Real Time with Bill Maher: What Happened to Rand Paul? (HBO)

[ctiger2]

Sadly, Maher is correct in his assessment...

 

[V-rod]

I'm not a Rand apologist, but Bill Maher is NOTORIOUS for taking a lot of things out of context, and not showing the entire side of an issue. He is one of the last guys I take seriously in regards to politics.

I still find him a funny guy though.

 

[Arpmoog]

I hate this guy Maher with a passion almost. This man is a scum bag truth twisting whore.

 

[wizardwatson]

Sadly, Maher is correct in his assessment...

Pretty much.

It was extremely funny really. "Crazy is a constituency" is so true. And I specifically said Rand would be in danger of alienating a lot of people if he panders to the evangelicals which he has done as Maher pointed out and by his Israel pandering in other places.

But as the "smarties" around here have told me, "None of this matters, it's only about Republican primary voters."

The question is IF IF IF IF IF IF IF IF he wins the primary, what base is going to be left to get him through the general?

 

[hells_unicorn]

Pretty much.

It was extremely funny really. "Crazy is a constituency" is so true. And I specifically said Rand would be in danger of alienating a lot of people if he panders to the evangelicals which he has done as Maher pointed out and by his Israel pandering in other places.

But as the "smarties" around here have told me, "None of this matters, it's only about Republican primary voters."

The question is IF IF IF IF IF IF IF IF he wins the primary, what base is going to be left to get him through the general?

If he can't win the primary, there will be no general. See Ron Paul's numbers in the 1988 election as a Libertarian for what comes next if Rand tries to do what some folks suggest he do.

But just as a general observation, the last person that anyone running in the GOP primary should be taking advice from is Bill Maher. I am the only registered Republican that I know of in my area that even watches his show occasionally, the average GOP voter, evangelical nutter or not, thinks he an irreverent douche bag.

 

[anaconda]

Maher doesn't seem to get the concept of federal armies going wherever they want as a potential problem for a Constitutional Republic.

 

[wizardwatson]

Maher doesn't seem to get the concept of federal armies going wherever they want as a potential problem for a Constitutional Republic.

Yeah, but who's using that line? No one that I've heard. Everyone just keeps saying it's "shady" as in there's a nefarious purpose behind it and that is a legitimate target for ridicule from Maher's perspective.

Has Rand made a Constitutional argument for why these troop drills are wrong?

 

[fr33]

I hate Bill Maher and like Rand Paul but damn Bill has a point on this. The republican base is chock full of retards.

 

[cindy25]

Maher is correct, and Rand's run to the right is not necessary. not with a field of 10 or 12. yes-most of the Republican base is wacko. but Rand could win Iowa with 20%. he could win NH with independents and a small mount of Republicans. if Rand wins 2 or 3 early primaries its over.

after the UKIP debacle I sadly agree a 3rd party is a long time coming. but someone should try. at least to show the GOP base no neo con will ever win again.

 

[hells_unicorn]

Maher is correct, and Rand's run to the right is not necessary. not with a field of 10 or 12. yes-most of the Republican base is wacko. but Rand could win Iowa with 20%. he could win NH with independents and a small mount of Republicans. if Rand wins 2 or 3 early primaries its over.

after the UKIP debacle I sadly agree a 3rd party is a long time coming. but someone should try. at least to show the GOP base no neo con will ever win again.

If 2012 teaches us anything, it is not to bank on there being 10 or 12 candidates at all, let alone 10 or 12 equally splitting the vote come Iowa, candidates blow their money on straw polls and have scandals. You can't win Iowa with a niche Libertarian position because unlike GOP party office elections, the wackos show up for the caucus/primaries. Rand has to at least not appear wacko to the wackos to prevail, especially in Iowa which is chock full of fanatical evangelicals. Once he pulls it out in Iowa, he can run back to the center in NH before trying to straddle the center-right in Florida. I'm writing off South Carolina because most of the state party adheres to the Church of the U.S. Empire, and they'd crucify Reagan if he ran today.

Winning the nomination in a primary means being 50 different persons in 50 different states, that's the first lesson I learned from Obama's victories, and also Clinton's and Bush's to a lesser extent.

 

[adelina]

Maher is correct, and Rand's run to the right is not necessary. not with a field of 10 or 12. yes-most of the Republican base is wacko. but Rand could win Iowa with 20%. he could win NH with independents and a small mount of Republicans. if Rand wins 2 or 3 early primaries its over.

after the UKIP debacle I sadly agree a 3rd party is a long time coming. but someone should try. at least to show the GOP base no neo con will ever win again.

It's not so easy to get to 20% when there are 10-12 in the field. This is not 2012. He can't win NH with independents and only a small amount of Republicans because there's going to be a Dem primary in NH (as opposed to 2012) so fewer independents will be voting in the R primary and with more candidates, the independent vote will be spread out more. He still needs a sizeable number of Republicans to back him.

 

[cindy25]

unless he goes completely wacko (support NSA spying, advocating boots on the ground in Iran and Ukraine) he will not get support from the wacko (Rubio) voters. he has to bring in new voters (Obama's strategy in 2008)

 

[Brett85]

Good. I think it was a huge mistake for Rand to pander to Bill Maher in the first place. No one who has Bill Maher's support could ever win a GOP primary.