Is Rand Paul Still Talking? Alas, No
Sen. Paul himself and even some of his colleagues during this filibuster said more important things about limited powers, the Constitution, and the rights of Americans, and by extension the dangers of war powers that are unrestricted in time and place, than the Senate floor has heard in years. His stance today was historic, and I think will be long remembered.
Update: Didn't notice this earlier, but Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who started out as no friend of Rand Paul, reports Washington Examiner, said he'll keep the fires burning against Brennan in the next day's session:
"[A]t whatever point we get to a cloture vote to extend debate on the nomination of Brennan, it is my view that cloture should not be invoked," McConnell said while participating in the filibuster on the Senate floor. "This is a controversial nominee. Should cloture be invoked, I intend to oppose the nomination and congratulate my colleague from Kentucky for this extraordinary effort."
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He did a damn fine job of it and I was really impressed with Cruz, put to rest a lot of doubts I had about him.
Sure, a lot of the other Reps were just posturing but to get them to posture on limiting executive power is an impressive achievement.
Above all, Rand Paul demonstrated leadership and a willingness to fight for liberty and that's why he's by far the best candidate worth supporting for president should he run.
Ya, Cruz has something going for him now besides a not-even-fully-wanted Ron Paul endorsemnt.
Am I the only one concerned that Ted Cruz kept emphasizing "on U.S. soil"?
Why should the government be allowed to assassinate Americans on foreign soil?
No, you shouldn't be concerned. That's where Paul focused the debate, and by doing that Cruz was helping to keep the filibuster on message.
Rubio must really be kicking himself for not thinking of this first.
I doubt Rubio has the mental and physical fortitude to go 12+ hours.
Anybody else feeling guilty for still not liking Rubio at all? He wants to be one of the good guys. He really does. I still don't trust him for shit though. He'd go all warboner on us in a second if he thought would advance his career.
Rubio is fine as a Senator from Florida. He isn't Charlie Crist.
and if you look at Rubio's record in teh FL legislature, he may not even be Crist. Let's be honest - if his name were Mark Ruby, no one would give a shit about Rubio.
I don't see Rubio going to work for ambulance chasers no matter how badly his political career ends.
Amen. I have no problems with my senator at all. That he isn't Charlie Crist is the icing on the cake.
I usually term myself as a short term pessimist and long term optimist, but this has at least temporarily made me a short term giddy optimist.
I can't remember any political moment anything like this, and I started paying attention back when LBJ was picking daily bombing targets, declaring Christmas holidays, and creating absolutely idiotic rules of engagement.
Right now I couldn't be happier.
I remember being happy when Bush talked about a humble foreign policy and fiscal restraint during the 2000 debates.
I remember thinking that people who believed Bush during the 2000 debates were idiots.
Idiot here.
In fairness, I was 21 he was debating Al Gore.
I remember thinking there wasn't a hair's width of difference between Bush and Gore.
The only real difference I saw at the time was in their management styles: Bush would delegate, while Gore would micromanage. And that's exactly what happened during the Florida recount.
I was kinda hoping Paul would go all Sisyphus on the Senate and filibuster for the rest of eternity.
Rand is on his way home right now, but little do he know a target reticle is on his car beamed from the Reaper orbiting D.C. at fifty thousand feet - deployed just for him at this point.
Our elected representatives have been Indoctrinated. Suddenly everything makes sense.
I watched the whole thing I and I have to say I'm frankly amazed at how the Senate actually reverted to its original function of both advise and consent as well as open debate. Rand Paul really latched onto something here, and the result has to be at least a wider recognition and understanding of this crucial issue, and especially how this administration has strayed into imperial territory as evidenced by the imperious response to common-sense questions such as those Rand Paul asked.
And color me very much impressed with Ted Cruz, and eloquent and passionate advocate for constitutional principles.
I could certainly see a Vice President Cruz on the Paul ticket.
One more thing: I felt like I was both witnessing history, and watching the start of something really big. Did anyone else get that sense?
Imagine if the Senate was like this all the time?
But I think a Cruz/Paul ticket is more likely. Rand has won over a lot of Republicans, but he's still not as accepted as Cruz.
Yeah, after tonight I don't know about that. Paul was eloquent, focused, and cordially combative. Cruz was misquoting Wiz Kalifa.
