Rand Paul: Bevin’s Credibility Hurt by Inconsistency on Bailouts

[compromise]

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner...atrick-brennan

Kentucky senator Rand Paul thinks the credibility of Matt Bevin, a tea-party candidate challenging Senator Mitch McConnell, has been damaged by the controversy over his past endorsement of the 2008 Wall Street bailouts.

“Paul told reporters Monday that a lack of consistency can be harmful and said that applies to Bevin,” the AP reports.

McConnell’s support for the 2008 bailouts has been one of Bevin’s main lines of attack against the generally conservative Senate minority leader. Senator Rand Paul, who defeated a more established candidate in 2010 when making, like Bevin, his first run for political office, has endorsed McConnell, but says he’d decided to do so before Bevin had entered the race.

Bevin signed a letter to clients of an investment firm he was running in 2008 saying that the authorization of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) was a “positive development.” He now claims that he had to sign the letter as a regulatory matter, and couldn’t legally ask that his investment officer, who wrote the letter, change it. It’s just as likely, however, that Bevin could have run afoul of securities regulations by signing his name to something if he didn’t believe it. ​

[serenityrick]

Ugh Rand....

It was already proven that Bevin's signature on those papers wasn't an endorsement of the opinion expressed in that letter. He was never supportive of the bailouts.

EDIT - Not sure what Rand is doing here. He's already receiving a ton of grief from tea party members because of his support for McConnell.. Commenting on Bevin's credibility will only exacerbate that. I know there's a method to the madness but I have yet to see it in this case.

[TaftFan]

McConnell is killing enthusiasm for Rand. What a shame.

[juleswin]

Rachel Maddow could have easily said after his appearance on TRM show

Rand Paul’s Credibility Hurt by Inconsistency on civil right act.

Rand should really try and stay out of this fight as much as he can cos his continued vocal support for Mitch McConnel is bumming me out.

[ObiRandKenobi]

one thing about mitch mcconnell is that he is never hypocritical or inconsistent.

[Brett85]

EDIT - Not sure what Rand is doing here. He's already receiving a ton of grief from tea party members because of his support for McConnell.. Commenting on Bevin's credibility will only exacerbate that. I know there's a method to the madness but I have yet to see it in this case.

The last poll had Bevin with something like 16% support. The people who are extremely mad with Rand about his endorsement are an extremely small percentage of Republican voters who won't do much to affect the outcome of the 2016 GOP Presidential primary.

[TheTyke]

The last poll had Bevin with something like 16% support. The people who are extremely mad with Rand about his endorsement are an extremely small percentage of Republican voters who won't do much to affect the outcome of the 2016 GOP Presidential primary.

Can we stop repeating the establishment's narrative? It's just doing their work for them. Why is that poll being repeated as gospel, but not all the other ones that have him higher?

It's like pushing that PPP poll that said Rand was losing KY to Conway by 12%, when demand for Rand Paul gear was so high, the state fair booth used up all the supplies in the state. Anyone on the ground knew it was ridiculous.

[Mr.NoSmile]

Rand should really try and stay out of this fight as much as he can cos his continued vocal support for Mitch McConnel is bumming me out.

True, though the unfortunate part about saying he should stay out of the race is the people who feel he should drop his support for McConnell and support Bevin. By doing that, he'd still be playing a part in the race.

[Rudeman]

It's true though, it does hurt his momentum. Beating McConnell isn't an easy task.

[NIU Students for Liberty]

But McConnell's previous support for the Patriot Act and the Iraq War doesn't affect his credibility?

[Brett85]

But McConnell's previous support for the Patriot Act and the Iraq War doesn't affect his credibility?

Just about everyone realizes that this endorsement was just a formality, just like when Ron endorsed all of the Republican incumbents in Texas.

[Rudeman]

But McConnell's previous support for the Patriot Act and the Iraq War doesn't affect his credibility?

For Bevin to win he needs the Tea Party type support, enthusiasm and ground game (and even then it would be a tough task to accomplish). McConnell has the establishment so his support for the Patriot Act and Iraq War doesn't really affect his credibility (same sort of thing with Graham and McCain), whereas the bailouts was a huge issue for the Tea Party.


It would be like if someone was running as the religious right candidate and it was found out that he signed a letter in support of late term abortions or gay marriage. That would likely hurt his/her momentum, even if the other candidate was very socially liberal.

[ObiRandKenobi]

Just about everyone realizes that this endorsement was just a formality,

LOL at dumb people who think endorsements should be genuine

[Rudeman]

Just about everyone realizes that this endorsement was just a formality, just like when Ron endorsed all of the Republican incumbents in Texas.

It is what it is. People here should know more than anyone else that the smallest things turn into huge issues.

[familydog]

...and Ron Paul was a racist because of those newsletters. If Rand is going to play attack dog for McConnell, he needs to pick a better issue.

[TheTyke]

Anyone wonder why a flood of negative forum threads popped up across 3 different sub-forums all of the sudden? Because Bevin recently gained some serious momentum, and is appearing more electable than the incumbent in general election polls, the establishment had to let loose a volley of smears to distract and dampen the root of those supporting Bevin most strongly. As the comments on the article note, National Review has made hay turning this bogus smear into several stories. It's unfortunate that some fall for it, and a lot of it ends up here. I have the feeling though, that the establishment was forced to play these cards far earlier than they wanted to, and as was said in Lord of the Rings: "The hasty stroke goes most oft astray."

That also means we can win if we don't let it deter or have its desired effect on us.

Just wish I had gotten around to posting all the positive developments and stories as they broke over the last little while. Been busy on the ground in KY, and didn't want to flood the place with Bevin stuff, or imply this is more important than other races... but apparently if we fail to do so, the only stuff that gets posted will be negative. This forum is evidently on the front lines of the PR battle, and support for the liberty candidate should not be presumed. I guess we should take that as a compliment though... we've become the people who will decide these elections.

[jtstellar]

so we're focusing a lot on this race in order to have rand prove something.. lol.. perfect kid's dare mentality

[T.hill]

Title is sort of misleading. He just said that inconsistency can be harmful to candidates, it wasnt' really implying Bevin was guilty of anything. He just answered a question.