So which liberal rag are you gunna believe . . .

also . . . Grubbing for votes

Ted Cruz Recruits Some Rand Paul Supporters in Iowa  – NYTimes.com

Ron Paul supporters bolt Rand Paul camp – Ben Schreckinger – POLITICO

OK we were trying to be a bit cute.  Surprise! They are both saying the same sort of thing.

Our view is that Rand Paul cannot expect the same level of support in Iowa from Ron Paul supporters that Ron Paul received in 2012.  It is true Rand could make up some of that with “other support” as he attempts to go beyond the Ron Paul issue driven campaign into more, ahem, nuanced  positions.  Trouble with that is he could nuance his way into appearing all over the map, or undependable, or just another say-anything Republican such that he finishes in the Iowa caucuses, not in the top three or four, but with the also rans.  Reasons for former Ron Paul supporters to decline Rand are many, including dependability. As one former Ron Paul organizer is quoted as saying  in the Politico (one who has signed on with Ted Cruz):

“When Rand was filibustering, we saw Mike Lee and Ted Cruz standing there. When the shoe was on the other foot and Cruz was the one giving the filibuster, I and others in the liberty movement looked around and asked, ‘Where’s Rand?  . . . It kind of added insult to injury to learn that he planned to be at a fundraiser for [Iowa Gov.] Terry Branstad that day.”

Rand Paul’s support for Terry Branstad makes more than a few Liberty folks (the movement behind much of the Ron Paul support in 2012) squeamish.  Given Branstad’s support for fuel tax increases, bigger budgets, Big Wind and Big Ethanol mandates and subsidies, and more that Liberty rightly finds objectionable, the question rightly rises about the depth of commitment of one who abandons the battle on the floor of the Senate to get his card punched for attending an establishment big government Republican event. We doubt a Steve King or a Ted Cruz would abandon a key legislative fight in order to appear acceptable to that element.

Grubbing for votes

Prankster Rand, maybe Guru Grubbs will fit right in

We would add the really strange choice by Rand of political consultant Steve Grubbs to be his Iowa guru. Grubbs was Mark Jacobs consultant.  Not of hand bag fame but of carpet bagging fame . . . as in carpet-bag full of cash to spend on the campaign, much of it through Grubbs’ firm. That is said to be a prerequisite of Grubbs, establishing whether the candidate will have enough money, we would add not necessarily to win. Jacobs finished third, behind Sam Clovis, who had no money.  Jacobs was the darling of half the Republican establishment particularly enthralled with carbon tax credits and Goldman Sacs alums who are flexible enough to support the likes of Arlen Specter. We are thinking not a lot of Liberty folks were in the tank for Mark Jacobs as Grubbs was.

To add more insult to the pick is the long association of Grubbs with the party establishment that could not do enough to keep Ron Paul people out of  the RPI. Consultants like Grubbs are “flexible,” we get that, but we don’t find it enthralling that candidates who want to convince Liberty folks of their fine unshakable principles associate themselves with such shameful message developers in key positions. Liberty supporters and other constitutional conservatives can see some of Grubbs fine work by exploring the   appropriately named Shameful link on our page bar above.

According to the New York Times article linked above:

Recently the former state party chairman, A.J. Spiker, a Paul supporter, predicted that only about 5 percent of Ron Paul’s base from 2012 would fail to support his son, Rand Paul.

From what we have heard and seen, we will take that bet.

R Mall

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