Ron Paul

Republican Split On Obama’s Cuban Initiative Will Cause Turmoil In GOP Presidential Race

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President Barack Obama’s decision to change policy toward Cuba is already stirring up controversy in the Republican Party Presidential race.

Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona went along on the trip to Cuba to bring back Alan Gross and an American spy in exchange for three Cuban spies, and he has long believed that the 54 year old policy of isolation of Cuba has been wrong, and needed to be revisited.

But Flake is not running for President, so he is a rare standout for his views on Cuba in the Republican Party, although his actions and words insure a tough race for reelection, when he comes up in 2018.

But the big news is that Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, a full fledged Presidential aspirant, has taken the same stand, just as his father, former Texas Congressman Ron Paul, took on Cuba for many years, making him a pariah in the Republican Party.

Rand Paul has come under bitter attack by Florida Senator Marco Rubio and Texas Senator Ted Cruz, two rivals of his for the nomination, and both Cuban Americans. And others in Republican leadership have also joined in the attack, including Jeb Bush.

The question is whether Rand Paul has forfeited any chance to be the GOP Presidential nominee by his decision to back Barack Obama on this initiative.

It will, most certainly, stir up the race, and make future attitudes and policies toward Cuba a key issue in the Republican Presidential primaries, as it is likely that the critics of Obama’s changed policy will promise to restore the isolationist policy that has been in existence for a half century, were any of them to become President.

Ironically, though, by 2017, we will be nearing the end of the Castro brothers in power, as Raul Castro has said he will retire in 2018, when he is 87, and Fidel Castro is 92. So the end is near for this two brother dominance of the future of Cuba!

Senator Elizabeth Warren And Senator Rand Paul Gaining Attention In 2016 Presidential Race!

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Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and Kentucky Senator Rand Paul are gaining a lot of attention for the 2016 Presidential race with their recent speeches and campaigning.

Warren, a freshman Senator, who gained fame from her campaign for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has stirred the imagination of left wing Democrats, who are unhappy with the comparatively centrist campaign of Hillary Clinton.

Warren has made issues of unemployment compensation, raising the minimum wage, attacking Wall Street, and calling for revising the college student loan system, which has effectively enslaved millions of students in unending college loan debt, due to high interest rates.

She comes across as folksy, not bad for a former Harvard professor, and has gained large audiences in red states such as Kentucky and West Virginia, where she has campaigned for candidates Alison Lungergan Grimes and Natalie Tennant for Senate seats. Remember, however, that she was born and lived for years in Oklahoma.

She is a new face, in the sense of national exposure, but only two years younger than Hillary Clinton.

Paul, the son of former Congressman Ron Paul of Texas, has gained attention by his attack on Texas Governor Rick Perry and former Vice President Dick Cheney, who have both called for returning troops to Iraq. Paul makes it clear that America should not return to involvement in Iraq, and he seems to have the American people on his side, based on public opinion polls. He comes across as principled, while neocons attack him as isolationist, which he denies.

It is still hard to imagine either Warren or Paul gaining the nominations of their parties for 2016, but anything is possible, and they are certainly adding a lot of interest into the race!

Rand Paul And Rupert Murdoch As His Guest At The Kentucky Derby: A “Marriage” Made In Heaven?

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Kentucky Senator Rand Paul is working at wooing Rupert Murdoch, and invited him as his guest at the Kentucky Derby horse race last weekend.

It made quite a splash in the newspapers and on cable tv, that the Australian tycoon in his 80s, one of the most powerful conservative giants, as the owner of Fox News Channel, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, and The Weekly Standard, was allowing himself to be the guest of the son of the libertarian giant, former Congressman Ron Paul of Texas.

The question is whether this means that Rand Paul will eventually gain the backing of Murdoch and his top lieutenants in the conservative spectrum of politics, including Roger Ailes and Bill Kristol, among others.

At this point, it would seem highly unlikely, but it could be a “shotgun” marriage, although the odds of Paul being the GOP Presidential nominee, let alone the winner of the Presidency in 2016, is highly speculative!

Republicans, The Lincoln Lie, And Rand Paul’s Ambitions For President In 2016

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The Republican Party loves to claim a connection to Abraham Lincoln, even though they have totally repudiated everything he stands for.

They honor his memory, particularly now on the 149th Anniversary of his assassination by John Wilkes Booth. But they favor states rights, nullification, and support back tracking on civil rights, all of which the Confederate and Border South advocated when they were Democrats, and now when they are Republicans, and control most seats in Congress and most state legislatures in those states.

