Rand Paul and the principle principle
“People of all backgrounds yearn for leaders who believe in what they say and will stand strong for their convictions,” said Jesse Benton, who managed Ron Paul’s 2012 presidential campaign and is now serving as campaign manager for Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell’s 2014 re-election race. “Senator Paul is one of those leaders, and the list of others is short.”
While the issue Paul chose — drones and, specifically, the possibility of strikes against American citizens in the U.S. — isn’t a high-profile one, it became clear as the Kentucky Republican talked (and talked) that he was creating a major moment for a party that hasn’t had very many of those since Nov. 6, 2012.
“It was one of the first examples in a long time of messaging that made the base feel like we had control of the day,” said Rick Wilson, a Florida-based Republican strategist. “Rand Paul’s stock price rose sharply today, and being the guy who set Obama on his heels — even for a day — will pay dividends for Paul in the short term, at least.”
Blowback
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Interesting career progression.
steebo77 on March 7, 2013 at 4:47 PM
It’s not the drones, it’s the 5th.
It’s the power of the president, who’s not a king, nor a dictator, yet.
Schadenfreude on March 7, 2013 at 4:53 PM
It’s about Obama wishing to be judge, jury and executioner. The drone is just one item.
Schadenfreude on March 7, 2013 at 4:54 PM
We also need to stop accepting this crap about endless war…it doesn’t have to be endless. These clowns who imagine that a bunch of goat herders can subdue the greatest country this world has seen need to be thrown out of office and replaced with folks who know how to win wars.
Here is what I wrote in another thread and it is relevent.
Besides this whole idea of endless war against a faceless enemy is a construct of the Bush administration. If we discarded that foolishness and adopted the reality we could win this war immediately.
We are at war with radical islam. Any governent that supports radical islam is our enemy and gets taken down immediately. We don’t try to nation build. We destroy the government and leave with the warning that if they support terrorists again we will return. List of countries that get’s taken down in the first 10 days?
1. Iraq – Done supported terror and was involved in 9/11 Bush did good here.
2. Iran – Been supporting terror strikes since at least 1983 been killing Americans since. Take them down…
3. Pakistan – Provided weapons and training to Al Qaeda…take them down.
4. Saudi Arabia – Take them down and appropiate their oil. They are camel herders and had we not GIVEN them the oil refineries and kept them up they would have no idea how to do it themselves.
5. Yemen – Take them down
Go after the countries that support terror. Make the terrorists and their supporters miserable instead of all the Americans whose lives are invaded and disrupted by this foolishness call Homeland Security.
PierreLegrand on March 7, 2013 at 10:24 AM
PierreLegrand on March 7, 2013 at 4:56 PM
Which, unfortunately, makes the Judd thing look a little more likely…….
GWB on March 7, 2013 at 4:56 PM
Vited for Brennan, see Rubio, absent Rand
Lamar Alexander
Saxby Chambliss
Dan Coats
Tom Coburn
Susan Collins
Bob Corker
John McCain
Lindsey Graham
Jeff Flake
Johnny Isaacson
Mark Kirk
Lisa Murkowski
Marco Rubio
David Vitter
Schadenfreude on March 7, 2013 at 5:02 PM
Vitter did not vote for Brennan. I believe he was absent from the Senate today.
steebo77 on March 7, 2013 at 5:03 PM
Isakson voted for cloture, but against confirmation.
steebo77 on March 7, 2013 at 5:04 PM
Updated list
Updated list
Alexander (R-TN), Yea
Burr (R-NC), Yea
Coats (R-IN), Yea
Coburn (R-OK), Yea
Collins (R-ME), Yea
Corker (R-TN), Yea
Flake (R-AZ), Yea
Graham (R-SC), Yea
Hatch (R-UT), Yea
Kirk (R-IL), Yea
McCain (R-AZ), Yea
Murkowski (R-AK), Yea
Rubio (R-FL), Yea
Schadenfreude on March 7, 2013 at 5:08 PM
Let this be a lesson to establishment politicians everywhere: standing on principle not only is the right thing to do; it’s also popular.
Inkblots on March 7, 2013 at 5:29 PM
Unless confirmation fails, cloture is the vote that counts.
besser tot als rot on March 7, 2013 at 5:33 PM
The Judd thing is a sideshow. But McConnell should be very afraid of a primary. Every Senator up in 2014 should.
alwaysfiredup on March 7, 2013 at 5:36 PM
Standing on principle? That will never catch on in the Republican party.
RoadRunner on March 7, 2013 at 5:44 PM
In that case, here are GOP the yeas for cloture:
And the GOP nays:
steebo77 on March 7, 2013 at 5:47 PM