Rand Paul to join 2016 hopefuls at Faith & Freedom forum

[jct74]

Rand Paul to join 2016 hopefuls at Faith & Freedom forum

Josh Hafner
April 20, 2015

Rand Paul is the latest Republican presidential hopeful to sign on for the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition's kickoff event this Saturday in Waukee, the group's president confirmed Monday.

He'll also speak earlier in the day at stops in Vinton and Grinnell, the campaign said.

Paul, an announced candidate and U.S. senator from Kentucky, will speak alongside these other Republican aspirants: Rick Perry, Marco Rubio, Mike Huckabee, Ted Cruz, Bobby Jindal, Carly Fiorina, Scott Walker and Rick Santorum.

Paul has so far avoided cattle-call gatherings of presidential aspirants in Iowa, including January's Iowa Freedom Summit and the Iowa Ag Summit in March. The trip marks Paul's return to the state following his campaign's Iowa kick-off in Iowa City on April 10.

Before the forum, Paul will speak at 11:30 at the American Legion Hall (105 N.R Ave) in Vinton. Later, at 2:30, he'll speak at the Drake Community Library (930 Park St.) in Grinnell.

...

read more:
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2015/04/20/rand-paul-faith-freedom/26077505/

[Millennial Conservatarian]

Puke

Rand, stop pandering to the Santorum crowd. You're not only destroying your general election appeal, you're not gaining any supporters. These people hated your father and hate you because you'll never be a sufficient enough theocrat/Israel hysteric

[CaptUSA]

Puke

Rand, stop pandering to the Santorum crowd. You're not only destroying your general election appeal, you're not gaining any supporters. These people hated your father and hate you because you'll never be a sufficient enough theocrat/Israel hysteric

Just stop. Rand will make his appeal to these voters in a way that doesn't undermine his other efforts. Remember, if he is going to win the nomination, he will have to garner at least some support from these folks. Ron Paul went there as well.

[William Tell]

Puke

Rand, stop pandering to the Santorum crowd. You're not only destroying your general election appeal, you're not gaining any supporters. These people hated your father and hate you because you'll never be a sufficient enough theocrat/Israel hysteric

Give me a break. Ron was plenty happy to speak at religious events. The devoutly religious were a very important part of his coalition. Rand will pick up voters, and hopefully just enough to put him over the top.

Most Republican primary and caucus goers are not social liberal atheists.

[Millennial Conservatarian]

Give me a break. Ron was plenty happy to speak at religious events. The devoutly religious were a very important part of his coalition. Rand will pick up voters, and hopefully just enough to put him over the top.

Most Republican primary and caucus goers are not social liberal atheists.
The evangelicals who are libertarian are already in Rand's camp. Libertarianism is, at its core, entirely antithetical to the type of society the religious right envisions for America.

[radiofriendly]

Religious people can turn out voters like you wouldn't believe.

I'm happily religious.

[CPUd]

It's not a stretch for Rand to appear at these things. Here's one from 2013:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EtkpcTIzqk

[cero]

Most Republican primary and caucus goers are not social liberal atheists.
Yes and neither is anyone here. retarded comment from you IMO

we saw how well the pandering from Ron went with the Steve deace crowd...hope it goes better for rand

[CaptUSA]

The evangelicals who are libertarian are already in Rand's camp. Libertarianism is, at its core, entirely antithetical to the type of society the religious right envisions for America.

Where are you getting this stuff?! Methinks you are buying into some false caricatures.

[William Tell]

The evangelicals who are libertarian are already in Rand's camp. Libertarianism is, at its core, entirely antithetical to the type of society the religious right envisions for America.
Complete nonsense.

Did Rand win his Senate seat by only appealing to libertarians? No, he convinced the 'religious right' to support him. I guess they didn't get the memo that Rand's ideas are antithetical to theirs. Most of the local liberty candidates I have supported are from, and appeal to the religious portion of the party. Its all about how you frame the debate, most evangelicals agree that rights come from God, not government when the debate is framed that way.

