Just minutes ahead of his announcement on MSNBC this morning Schiff sent out an email to his mailing list announcing his candidacy for U.S. Senate. So chalk Schiff up as yet another “Ron Paul Republican” running for office in 2010.
You’re the First to Know
Dear Friend,
Well, it looks like you have made a difference.
Based upon the unbelievable support that I have receieved from 10,000 supporters like you, I have decided to throw my hat into the ring to challenge Chris Dodd for the honor of representing the state of Connecticut in the United States Senate. I will announce my candidacy on MSNBC’s Morning Joe show on Thursday, September 17 at 8:15am eastern time. Sorry for the short notice, but its important to honor commitments and keep these things under raps until the day the news breaks.
At this time last year I could not have imagined that that I would be making such an announcement today. I had never intended to become a candidate for public office. But these are extraordinary times. Our economy is falling apart in front of our eyes and Washington seems intent on making the wheels come off even faster. At a time when we desperately need adult supervison, the economically illiterate are running the show. As I love my country, it now seems clear that I must try to do something to help. The emotional and material support I have received from across the country has made the decision much easier.
So today it begins. As I’m sure you are aware, the rules in politics bear only scant resemblance to those which govern polite society. As a result, I am wading into strange waters, and I’m sure strange things will happen. But I promise to maintain my composure and give it my best shot. Based on the support that I have received thus far, I fully expect to be facing down Chris Dodd in the general election just 14 months from now.
As my campaign takes flight, I appreciate the patience and trust that you have shown. To commit time and money to a long shot candidate for high office is a hard choice. I hope to repay that trust with a first class campaign.
I look forward to your feedback and your continued support.
Rand Paul appeared for a 30 minute call-in segment on CSPAN’s Washington Journal this morning. Many topics were discussed. Check it out below in the 3 part playlist.
Peter Schiff has raised more than $1 million for a U.S. Senate bid he has yet to formally announce. But that could come on Thursday, when Schiff said he will state his decision on MSNBC’s Morning Joe show.
Schiff has an uphill battle, but he hasn’t really done much campaigning or fund raising yet is very close in the few polls that have been released. The GOP primary field is crowded and while many are focused on Dodd the primary must be won first.
I was lucky enough to acquire an advanced copy of the movie. It went straight from the mailbox into my DVD player. You are going to adore this movie. In fact, you are going to EVOL this movie.
Without revealing too many details (I don’t want this to be a spoiler) it covers all of the major grassroots events, efforts, and activists that were the essence of the Ron Paul Revolution. It begins right around the time Ron Paul announced his candidacy and culminates with the Rally for the Republic.
The creators utilize the “Walk4Freedom” (perfectly I might add) as an avenue to tie the “story” together. The story is told by the grassroots activists themselves, individuals such as Michael Maresco (Walk4Freedom, Ron Paul Rider, Ride For Honesty), Lawrence Lepard (Full Page Ron Paul Ad purchaser and organizer), Trevor Lyman (Money bomb promotion, Ron Paul Blimp), and many others.
We long time Ron Paul supporters got used to the typical underhanded attacks “our” candidate received during his Presidential bid. They became predictable and passé. Now that Rand Paul has proven he is a viable candidate in the 2010 Senatorial race in Kentucky similar attacks have begun.
With Ron Paul many of the attacks were leveled by the media itself. We even published a rather popular satire piece during the campaign called “The Official Media Guide To Attacking Ron Paul“.
Thus far with Rand Paul, most of the attacks are coming from the Left and the neo-conservative establishment friends of his Republican primary opponent Trey Grayson. The attacks themselves are quite typical.
The Left enjoys pointing out that white supremacist organizations have noticed Rand Paul’s campaign and support him. They like to point out that such extreme groups and individuals supporting Paul means that Paul himself somehow condones such beliefs. This is ludicrous. Guilt by association attacks are for the feeble-minded. No one, not even the Left’s Messiah Obama can control who chooses to support him.
Extremists like Jeremiah Wright and Louis Farrakhan both support Obama, but I don’t attack Obama because of it. Even though a much stronger case could be made for doing so due to the fact that Wright was Obama’s pastor and mentor for 20 years or so.
Believing in individual liberty and white supremacy are impossible bedfellows. Attacking Rand Paul this way tells us more about the attacker than the attacked.
The attacks from his own party are right out of the political attack playbook. What makes it humorous this time is that the charges against Rand Paul suggesting he isn’t a “real Republican” could be more easily made against his opponent. Trey Grayson used to be a Democrat and campaigned for Bill Clinton in the 90’s. At that time Rand Paul was busy founding an anti-tax group in Kentucky.