But he certainly has room to grow into the role in say eight years 🙂
Fuck, sorry that was Rubio. And goddam was Cruz eloquent! Yeah I could see either of those at the top, but I would prefer Rand Paul, if for nothing else than the leadership he showed.
Oh and turning Mitch McConnell into a libertarian! Forgot about that.
Cruz is not running for Prez in 4 years. He's held elective office for about 60 days.
He honestly has more of a chance being nominated for the SCOTUS than beginning a Prez run in less than 2 years.
Yeah cool your jets on Cruz people. I'm very happy with him tonight but he's never been elected to ANY office before this and he still leaves a lot to be desired for a libertarian. Today was good for proving that he might have be legit on some civil libertarian issues.
Quite frankly I have to see how these guys act with a Republican president. The only guys who really proved themselves tonight are Paul, Cruz and Lee and among the three Cruz has a much scarcer record.
He's very very smart and a good speaker though.
Agree 100 percent. I was mesmerized by Cruz and his ability to cordially and matter-of-factly destroy the arguments put forth by Dick Dustbin.
Sober up, people. They only need 5 GOP votes for cloture, which they'll easily get. Other than on political blogs and Fox News this story has been ignored by the media and will be forgotten.
Oh they'll get their nominee confirmed, nobody's disputing that. But, Rand Paul just officially kicked off Campaign 2016. At least the liberty caucus has drawn a line in the sand.
You may be right that the whole thing will be met with a collective yawn, but for those paying attention and looking for someone to stand up and lead, I think we have found that person.
On one of the non-political boards I visit nobody's posted about the filibuster, but they repost links from a lot of lefty sites, and stories that are "OMG the Republicans are evil!". The Hugo Chavez thread liberally quotes from Puffington Host, while some of the other stories linked to on the first few pages are:
Student blased for "Why I'd Hate to Be Asian" video, courtesy of Gawker
The Oberlin story was courtesy of HP;
A gay couple allegedly being asked to leave a shopping mall for kissing in public (courtesy a local TV station)
Well, considering this place advocates not voting, I can see how many wouldn't be impressed.
But fighting for liberty, even if it is a futile fight, is still something.
Ignore Tulpa Jeremy.
No, CNN covered it briefly. It was a 10 second spot where all they did was show Rand Paul eating something cheesy and the string of cheese hanging from his mouth. Of the entire 9-10 hours, they went with the most newsworthy segment.
Correction. I've just found out from downthread that it was caramel.
Another thing: Did Dick Durban look like a possum in the headlights? I got the sense watching him try and muddy the waters, and Rand's subsequent course corrections, that he was realizing that though his day wasn't today, that his day was in fact coming.
His day isn't coming. Man-tits will be continually reelected until he retire or perspires.
You are more accurately named Apoliticist ?_??
I'm not apolitical, hell I even voted for Cruz in the primary/runoff (but not general), I'm just realistic about pieces of shit like Durbin getting their comeuppance.
My name is sole in reference to religion not general apathy.
Aironicist ?_?? then?
But seriously I too am an Apatheist. The question of what type of Sky God is currently directing/watching/judging our actions here in meatspace seems to me to be one of the most useless questions we could ask. Rather, my sense is that this is not the highest context, and I wonder what others exist beyond this one, if any.
And I share your sense that the entrenched powers are formidable. I just disagree that they aren't defeatable.
Is apatheist something like don't-give-a-shitist? My brother once accused me of being an agnostic, and I told him I didn't wonder if there was a god, I just didn't give a shit: either god(s) exist and are assholes, in which case fuck 'em, or god(s) exist and don't care about whether I bow and scrape, or there are no gods. He got kind of confused.
But I like "apatheist". Nice ring to it.
Hmmm ... wikipedia says that's me. Thanks for the word, I likes it.
Yes, while I am an atheist as to current religion/spirituality and don't believe a God exists I just don't think it is an important question to me personally. I'll find out when I'm dead and there is nothing I can do about it.
I also like using it to distance myself from militant atheists who have turned their lack of belief into a religious movement. I mean one of the benefits of atheism is not wasting my time with that shit,
Precisely.
one of the benefits of atheism is not wasting my time with that shit
Hallelujah.
