Rand Paul/Iron Man

[elysiantraveller]

Since we are all degenerate gamblers how long does everyone think he goes for?

I'm saying 8:30 AM Est.

The fact he is still going makes me think he will try to make it until the morning news otherwise he will pack it in any minute now.

[Striker]

Hopefully he will talk so long that he will never get his voice back.

[JustRalph]

Gotta admire him in some ways.

[elysiantraveller]

Gotta admire him in some ways.

You really do.

I don't see this as a partisan issue. I'm a conservative but despised the Patriot Act and equally despise this Administration's haggling on what will be known as Drone Policy.

Here you have a guy that knows he isn't going to achieve anything but raise awareness and he is doing it the old fashioned way by putting himself out there... :ThmbUp:

[johnhannibalsmith]

I ran down Rand Paul in another thread and questioned his sincerity, comparing him somewhat to Romney in that he seems to be trying to hard to be too many things at once for political gain.

I retract that to some extent.

While the drone issue has been in the news more often lately, much to my pleasure, it is still the case that the program has OVERWHELMING support of citizens in this country.

It may be a brilliant political calculation to attract attention - but he's not up there rambling on and on about the plight of the underpriveledged or some heart-tugging typical political speak. He's up there speaking fairly boldly in opposition to a program that most voters, both Dems and Repubs, support strongly.

If that's a political calculation, that's the kind of calculation I like. He's actually doing it right, seemingly from the heart, and without regard for the pollster's results on citizen opinion of the subject matter.

Still don't really like him for some reason, but the respect level went up significantly.

[ArlJim78]

I like him a lot, however I really could not understand his vote on Hagel. But this today is historic.

freshmen tea party senators take over the senate and speak eloquently and passionately about the constitution and civil liberties. they should run tapes of this filibuster in schools and discuss the subjects being brought up.

[Let's Roll]

Rand Paul is a man of character and integrity. Our Founding Fathers would be proud of him.
I want to thank everyone in Kentucky who voted for him.

[Tom]

Funny, even rambling on and on to kill time, he makes far more sense than the dems do whey they are talking seriously! :lol:

But, give an assist to McCain for his invaluable help on this project - he gave Rand something he will desperately need before the morning sun rises.....

[elysiantraveller]

12:39pm

[ArlJim78]

tour de force performances by Rand Paul, also Ted Cruz. I thought Mike Lee was also very good. Rubio brought passion but he was not in the same league as the others.
You'd never know it but today was the first day Ted Cruz spoke on the floor of the senate.

[JustRalph]

Largely symbolic, yet very admirable.

It made quite a statement with Cruz joining in.

[dnlgfnk]

Sounds like it's over? Paul had to answer nature's call.

Where is the left's outrage, besides johnhannibalsmith, and Glen Greenwald?...

http://www.salon.com/2012/04/19/americas_drone_sickness/

[Tom]

How sad is it that this once great nation has been dragged down by the left so far that we now are debating whether or not the president has the right to murder Americans on our own shores?

Obama has left a stain we will never cleanse.

[Robert Goren]

Hardly an Ironman performance. The record is 24 hours and 18 minutes held Strom Thurmond in opposition to the Civil Rights Bill of 1964. Thurmond was a democrat at the time, but shortly there after joined the GOP because its presidential nominee at the time, Barry Goldwater, had also opposed the the Civil Rights Bill although for different reasons. Goldwater thought the bill was unconstitutional. Thurmond made no bones about the fact his motives were strictly racist. Thurmond later recanted his racist views, but remained a republican until his death in 2003 at the age of 102.

[sammy the sage]

How sad is it that this once great nation has been dragged down by the left so far that we now are debating whether or not the president has the right to murder Americans on our own shores?

Obama has left a stain we will never cleanse.

Few remember that IT WAS Bush & Bi-partisean congressional vote THAT allowed this line of thinking...when they voted to ALLOW American troops to serve on American soil..which HAD been out-lawed since the 1900's..

Much like Glass/Stegal repeal...again....BOTH party's compliant in THE destruction of America....

[Tom]

You don't see a difference?

[elysiantraveller]

Hardly an Ironman performance. The record is 24 hours and 18 minutes held Strom Thurmond in opposition to the Civil Rights Bill of 1964. Thurmond was a democrat at the time, but shortly there after joined the GOP because its presidential nominee at the time, Barry Goldwater, had also opposed the the Civil Rights Bill although for different reasons. Goldwater thought the bill was unconstitutional. Thurmond made no bones about the fact his motives were strictly racist. Thurmond later recanted his racist views, but remained a republican until his death in 2003 at the age of 102.

Not exactly but if it makes you feel better.

[lamboguy]

during Bush, he brought you The Patriot Act.

Obama brought you front and center The National Defense Authorization Act that he signed on New Year's Eve.

the latest is the repeal of the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act which restricted military personal from doing police duties on our lands.

bottom line both sides are crooked. during the last election, the republicans refused to to get behind one of the best presidential candidates of all time because they were afraid of him and would rather have Obama win a second term than risk getting this guy elected. the republicans sold out their own candidate and if they had to would sell out their own mothers to get what they want.

