"Rand Paul took a left turn on his journey to the Republican nomination, and now his hopes seem to be headed south.
The libertarian Kentucky senator’s new book, “Taking a Stand,
came out Tuesday, and it is chock-full of lines that would position
Paul well — if he were running against Hillary Clinton for the
Democratic nomination.
On the environment: “You’ll find I’m a tree hugger, literally . . .
On Wall Street: “Only in a world of crony capitalism would bankers whose
faulty decisions caused
bankruptcy be allowed to cash out as the middle class absorbs the losses.”
On his party: “Right now, the Republican brand sucks. I promised Reince
Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, that I would
stop saying the GOP sucks, and I will (except for this last time).”
On racial minorities: “I want a New GOP that resonates with America, that looks like America — white and black. . . . The face of the Republican Party should not be about suppressing the vote but about enhancing the vote.”
On Ferguson, Mo.: “[T]housands of
peaceful protesters were met with rubber bullets, tear gas, and a police
department that showed up at the protest in gear more fitting for
Fallujah or Kandahar.”
On drug
sentencing: “We should free those who are in jail under the old
guidelines. Our prisons are bursting with young men — and women — who
are poor or of color.”
But Paul
has a problem: He isn’t running for the Democratic nomination. And
though Paul may think his Republican Party’s brand sucks, the primary
voters don’t necessarily share his view that the party is too old and
too white. His candidacy has so far failed to ignite — and, indeed, he
seems to be fading as a force within the party.
The most recent national poll, by Fox News, has Paul in sixth place, with 7 percent, trailing Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Scott Walker, Mike Huckabee and Marco Rubio. Paul averages only about half the support he had late in 2013. Paul doesn’t appear to be winning over young voters — perhaps the most important justification for his candidacy — and does not do better than other Republicans," WashingtonPost
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