McConnell Says Rand Paul Can 'Count on Me' for Presidential Support

Mitch McConnell, who four and a half years ago didn't think Rand Paul was fit to be Kentucky's junior senator, has endorsed Paul's widely expected 2016 presidential run, adding some early and important establishment heft to the coming campaign.

"I don't think he's made a final decision on that," McConnell told the Lexington Herald-Leader. "But he'll be able to count on me."

The early endorsement puts the incoming Senate majority leader, one of the two most powerful Republicans Washington, firmly on Team Rand—the kind of institutional support that Paul's father, Ron, never received in his two losing GOP presidential bids, in 2008 and 2012.

Comments

[JWatts]

I'm a little suprised at this news.

[C. Anacreon]

I even heard that McConnell is offering to get Bruno Mars to write a campaign song for Rand.

[Knarf Yenrab!]

Rand is turning out to be a very skilled politician.

I do not say this as a compliment. Whatever he did to make McConnell like him--90% of which is Rand's continued support for establishment GOP candidates rather than TP primary contenders--none of it was good.

[John Galt]

Maybe McConnell is just giving Cruz a big punch in the balls.

[JWatts]

You may have the causality reversed. This might be a case of McConnell realizing that Rand is the rising star for the Kentucky GOP and maybe the US GOP. McConnell isn't stupid and he has access to some of most detailed polling data for Kentucky, as well as, the US in general that exists.

[GroundTruth]

Let's hope!

[josh]

this was expected. rand gave up his top lieutenant for the campaign, and offered his unconditional support and mcconnell has survived by knowing when to return a favor if nothing else.

[Knarf Yenrab!]

Something tells me that you don't take McConnell's promise to bring change to Washington seriously.

[josh]

in the spirit of washington and all it holds dear, it depends on how you define "change".

[Pulseguy]

He didn't say he would only support Rand. He said Rand could count on him for support. But, I hear that as 'should he win the nomination'.

[Greg83]

That's not how I read it. It's a given McConnell will support the Republican nominee.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

That's how I read it.

[Johnimo]

This is simply McConnell trying to curry favor with the Tea Party. He doesn't want the Libertarian wing of the Republican Party trying to "shut down the government" over tax and budget policy, or over the repeal or funding of Obamacare. He's simply trying to bribe Paul and his entourage with his promise of support.

The REAL story is what will Cruz, Rand and the fiscal conservatives be willing to attempt, and what will McConnell be brave enough to envision.

[Neoconwatch]

Here is what is going on. After a series of incidents in the last year which activated his already paranoid tendencies, McConnell has realized that his days of being supported or even tolerated by the Straussian establishment are numbered. Numbered. But McConnell is an aggressively survival-mode animal. Whatever it takes to stay alive politically, he will do, and if that means aligning with Rand Paul, so be it. He doesn't care. He will hang on like a bacterial biofilm. This is exactly the kind of politician that stands in the way of Straussian goals. They need politicians who are willing to sacrifice themselves for their agenda, not the other way around.

Rand Paul for his part is probably the most gifted strategic player on the pro-freedom right. That's all I'll say here, other than: Don't waste resources. Look at how successful the Left has been in the last decade even though communism is not accepted in America.

[JustJustin]

This doesn't surprise me. He's already caved on major issues like TPP. What we saw with Ron Paul is not going to transfer with Rand. Sadly

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