Crowd Chants 'President Paul' as Rand Regales Audience at CPAC

Barbara Boland | February 27, 2015
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"At home conservatives understand that the government is the problem, not the solution,” said Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) during his speech at CPAC today. “But as conservatives, we should not succumb to the notion that a government inept at home, will somehow become successful abroad, that a government that can’t even deliver the mail will somehow be able to create nations abroad.

At this, the crowd cheered, and when Paul said that he “envisions an America unencumbered by nation-building,” the crowd went wild. “It angers me to see mobs burning our flag and chanting ‘death to America’ in countries that receive our foreign aid. I say it must end! I say not one penny more to these haters of America!” The crowd cheered and whistled loudly.

Paul’s speech received applause that brought down the house. At one point the crowd even broke into chants of “President Paul!”

He skewered “Hillary’s war in Libya,” admonished Republicans to embrace the whole Bill of Rights, not just the 2nd Amendment, laid out his foreign policy “that promotes stability, not chaos” and spoke on the perils of toppling despots and arming radical Islamists. He received the wildest cheering any presumptive candidate has received this year at CPAC.

“When politicians accept censorship, when politicians accept imprisonment without trial, when politicians accept torture, even of the innocent, as necessary, then lovers of liberty must rise,” Paul said.

Paul continued: “Our freedom is at risk from a Supreme Court that fails to protect liberty. In the mistake of the century, Justice Roberts affirmed the power of the government to force you to buy insurance. Justice Roberts argued that we must presume Obamacare Constitutional. I’ve got a better idea. Why don’t we presume liberty?” The crowd cheered.

“Just as we are presumed innocent, so too we should be presumed free,” he added.

“…Obamacare at it’s very core takes away a patient’s right to choose,” said Paul. “I promise you this: as a doctor, I will take it and make it my mission to heal the nation, reverse the course of Obamacare, and repeal every last bit of it.” The crowd applauded and cheered.

“We must remember that our rights are unlimited, unenumerated, and given to us by God,” said Paul. “Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. The 9th Amendment says that those rights not listed are not to be disparaged. You do have a right to privacy!”

“Your rights are who you are!” said Paul forcefully. “Your rights are what you are! Your rights are in your DNA, and the government can, quite frankly, get over it!” The crowd cheered and applauded.

“I say your phone records are yours,” said Paul. “I say the phone records of law-abiding citizens are none of their damn business!” The crowd particularly liked this strongly-delivered line.

“From within, our freedom is threatened by debt, and by a government that regulates everything that moves!” said Paul.

“We borrow a billion dollars a minute. The President says he doesn’t know where to cut. How about we start with the $2.4 million they spend on origami condoms. Don’t tell me there’s no place to cut!” Paul said.

Sen. Paul departs from many of his fellow Republicans on foreign policy, and he took time in his speech to underline where he stands. “Our freedom is also threatened from outside our borders,” he said. “We must protect ourselves from jihadists without losing who we are as a people in the process. We must think before we act.”

Paul: “We should promote stability not chaos. In the Middle East, one form of tyranny often replaces another. When secular despots are overthrown, chaos ensues, and radical Islam grows stronger. Hillary’s war in Libya is a perfect example. Hillary’s war made us less safe. Libya is less stable and radical jihadists run amuck!”

“I asked Hillary Clinton if she read Ambassador Stephen’s cables, pleading for help,” said Paul of a Senate hearing he’d attended on Benghazi. Hillary “answered ‘no’ as if she had more important things to do.”

“I believe Hillary Clinton’s abdication of responsibility, her refusal to provide an adequate defense for Benghazi, her dereliction of duty, should forever preclude her from foreign office!” At this the crowd went absolutely wild, cheering louder than they had throughout the day. “It’s time for Hillary Clinton to permanently retire,” he added.

Paul said that ISIS is a threat to our consulate and embassy in Iraq, and that they “grew in a safe haven created by arming Islamic rebels in the Syrian civil war.”

“When I voted against arming Islamic rebels in the Syrian civil war, I warned that these arms might end up in the hands of jihadists, and that one day we might be forced to go back to fight our own weapons,” said Paul. “Within a year that prediction came true.”

“Without question, we must now defend ourselves and American interests from this barbarous aberration,” he said. “But it troubles me that we must now fight against our own weapons.”

“We need a national defense robust enough to defend against all attacks, moderate enough to deter all enemies, and nimble enough to defend our vital interests,” said Paul. “But we also need a foreign policy that encourages stability, not chaos.”

