We interviewed Rand Paul the first time back when he was trailing Trey Grayson in the Kentucky GOP primary by 11 percentage points according to polls at the time. As everyone now knows he ended up winning the primary and the first money bomb (or blast) is scheduled for tomorrow (June 28th).
Dr. Paul was kind enough to take time out of his insane campaign schedule to answer some questions for us. Check out Rand Paul’s second interview with Liberty Maven below.
And don’t forget to participate by donating during the money bomb!
LM: Immediately following your landslide victory over Trey Grayson in the primary, the left-leaning media began attacking you and the attacks have not eased up. Thinking back, prior to your primary victory you probably anticipated being attacked from the left, but did you believe the attacks would be so unrelenting and national in scope as they have turned out to be? Do you fault yourself for inviting the initial attacks a bit, by agreeing to go on Rachel Maddow’s show the day after your victory?
Rand Paul: Our election night victory was spectacular. We won by 24 points. Over 500 people gathered for our victory. We had satellite TV trucks from every network and did 15 national interviews the next day. But it didn’t take long for the media to decide that they were going to be less than neutral after our victory. Since then it has been relentless attacks from the left-wing media in Kentucky and the left-wing media nationally. I joke with people that it was like Dickens wrote in the Tale of Two Cities: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. But the good news is that the polls still show us with a double digit lead, despite all of their attacks. I think the mood of the country is for reigning in big government, for controlling the deficit, and for bringing attention back to a government that should be restrained by the Constitution.
It’s always easy to look backwards and say I could have, or should have done one thing or another. In retrospect, going on a Left-leaning network that apparently had an agenda since they had been discussing it all afternoon and misconstruing my position was probably not a good idea.
LM: Do you believe that there will still be a “Tea Party” movement in 2013 if Obama is defeated by a Republican in 2012?
Rand Paul: I think the Tea Party Movement has staying power. I think it is an extraordinary movement because it wasn’t started by any one political leader or famous person. It truly started by itself in every individual city in Kentucky and every individual city across the country. One of the problems of it getting bigger is that they all are not connected, but it is also one of the beauties and powers of the movement is that it has so much spontaneous involvement of individual citizens around the country.
Whether or not it will last beyond that, I think it will have influence in the November elections and from that will decide. I think that it’s had a great influence in nominating Mike Lee in Utah and Sharon Angle in Nevada, and nominating me here in Kentucky. So there are at least three big statewide races that I think the tea party had great influence in.
LM: Last week the financial regulatory effort made headway with the Dodd-Frank “compromise” bill. The stated goal of the bill is to prevent another financial crisis. President Obama touted the new agency created by the bill by saying, “Now there will be one agency whose sole job will be to look out for you.” His remarks remind me of Reagan’s famous quote: “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’”
Do you believe the newly created regulatory agency will truly be independent?
For the full interview click here
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