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View Full Version : Rand Attempting to Draw Obama Out of the Shadows?




AuH20
05-21-2010, 11:12 AM
Anyone else have this gut feeling? He seems adamant about engaging in a fierce dialogue with the President. It's smart politics. Now the question that begs asking? Will Obama take the bait?

Stary Hickory
05-21-2010, 11:14 AM
Rand is running for POTUS. Right now. I have noticed this, he does not conduct himself like a man who is running just for Senate.

TonySutton
05-21-2010, 11:14 AM
He can win a lot of votes by campaigning against Obama. I think it is a good move. There are several positive angles it can take.

AuH20
05-21-2010, 11:16 AM
Rand is running for POTUS. Right now. I have noticed this, he does not conduct himself like a man who is running just for Senate.

There clearly is a void of leadership in the republican party. Very few republicans possess the courage to take the president head on and directly confront him, in large part due to his personal popularity and bi-racial makeup. I think Rand is attempting to grab the mantle of leadership by directly engaging the president in a war of words, with the tea party at his back.

yokna7
05-21-2010, 11:17 AM
He needs to play the game though, at least until election time. He's getting hammered for the CRB and BP comments. I agree with what he said but not for a would be freshman senator. He actually used the term 'un-american'. ugh.

Aratus
05-21-2010, 11:17 AM
this will put the whole crowley and gates cheery beers back on the front burner
if obama asks rand paul why he quotes barry goldwater and rand explains why or
does it put the whole controversy on the back burner as real issues are talked about?

Aratus
05-21-2010, 11:18 AM
"un american" = h.u.a.c = tritely cold war...?

Mini-Me
05-21-2010, 11:22 AM
Anyone else have this gut feeling? He seems adamant about engaging in a fierce dialogue with the President. It's smart politics. Now the question that begs asking? Will Obama take the bait?

While I do not think Rand is literally running for President right now (i.e. I think he actually intends on a full Senate term), I do at least agree with Stary Hickory in the figurative sense. Rand is not just quietly setting himself up as a single freshman Senator, because that would only net him one seat. Instead, he seems to be setting himself up as the new voice of the Republican Party. Considering taking over the GOP has been the liberty movement's primary political strategy for a long time, it makes a lot of sense.

yokna7
05-21-2010, 11:22 AM
"un american" = h.u.a.c = tritely cold war...?

I think it is synonymous with douchebaggery as of late. It's a meaningless term, it supposes that the citizens have a common idea of what that means. That is impossible. I am personally against any assimilation that would justify the validity of the term.

now "constitutional" is a good word..

Aratus
05-21-2010, 11:25 AM
we do have tensions on the korean peninsula --- had to ask...

Juan McCain
05-21-2010, 11:30 AM
... Will Obama take the bait?


He can win a lot of votes by campaigning against Obama. I think it is a good move. There are several positive angles it can take.

With the WH Press Secretary already getting asked and confronted with this, it looks like the new
de facto leader of the Tea Party anti-establishment anti-incumbent movement is Rand Paul . . .

Stary Hickory
05-21-2010, 11:32 AM
He needs to play the game though, at least until election time. He's getting hammered for the CRB and BP comments. I agree with what he said but not for a would be freshman senator. He actually used the term 'un-american'. ugh.

It's war guys, always has been. A war of ideas, and really if peaceful liberty minded folks don't fight to keep themselves free they will not be. I kind of view it as a do or die thing. There is no reason to worry about what the left will do or the Neocon right....there is no time to worry, just have to push forward and make things happen.

Andrew-Austin
05-21-2010, 11:34 AM
Anyone else have this gut feeling? He seems adamant about engaging in a fierce dialogue with the President. It's smart politics. Now the question that begs asking? Will Obama take the bait?

Probably not, its pretty obvious what he is doing.

RyanRSheets
05-21-2010, 11:35 AM
Rand's name has been at the top of Google News so many times since Tuesday, I think at this point he has a real shot at the presidency by 2016. Just look how much talk there is about him!

Stary Hickory
05-21-2010, 11:35 AM
Obama would not survive a head to head confrontation with a well informed liberty candidate. At this point probably he couldn't handle a homeless bum off the street.

AuH20
05-21-2010, 11:37 AM
Obama would not survive a head to head confrontation with a well informed liberty candidate. At this point probably he couldn't handle a homeless bum off the street.

On top it, I speculate that Obama has been lulled into this false sense of security that he's dealing with your typical republican. However, Rand is anything but. Rand is a throwback to Goldwater. The same verbal games he used to dazzle RINO John McCain will not work.

Andrew-Austin
05-21-2010, 11:40 AM
Obama would not survive a head to head confrontation with a well informed liberty candidate. At this point probably he couldn't handle a homeless bum off the street.

Well Obama is in a position to pick his battles. He could be the next Rachel Maddow to call out Rand on something controversial or something he stated rather awkwardly. In whatever the conflict is specifically about Rand could be right, but what matters is the overall public perception on that specific issue which Obama could conceivably win. Its not as simple as you say.

As for him "running for President", I think he is only running right now to becoming an influential Senator. Too early to tell.

Aratus
05-21-2010, 11:42 AM
keep in mind that alan keyes is not a stupid man and he got senate race smucked even worse than trey grayson just did...

Stary Hickory
05-21-2010, 11:42 AM
On top it, I speculate that Obama has been lulled into this false sense of security that he's dealing with your typical republican. However, Rand is anything but. Rand is a throwback to Goldwater. The same verbal games he used to dazzle RINO John McCain will not work.

Yeah this is true, A articulate Liberty candidate is impossible to attack really. The only way that they have dealt with it so far is by ignoring them and not giving them a voice. A libertarian message is the message of hope and it's the truth.

A speaker who can articulate it well and not back down is unstoppable. Goldwater, was good, but he did not find a common connect very well. You have to understand how to communicate it perfectly. Not an easy task at all.

Mini-Me
05-21-2010, 11:45 AM
Well Obama is in a position to pick his battles. He could be the next Rachel Maddow to call out Rand on something controversial or something he stated rather awkwardly. In whatever the conflict is specifically about Rand could be right, but what matters is the overall public perception on that specific issue which Obama could conceivably win. Its not as simple as you say.

As for him "running for President", I think he is only running right now to becoming an influential Senator. Too early to tell.

This is a good point. Obama would get demolished in a head-to-head debate, but that is unlikely to ever happen. Rand cannot realistically run for President until 2016, at which point Obama would not be on the ballot anyway. Instead, Obama can just continue with the "Rand is a coldhearted racist" meme, saying something like, "Rand would have a man like me outside shivering in the cold because nobody wanted to serve me."

In any case, I agree with your last point; he's only "running for President" figuratively, in the sense that he wants to become the new voice of the Republican Party in the Senate rather than just a meek freshman Senator.

squarepusher
05-21-2010, 11:49 AM
Rand is running for POTUS. Right now. I have noticed this, he does not conduct himself like a man who is running just for Senate.

wow, i wonder if this is really true, it could be really big. Paul/Schiff ticket?

Mini-Me
05-21-2010, 12:00 PM
wow, i wonder if this is really true, it could be really big. Paul/Schiff ticket?

It's not going to happen for 2012, because it would be a grievous insult to the people of Kentucky, and losing would prevent Rand from ever being able to run for any office again whatsoever...and he would indeed lose a Presidential race without any prior experience in office.