Could Rand Paul win the Republican Presidential Primary for 2016? Rand Paul is very Pro Life and while he does not have Neo-con militaristic tendencies, he is a gung-ho supporter of Israel. His views on social issues (i.e. gay marriage, marijuana) could hurt him with primary voters. What I would hope is that his views on economic issues (very conservative) will trump some of his more liberal views on social issues. Could the Rebublican base have the balls to vote for this guy. I sure as hell hope so. If it were a Rand vs Hillary presidential contest, I think it would be one of the most interesting elections of my lifetime. fan27
I'm a big Rand Paul fan - he has a lot of his father's policy beliefs and is more Libertarian than any GOP candidate I can recall (other than his dad). If the Republican base grows a brain and realizes that things like gay marriage and abortion - while important - are far secondary to the other battles on the fiscal front we need to win, then Paul has a chance. If they hold to their old dogma and refuse to bend at all, then no - Paul can't do it unless he sways a broad number of left voters. The really funny thing is if Hillary was the Democratic choice (and I still hold to the belief she will not ultimately be) then it could be the first time we have a socially left leaning Republican trying to woo liberal leaning independents running against a Right leaning Democrat who is trying to woo conservative independents. How hilarious would that be?
The thing is, Paul is extremely anti-abortion. That should help with Primary voters. But like you said, if voters can't overlook some of his other socially liberal policies and take a more holistic view, then he won't win. The Republican establishment will do everything in the power to make sure he does not win the primary. There are too many pigs at the trough that may have their feed cut off if Paul were to ultimately win the Presidency. fan27
The biggest pig would be the Fed and the banks. Paul would be a nightmare to the Federal Reserve, and they'll make sure it doesn't happen. Probably the military industrial complex, too.
He could easily win. You are of course sadly correct that the republican establishment will do everything in its power to deny him the nomination, but that could backfire badly on them. They are not exactly popular with the rank and file, and particularly the Tea Party. The crucial issue for Paul will be immigration. He is on all sides of it, and that isn't going to cut it, because that looks a lot like amnesty.
Yeah, and this pisses me off seeing the other assholes I HAVE TO VOTE FOR screwing with Rand as he IS my choice for helping put out out the flames from this current nightmare. Guys like Peter King(R) calling Rand foul names, plus his other R "friends" behavior towards him is beyond foul! Oh yes, I pissed off folks in my tea party group recently when I said "I'm voting for so and so republican vs our republican tea party candidate." They went shitty on me, but I did have to shake my head and tell them, "since our guy has zero chance at more than two votes, do you think we can at least vote for the republican who's neck and neck against a Nazicrat, so we can at least breathe a little longer? I FULLY understand making a statement with our vote, but now's sure as hell not the time, as a Nazi would reap all the rewards, and we'd burn that much faster as a result!" As for immigration, when are ANY of the repubs or libertarians going to man up, and put a stop to this insanity!! Hello???!??? Terrorists are coming across like roaches in the night, along with the millions of others who are draining us financially!! All this while republicans cower over the Hispanic vote, which they only get a whopping 15% of anyway!!! "Hello? This is the operator calling.. Is anyone there? I think they hung up..."