the GOP talking points in 2008 that were considered kookville in the presidential run were mainstream in 2012. Glen this BS back and forth crap is getting old.
  
  Report this comment
- TIME_2_END_THE_PAUL_CAMPAIGN_IN_12
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 7:58pm
  Just to clear things up a wee bit (glomming onto your post).
  
  “If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism. I think conservatism is really a misnomer just as liberalism is a misnomer for the liberals–if we were back in the days of the Revolution, so-called conservatives today would be the Liberals and the liberals would be the Tories. The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom and this is a pretty general description also of what libertarianism is.”
  
  Libertarians today, compared to those when the movement was gaining momentum as a respite to the Liberal Party circa 1975 ( thereby garnering Reagan’s attention… briefly) were routinely bought and sold across party lines not to mention degrading of the Constitution (Ron Paul) to suit their flights of fancy (claiming Americans must advocate isolationism as if Washington’s farewell speech somehow penned such “hands-off” rhetoric in invisible ink through an amendment no one can find).
  
  AND routinely racist and anti-Semitic morons (TECHENGINEER and ASHESTOASHES come to mind).
  
  Reagan held fault with many in the Libertarian party due to their socialist tendencies towards ZERO government. Today, many of us call ourselves Reagan-Republicans. The links between Socialists and modern day Ron Paul styled Libertarians are many and frightening.
  
  Rand has LOTS of ‘splainin’ to do.
  
  Rand
  
  Report this comment
- pantokrator
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 7:58pm
  “Tired of Glenn running these articles. I just RE-signed with The Blaze because he re-launched as a libertarian network!! He now writes a headline that “leads” you to believe Rand Paul’s father is going to bring him down?”
  
  You do realize Glenn does not single-handily run TheBlaze, don’t you?
  
  Report this comment
- SimpleTruths
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 8:16pm
  ASHESTOASHES
  Just like there wasn’t going to be an election last year, like that you mean?
  
  Report this comment
- Max jones
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 8:24pm
  If it happens that way, it will be because daddy ron does Not respect Christian ‘morality’ voters.
  
  Report this comment
- Max jones
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 8:26pm
  ASHESTOASHES I agree 1189.666 percent
  
  Report this comment
- AUsername
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 8:45pm
  a push in the libertarian or nationalist direction will work for me.
  
  Report this comment
- paultard
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 9:14pm
  @Max Jones. I don’t CARE what you think or what anyone thinks here.. Damn, freedom of speech is great! Thank you God for inspiring the First Amendment! MAX, do the letters F O mean anything you you?
  @pantokrator Glenn IS responsible for all the content here. He has his name on it and is hands on with everything. He re-launched The Blaze as libertarian YET calls for a Libertarian party when it exists already. The headline sounds like he wants to bring Rand down when he applauded him for his filibuster just last week. Is Glenn Libertarian or not? Rand has done nothing but stand up for the constitution. Period. Rand is now fighting for right to life and abortion law and that should be applauded. The headline is a smear and what is Glenn’s “new” libertarian party going to be? If it’s something that isn’t total freedom, Glenn can kiss my ______ !!! I’m taking time away from MY day to fight for Glenn to be on my cable network for smear headlines like this? Nope.. Glenn wants guaranteed cash flow so he can change the mantra again. He can’t afford to lose libertarians now because he lost MANY after he ignored the shenanigans of the election and RNC in Tampa. When he is guaranteed 50 million households he will abandon the libertarians and adopt the Pat Robertson GOP, religious right philosophy again.
  
  Report this comment
- pantokrator
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 9:18pm
  Stupid and ignorant comment. More wacked out conspiracy mumbo-jumbo that has no factual evidence whatsoever, thus I am legitimately inclined to call you an actual Paultard, because I don’t need to take you seriously. Glenn founded TheBlaze, yes, but he does not run every single article that is posted. Get over yourself. Whether or not your name (and avatar, for that matter) is meant to be sarcastic, you actually live up to it.
  
  Report this comment
- RonPaulOrNoOne
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 9:19pm
  Go ahead, if you people want to keep hating on Ron Paul for no reason at all. You will continue to lose elections and you will continue to lose your freedoms.
  
  Report this comment
- TIME_2_END_THE_PAUL_CAMPAIGN_IN_12
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 9:46pm
  RPORNOONE. “You will continue to lose elections and you will continue to lose your freedoms.”
  
