Monthly Archives: November 2014

By Ashley Killough, CNN

updated 8:06 AM EST, Wed November 19, 2014

(CNN) -- Ahead of a speech Wednesday in Florida, former Rep. Ron Paul seemed uninspired by two of the Sunshine State's two political big shots: U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and former Gov. Jeb Bush.

"I'd say they were pretty average, status quo, middle-of-the-roaders," the former three-time presidential candidate and libertarian minded Republican told the Tampa Bay Times in a story published Tuesday.

Both men -- like Paul's son, Sen. Rand Paul -- are widely considered to be potential candidates for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.

Paul's comments came ahead of a speech he's set to give Wednesday night at the University of South Florida, the same place where he held a rally that drew thousands during the week of the Republican National Convention in 2012, which was also in Tampa.

Paul famously refused to endorse the GOP's then-presumptive nominee Mitt Romney or speak at the convention.

In the interview with the Tampa Bay Times, Paul didn't elaborate on his son's expected presidential bid or whether Paul would be a part of that effort.

"I guess we will know next year," he said.

Originally posted here:
Ron Paul on Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio: They're 'average'

TAMPA Former Republican congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul is set to return to the University of South Florida on Wednesday, two years after he rallied supporters at the Sun Dome ahead of the Republican National Convention.

Some 8,000 people turned out to hear Paul criticize the Federal Reserve, tout the benefits of limited government and call for an end to overseas wars.

The 79-year-old Texan, who left Congress in 2013 after 12 terms, said in an interview he's not running for political office, but nonetheless enjoys touring colleges to extol libertarian themes.

His talks no longer draw the thousands of his stumping days, but he's hoping for a big turnout when he visits USF to deliver "a candid look at the American political system," according to USF organizers. The speech, free and open to the public, is part of the student-run University Lecture Series.

USF said Paul will use anecdotes from his two decades in Congress to "highlight his views on the need for a limited government, more personal liberties and will advocate for liberty in politics."

Paul said he's looking forward to the discussion, which will involve audience interaction.

"When I go to college campuses I try to keep it lighter," he said. "It's very serious in a way, but very upbeat in that I want people to know there's an answer to this mess."

The talks usually consist of a 45-minute lecture and 30 minutes of questions and answers. Paul's lectures draw from across the political spectrum.

"They're very diverse and I've always considered that an advantage," he said. "Whether a left or right person, whatever your standards are, it's all up to you. If you understand liberty, you can be very tolerant. The left and the right, they can both come together to defend liberty."

He said the talks remind him of when he was a young obstetrician running for Congress in 1974. He lost that race but won a special election two years later and served 12 terms in Texas' 22nd and 14th congressional districts, often while bucking mainstream Republicans.

Read the rest here:
Ron Paul to hold lecture at USF

Back in August, an Iowa Republican state senator pled guilty to taking cash payments to abandon Michele Bachmann's 2012 presidential campaign and endorse Ron Paul. Also in August, Paul started spending oodles of cash on lawyers. There's ample evidence to suggest the two events are connected.

A new report by the Center for Responsive Politics' Open Secrets blog, which tracks money in campaigns, shows that Paul, the choice of folksy libertarian brogrammers everywhere, is burning through his more than half a million dollars in leftover 2012 campaign contributions, all to keep some legal eagles driving Porsches while they contend with federal investigators fromsurprise!Iowa:

Leftover campaign cash can be used for a variety of purposes, but since August, the Paul campaign has been deploying much of it to pay legal bills. In fact, since Aug. 1, the Ron Paul presidential campaign has paid $237,997 to lawyers. In the previous 19 months, the campaign spent just $190,000 on all expenses.

What on earth does Ron Paul need with all those attorneys? It's probably related to the upcoming allocution and sentencing of former Iowa Sen. Kent Sorenson, who in the leadup to the 2012 Iowa GOP caucuses had been running Bachmann's presidential campaign in the state. But six days before the voting, Sorenson jumped over to Paul's ship.

Sorenson admitted three months ago to federal prosecutors that he received $73,000 in "under the table" payments from a shadowy company called ICT shortly before shifting his support from Bachmann to Paul. And according to Open Secrets, "the Paul campaign sent ICT $82,375 in payments that almost exactly match payments to Sorenson." Which probably explains why U.S. attorneys in Iowa have subpoenaed emails and records from a bunch of Paul campaign workersand possibly the old man himself.

