4 ms·

The man is such a disaster in so many other ways, that getting one thing right is more of a half-cup of punch in a turd-bowl.

meowface 12y ago
I honestly think that between POTUS Rand Paul and NSA mass surveillance programs, the latter is the leser of two evils. It would be very nice to see other candidates making similar pledges though.
- woah 12y ago
  No explanation in this comment either
  - mcantelon 12y ago
    People have been conditioned into thinking libertarians are the devil, basically.
    - opo 12y ago
      It might be more general than that. People here (and most other forums) seem conditioned to treat politics like sports teams and they will ignore all the horrible ideas their "team" has just as long as they can beat the other team. It is pretty sad...
      - anonbanker 12y ago
        Can I use this explanation when Canadians ask me why I left the states? do I need to pay royalties?
  - adamnemecek 12y ago
    Explanation of what? Why Rand Paul would be a bad president?
  - dntrkv 12y ago
    http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/Rand_Paul.htm http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/Rand_Paul.htm Some of his positions: Life begins at conception. Endorsed Liberty Candidate: End the Federal Reserve. Women won the "war on women": they're no longer downtrodden. Punishing the rich means the poor lose their jobs. Blacks look who's in prison & conclude cops out to get them. EPA regulations cost $15 trillion in 2012. Exit the UN; maintain US sovereignty. Defund, repeal, & replace federal care with free market. Defense should be largest part of much smaller budget. Social Security is a Ponzi scheme. Economic growth comes when we lower taxes for everyone. Voted NO on authorizing states to collect Internet sales taxes. Tax cuts help the poor because local businesses will hire. Yeah, no thanks.
    - fleitz 12y ago
      How is social security not a ponzi scheme? The returns generated depend on finding new investors in the scheme, if current investors pull out the scheme cannot return promised benefits to current investors. This is pretty much the precise definition of a ponzi scheme and why the scheme faces certain bankruptcy with out a significant rise in births.
      - forgotpasswd3x 12y ago
        > This is pretty much the precise definition of a ponzi scheme and why the scheme faces certain bankruptcy with out a significant rise in births. Or we could just remove the cap for social security tax.
        deleted 12y ago
        [deleted]
lettergram 12y ago
Could you expand? Your comment doesn't really add anything to the conversation, expand my knowledge, or even explain why anyone should value your opinion... I don't mean to be rude, but it was a rather harsh comment, without much (if any) addition to the conversation.
- ikeboy 12y ago
  http://www.factcheck.org/2015/02/paul-repeats-baseless-vaccine-claims http://www.factcheck.org/2015/02/paul-repeats-baseless-vacci... http://religiondispatches.org/rand-paul-we-wouldnt-need-laws-if-everyone-were-christian/ http://religiondispatches.org/rand-paul-we-wouldnt-need-laws...
  - sb057 12y ago
    >http://www.factcheck.org/2015/02/paul-repeats-baseless-vaccine-claims http://www.factcheck.org/2015/02/paul-repeats-baseless-vacci... That quote is taken out of context. To quote the entire thing: "The point is that I have heard of – I mean who hasn’t ever met a child who has a profound disability and in the parents’ mind they see a connection,” Paul said. “But I didn’t allege there is a connection. I said I heard of people who believe there is a connection. I do think that vaccines are a good idea. I’ve been vaccinated. My kids have been vaccinated." >http://religiondispatches.org/rand-paul-we-wouldnt-need-laws-if-everyone-were-christian/ http://religiondispatches.org/rand-paul-we-wouldnt-need-laws... The headlines says "Rand Paul: We Wouldn’t Need Laws If Everyone Were Christian". Paul never said anything like that. He said that "Christian values" like non-violence and such are good.
    - magicalist 12y ago
      > Paul, Feb. 2: I have heard of many tragic cases of walking, talking, normal children who wound up with profound mental disorders after vaccines. > That quote is taken out of context. To quote the entire thing That wasn't out of context, that's him later trying to walk back his quote. They link directly to a video of him saying what they quoted[1] (and even ignoring that, his point that parents should essentially use their instincts for setting a vaccination schedule is irresponsible and would make for incredibly poor public policy) [1] http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000351424 http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000351424 at 1:53
fleitz 12y ago
He's also against the President being allowed to execute US citizens with out charge or trial.
- shitlord 12y ago
  And against gay marriage, too! His defenders will claim that although he does not like it, he will still allow it. But that's not true either, because he will leave it to the states to decide (and about half of them will decide to ban it). Private prisons? Have at it. Urban poverty? Let the charities deal with it. Access to abortion? Similar response to gay marriage. The only reason he's popular on the internet is because he likes bitcoin, wants to legalize weed, wants to drastically reduce defense spending (including scaling back the NSA), and likes "civil liberties" (whatever those are).
  - benihana 12y ago
    Rather than pre-empting his "defenders'" comments, how about linking us to where he says he's against gay marriage and letting us judge for ourselves based on his words.
  - fleitz 12y ago
    My impression of Rand Paul is that he has personal views which conflict with many Americans and that he believes that it's not his right to impose those views, this differs significantly from Hillary who is a long time advocate of actively denying marriage to gays and lesbians through acts like DOMA. As far as private prisons I think his views on sentencing are much more relevant. I think people being sentenced to less time and those who have non-violent offence being released are more important than whether the prison is owned and operated by the gov't. As far as popularity he's the only Republican that outpolls Clinton in many swing states. (Not sure if you were insinuating that he's only popular on the internet) He's a huge advocate of fixing urban poverty by not removing working parents from their home to serve lengthy sentences for non-violence offences.
  - defen 12y ago
    What happens if the President hates abortion and gay marriage (serious question)? Does he have any power to repeal/overturn, other than having access to the bully pulpit? It's not like he can get elected and say "OK gay marriage is over now", which he could do to the NSA (whether he will is certainly up for debate).