  Spoken like a true half-breed (Liberal-tarian) and Obama enabler for a lost cause before it started (Ron Paul). You must be impervious to those continued lost freedoms. Or you’re a trust fund baby.
  
  Report this comment
- A_CALL_TO_CONSCIENCE
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 10:49pm
  @TIME
  
  “Reagan held fault with many in the Libertarian party due to their socialist tendencies towards ZERO government.”
  
  How does one have “socialist tendencies” towards -ZERO- government? There are no links between Libertarians and socialists. One wants freedom and the constitution to be followed the other doesn’t.
  
  Maybe it would be nice with zero government. I mean we are only $16T in debt and counting. We love to start wars. Take away people’s freedoms. Considering these things zero doesn’t sound so bad.
  
  Report this comment
- ashestoashes
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 11:46pm
  @SIMPLETRUTHS..Yes..like that..
  
  Report this comment
- ashestoashes
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 11:47pm
  @MAX..Hi Brother..keep up the good work..
  
  Report this comment
- TIME_2_END_THE_PAUL_CAMPAIGN_IN_12
  Posted on March 21, 2013 at 6:19am
  A_CALL….
  
  Remember Lenin’s position… “Save the workers, Kill the government.” Ron Paul Libertarians are Socialists. A true Conservative understands this and this is why Reagan flushed the Libertarian moniker and adopted his own true persona (Reagan-Republican). Capitalism works, limited government is crucial, lower taxes are mandatory, and a strong, prosperous and free America must be the shining example for the world.
  
  Libertarians pine for an isolated country, similar to that witnessed under the Lenin and Stalin regimes. A vision that if realized would run its course to the end result of an American implosion, the world as we know it resorting to anarchy, terrorists, bigots, fascists, murderous dictators rising again to rule, with our enemies that have battled us from the days of the Barbary Wars taking hold throughout the globe more so than now. Today’s Ron Paul Libertarians, by endorsing a system wherein “The strongest man on the block will run the neighborhood” (thank Reagan for the analogy) are sanctioning not only global restructuring… but the very installation of state-by-state Socialism wherein anarchy would indeed soon follow.
  
  Report this comment
- A_CALL_TO_CONSCIENCE
  Posted on March 21, 2013 at 10:26am
  @TIME
  
  Lenin was a Commie. Right, that’s why the main slogan for Libertarians is “maximum freedom, minimum government.”
  
  I’m sorry you think L’s want a country like N. Korea. Most L’s want the US to stop jumping to war anytime they feel like it, that’s not being an isolated country. Ron Paul has stated many times he wants free and open trading among nations.
  
  While you might be able to call some L’s anarchists (those that really lean right), you can’t call any socialists. I’m not even sure where you get this idea from anyways.
  
  Report this comment
- DLV
  Posted on March 21, 2013 at 11:57am
  Time- you are completely misinformed. Libertarians are all the way to the right, maximum freedom limited government. Socialists are all the wya to the left with maximum government. Come on this is poli sci 101 you have no excuse for your ignorance. I’m a conservative libertarian and any libertarian you talk to here will say they want little government not a lot. Show me a libertarian statement that calls for more government influence. Just one. I dare you.
  
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- upeopleneedtogetalife
  Posted on March 21, 2013 at 1:08pm
  Does Rand’s new Amnesty plan concern anyone other than me?
  
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- justangry
  Posted on March 21, 2013 at 1:33pm
  Um, that was kill the current government, not government in general. Stupid.
  
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- TIME_2_END_THE_PAUL_CAMPAIGN_IN_12
  Posted on March 21, 2013 at 8:48pm
  Where do I get this from? History of Libertarianism I guess eh? The originator of Libertarianism was the French Joseph Déjacque. Déjacque was a genuine anarchist,( i.e. a socialist), and therefore Libertarianism is an inherently anarchist ideology that belongs (just like fascism and Marxism) on the left… regardless of the spin you all like to perpetrate.
  
  DLV. Just look at the Libertarian Presidential candidate Johnson and his record of BIG government in New Mexico (maked Obama look small governement in some ways). No statement needed. The proof is in his political pudding.
  
