Rand Paul Says "GOP of Old has Grown Stale and Moss-Covered"

Properly laying it on the line, Senator Rand Paul says GOP of old ‘has grown stale and moss-covered’

Fresh off his filibuster that captured the hearts of libertarian conservatives, Sen. Rand Paul told attendees Thursday at the Conservative Political Action Conference that the Republican Party has become “stale” and must return to basic constitutional principles if it wants to ignite a political revolution.

Mr. Paul was the star of the conservative “Facebook generation” youth movement that paraded across CPAC’s stage Thursday, joining others such as Sens. Marco Rubio, Mike Lee and Tim Scott — all of whom were elected after President George W. Bush left office.

“The GOP of old has grown stale and moss-covered,” Mr. Paul said. “The new GOP, the GOP that will win again, will need to embrace liberty in both the economic and personal sphere. If we are going to have a Republican Party that can win, liberty needs to be the backbone of the GOP.”

Mr. DeMint was scheduled to be a featured speaker at the “presidential dinner” — the final event of the evening.

But Mr. Paul, who impressed senators on both sides of the aisle with his recent information-seeking filibuster over the Obama administration’s policy on drone strikes, appeared to have the most enthusiastic support in attendance.

“I came with a message — a message for the president,” he said. “A message that is loud and clear. A message that doesn’t mince words.”

“Don’t drone me, bro!” shouted one audience member.

“Well,” Mr. Paul said with a laugh, “that’s not exactly what I was thinking. However, I think he might have distilled my 13-hour speech into three words.”

Real Clear Politics has a Rand Paul video as well as additional commentary.

The GOP of old has grown stale and moss-covered. I don’t think we need to name any names, do we? Our party is encumbered by an inconsistent approach to freedom. The new GOP will need to embrace liberty in both the economic and the personal sphere. If we’re going to have a Republican party that can win, liberty needs to be the backbone of the GOP. We must have a message that is broad, our vision must be broad, and that vision must be based on freedom.

There are millions of Americans, young and old, native and immigrant, black, white and brown, who simply seek to live free, to practice a religion, free to choose where their kids go to school, free to choose their own health care, free to keep the fruits of their labor, free to live without government constantly being on their back. I will stand for them. I will stand for you. I will stand for our prosperity and our freedom, and I ask everyone who values liberty to stand with me. Thank you. God bless America.

I stand with Rand. We need a fresh face and a breath of fresh air. Rand Paul offers both.

Mike “Mish” Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

Mike “Mish” Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.

Mish’s Global Economic Trend Analysis

Rand Paul Says "GOP of Old has Grown Stale and Moss-Covered"

Rand Paul"s #Filiblizzard Enters Its Sixth Hour

Starting at 1147ET, Rand Paul began his James-Joycean discussion on US-based Drone strikes, six hours later (and with some minor aid from Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)), he is still going. Have you ever felt so strongly about something that you were willing to talk about it for over six hours? From Cruz’s note that today is the 177th anniversary of the fall of (or stand at) the Alamo to Paul’s rhetorical (we think) question to the President: “Are you going to just drop a hellfire missile on Jane Fonda?” We suspect the night is yet young as the snowquester continues.

The Atlantic summarizes:

Rand Paul spent Wednesday doing something you don’t see very often—an honest-to-goodness, non-stop filibuster speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate. Lacking the 41 votes necessary to prevent a cloture vote that would block the nomination of John Brennan to be the CIA director, Paul chose to stall the old-fashioned way, through the original meaning of the talking filibuster. As long as Paul spoke (and stood), he held the Senate captive — and he had a lot to say about drones.

 

Paul opened by vowing to “speak until I can no longer speak.” He held true to that, though senators from several other states (including a Democrat from Oregon) came to the floor to ask questions, during which breaks Paul presumably attended to necessary personal needs.

 

Paul’s was the first talking filibuster since Bernie Sanders spoke for 8.5 hours back in 2010, beginning at around 11:45 a.m. and lasting well into the evening. Whether or not Paul’s intended audience — the president — paid any attention remains unclear.

By way of reference (via About.com), The record for the longest filibuster goes to U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, who spoke for 24 hours and 18 minutes against the Civil Rights Act of 1957, according to U.S. Senate records. Thurmond began speaking at 8:54 p.m. on Aug. 28 and continued until 9:12 p.m. the following evening, reciting the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, President George Washington’s farewell address and other historical documents along the way.

 

Some choice, totally out-of-context quotes, so far (via The Atlantic):

“If there was an ounce of courage in this body, I would not be here alone.”

 

“The point isn’t that any body in our country is Hitler…”

 

“If you’re going to kill people in America, you need to have rules and we need to know what those rules are. … I don’t want to find out that having seven days worth of food in your house is on the list.”

 

“To be bombed in your sleep? There’s nothing American about that.”

Live video (via The Washington Post):

 

The Twittersphere’s take on it all:

Tweets about “#filiblizzard”

Zero Hedge

Rand Paul"s #Filiblizzard Enters Its Sixth Hour

Rand Paul Keynote Speaker in Palatine, Illinois Monday, March 4th

Senator Rand Paul is the keynote speaker for a dinner fundraiser on Monday, March 4th, 2013 at 6PM at The Cotillion in Palatine Illinois.

Tickets are $ 100. I picked up a couple of them. If anyone would like to join me at my table for dinner and drinks after, you can get tickets through EventBrite.

Money goes to support Northwest Suburban Cook County Republican Township Organizations. Tuesday, February 26 is the last day for ticket sales, so please immediately

Mike “Mish” Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

Mike “Mish” Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.

Mish’s Global Economic Trend Analysis

Rand Paul Keynote Speaker in Palatine, Illinois Monday, March 4th