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.
Long live the liberty revolution! Yesterday, which ended a few minutes ago saw Rand Paul raise $433,509.00in a single day for his run for U.S. Senate to represent Kentucky.
This is HUGE! Trey Grayson should be worried. This gives his campaign a total of over $667k, about two-thirds of which was raised in the last 24 hours. The current total can always be seen at RandPaul2010.com.
Hopefully this fund raising success receives some publicity both in Kentucky and nationally.
Congratulations Rand on a successful money bomb on your father’s birthday!
The first 12 hours of Rand Paul’s money bomb are in the record books and so far it looks good for the limited government political outsider from Kentucky. His campaign war chest has amassed more than $183,000 in the first half of the grass roots initiated money bomb. Like the site RonPaulGraphs did during his father’s money bombs the site RandPaulGraphs is tracking the accumulating dollars.
Here is a screenshot at the halfway point:
This amount now gives him over $425k (and counting). Rand Paul also took some time this morning to publish a video thanking supporters for the money bomb and discussing the poll released this week showing him within striking distance of the establishment candidate Trey Grayson.
I’d call raising any amount over 250k in a single day a huge success in this economy. So far it looks like that amount will be exceeded. If you believe in liberty and limited government please donate. Rand has a great chance of becoming another voice for freedom on Capitol Hill. We simply can’t afford to NOT have him there fighting for us.
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.
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.
This morning Ron Paul and his son Rand Paul appeared on CNN discussing health care, Rand running for Senate, and other topics. Watch the appearance below.
Rand Paul continued his media blitz today with interviews on Brian and The Judge, Mike Church, and Glenn Beck. Listen to the Glenn Beck interview below.
They talked for over 15 minutes jumping from topic to topic including foreign policy, abortion, protecting the border, and more. In the end Beck said he likes Rand and wants to have him back.
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Rand Paul, son of Ron Paul, announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate yesterday on the Neil Cavuto show. There were reports he would announce on the Glenn Beck show but that didn’t work out. He also appeared on Happy Hour on the Fox Business Channel along with Peter Schiff and Judge Napolitano discussing why he’s running as a Republican vs. an Independent as Cody Willard wishes.
He is also scheduled to be on with Glenn Beck this morning on Beck’s radio show.
If the Republican Party wants to regain its prominence among what my mother likes to call “real people” in America they should look no further than Rand Paul. The notion of a reborn Republican Party is a bit of a “Catch-22″ though. These days the establishment Republicans are still clinging to their neo-conservative foreign interventions of offense and their legislation of morality. Rand Paul represents the anti-establishment which seems to becoming more and more what the “real people” want. As we suggested last week it appears Rand Paul will officially announce his run for Senate later today on the Glenn Beck show.
FRANKFORT — Bowling Green eye surgeon Rand Paul is expected to announce his Republican candidacy for the U.S. Senate on Wednesday on a national television news show.
Paul, who has been exploring a U.S. Senate bid for several weeks, is to appear on Glenn Beck’s show on the Fox News Channel at 5 p.m. Wednesday and will hold a media conference call at 9:15 a.m. Thursday, said campaign manager David Adams.
Rand Paul’s father was painted with the fringe brush by his fellow Republicans during his 2008 Presidential campaign. All indications at this point are that the Republicans are about to make the same mistake again. The establishment is supporting and funding Rand’s likely opponent Trey Grayson. Could succeeding in raising a million dollars in a single day change all of that?
This week I’m wondering, once again, why believing in and following the Constitution is considered by many to be radical extremist behavior? America’s founding document should be more than some piece of old paper that tourists come to gawk at while visiting our nation’s capital. It’s like America has become an atheist nation and the Constitution is the Bible.
The power culture in DC ignores the Constitution because it is in their best interest to do so. Perhaps our founders were stupid for expecting a unit of law-making force and power (the government) to remain restrained by a document (the Constitution) that those (the citizenry) who are bound by the laws are supposed to enforce. No, it’s not perfect, but it has worked, more or less, for over 200+ years. The big question of the current generation seems to be how do we keep it from slipping away completely? Will America be America in 10 years? The writing on the wall says ‘no’, but it is our duty to do everything in our power to change that writing to say ‘yes’.
Michael Maresco has done more than most in this effort. Last week he completed his most recent journey across America via bicycle in an effort to raise awareness about America’s road from freedom to fascism. To me and many others he is the ultimate liberty hero. People like Michael give me hope. Please check out the site dedicated to his ride. Read through his travel log, look at the pictures, and be inspired by what you witness. He shows us all what is still great about America through the people he met and the places he’s seen. See LibertyRider.com.
Now a quick note on the name of this web site. I want to make it clear that I never intended to be dubbed THE Liberty Maven. I’ve been called that and I get uncomfortable every time it happens. The truth is that the domain name was available when we (Mike Miller and I) were trying to come up with a name for the site and it sounded good, so we got it. The intent of the name is to let everyone know that it is they who need to become liberty mavens. Having a country of liberty mavens is the goal. That goal may not be attainable, kind of like the “pursuit of happiness”, but always reaching for it is the important thing. I also want to thank you for continuing to read Liberty Maven. We don’t thank our readers enough. It is because of you that the site still exists and remains a passion for me and our other contributors. Thank you.
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