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- A_CALL_TO_CONSCIENCE
  Posted on March 21, 2013 at 9:48pm
  @TIME
  
  Anarchism is far right (all the way to the right actually) Socialism is left, and if you keep going you get Communism, Nazism, Fascism. A great book that talks about this is “Liberal Fascism: The Secret history of the American Left” by Jonah Goldberg. I’m sorry but you are incorrect. Not sure what definitions of anarchism or Socialism you are using but they are very, very wrong.
  
  If someone is “Libertarian” and they want big government that makes them a liar and NOT a Libertarian.
  
  Report this comment
RaydocX
Posted on March 20, 2013 at 5:38pm
the lamestream media will attempt to use his radical views to torpedo Rand’s candidacy to be sure.
But after all, if BHO’s father did not keep him from becoming President…
and if JFK’s father did not keep him from becoming President…
Ron Paul shouldn’t be too high a peak to overcome.

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- kenboo1
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 5:45pm
  Rand Paul talks a good talk… But some see if he would support a repeal of the 17th Amendment… If so lets get him in… http://www.repeal17.net
  
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- Keatonc333
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 6:29pm
  A Rand Paul presidency is a pipe dream, father or not, he couldn’t win. Hes Anti abortion in all cases, which is a losing argument in the public’s eye and forfeigts the women’s vote. Doesn’t support amnesty, loses the hispanic vote, doesn’t support gay marriage, another losing argument. Plus he has already tried to change the constitution to make citizenship official at conception… which last I checked you guys hate when people try to alter the constitution right? Is it it just when a democrat is president?
  As for repealing the 17th amendment.. Why would he do that? I personally like that my vote for senator counts. Do you not like the 6 year thing?
  Which brings me to my final point.. With Rand Paul being such a strong supporter of term limits, I wonder if he’ll walk the walk and quit after one or two terms.. time will tell.
  
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- DLV
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 8:33pm
  Keaton no one is listening to youunless you have some grain of truth to it. Paul can easily become president if he can get indepedents and minorities and even if people aren’t conservative socially I’d be willing to bet they are fiscally.
  
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- truthnstuff
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 10:07pm
  Much of Ron Paul’s positions were misreported, and he did not do a good job of explaining himself. They will do the same to Rand because they are scared sh&&less of him. But, he has the ability to clarify his positions. He, Cruz and a few others may be our last chance to take the country back. The GOP will try to ram Rubio down our throats and continue the growth of government.
  
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biased1
Posted on March 20, 2013 at 5:38pm
I support both Pauls but not because I think that kind of candidate can win the White House. Americans want to be policeman of the world and/or they want a big central government. Americans want to blame problems on the “other” party, meanwhile Washington’s power continues to grow regardless of what political party is in charge. Sure, there have been conservative Republican candidates in the distant past – Robert Taft, Goldwater – but even a moderate like Eisenhower wouldn’t stand a chance today. Once the GOP and the lamestream media find out more about Rand Paul they’ll join McCain & Co and demonize him.

Imagine if all Europeans were fixated on giving all power to the EU in Brussels, and forgot they can better solve most governance problems through their own sovereign member states. Insane and dysfunctional, but that’s what the USA has become: 50 emasculated member states exploited by an imperial elite, all because Americans are terrified of what might happen if they returned to constitutional limits on Washington’s power.

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- justangry
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 6:23pm
  So bend over and take progressivism in the old wazoo? Is that your solution?
  
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supermansdad
Posted on March 20, 2013 at 5:34pm
After the way he has dumped all morality and even simple rule of law, dang I hope it sure does!

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circleDwagons
Posted on March 20, 2013 at 5:27pm
Jeb Bush, Jeb Bush, jeb bush or the rinos could run mccain’s daughter

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- Gonzo
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 5:57pm
  Can you imagine her State of the Union speeches? “Uhm, The state of the the union is like getting stronger….”
  
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- Eastinfection
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 6:04pm
  lol@ McCains daughter.
  
  Meg McCain makes me think of this dope….
  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww
  
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- common cents
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 6:55pm
  If you haven’t had enough of the Bush Dynasty yet,
  
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Gonzo
Posted on March 20, 2013 at 5:27pm
I hope pop isn’t too old to take over as Fed Chairman after Rand fumigates the White House and moves in.

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- justangry
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 6:25pm
  As I understand it, the Fed gives the president a list of candidates to chair the fed.
  
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BlackCrow
Posted on March 20, 2013 at 5:25pm
As long as Rand does not follow his father down the Festung Americana road he has a good shot.