Paul then spoke on inequality in America and quoted Martin Luther King on two Americas that exist side by side. “In one America, people experience the opportunity of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” he said.

“In the other America, people experience a daily ugliness that dashes hope and leaves only the fatigue of despair,” said Paul. “I was born into the America that experiences and believes in opportunity. But my trips to Ferguson, Atlanta and Chicago have revealed what I consider to be an undercurrent on unease in our country.”

“Liberal policies have failed our inner cities… our poor communities,” said Paul. “Our schools are not equal. The poverty gap continues to widen. It’s time for a new way, a way predicated on opportunity and freedom. Those of us who have enjoyed the American dream must break down the wall that separates us from the other America.”

“The President’s answer is to raise taxes again. I believe we should do the opposite. I propose we cut everyone’s taxes, from the richest to the poorest,” said Paul, adding that he will propose the largest tax cut in the coming weeks. “My tax plan will get the IRS out of your way, and out of the way of every job creator in America” and that his plan will balance the budget in just five years.

“I propose something truly outrageous – Congress should read every bill!” said Paul. “Congress should also live under the laws they pass. I have a Constitutional amendment that says Congress shall pass no law that exempts themselves.” This received a lot of cheers.

Paul: “Our future… should include a balanced budget, a simple, fair, tax system, government that protects your rights, and your security, a stronger, better, more agile military. It’s time for a new way, a new set of ideas, a new leader, one you can trust, one who works for you. Above all, it’s time for a new President!”

At this point, the crowd began to chant “President Paul, President Paul!” while cheering and applauding.

“You are America’s greatest hope, America’s dream,” said Paul, ending on a positive note. “Our best days are ahead of us. It is not the desire for wealth that drives us; what drives us is the desire for freedom.”

“The history of man, is the history of men and women, striving to restrain the power of government and expand the realm of freedom,” he said. “Will you stand with me, will you fight for freedom? Will you vote for freedom?” The crowd cheered wildly and chanted “President Paul!” again.

“Let us rise as one… let us shout from the top of our lungs for freedom now, for our God-given liberty; let us stand together and make America once again the leading light for freedom and prosperity for all!”

After his very well-received speech, Paul participated in a question-and-answer session.

Asked how he would expand the party, Paul said: “As republicans we do a great job defending the 2nd Amendment…. But we have to defend the whole Bill of Rights.”

“To defend the 2nd amendment, you have to defend the 4th Amendment. If the government can come in your house will-nilly without a… judicial or Constitutional warrant, then we don’t have protection of the 2nd Amendment. You need the 1st Amendment to protect the 2nd Amendment.”

He added that “We should have speedy trials in our country,” and spoke of a 16-year-old African American boy from the Bronx who was jailed in Rykers for over three years without trial after he was accused of a crime. “He tried to commit suicide four times,” said Paul. “If you ask [the boy] … or ask his mom, or anyone who lives around him in the Bronx: he lives in that other America Martin Luther King talked about.”

If we want to expand the party, “what we have to do is… say that big government is not only a problem as far as regulations and taxes, big government is a problem sometimes not giving justice to those who deserve it,” said Paul.

Paul said his biggest criticism of Congress is that “they’re dysfunctional” and that the national debt is growing “by leaps and bounds because Congress doesn’t do their job.”

He continued: “We are supposed to have twelve individual spending bills. We don’t. We lump ‘em all together. We lurch from one deadline to the next deadline and then when it comes, it’s like ‘Hurry up, either the government is going to shut down, or you have all the spending grouped together in one package.’ So what I’ve been saying is ‘Why don’t we just do our job?’ Why don’t we pass each individual spending bill on its own, and control the power of the purse?”

Paul was asked to respond to criticism that he’s not tough enough on the issues of national defense and foreign policy.

“When I look at government, I think that the most important thing we do at the Federal government level is defend our country,” said Paul. “Without question, bar none, national defense is a Constitutional function we have. When I look at spending, when I look at what should we spend money on, this or national defense… for me the priority always is national defense.

“When we get to foreign policy, though, we’re not all the same… there is a spectrum,” he said. “On the one hand, there are people who believe we should never be anywhere outside of our borders. On the other hand there are people who believe we should be everywhere all the time.”

Paul continued: “I think really, in the end, what we should do is obey the Constitution. The Constitution says that war, when we go to war, should be declared and initiated by Congress.” The crowd cheered and applauded loudly.

Paul has won the CPAC straw polls for the last two years, and he received the loudest applause when Sean Hannity asked the crowd which candidate they most supported earlier in the day. This year’s CPAC straw poll results will be announced tomorrow.

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