First of all, he should never have announced this beforehand, . . .
That is a political strategy.
This is Rand being a Senator, doing a Senator's job as much as being a candidate.
June 1 is a deadline for the Congress to act on the Patriot Act, and lines were already being drawn in the sand . . .
Rand and Democrat Wyden on one side maybe, and Rubio and the neocons on the other.
"The first real debate of 2016 kicked off in earnest on Thursday (May 7) after a federal court ruled
that the Patriot Act does not allow the National Security Agency to mass collect the phone data of Americans."
"Following the court ruling, Rubio joined Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Senators Tom Cotton and
Richard Burr to offer a full-throated defense of the NSA and accused critics of the programs of lying."
http://www.buzzfeed.com/katenocera/...e-of-2016-is-about-the-patriot-act#.tb16p0jGb
So let's see Rubio's "full-throated defense of the NSA"
Rand will need to be very careful, they will challenge the accuracy of what he says.
Rand may have already believed that there have not been any foiled terrorist plots because of the Patriot Act. (Time magazine (?))
That might be a boldly, in-your-face, unequivocal statement Rand may not know for certain, regardless of his source,
and
if it turns out is inaccurate . . . NOT good to make.
So I thought of, and looked up, the jet fuel undeground pipeline plot at JFK years ago to see if Rand was correct.
It was reportedly not technically feasible to do what was plotted. For one, they would need heavy bulldozer type equipment -
kinda like bin Laden in his youth used in Afghanistan to dig trenches to defeat the Russians. Duh.
(I am not entirely sold on that feasibility spin, as i.e. " impossible to melt down the Twin Towers ?)
Regardless, as for
anybody knowing what was REALLY used to dismantle that "plot" . . . well, knowing that with certainty may just not be possible.