“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
At no point would I vote for limits of any sort on the right to bear arms as a federal congressman. There is simply no authorization in the Constitution that delegates this power from the people and the states to United States Congress. States and localities can decide details for themselves based on state constitutions, local preferences and the US constitution, which is the supreme law of the land.
As for my personal view, I have spent several years of my life in China, which bans guns, and this changed how I personally view this issue. There are four exceptions to China’s rule, and the first three naturally belong to the State. The power to use force against citizens is retained by the armed forces, the police, and the banks’ security personnel who transfer the paper currency.
Rand Paul was kind enough to participate in an email interview with us earlier this week. Tomorrow he celebrates his father’s birthday with a money bomb of his own. Organized by grass roots supporters and dubbed the “Run Rand Run” money bomb, it aims to raise $1 million for his Senate campaign.
Yesterday a new scientific poll was released showing that Rand Paul trails the establishment GOP candidate by only 11 percentage points. Rand showed up with 26% to Trey Grayson’s 37%. This is a very strong showing for an anti-establishment candidate challenging a career politician. There are still 9 months to go before the May 2010 GOP primary in Kentucky. This poll proves the viability of Paul. Grayson now has to prepare himself for a dogfight. A lot can happen in 9 months.
Here is our short interview with Rand Paul from earlier this week.
LM: Starting off with a bit of a personal question, what was it like growing up in the Ron Paul household? Was he as strict with his children as he is with following the Constitution?
Rand Paul: All the kids were into sports. My older brother was a nationally ranked swimmer and my younger brother played baseball in college. I swam for a non-scholarship program at Baylor. My earliest memories are of discussing politics with my father’s friends. I always gravitated to the adult conversation.
Rand Paul followed up his radio interview with Glenn Beck last week with a television appearance yesterday. They discussed health care and even offered up a few free market reform ideas.
Back in May of 2007 I wrote the following words about Ron Paul following the first GOP Primary Debate:
Ron Paul seems to have the views I (mostly) agree with, but I’m convinced he is the wrong messenger.
Much of what happened after I wrote that pushed me down a path of hope but to this day I still feel Ron Paul leaves a lot on the table when it comes to thinking on his feet and framing his arguments for general appeal. Then again part of his appeal to me and for many others is his brutal honesty.
Unfortunately no matter how right he is there are many people who will always see him as “that crazy Ron Paul guy.”
The only way to combat that sentiment is to frame the same positions in a more appealing way and not actually be Ron Paul.
Enter Rand Paul. All I’ve seen and heard from Rand Paul thus far makes me believe he can succeed where his father could not (winning over more “mainstream” Republicans). His interview yesterday with Glenn Beck gives us further proof of this ability.
I apologize for the obvious headline. I couldn’t resist. It’s beginning to look like Peter Schiff may run against Chris Dodd in 2010. The Schiffathon, a money bomb held yesterday and continuing today has helped Schiff’s exploratory committee raise over $750,000 dollars in total for his potential campaign thus far.
Once the $750k was reached a small thank you message was displayed on his website and a new goal of $850k was created. While the sum of money isn’t as great, it is reminiscent of those huge money bombs for Ron Paul back in the primary season of 2007 and 2008.
Given the amount of enthusiasm for Schiff running against Dodd along with the fund raising it is hard to believe Peter won’t officially declare his candidacy at some point soon. An announcement either way may come around Labor day weekend according to Schiff.
There’s a lot to be unhappy about this week if you believe in individual liberty and free markets.
Sonia Sotomayor becomes the first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice. She was confirmed and it wasn’t even close, as expected. Souter is out and Sotomayor is in. It seems like a wash to me. The next Supreme Court appointee will be the more interesting one.
The Cash For Clunkers program gets added funds. The Senate approved 2 billion more dollars we don’t have to destroy cars that get poor gas mileage and subsidize the purchase of cars that get better gas mileage. For those that don’t “feel” like understanding economics, John Stossel demonstrates why this program is yet another wasteful boondoggle. Did you know that you can buy a brand new Hummer with your neighbor’s money?
An amendment to the additional money for the Cash for Clunkers program by Senator Coburn would have permitted dealers to donate the traded clunkers to charities and the poor. I say would have because the amendment was defeated by the Democrats. I was under the impression the Democrats cared about the poor? It appears they care about appeasing the environmental lobbyists more.
In response to the massive opposition to Obama’s health care plan the White House has taken another page out of Woodrow Wilson’s playbook. In a modernized version of Wilson’s American Protective League the White House would like you to report “fishy” media content that disagrees with Obama’s health care plan. Feel free to report this article. The email address is flag@whitehouse.gov.
Liberty Maven
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