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- Welcome Black Carter
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 10:19pm
  Ron Paul is a nut. Sorry Paulbots.
  Rand has some work to do. He blew it on the abortion interveiw the other day. He will go far if he speaks the truth and his heart.
  
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azghost
Posted on March 20, 2013 at 4:55pm
Born and raised in Arizona and seeing the mess that Amnesty in 1986 has caused to our towns, cities, neighborhoods, campgrounds, parks etc., and our state. Mr. Rand Paul lost my vote when he decided a path to citizenship ( amnesty) for law breakers is a good course. I draw the line with any politician when they favor citizenship ( amnesty ) to criminals (illegal aliens). The countries the illegal aliens come from have very strong immigration laws and they enforce them to the full extent of the law! Un like our politicians in America.

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- PATTY HENRY
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 5:23pm
  OH GOOD GRIEF. There are upwards of 30M illegal aliens in this country. They’ve been here for 30+ years (many of them) … There was a time when they were welcomed here without restriction… I am totally horrified that we have not protected our borders…but that’s BUSH as well as this dope in the WH now, that’s Also Bush, Clinton, Bush, Dope… WE DO HAVE TO SOLVE it. We need to focus on the criminals – getting them out. We need to Stop allowing people to come in. RAND PAUL is for that. There have to be steps towards this goal, you know… That’s what RAND PAUL voted for.
  YOU HIDE-BOUND FOLKS are going to keep squawking and stamping your feet and NOTHING is going to get done.
  AS FAR AS TWITS like KRISTOL, GRAHAM and the sickening MCCAIN… they can have the GOP. I am a PATRIOT. We have a mess to clean up. I’m going to support the most likely people to clean it up. I’m not going to vote litmus tests (except for abortion) anyone who doesn’t know that’s murder is not smart enough to get my vote. (I’m also not voting for some old f. who combs over his hair!! or any woman other than Sarah Palin). WE ARE NOT GOING TO GET a perfect candidate…guess why??? oh, right !!! THERE ARE NO PERFECT PEOPLE!!! IF WE EVEN GET A VOTE AGAIN.. it will be for a PATRIOT – not some friggin’ politician backed by twits like ROVE or MORRIS . Don’t start in on RAND, okay? USE YOUR BRAIN.
  
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- CrazyTravis
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 5:31pm
  This is why the Republican Party is in trouble. They need immigration reform to try to win back some Hispanic voters (they’ll never win another Presidential race with only 30% of the Hispanic vote) but most of the Republican base is furious when any path to citizenship for illegals (AMNESTY!!) is mentioned. Rubio and Rand have both come out in support of Immigration Reform and both will probably pay the price for it with GOP primary voters if they try a run for Prez.
  
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- The_Jerk
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 5:50pm
  You’re correct. Any reward for law breakers is death to Paul. No welfare to illegals. No free education to illegals. Huge fines for employers of illegals. No free healthcare for illegals.
  
  Do these very simple things, along with a border wall, and the problem fixes itself. They’ll find their mooching way home.
  
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- SimpleTruths
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 8:21pm
  PATTY HENRY
  Hey Patty, why don’t you throw your hat in the ring? Put your money where your mouth is. BTW how does it feel to be among the .0005% that think Sarah Palin would make a good president?
  
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- Max jones
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 8:36pm
  shoulda run palin against Bah Rahk….win or losr we’da been entertained…..
  
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neverending
Posted on March 20, 2013 at 4:51pm
No worries – give it a few months and the republicans will ruin it one way or the other. There will be umpteen different attacks on him for one reason or another and who knows what 2016 brings?

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- SimpleTruths
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 8:24pm
  Right now my money is on Hillary for 2016, you people will still be at each others throats deep into the cycle.
  
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- Max jones
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 8:41pm
  Hillary will be exposed as a lez-bin reptillian so maybe you are right.
  
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Kiba
Posted on March 20, 2013 at 4:50pm
I wish Rand was president, but if he would run the left would tear him apart on his individual rights views. He just feels that if you own a business you should have the say on who can come in that business and who can not, and I will leave it at that. And wether or not I agree or disagree with him is irrelevant.

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- justangry
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 6:46pm
  So in other words don’t run the best candidate because we’re afraid of the media?
  
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GoodStuff
Posted on March 20, 2013 at 4:46pm
Kook father, kook son. Period.