But when seeking the Presidency, these Southern and Border state Republicans have no problem in trying to appeal to groups they have been working against.

A great example is Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, known for his doubts about the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and about overseas military bases and involvement in world affairs.

Suddenly, while in New Hampshire appealing for support for President, he expresses concern for groups that have been totally ignored by his party, including African Americans, Latinos and Hispanics, women, and poor people, although there is no evidence of a real transformation.

And now he is no longer willing to condemn Dick Cheney and the Iraq War, and backs away from his isolationist views of the past, and that must make his father, former Texas Congressman Ron Paul, wince!

It is clear that Rand Paul is a total charlatan, a phony, who cannot be believed or trusted, either the “old” libertarian Rand Paul, or the newer, transformed model, to be our President!

Liz Cheney Vs. Rand Paul, And The Rachel Maddow “Connection” On Iraq War

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Fox News commentator Liz Cheney, formerly a Senate candidate from Wyoming, who withdrew from the race due to poor polling numbers, is the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney.

She is as much a nightmare as her infamous father, who is the hawk of all hawks, the ultimate neoconservative, who manipulated us by lies to enter the war against Iraq, a losing war, that emboldened the more dangerous neighbor, Iran, over the past eleven years.

Liz Cheney defends her father while attacking Tea Party Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, who has denounced the Iraq War as an unwise and mistaken action.

But Liz Cheney has claimed that Rand Paul is mouthing the main talking points of MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow, who has produced a documentary, already shown on that channel, denouncing the war, and showing how it was based on lies and deception at the cost of 4,400 American lies and over 30,000 wounded, many seriously, while Cheney enriched himself immensely through his Haliburton connections.

The idea that Rand Paul has, somehow, been working alongside Rachel Maddow is laughable, as she has been a major critic of his libertarianism and other views, and is no “friend” of Rand, or Ron Paul, his dad and the former Texas Congressman.

This is a sign of the splits developing in the GOP, not only the Cheneys and other neoconservatives (such as former UN Ambassador John Bolton) against Rand Paul, a likely frontrunner for the Presidential nomination in 2016; but also the hard line right wingers against former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and his approach to the immigration issue, particularly undocumented immigrants.

Anyone who would deny the Rachel Maddow expose against Cheney and others who prosecuted the Iraq War on false pretenses is a fool, and the words to describe Liz Cheney are not printable here on this blog!

Senator Rand Paul Becomes Poll Leader For GOP Presidential Nomination: What Does It Mean?

Ronald 16 Comments

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, the son of libertarian favorite Ron Paul, former Congressman from Texas, has suddenly emerged as the leader in two polls–the CPAC straw poll and the New Hampshire straw poll, both in the past ten days.

This is seen as very surprising to many observers, and it certainly upsets Establishment Republicans who see Rand Paul as far from who they prefer to be the Republican Presidential nominee in 2016.

Rand Paul seems to appeal to young people, who also liked his dad, due to their desire to cut down American involvement in overseas interventions, but that is seen by critics as an unrealistic isolationism, which becomes more problematical with the Russian takeover of Crimea, and the possible intervention in the rest of Ukraine.

Rand Paul’s desire to cut the federal government and spending dramatically in a downward spiral also appeals to many young people, but worries those concerned about the growth of poverty and the decline of the middle class.

And Rand Paul’s statements about the Civil Rights Act of 1964, in regards to the dislike of “forcing” businesses to serve customers they do not want to serve, is also alarming to ethnic minorities, particularly African Americans and Latinos.

Rand Paul’s opposition to women controlling their own reproductive lives also is an alarm bell to many.

There are many who think Rand Paul is a shallow person, who should not even be considered Presidential material.

Are we ready for a libertarian isolationist in the 21st century, after the growth of government in the 20th century, and engaging in wars to promote freedom and liberty and justice in the world?

Are we ready to negate TR, Wilson FDR, and LBJ in domestic affairs, and turn inward in foreign policy?

These are the questions all Americans have to consider, and the thought of Rand Paul possibly becoming President terrifies many Republicans, as well as American citizens who feel that he cannot walk in the shoes of our greatest Presidents!

The Coming GOP Battle Between Ted Cruz And Rand Paul: Neither Good For The Republican Party!

Ronald 6 Comments

It is now clear, after the CPAC convention, that the battle for the soul of the Republican Party is, most likely, to be between Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Kentucky Senator Rand Paul.

Cruz represents the aggressive, in your face, bombastic image of the Tea Party, while Paul represents the libertarian, isolationist view of the same Tea Party.

