General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I still do not trust Rand Paul and his pseudo, new found moderate attitude. eom [View all]Savannahmann
(3,891 posts)I think he will be the nominee. Here's why. First, he's a long time advocate for smaller government. The Tea Baggers love that, because it means less oversight to make sure they are being fair towards people. Second, he's an advocate for basically zero war, the pro peace people who are not tied to the Democratic party can contrast that with Hillary's slightly modified McCain style bomb them all stance and he'll peel a few off.
Then we get to the NSA and spying on the citizens. Paul is a long time advocate for serious restraint, and the privacy minded who are not Democrats first will peel off.
If he's nominated, we stand a good chance of losing the Presidential Election unless we run someone with a hell of a track record for Civil Rights and restraint.
Then there's the legalization of drugs. Paul is in favor of legalizing Marijuana. If he promises to do what only the President can, and pardon all those convicted of Marijuana offenses, he'll pull the legalization crowd big time.
See where I'm going? He's on the populist side of several issues. Perhaps not the wise side, but the populist side of several issues. So people want legalization, he'll give it to them if elected. People want their privacy respected. He'll give it to them.
Now what I think would happen if he got into office is he'd ramp all those things up and increase the spying, but enough people would say he wouldn't that he stands a very good chance of getting elected. If he figures out a populist message on immigration, he'll be tough to beat.