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- All Pro
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 5:07pm
  You believe that anyone that supports the US constitution and especially the Bill of Rights is a kook? Are you a US citizen?
  
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media-bias-steals-elections
Posted on March 20, 2013 at 4:45pm
Ron Paul came closer then they want to admit, and they do have an advantage, perhaps a more active cyberbase then the other candidates? In order to defeat Rand Paul, they are trying to paint him and his father as “kooks” as early as possible?

What the kooky idea is, is to believe President Obama can raise spending at a rate of 5% per year, when the GDP is no where near that number? What the kooky idea is going to be is that you can keep your health care, and your 401K? This all boils down to who can push buttons?

Will it be Dr. Carson, or Dr. Paul? Rick Perry, God Bless Texas, wants to run, and you know the Bush family will try to muscle their way in? Who has the smallest attack surface? Sen. Cruz, Dr. Carson, Dr. Paul, Gov. Perry, Jebb Bush? Donald Trump might put his foot in the door, or who knows, Sean Hannity could get votes – if he decided to run?

We thought Herman Cain was going to clean house, so this is going to be a conversation that will take months? Rush Limbaugh can’t make it too obvious without getting thrown off the air, he’s already told you who makes Democrats nervous? Dr. Carson? That was before Sen. Paul did the fill it and bust it speech?

Sen Cruz is in the same place President Obama was? Time will tell, who ever adopts Joe Paggs immigration idea wins? Work visas, no cutting in line, no ability to vote unless you wait your turn in line, and you get at the end of the line?

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vic138
Posted on March 20, 2013 at 4:38pm
Obama’s father is a drunk communist. Did that hurt him? Whether you agree with his politics, he had principles and couldn’t be bought. I think Ron Paul is a great american.

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AUsername
Posted on March 20, 2013 at 4:36pm
I think the central banking system will have to collapse and be deposed of before someone decent like that takes that office.

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Libby_Tarian
Posted on March 20, 2013 at 4:32pm
I left direct TV and went to Dish and had to pay $5.00 in addition to the basic channels offered to get the Blaze. Just leave Direct TV and subscribe to someone who is offering the Blaze.
After a huge exodus from Direct they will get the message.

On the Ron Paul/Rand Paul thing, if Ron Paul was our president right now we would be headed for the health of the economy, we would be headed toward eliminating the IRS, and on and on. But people like Rush Limbaugh and Glen Beck had to demonize Ron Paul and look where that got us.

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- DLV
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 5:08pm
  Oh stop Glenn has been a constant supporter of Rand.
  
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- xianpoxi
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 5:15pm
  They didn’t demonize Ron Paul. They said exactly what most responsible Americans feel about Ron Paul’s statements about foreign Policy:
  He’s too radical in his isolationism.
  
  I think that isolationism is a scary thing. It would only make America the enemy of the rest of the world and draw them together against us.
  
  It is a tempting as idea in principle. Let them deal w/ their own problems and we’ll deal with ours.
  However it certainly would not work that way. It is just like how you want to make efforts to get along w/ your neighbors. If you ignore them, they will turn against you.
  
  You could also say that ppl respected Ron Paul enough to believe he meant what he said. That was not so for the other candidates.
  
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- pantokrator
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 7:35pm
  XIANPOXI, I agree with your general statement, but I’m having a hard time understanding how being something of an isolationist makes you a threatening target of some kind.
  
  In public, I am a pretty quiet person. I always have been. Because of this, I have avoided drama for almost the entirety of my life. Simply because I left people alone. I didn’t care to comment on people, even when asked about them. I just don’t care to meddle with other people’s affairs. So people generally ignored me completely. I don’t see how having a kind of isolated policy makes us a target. I think it would work the other way. I think if we have a continuous presence in the whole world makes us appear like a suppressive society, even though we may not be. Getting ourselves involved in foreign affairs brings nothing but trouble, and not trouble all at once. Trouble for a lifetime and beyond.
  
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The_Jerk
Posted on March 20, 2013 at 4:31pm
Immigration will kill Rand, not his father, Ron. If he waffles at all, he’s done.

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- marybethelizabeth
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 4:45pm
  1 million green cards for agribusiness jobs, jobs that could go to Americans, because the agribusinesses complain it’s too expensive to advertise for American Workers?
  