There's something else, too: "Sorenson's sentencing date has not yet been set," Open Secrets writes, "but his plea agreement suggests he will be asked to testify against someone before sentencing." He has not previously named the people who paid him, although media reports have identified a deputy for Ron Paul's campaign who gave Sorenson another $25,000 check through a jewelry store owned by the deputy's wife.

What did Ron Paul know, and when did he know it? Whatever the answers, he and his bevy of lawyers will probably paint the former congressman as a kindly but feeble and trusting old man who had no idea such unsavoriness was going on under his nose. Which doesn't seem like much of a defense for a politician who aspired to lead the free world, but is a fine, fine quality in a retired grampa covering for taking his grandkid to see the ponies in the fifth race at Gulfstream.

[Photo credit: AP Images]

Originally posted here:
Is Ron Paul in Big, Big Legal Trouble?

Former Rep. Ron Paul describes his new voicesofliberty.com website as a digital bully pulpit for early stage political ideas. (Associated Press) ** FILE ** more >

Ron Paul, a former presidential candidate and longtime congressman, is mum on a potential presidential bid by his son, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky. But he does have a few opinions about his sons potential GOP rivals in 2016.

Id say they were pretty average, status quo, middle-of-the-roaders, he told the Tampa Bay Times in an interview ahead of a lecture at the University of South Florida on Wednesday.

The libertarian champion was referring to a pair of Floridians, former Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. Marco Rubio, who are on the short list for a 2016 bid for the White House.

But Mr. Paul an opponent of the Iraq War, the war on drugs and federal snooping on Americans telecommunications played it cool when asked if his son will run, or if he would play a role in the campaign.

I guess we will know next year, he told the Tampa Bay Times.

See the original post here:
Ron Paul says Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio are 'pretty average'

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) Rand Paul of all people is enjoying a kind of a honeymoon with some on the left.

Yes, the Republican senator from Kentucky backed by the Tea Party and openly aspiring to run for president has fans among progressives who otherwise have nothing good to say about Republicans.

One of the things they like is Pauls opposition to knee-jerk military intervention. It is a stance he inherits from his libertarian father, former Texas Rep. Ron Paul, but which distinguishes him from most other Republican candidates as well as hawkish Democrats like Hillary Clinton, the putative frontrunner for her partys presidential nomination.

Liberals also like Pauls opposition to the war on drugs and along with it his advocacy for criminal-justice reform, including restoring the right to vote to convicted felons. Too often, Paul says, drug-related convictions disproportionately falling on young people of color ruins their lives.

After a recent interview with Paul on his program, the liberal Bill Maher said the conversation left him unsure about 2016. I think its only a good thing for America, the comedian said with his typical modesty, when Im not sure who I am going to vote for next time.

For the time being, at least, these liberals seem willing to forget or overlook Pauls opposition to gay marriage, his defense of personhood, his feeling that private enterprises should be able to discriminate against whoever they choose, and his willingness, at least in the past, to share fringe conspiracy theories.

Pauls successful charm offensive, if that is what it is, prompted Time magazine to feature him on the cover last month with the headline The Most Interesting Man in Politics.

And this week, Salon and Huffington Post blogger H.A. Goodman posted a piece: Im a liberal Democrat. Im voting for Rand Paul in 2016. Here is why.

For Goodman, in addition to Pauls stance on military intervention and criminal-justice reform, it is the Kentucky senators unflinching criticism of domestic spying by the government that puts him at the head of the pack. Neither Hillary Clinton, Jeb Bush, nor any other candidate in 2016 has made this a top priority in their campaign, Goodman says.

He also notes that Paul was the first 2016 contender to visit Ferguson, Mo., the site of racial disturbances this summer after a white policeman shot and killed a black teenager. For some reason I just cant imagine Hillary Clinton or Jeb Bush taking a moment to find out why Ferguson took place, Goodman says, and what steps are needed to solve that intractable situation.

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Darrell Delamaide's Political Capital: Liberals crush on Rand Paul says more about Clinton