You, I, Apatheist ?_??, and many, many other people are all Apatheists. In fact if you aggregated all of the don't-give-a-shitists, I think you'd in fact have a larger number than all of the members of all the world's religions combined.
Full disclosure: I have no empirical proof of the previous assertion whatsoever. But I bet I'm right.
The world will know that free men stood against a tyrant, that few stood against many, and before this battle was over, even a god-king can bleed.
And FWIW, it might not have gotten a lot of press coverage, but it's trending on Twitter.
Right I LOVED when Cruz read out all of the #StandWithRand tweets! I felt like the whole thing was like a twelve-hour libertarian informercial. What could be wrong with that? One of the most skillful displays of political stagecraft I've seen in quite some time.
Please, Cruz was the second best speaker tonight behind Paul but reading twitter was god awful.
Disagree, although at times it did seem a bit cheesy. What I liked about it was that it brought at least fictional twitterati into the forefront, making it at least seem that a lot of politically engaged Everymen were in fact hanging on Paul's every word. Which may or may not be true, but I liked it as supporting political stagecraft.
I didn't think reading Twitter posts was awful. Keep in mind Paul was unable to use his phone and therefore was unaware of the response to his filibuster.
It's the modern-day version of Jefferson Smith fishing through the astroturfed telegrams.
I watched the whole thing from about hour 3 and thought most of those in solidarity with Paul were simply posturing, though I appreciate anything which gridlocks normal business in Washington. I liked Cruz the best.
I was originally heartened, but then I thought, "Will anyone really notice?" I mean, talk to your friends about even red light cameras and watch their eyes as they make you out to be Dale Gribble. This won't make a dent in my opinion, but I hope I'm wrong.
I don't think Cruz was posturing since he brought this issue up to Holder before Paul even started.
On the opposite end, I think McConnell is definitely reading the political weather vane and deciding that the tide is turning on this issue.
Can't wait to turn on Rush tomorrow, and hear about Ted Cruz's 12 hour filibuster!
I don't think Cruz was posturing, either. Most others were (ahem, Toomey, cough).
I share your hope, Old Jim.
I thought when McConnell joined in late, that would mean the filibuster would continue for hours as Rand asked for questions from his fellow senators. Turns out McConnell was grandstanding for a few minutes and that's it. Way to go, senior senator!
Ultimately, it was Rand's bladder and bowels that did him in.
If only the chamber had a pot for him to do his business in...
McConnell was surely aware of the parallels with that classic movie Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Also he knew not only who had the Jimmy Stewart role, but who started the day as the leading candidate for the Claude Rains role.
Whatever you say about Strom Thurmond, the man must have a hell of a bladder.
Had, I guess that this should be past tense.
That or a motorman's best friend.
Meanwhile, NPR features speakers hailing from that pro-government pep-rally known as "The Occupy Movement", and they're still talking about Korporashuns. If the government only had more power, more money, and the unfettered ability to act in any way necessary to eliminate student debt, joblessness and mortgage delinquency, then Wall Street will have finally been thwarted.
Sadly, that's pretty much what they think. Or more accurately, ruminate upon.
I'm completely starved for information on this topic. I can't believe the fucking statist quo media is talking about that bitch who killed her boyfriend instead of the filibuster of the millenium.
Fox gave a few minutes of misguided and off the topic commentary this morning. Seriously, the most basic question Rand Paul asked and answered (and wanted a WH answer about) was flubbed.
If Rand runs in 2016, and I vote for him and... *cough* he wins *cough* and then turns out to be Obama 3.0, I will swear off politics for the rest of my life.
I don't think you have to worry about that too much Paul. A couple of speakers tonight made the point that even if it were a Republican president asserting these radical powers, Rand Paul would still be up there filibustering. And I agree with that.
But, you've got a great point: when Gollum grabs the ring and starts to hallucinate, the end result is indeterminate.
^^This is True^^
Looking at the field, I'll support Rand even if only to widen the reach of many of his ideals, spread the message. Tickle just a few Red Team out of their stupor or awakening a few young minds is the best I see a candidate can do these days.
I swore of supporting any more Red candidates and said I'd write-in or support only avowed Libertarians, but with LiberalTarians, poorly spoken and poor achieving libertarian party candidates, If I see a standard bearer for a sizable percentage of my principles of any party (like Rand) then I'll lend my support until they prove me wrong.