  Rand Paul has shot himself in the foot
  
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marybethelizabeth
Posted on March 20, 2013 at 4:31pm
Rand Paul will ruin his own self.

His budget cuts the wealthy’s taxes in half and he falsely claims they aren’t his primary constituency.

That money could be used to retire the debt, something Rand Paul does not want to do because the wealthy bankers make more money the more debt the country takes on.

Rand Paul wants to establish a private police force. He to privatize the TSA. Privatization is bad. It takes away accountability. Municipalities do not let corporations enforce laws.

Rand Paul wants to keep illegal aliens in jail longer. That’s ok except it costs money to do so.
America will be an even bigger police state with more jails and a privatized police force.

Rand Paul wants to issue a million green cards because it’s too expensive for agribusiness to advertise for workers. Unemployment is high. Hiring more government workers to process green cards will not lessen unemployment. Giving American jobs to American workers will.

This guy is bad news.

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- All Pro
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 5:17pm
  The US can never pay off the debt. It’s a mathematical impossibility. That’s why Ron Paul wanted to END THE FED. For as long as a private bank prints the currency the US will go deeper into debt.
  
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- Max jones
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 8:57pm
  ALLPRO….We are in the 4th year of WWIII…..The U.S. is being decimated by some sort of financial Warfare…..and looks as though the only survivors will be Bah Rahk ande his little cabal of progs….Who obviously are part of the enemy forces. You’ve heard of the fox in the hen house? WE have the child raper in the nursery.
  
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Kiba
Posted on March 20, 2013 at 4:30pm
I don’t see how that could happen considering the only people who take the ‘old man’ serious are walking around in funny-looking suits saying “live long and prosper” while giving some weird hand signal.

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- KidCharlemagne
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 5:12pm
  I take the old man PLENTY serious (and you should too):
  
  —————————-
  “A $2 trillion war is raging, and plans are being laid to expand the war into Iran and possibly Syria. The only restraining force will be the world’s rejection of the dollar. It’s bound to come and create conditions worse than 1979—1980, which required 21% interest rates to correct. But everything possible will be done to protect the dollar in the meantime. We have a shared interest with those who hold our dollars to keep the whole charade going.”
  Ron Paul (Feb. 15, 2006) “The End of Dollar Hegemony”
  
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- All Pro
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 5:49pm
  I wish you could see the hand signal I’m giving you now.
  
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DontStopBelieving
Posted on March 20, 2013 at 4:29pm
Could Ron Paul Ruin Rand Paul’s Path to the Presidency?

Seems to me Rand is doing a good job of it all by himself.

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AUsername
Posted on March 20, 2013 at 4:29pm
don’t blame the son for the sins of his father? though in this case i don’t see any sins but still.

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KidCharlemagne
Posted on March 20, 2013 at 4:28pm
Even America’s Founding Fathers couldn’t get elected to national office these days.

Glenn Beck (06/14/2011): “Ron Paul is the closest to our Founding Fathers”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyyI1EC5i2U

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DeVain
Posted on March 20, 2013 at 4:27pm
I don’t have the exact same views as my family, why should Rand?

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servant100
Posted on March 20, 2013 at 4:26pm
Really…does Rand Paul need ANY assistance in that endeavor??

This guy has his own self destruct sequence already pre programmed and in full operation….

Yea he is gutsy…and yea he makes good theatre partularly with the sequester….

But some of that extreme libertarian nonsense that he spouts…particularly the freedom to do the drugs of your choice is like hanging beef steaks on your jacket in front of a starving tiger….

Sooner or later…that tiger will understand that you are not even a good brunch…lol

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- justangry
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 4:35pm
  Yeah we need corrupt politicians, bought by the pharmaceutical companies telling us what drugs we’re allowed to put in our bodies between their whoring. Actually in same cases forced into our own bodies. Another morale majority progressive halfwit.
  
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- Libby_Tarian
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 4:40pm
  @ Servant 100
  So if drugs are illegal we will be better off? OMG!
  Do some research. Back when drugs were legal in the US, 11% of the population were drug addicts.
  Now that drugs are illegal, 11% of the population are drug addicts.
  The drug addict is always going to be with us.
  We have legal alcohol consumption and there are many alcoholics. Only people of a certain age are able to purchase alcohol. We have laws on the books about being drunk behind the wheel of a car or out in a public place. During prohibition we had gangs that would control the sale of illegal alcohol. Would you like to go back to prohibition?
  For myself, I am a libertarian who does not drink or take drugs. I won’t even take pharmaceuticals.
  I buy raw certified cow milk, yard eggs, and veggies that are grown without any chemicals.
  I do not ask you to eat like I do. Why do you want to tell other people that they can’t do what they want to do if it hurts no one else? You are not for liberty.
  