Both hate the national government, and both want to cut domestic social spending, and have no desire to deal with the problems of the working class and the poor.

Both want to undermine the GOP establishment, and work against the idea of working with President Obama, and accepting that part of politics is negotiation and compromise.

Both men have very little ability to win a national election, as both are seen as extreme, and unable to take “Blue” states away from the Democrats.

Both appeal to those who want to put America back in the age of laissez faire of the Gilded Age, and want to assist the one percent who have become more wealthy and powerful at the expense of the middle class.

Cruz has a demagogic manner about him, reminding many of Joseph McCarthy in appearance and style, but he is seen as dangerous because despite his egotism, he is clearly very smart. However, he is willing to throw other Republicans “under the bus”, with his working against fellow Texas Senator John Cornyn, and also resisting Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, as well as attacking past Republican Presidential nominees Bob Dole, John McCain, and Mitt Romney. Cruz has no ethics when it comes to pursuing his own ambitions, and he is extremely vain and arrogant. Imagining him dealing with foreign leaders is an absolute horror!

Paul, on the other hand, supports the idea that businesses should be able to reject customers based on race, being critical of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. He is a libertarian like his dad, former Texas Congressman Ron Paul, and believes that philosophy is realistic in the 21st century. He would love to cut defense spending enough so that we would withdraw from many of our bases around the world , an appealing idea, but not a realistic one. He comes across as more a visionary than Cruz, more pleasant than Cruz, willing to give respect to the elder statesmen of the party, and work with Establishment Republicans in the Senate, while disagreeing with them. He seems, overall, not as bright and ambitious as Cruz is.

Both are horrible choices for President, and both would lose, but the feeling is that Cruz is more of a threat, although the belief is that he would crash and burn, once the election campaign was in full swing. It seems likely that Paul would do better in electoral votes, and would be more liked personally, but still could not win a national election.

The ultimate question is why the Republican Party seems incapable of finding a truly great Presidential candidate, although in the long run, that does not matter as the Electoral College math dooms them in 2016, as long as they continue to alienate many major voting groups.

So the decline of the GOP, by a massive electoral defeat in 2016, seems more likely as the clock ticks toward the election year!

Rand Paul And Bill Clinton: A Losing Strategy!

Ronald 2 Comments

Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul Has decided that he is willing to bring up the controversies surrounding Bill Clinton’s indiscretions a generation ago as his tactic to win the Presidency of the United States in 2016.

This is a strategy that will fail, as it does not dignify Rand Paul to talk about an issue that is dead and gone a long time ago.

Let me make it clear, that this author deplored the behavior of Bill Clinton, and at the time, took the position that the President should resign over his misbehavior, but should NOT be impeached.

Be that as it may, Bill Clinton suffered total humiliation and exposure, was impeached, was found not guilty by the US Senate, finished his term, and has gone on to achieve a level of popularity for a former President unmatched by any in American history, even Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, or Ronald Reagan in their retirement years.

Bill Clinton has done a lot of good with his Clinton Initiative, following the work at good deeds only matched in retirement by former President Jimmy Carter, who has not been as fortunate to be as popular and respected and admired as Bill Clinton.

While his private behavior then, and by rumor even now, is reprehensible, Bill Clinton is no worse than millions of American men, and many Republican and Democratic Congressmen, Senators, and Governors. The difference is that he was a President, but then when one examines the sexual exploits of other Presidents, he is far from unique.

The point is that no matter how much one might condemn his behavior, he did not create any “victims”, as Monica Lewinsky was not a child, was not an innocent, knew precisely what she was doing, wanted to do what she did, and is responsible for her own behavior.

If anything, Rand Paul needs to answer for his voting record, for his statements against the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and if one is going to bring up the past, let him explain the wacky behavior and voting record and associations of his libertarian father, former Congressman Ron Paul, with racist and secessionist groups over his long career.

One might say that would be unfair, but would it be any more unfair than to try to harm Hillary Clinton by attacking her husband’s behavior, which has caused much grief for her, behavior which she personally is not responsible for, and for her to have to hear him being called a “sexual predator” by a man who cannot walk in her husband’s shoes in his level of intelligence, accomplishment, and historic role in American history?

Senator Rand Paul, Bill Clinton, And Hillary Clinton

Ronald 7 Comments

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, a clear contender for the Republican Presidential nomination in 2016, has decided to go the route of attacking Democratic front runner Hillary Clinton through her husband, former President Bill Clinton.