meowface 12y ago

I honestly think that between POTUS Rand Paul and NSA mass surveillance programs, the latter is the leser of two evils. It would be very nice to see other candidates making similar pledges though.

woah 12y ago
No explanation in this comment either
- mcantelon 12y ago
  People have been conditioned into thinking libertarians are the devil, basically.
  - opo 12y ago
    It might be more general than that. People here (and most other forums) seem conditioned to treat politics like sports teams and they will ignore all the horrible ideas their "team" has just as long as they can beat the other team. It is pretty sad...
    - anonbanker 12y ago
      Can I use this explanation when Canadians ask me why I left the states? do I need to pay royalties?
- adamnemecek 12y ago
  Explanation of what? Why Rand Paul would be a bad president?
- dntrkv 12y ago
  http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/Rand_Paul.htm http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/Rand_Paul.htm Some of his positions: Life begins at conception. Endorsed Liberty Candidate: End the Federal Reserve. Women won the "war on women": they're no longer downtrodden. Punishing the rich means the poor lose their jobs. Blacks look who's in prison & conclude cops out to get them. EPA regulations cost $15 trillion in 2012. Exit the UN; maintain US sovereignty. Defund, repeal, & replace federal care with free market. Defense should be largest part of much smaller budget. Social Security is a Ponzi scheme. Economic growth comes when we lower taxes for everyone. Voted NO on authorizing states to collect Internet sales taxes. Tax cuts help the poor because local businesses will hire. Yeah, no thanks.
  - fleitz 12y ago
    How is social security not a ponzi scheme? The returns generated depend on finding new investors in the scheme, if current investors pull out the scheme cannot return promised benefits to current investors. This is pretty much the precise definition of a ponzi scheme and why the scheme faces certain bankruptcy with out a significant rise in births.
    - forgotpasswd3x 12y ago
      > This is pretty much the precise definition of a ponzi scheme and why the scheme faces certain bankruptcy with out a significant rise in births. Or we could just remove the cap for social security tax.
      - deleted 12y ago
        [deleted]

lettergram 12y ago

Could you expand? Your comment doesn't really add anything to the conversation, expand my knowledge, or even explain why anyone should value your opinion... I don't mean to be rude, but it was a rather harsh comment, without much (if any) addition to the conversation.

ikeboy 12y ago
http://www.factcheck.org/2015/02/paul-repeats-baseless-vaccine-claims http://www.factcheck.org/2015/02/paul-repeats-baseless-vacci... http://religiondispatches.org/rand-paul-we-wouldnt-need-laws-if-everyone-were-christian/ http://religiondispatches.org/rand-paul-we-wouldnt-need-laws...
- sb057 12y ago
  >http://www.factcheck.org/2015/02/paul-repeats-baseless-vaccine-claims http://www.factcheck.org/2015/02/paul-repeats-baseless-vacci... That quote is taken out of context. To quote the entire thing: "The point is that I have heard of – I mean who hasn’t ever met a child who has a profound disability and in the parents’ mind they see a connection,” Paul said. “But I didn’t allege there is a connection. I said I heard of people who believe there is a connection. I do think that vaccines are a good idea. I’ve been vaccinated. My kids have been vaccinated." >http://religiondispatches.org/rand-paul-we-wouldnt-need-laws-if-everyone-were-christian/ http://religiondispatches.org/rand-paul-we-wouldnt-need-laws... The headlines says "Rand Paul: We Wouldn’t Need Laws If Everyone Were Christian". Paul never said anything like that. He said that "Christian values" like non-violence and such are good.
  - magicalist 12y ago
    > Paul, Feb. 2: I have heard of many tragic cases of walking, talking, normal children who wound up with profound mental disorders after vaccines. > That quote is taken out of context. To quote the entire thing That wasn't out of context, that's him later trying to walk back his quote. They link directly to a video of him saying what they quoted[1] (and even ignoring that, his point that parents should essentially use their instincts for setting a vaccination schedule is irresponsible and would make for incredibly poor public policy) [1] http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000351424 http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000351424 at 1:53

fleitz 12y ago

He's also against the President being allowed to execute US citizens with out charge or trial.

shitlord 12y ago
And against gay marriage, too! His defenders will claim that although he does not like it, he will still allow it. But that's not true either, because he will leave it to the states to decide (and about half of them will decide to ban it). Private prisons? Have at it. Urban poverty? Let the charities deal with it. Access to abortion? Similar response to gay marriage. The only reason he's popular on the internet is because he likes bitcoin, wants to legalize weed, wants to drastically reduce defense spending (including scaling back the NSA), and likes "civil liberties" (whatever those are).
- benihana 12y ago
  Rather than pre-empting his "defenders'" comments, how about linking us to where he says he's against gay marriage and letting us judge for ourselves based on his words.
- fleitz 12y ago
  My impression of Rand Paul is that he has personal views which conflict with many Americans and that he believes that it's not his right to impose those views, this differs significantly from Hillary who is a long time advocate of actively denying marriage to gays and lesbians through acts like DOMA. As far as private prisons I think his views on sentencing are much more relevant. I think people being sentenced to less time and those who have non-violent offence being released are more important than whether the prison is owned and operated by the gov't. As far as popularity he's the only Republican that outpolls Clinton in many swing states. (Not sure if you were insinuating that he's only popular on the internet) He's a huge advocate of fixing urban poverty by not removing working parents from their home to serve lengthy sentences for non-violence offences.
- defen 12y ago
  What happens if the President hates abortion and gay marriage (serious question)? Does he have any power to repeal/overturn, other than having access to the bully pulpit? It's not like he can get elected and say "OK gay marriage is over now", which he could do to the NSA (whether he will is certainly up for debate).