[jmdrake]

The evangelicals who are libertarian are already in Rand's camp. Libertarianism is, at its core, entirely antithetical to the type of society the religious right envisions for America.

I think the religious right, having lost the culture war, is ripe for hearing a "The government shouldn't make you cater a gay wedding" message. It's the left right now like the Rhiannas of the world that seek to use the levers of power to enforce their agenda. And Ron went so far as to push for a law barring the SCOTUS from hearing any cases forcing states to recognize gay marriage. I'm sure that would be music to the ears of most beleagured religious conservatives who are counting down the days until the SCOTUS rules on whether or not to force all states to grant marriage licenses to gays. Oh but when Ron takes actions like that it's okay because....well it just is. When Rand says he personally doesn't approve of gay marriage, but takes the exact same possition as Ron (actually a less anti-gay position than Ron) people freak out. I don't get it.

[William Tell]

we saw how well the pandering from Ron went with the Steve deace crowd...hope it goes better for rand

Did you? Ron got 21% of the vote officially, he almost won the Caucus. Evangelicals were a very important part of his coalition. Where would he have been without them? 10%? 15%?

I can assure you he would have done worse by not reaching out to the main voting block in the Iowa Caucus.

[William Tell]

According to entrance polls, Ron came in a strong second for the Evangelical vote in Iowa with 18%.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election_in_Iowa,_2012# Entrance_poll

[Millennial Conservatarian]

I think the religious right, having lost the culture war, is ripe for hearing a "The government shouldn't make you cater a gay wedding" message. It's the left right now like the Rhiannas of the world that seek to use the levers of power to enforce their agenda. And Ron went so far as to push for a law barring the SCOTUS from hearing any cases forcing states to recognize gay marriage. I'm sure that would be music to the ears of most beleagured religious conservatives who are counting down the days until the SCOTUS rules on whether or not to force all states to grant marriage licenses to gays. Oh but when Ron takes actions like that it's okay because....well it just is. When Rand says he personally doesn't approve of gay marriage, but takes the exact same possition as Ron (actually a less anti-gay position than Ron) people freak out. I don't get it.

You have a point... I guess Ron was seen by the establishment media as such a fringe libertarian outlier that they didn't really bother? I think it's best for Rand to be low-key on the gay issue, he gets asked it constantly and his most recent response was actually fantastic because it had the potential to make both sides happy... BUT his words will be picked apart and misconstrued.... He didn't ever say "separate but equal", what he really said is that there can be marriage with a religious connotation and marriage in the form of a legal contract... But back to the main point... They see Rand as a legitimate threat and are going to do anything and everything to make him out to be "just another Republican"... He can't let that happen and whether or not some more evangelical supporters want to admit it or not, Rand AND Ron both have significant appeal to social liberals/moderates not because they're socially liberal but because they're reasonable enough that they are seen as "acceptable"

[jmdrake]

You have a point... I guess Ron was seen by the establishment media as such a fringe libertarian outlier that they didn't really bother? I think it's best for Rand to be low-key on the gay issue, he gets asked it constantly and his most recent response was actually fantastic because it had the potential to make both sides happy... BUT his words will be picked apart and misconstrued.... He didn't ever say "separate but equal", what he really said is that there can be marriage with a religious connotation and marriage in the form of a legal contract... But back to the main point... They see Rand as a legitimate threat and are going to do anything and everything to make him out to be "just another Republican"... He can't let that happen and whether or not some more evangelical supporters want to admit it or not, Rand AND Ron both have significant appeal to social liberals/moderates not because they're socially liberal but because they're reasonable enough that they are seen as "acceptable"

You are overthinking this. Rand needs to get through the GOP primary. In the general election he will pick up quite a few independent votes. If Hillary tries to make the general election a referendum on gay marriage, she will lose 20 to 30 percent of the black vote and probably a higher percentage of the latino vote. There is a reason Obama didn't go pro gay marriage until after winning a second term. And gay advocates are really shooting themselves in the foot with the whole "You must serve pizza at my gay wedding" crap. Trust me. That's not playing well even among a lot of otherwise hardcore democrats.