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- checkingbothsides
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 4:49pm
  You’re so right. It’s much better to let the government decide what we are allowed to put in our bodies. Funny, I thought we were adults and could make our own decisions. Do you also think Michael Bloomberg is right about regulating how much soda we drink?
  
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- pantokrator
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 7:27pm
  I don’t like drugs. I think things like marijuana are bad for you (the “pleasure” part, anyway). All that stuff is self-destructive, but there are a lot of self destructive things we do in our society already that are not illegal, and are potentially far more dangerous to the individual and others than weed, so why not? I don’t do the stuff, but I don’t have a serious problem if someone else does. If they want to dumb themselves down, that’s their business.
  
  Continuing to allow the government to prohibit the use of drugs only restrains the liberty we were intended to be given, and gives them more control. Plus, the drug trafficking is a huge part of the cartel wars. End illegal drugs, then the cartels loose a huge profit.
  
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- RonPaulOrNoOne
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 9:20pm
  Do drugs lol. So it is ok to do legal drugs? And drink alcohol. People like you are retarded and need help.
  
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AquamanSucks
Posted on March 20, 2013 at 4:22pm
He could send dad to Colorado (:

Then buy him a really nice sailing ship model to put together.
Between the 2 that should keep him busy for quite a while.

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- All Pro
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 5:27pm
  Ron Paul has enough to do. The campaign for liberty didn’t shut down.
  
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- TIME_2_END_THE_PAUL_CAMPAIGN_IN_12
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 8:11pm
  I think Ron’s back living in his district among the rubes who continually voted him in. Now after many years these same rubes (after the fact) realize RP was an absentee landlord. He gave them shrimp, a renovated theater and bupkus. Mostly bupkus…
  
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- RonPaulOrNoOne
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 9:23pm
  @TIME_2_END_THE_PAUL_CAMPAIGN_IN_12 – Funny how your still on here ranting about the Pauls. Do you realize how pathetic you are? You lost & you I remember during the election, you were saying how any one can beat Obama. HAHAHAHAHAHH Sure…..
  
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- TIME_2_END_THE_PAUL_CAMPAIGN_IN_12
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 9:55pm
  RPORNOONE. What I did say was…. I was voting / and voted for Romney, but originally was supporting Santorum. I, like many others were convinced he would beat Obama by a large margin (by all accounts). We (I) were / was wrong. I surely hated the fact that a Marxist beat out a businessman and capitalist. It seems you’re gleeful that Obama won again? He was like “Shake and Bake”… and YOU helped.
  
  I also remember you saying that I ended the Ron Paul campaign all by my lonesome. That right? Lol. I was gleeful for that.
  
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- KidCharlemagne
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 10:51pm
  TIME_2_END_THE_PAUL_CAMPAIGN_IN_12
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 9:55pm
  
  RPORNOONE. What I did say was…. I was voting / and voted for Romney (government-run healthcare), but originally was supporting Santorum (admitted foe of the Tea Party..).
  
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- TIME_2_END_THE_PAUL_CAMPAIGN_IN_12
  Posted on March 21, 2013 at 6:02am
  KID. Yes, Romney as Republican Governor in a Liberal state gave the overwhelming majority of Liberal people what they liberally wanted and everybody paid. Never live in an overwhelmingly Liberal state is my motto…. or you will pay for that choice. Making no excuses for Romney… but I thought you were FOR states making decisions based on their constituency and less Fed control? Yes, he gave Obama a blueprint… and that sucked for the rest of us on the national level. No doubt about it.
  
  Santorum was more or less against the “Libertarianish” (Ron Paul) strain within the Tea Party…. and so was I. Santorum was a little too BIG governemnt for my tastes also, but he had other reddeeming qualities I admired. AND again… he saw Ron Paul and his fringe as overwhelmingly buffoonish as I and most Americans did… and rightly so.
  
