Monday, October 4, 2010

Rand Paul A Kentucky Good Ol' Boy

Who would have thought that a tea party candidate is now going on record stating they would back Republican leadership?  That happens to be the case with Rand Paul from Kentucky, who when pressed in a debate as to who he would vote for - Jim DeMint or Mitch McConnell - Paul chose the latter, the senate minority leader.  This comes a surprise because Paul's primary opponent was endorsed by McConnell while DeMint backed his campaign.

Katherine Q. Seelye wrote the following for The New York Times:
“His approach has changed,” said Trey Grayson, the secretary of state, who lost in the primary to Mr. Paul. “He’s acting more like an incumbent. His tone is designed more for a general election audience and swing voters.”

But, Mr. Grayson quickly added, Mr. Paul still gets across his points. “He still, at the end of the day, talks about shrinking the size of the government,” Mr. Grayson said. “Those things haven’t changed, and that’s why he’s ahead in the polls.”

During the spring primary, Mr. Paul invariably opened his speeches by declaring that “a Tea Party tidal wave is coming.” His “randslide” win of the Republican nomination was the movement’s first major success on the national stage.

Now, his references to the Tea Party are fewer and farther between. On a trip last week through eastern Kentucky, the trademark yellow “Don’t Tread on Me” flags of the movement were gone. Mr. Paul did not sound his earlier battle cry that he would shut down Congress for a week if it failed to amend the Constitution to require a balanced budget. In fact, he did not mention the Tea Party at all.
Looks like somebody is going to get screwed in the end - whether it is the tea party or the GOP, Paul is going to have to side with one and it is looking more like he used his libertarian credentials and the surge of tea partiers to ride his way to the top of the primary and now he is trying to sound a bit more moderate.

Paul had a lot of work ahead of him in getting the party to back him, and so for Kentucky voters it appears to be politics as usual.  The people who expected Paul to rewrite the constitution is gone - Paul would still be an obstructionist but it appears he got a jump start on being a hypocrite, too...

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