Yesterday, on MEET THE PRESS, Paul brought up the sex scandal of the 42nd President sixteen years ago, reviving memory of Monica Lewinsky, and the impeachment of Bill Clinton.

No one is trying to defend Bill Clinton on his reprehensible, disgraceful, and potentially dangerous behavior, as if Monica Lewinsky had been a spy or connected to Organized Crime, which thankfully she was not, it could have been a danger to America’s national security. One cannot forget that President John F. Kennedy WAS involved with a Mafia woman, Judith Campbell Exner, a terrible gamble and dangerous action in the time of the Cold War and the battle against Organized Crime being key issues in American politics.

So it is not as if any ethical person was not shocked by Clinton’s misbehavior, and this author condemned the whole situation at that time. But the Republicans acted holier than thou, at a time when Newt Gingrich, Henry Hyde, Bob Livingston and other Congressional Republicans were engaged in sexual affairs outside of marriage themselves! What hypocrisy on a grand scale! Do not forget that the Republicans moved to impeach Clinton, and that his future obituary will always include the scandal and the impeachment in an early paragraph. But the impeachment was not justified, and the GOP failed to remove Clinton, and they suffered in public opinion, and Clinton’s popularity soared, and remains extremely high after 16 years since those events!

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton chose to stay in her marriage, which is her business, and went on to a distinguished career in the US Senate and as Secretary of State, and she deserves to be judged on her own accomplishments, not the shortcomings of her husband!

This tactic of Rand Paul will backfire in a major way, and he needs to “get a life”, and spend less time attacking Bill Clinton, and more time trying to justify why a person who came to office on the back of his dad, former Texas Congressman Ron Paul, and has done nothing positive in three years, except to embarrass himself and make one wonder how he became an eye specialist, although not certified by the national organization, seems to think that he is qualified to be President of the United States!

Ted Cruz Repudiates His Canadian Citizenship In Ambition To Be President!

Ronald 7 Comments

Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, the bull in the China shop in the Republican Party, who has grand ambitions to be President of the United States, has taken quick action to trash his Canadian heritage, having been born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada in December 1970.

While technically a citizen of both Canada and the US, due to his mother’s American citizenship, Cruz has now declared that he has no interest in remaining a dual citizen, because he knows that could cause him grief as he seeks to take over the Republican Party. He has already made enemies in the GOP establishment with his vicious attacks on other Republican Senators, as well as the opposition Democrats, the news media, and higher education, including his Harvard Law School background, calling the faculty there a bunch of Marxists, reminding us of Senator Joseph McCarthy, who he, ironically, greatly resembles in appearance, demeanor, and behavior!

Cruz represents the calling card of Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain and other malcontents,who wants to take the Republican Party to the extreme far Right, and will take no prisoners!

It is clear by his action on his Canadian citizenship that Cruz is running for President without announcing it this early, and that he will do anything and everything to destroy any GOP opponent, and at this point, his key rival seems to be Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, the son of former Congressman Ron Paul, who inherits the allegiance of many young people who see the father as a god like figure with his libertarian beliefs.

Both Paul and Cruz have the allegiance of the Tea Party Movement, but Cruz cannot be called a libertarian, and the holy war that will ensue between the two will, at this point, likely favor Cruz over Paul.

So at this point, it seems a good bet to believe that Cruz will overcome Paul and also, his fellow Cuban, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, and that he will be the Republican Presidential nominee in 2016, at age 45.

His candidacy will draw a lot of attention and controversy, and Cruz will not care how many enemies he makes on his road to being the opponent of Hillary Clinton, his most likely opponent, or any other Democrat who might emerge, including Joe Biden.

And when one looks at the Electoral College math, it is clear that Ted Cruz is likely to be the GOP Presidential nominee, but his chances of becoming our 45th President are next to zero, and that Clinton, Biden, or whoever the Democratic nominee in 2016 is, will win a landslide victory, greater in electoral votes than Barack Obama in 2012!

And part of that great Democratic victory in 2016 will likely include Texas, as the state is moving toward “Blue” status, and it is ironic that Cruz, easily elected in Texas in 2012, will help create the Democratic majority by his personality, confrontational attitude, and refusal to understand that if one insults Mexican Americans, woman, African Americans, labor supporters, environmentalists, and gays, there is no way that his party can ever win back the White House!

So after a smashing defeat, Cruz will be history as a loser, and the GOP will finally, if it has any common sense, return to the moderate mainstream center, or else it will finally be in the dustbins of history after 2016!