[johnhannibalsmith]

... the republicans refused to to get behind one of the best presidential candidates of all time...

Trump?

[lamboguy]

Trump?yeah i liked him, i didn't think that Romney was that bad either. they threw him under the bus.

[so.cal.fan]

http://twitchy.com/2013/03/06/john-cusak-on-rand-paul-filibuster/

[johnhannibalsmith]

I love it! Now you have Old Man McCain and Lindsey Lohan Graham Cracker pissed off at Paul and ready to confirm Brennan just to get even with Paul. You have Crusty McConnell supporting Paul. You have dems trying to figure out whether they love it or not, totally baffled by possible political implications of come out in either direction.

This is what it should be like - chaos and dissent all over the place with nobody sure what a party hack might say. Some great quotes erupting over this... just wonderful stuff.

"To my Republican colleagues, I don't remember any of you coming down here suggesting that President Bush was going to kill anybody with a drone," -Sen. Graham

[ArlJim78]

I think McCain is retiring, not running again, thank God. Graham is number one on the list to primary, I think it's next year. How gutless having dinner with Obama last night when he could have been on the senate floor debating Paul and the others. The reason he didn't is because Paul and Cruz would have knocked his argument about no senators having suggested that Bush was going to kill someone with a drone right out of the water.

Think about it, Paul had support from the ACLU, Code Pink, Van Jones and even got some respect from Dick Durbin who said Paul's question was valid and deserved an answer. Yet his own party elders like McCain and Graham come crawling out of their holes today to rip him every which way.

Its been a very illuminating two days.

[Tom]

The repubs need to take out the trash once and for all.
McCain is the best little democrat in the republican party. He serves no useful purpose.

[JustRalph]

Hardly an Ironman performance. The record is 24 hours and 18 minutes held Strom Thurmond in opposition to the Civil Rights Bill of 1964. Thurmond was a democrat at the time, but shortly there after joined the GOP because its presidential nominee at the time, Barry Goldwater, had also opposed the the Civil Rights Bill although for different reasons. Goldwater thought the bill was unconstitutional. Thurmond made no bones about the fact his motives were strictly racist. Thurmond later recanted his racist views, but remained a republican until his death in 2003 at the age of 102.

Sure went a long way to take a swipe at Paul and then drag Strom thru the mud in the name of making Repubs look racist.

Btw, try standing up and talking for 12 hours straight.......

I read this yesterday.....
Thurmond was not the only lawmaker to filibuster on the issue, however. According to Senate records, teams of senators consumed 57 days filibustering between March 26 and June 19, the day the Civil Rights Act of 1957 passed.

Want to guess what party they were from?

[johnhannibalsmith]

"If Mr. Paul wants to be taken seriously he needs to to do more than pull political stunts that fire up impressionable libertarian kids," Sen. McCain

Oh, this couldn't be going any better.

We can deal with an issue on a rep by rep level without all of this ridiculous "coalition" bullshit where everyone lines up by team and nothing worthwhile ever gets said or done.

[elysiantraveller]

"If Mr. Paul wants to be taken seriously he needs to to do more than pull political stunts that fire up impressionable libertarian kids," Sen. McCain

Oh, this couldn't be going any better.

We can deal with an issue on a rep by rep level without all of this ridiculous "coalition" bullshit where everyone lines up by team and nothing worthwhile ever gets said or done.

It's the old, if you've got both democrats and republicans pissed off at you, you're probably doing some good, mantra. :)

[johnhannibalsmith]

It's the old, if you've got both democrats and republicans pissed off at you, you're probably doing some good, mantra. :)

Even better than that - we've got Repubs so pissed at Repubs that they are doing 180s on their own positions in 24 hours just to vent at Paul, we have lib Dems mad at their own for not supporting something that they believe in just because a Repub is pushing it, we have the perceived far left kissing with the perceived far right ... a momentary detox from contrived team play, it's almost like an All-Star game... A departure from carefully crafted talking point cage matches.

http://europa.eu/abc/12lessons/images/content_berlin_wall.jpg

[TJDave]

"If Mr. Paul wants to be taken seriously he needs to to do more than pull political stunts that fire up impressionable libertarian kids," Sen. McCain


No, he doesn't.

[johnhannibalsmith]

No, he doesn't.

The gem of the quote is in the irony of having it come from almost anyone else in the House or Senate.... or the White House.

[TJDave]

The gem of the quote is in the irony of having it come from almost anyone else in the House or Senate.... or the White House.

And how did they get to the House, Senate or White House?

[johnhannibalsmith]

And how did they get to the House, Senate or White House?

Lots of money? Sexual favors? Kickbacks and extortion?

What did I miss?

[TJDave]

What did I miss?

They were elected.

[johnhannibalsmith]

They were elected.

Yeah, that was sarcasm and sort of the original point. Ironic that any other politician that has used as the primary tool of election or re-election exactly what McCain is quoted as using to insult Paul. Change "impressionable libertarian kids" to "impressionable xenophobes" or "impressionable self-professed progressives" or whatever other labels you want to use to characterize the sort of political stunts that nearly all of Paul's colleagues rely upon every day of their lives to retain their power.