Rand Gets Real, HuffPost Freaks Out
You’ve gotta hand it to Huffington Post, despite their liberal bias, they have bravely covered Rand Paul’s principled stand on civil liberties, foreign policy and rational drug policy, despite the madness that ensues from their readers in the comments…especially on this article. Rand Paul even brings up the “left/right paradigm” at the end of the full video (scroll down).
(Huffington Post 3/24/13) Riding the high of his win in last week’s CPAC straw poll, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) addressed a different kind of high on Sunday.
In an interview with Fox News Sunday’s Chris Wallace, Paul was asked why he advocates for more lenient marijuana laws.
“I don’t want to promote that but I also don’t want to put people in jail who make a mistake,” Paul explained. “There are a lot of young people who do this and then later on in their twenties they grow up and get married and they quit doing things like this. I don’t want to put them in jail and ruin their lives.”
That led Paul to mention some bigger figures who have been linked to marijuana in the past — Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush.
Look, the last two presidents could conceivably have been put in jail for their drug use, and I really think, you know, look what would have happened, it would have ruined their lives…They got lucky, but a lot of poor kids, particularly in the inner city, don’t get lucky. They don’t have good attorneys, and they go to jail for these things and I think it’s a big mistake.
Full interview:
CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS HOST: Senator Paul as I was studying up for this interview and as I’m hearing you today, I’m having some difficulty exactly where you are on the political spectrum. Because, in some instances, you’re to the left of Barack Obama, when it comes to drones. On the other hand, you’re to the right of Congressman Paul Ryan whose budget you opposed, voted against this past weekend in the Senate, because you say it doesn’t cut the budget, doesn’t balance the budget fast enough. Do you think there’s room for a realistic, feasible presidential candidate who’s to the left of Obama on some issues and to the right of Paul Ryan on other issues?
SENATOR RAND PAUL, KY: I think we have a confusing spectrum. This left-right spectrum doesn’t always work for people. But I think that because of that confusion it shows that someone like myself I think could appeal to young people, independents and moderates, because many of them do think it’s a mistake to put people in jail for marijuana use and throw away the key. So I think there are people who would like to see a less agressive foreign policy. There are all kinds of issues that don’t neatly fit in the left-right paradigm that I think would help. Because we’re not doing very well in a lot of these states, these purple and blue states. So we do need a candidate that would appeal across the left-right paradigm.