O/T
It seems the left is already starting to blame republicans for allowing poor people to freeze to death.
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2.....ating-oil/
Are the blaming repubs or praising dead dictators? Both.
What's really odd, to me, is that they didn't plug Joe Kennedy or his organization. Chavez has only been donating oil since 2005, but Citizen's Energy has been helping people since 1979. You know like, "....and by the way if you would like to help, you can contact Citizen's Energy here:"
But I guess it's really no surprise that the left doesn't really care about poor people.
so now what?
Barcelona v. Milan 2nd stage.
as Jose implied I'm shocked that a mother can earn $6010 in 1 month on the internet. did you see this site link.. http://tiny.cc/5s93sw
My favorite part was when he was eating a twix and dribbled caramel on himself.
I came.
Within minutes, CNN had responded to Paul's imperious demand for more candy with a "Career-Ender?" chyron.
I hope y'all are right, but I have a hard time getting excited about any politician. There have been too many disappointments.
It was a fantastic performance, and if I had my way it would be a daily occurrence. Senators on the floor railing about liberty, the rule of law, and constitutional principles....the rarity of this tells us something about everyone who did not stand with Paul. The paucity of media coverage tells us which camp the msm is in. They should all be ashamed and we need to rub this in their faces at every opportunity for the next decade.
We seem to be at a low point in our history with regards to liberty. Maybe it is time for the pendulum to swing back. When I see it actually begin to change direction I will stop reserving my excitement and put my back into it as well.
While I find stoicism to be the hallmark of a mature mind, I can't agree that this is the low point of American liberty given the records of Wilson and FDR when there was no one there to stop them from doing things like jailing war protesters with the SC's approval or stealing the gold of the citizenry.
Social movements move with glacial speed, and we're still in the opening stages of the new liberal/libertarian movement. With the benefit of 100th-gen Internet and the technology and information awareness that it breeds, maybe our great-great-great-grandkids can look back favorably on what we pioneered.
The pendulum does not swing back. Government is a one way ratchet. It must be destroyed completely and remade, and then it will only constrict again.
You're right sarcasmic. The government/liberty curve can be accurately modeled with a sawtooth function.
Powerline guy objects to Paul's criticism of bushama awesomeness. Wants to keep his warboner on:
http://www.powerlineblog.com/a.....-worse.php
Mirengoff's anxiety over Rand Paul is a symptom : a big part of the repubes' problem is that war-party-ism is endemic.
At least he got reamed by all the commenters on his own blog.
Well, he moved the needle at least enough to get McConnell's ego to substitute for a backbone for the morning. Its not nothing, although I don't think it will change this outcome. I do hope that the herd mentality gets other senators thinking about how they can be like Rand and get several hours attention and the Twitterverse to spend a whole day tweeting about them in a positive manner.
"Didn't notice this earlier, but Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who started out as no friend of Rand Paul, reports Washington Examiner, said he'll keep the fires burning against Brennan in the next day's session:"
Translation: McConnell read the writing on the wall and recognized that the Republican Establishment is probably not going to be able to just Ignore Rand the way they did his dad and that the electorates views are far closer to Rands than the establishments
This morning I refreshed my "My Yahoo" page, which has plug-ins for "Political News Headlines" and "Congress News Headlines", and there was not a peep about the filibuster in the three headlines each has.
The top two articles in the politics section are about the filibuster. Of course it's not even in the top ten of "trending now." ("Snooki loses 42 pounds" is number nine, which gives you a pretty good idea of the typical Yahoo user.)
There is a dude that really seems to know whats going on man. WOw.
http://www.WorldAnon.da.bz
This is playing well on conservative talk radio, at least in the Houston area on one of the popular morning call-in shows. The host loves it, and he normally has a huge warboner. This demographic is somewhat important for general acceptance of a guy within mainstream Republican circles.
This was a masterful political move by Paul. He got to bash the Democrats/Obama-dick-suckers on a topic they are supposed to support, fully exposing their bald hypocrisy.
He got his name all over warboner conservative thought.
As his filibuster gained momentum, it caused boot-licking Republicans to come out, just to get their bit of time on a topic they thought would help them politically. Imagine that: war-loving hacks thinking that a stand reducing the President's war making powers would help them politically!