The Republican Party has lost 4/6 of the last Presidential elections and lost the popular vote the last 5/6 elections. Rand Paul wants to change that and create a new inclusive 21st Century Republican Party that can compete at the Presidential level. The GOP Establishment is not interested in winning and now view Rand Paul as a threat.
The GOP elites have unleashed the Corpulent Guido as their attack dog on Rand. However, he has not backed down from this fight and calls out the failure of the GOP Establishment.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said he agrees with those that say there is pushback from the Republican establishment when the party faces heat from factions such as the libertarian wing.
Newt Gingrich said Thursday that he thinks the establishment is growing “more hysterical” as Paul and fellow Republican Sen. Ted Cruz rise in prominence. Paul said Friday on “The Laura Ingraham Show” that he thinks the establishment needs to welcome new ideas
“I think there’s some truth to that and I think the other thing about it is that the old guard needs to realize they’re the ones that have been losing the last couple of elections,” Paul said. “If we want to win for presidency we have to compete in the states where we’re not competing. Precisely, up in the northeast and on the west coast where Republicans are basically on life support. We need to reach out with issues that may attract new people to the party.”[….]
Paul said he thinks there is a place within the Republican party for libertarians such as himself. He said that way of thinking, particularly when it comes to issues of privacy, can be used to attract young people to the GOP.
“Young people, they don’t really associate with Republicans on taxes and regulations. Not that they oppose us, they just don’t have any money so they don’t care much about those issues,” Paul said. “But they’ve all got a cell phone, they’re all on the internet, they’re all concerned about internet freedom and they’re concerned about privacy. And these are precisely issues where we can grow our youth vote.”
Bill Maher opened the panel discussion on his show tonight taking on the “huge verbal slapfight” between Chris Christie and Rand Paul that Maher believed was an important “fight for the soul of the Republican party” over national security. He and the panel largely came down on Paul’s side in that fight, but former Democratic congressman Barney Frank expressed his personal outrage with Bradley Manning for releasing diplomatic cables, getting into a spat with fellow panelist and Occupy Wall Street activist Alexis Goldstein.Business Insider’s Josh Barro said Christie took up this fight to be “Mr. Conservative” again instead of a wishy-washy New England moderate Republican. Frank bashed Christie’s anti-gay record and said he agrees with the Pauls (both Rand and Ron) on drugs and civil liberties. Maher questioned why the Department of Homeland Security still exists, and while Frank did push back a bit, the others agreed that it might be wise to scale back the government bureaucracy and the “internal lobby” it created.
Rand Paul’s stances on issues appeal to a broader audience than the traditional Republican base. This is why the Establishment wants to destroy him.