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Dude Doug
Posted on March 20, 2013 at 4:21pm
Came across a Facebook page I Want My Blaze TV Directv. that is up to over 80 followers as of today 3/20, this is an attempt to convince DirecTV that we are serious about wanting The Blaze carried to their subscribers. At present it appears that they are swatting the individual requests away like flies, by grouping together with one unified message supported by many we may be able to convince them with deadlines of a large group exodus to a more consumer friendly market. BTW this is not a page I created, it just makes sense to go about it this way rather than to keep nipping at them. If you are a DirecTV subscriber please consider ‘like’ing this group on Facebook and help the numbers grow. I do not own the page but, I intend to plead that the discussion be kept civil, non-threatening, and fact based. thanks to all for your consideration.

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- Dude Doug
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 4:32pm
  the link – https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=125287217655767&id=405261719569337&comment_id=85549&ref=notif&notif_t=share_reply
  
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- marybethelizabeth
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 4:39pm
  Dish network has exclusive rights to thebalze TV.
  
  Direct TV couldn’t carry the channel if they wanted to do so.
  
  This is just a way to collect listener phone numbers. People who call fit into a certain demographic and this information is useful to the marketing company that Mercury One employed to run this campaign.
  
  Glenn Beck again is not being honest.
  
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- Eastinfection
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 5:59pm
  MARYBETH…
  
  DISH doesn’t own the exclusive rights to thebalze TV or The Blaze TV.
  It’s “available on television exclusively on DISH” means no other service subscribes to the Blaze TV.
  
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- marybethelizabeth
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 6:30pm
  Here’s the truth:
  
  “Dish has a period of exclusivity with TheBlaze, so no other cable or satellite system can carry the channel quite yet. ”
  
  “The “Get TheBlaze” campaign will commence in phases and last for at least nine months”
  
  http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/25/glenn-beck-begins-campaign-to-urge-tv-systems-to-add-his-web-channel/?smid=tw-share
  
  It looks like you are all being set up. Glenn was scarily saying that he wants his network up in time for the midterm elections. “The Country only has two year… one year maybe (and we could lose the midterm elections , he said as an aside)” He can say it was all thanks to his listeners, when in fact negotiations between Mercury One and cable operators will not include any outside input.
  
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- Eastinfection
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 7:12pm
  MARY… don’t you think public demand influences the choices cable/ sat. providers offer?
  
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- marybethelizabeth
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 8:32pm
  I think Glenn Beck wants your phone number
  
  I think, even though Glenn Beck doesn’t play the theme song for his show that he wrote saying you will be the key, he still wants his audience to think that they are extra special.
  
  Case in point: the “Tea Party Caucus” dropped from 6 to 5 in the last election, but Glenn Beck was saying last week how the Tea Party was a winner because they were successful in so many races.
  
  I don’t think Direct TV will reach out to MercuryOne and beg to be able to broadcast Blaze TV. TheBlazeTV will be aggressively marketed to them. And everybody already knows exactly how successful Dish has been with the product. Everyone knows the numbers.
  
  The real conspiracy theorists would say Glenn Beck is trying to involve his audience in meaningless tasks, shifting their focus away from the national political stage, so that the One World Forces are less hindered by opposition. It’s easier to take control when no one is watching, and You are being told to focus locally; that you can’t effect the bigger picture.
  
  Mr, Beck is evil.
  
  Direct TV couldn’t carry TheBlaze TV before because It DIDN’T EXIST before. The media bias claim isn’t true.
  
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- SimpleTruths
  Posted on March 20, 2013 at 8:32pm
  EASTINFECTION
  Contractual agreements trump public opinion. But Beck is a smart businessman, he creates a site to elicit public demand (that he knows is BS) so the next time it’s contract time he can pump up his numbers and get a bigger payday.
  
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- Eastinfection
  Posted on March 21, 2013 at 12:20pm
  What you guys are describing is typical of EVERY business that wants your cash….
  
  Why demonize Glenn? Pretty sure most Blazers, and Blaze TV watchers know Glenn’s an unapologetic Capitalist.
  
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- AquamanSucks
  Posted on March 21, 2013 at 12:37pm
  Afternoon East
  
  Have to agree.
  However sometimes when I am here it’s more like this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5ZOK5ia_A0
  
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- Eastinfection
  Posted on March 21, 2013 at 1:07pm
  Hey Aqua….lol…
  
  for me- it’s more like this:
  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KS2khYJZKwA
  
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