Rand Paul Takes On Rubio And Cruz Before Debate, Rubio And Trump During And After
Rand Paul, the elusive political unicorn of a candidate, has had a lot of attention and energy between the last two Republican presidential debates. Senator Rand Paul has sharpened his political attacks in recent weeks on the perceived 2016 presidential primary frontrunners. Just prior to the last Republican debates, Senator Paul took aim at Senator Marco Rubio’s immigration voting record, more specifically his part in the “Gang of Eight” bill that sought what many call amnesty for illegal immigrants. Senator Rubio rarely discusses this bill, and as Breitbart News reported, Senator Paul detailed other options that were available to the Florida senator.
“Yeah, and I think particularly with regards to national defense and border security because we gave him opportunities to make amendments that would have allowed for more border security. I introduced one that would have had more scrutiny for refugees and students and I’ve been talking about this—my staff actually dug up a video of me talking about this when I ran for office in 2010.”
Senator Paul took aim at Senator Rubio, pointing out that he has been in league with Democrats on immigration, more so than any of his fellow Republicans.
“I’ve been talking about this for a long time, but Rubio’s problem is whenever there was a conservative amendment that came up, he insisted that he had greater allegiance with Chuck Schumer than he did with any of the conservatives. They got together and basically they made a secret agreement to block all amendments, so basically they voted as a unified bloc against any amendments regardless of the content. But it’s also why it precluded conservatives from considering the bill.”
Dr. Paul referenced this secret deal and his allegiance with senate democrats during the CNN Republican debates.
Senator Paul also took aim at another popular Republican in the crowded GOP field, as he called out Senator Ted Cruz on his support on the P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act replacement, also known as the U.S.A. F.R.E.E.D.O.M. Act. Dr. Paul took aim at Republicans and Democrats saying that, according to the Washington Post, “On the left they’re saying they want your guns; on the right they’re saying they want your phone records.”
Paul focused the Republican side of the attack on his 2016 rival Senator Ted Cruz, as he pointed out that he practically supported a reauthorization of the P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act.
“Cruz has voted for reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act. Even though the debate over the NSA was complicated, and there were some reforms in the bill, the underlying bill that Cruz voted for was ultimately a reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act, and that’s why I ultimately opposed it.”
Senators Cruz and Rubio were not the only ones that Senator Paul took to task. Unlike his fellow Republican presidential hopefuls, Dr. Paul took shots at purported frontrunner Donald Trump. The Hill reports that he questioned in the debates whether Trump was a “serious” candidate or not.
“Is Donald Trump a serious candidate? It would defy every norm that is America, so when you ask yourself, whoever you are, if you think you’re going to support Donald Trump, think: ‘Do you believe in the Constitution?'”
This came as a result of Donald Trump’s repeated comments about “taking out” terrorists’ families and his statements about “closing up the internet,” as CNN Money reports.
“We have to talk to them about, maybe in certain areas, closing that Internet up in some way. Somebody will say, ‘Oh freedom of speech, freedom of speech.’ These are foolish people. We have a lot of foolish people.”
Senator Rand Paul had a few moments in the CNN and Quinnipiac polls where he was at the top of the pack, though he has won many debate polls showing that he won those debates.
[Image under CC BY-SA 2.0 Wikimedia Commons| Courtesy Of Gage Skidmore| Resized|Cropped]
