THE NARRATIVE AND POLITICAL CORRECTNESS


“Threats to freedom of speech, writing and action, though often trivial in isolation, are cumulative in their effect and, unless checked, lead to a general disrespect for the rights of the citizen.” -George Orwell

Thursday, March 7, 2013

RAND PAUL'S EPIC 13-HOUR FILIBUSTER

In a rare, traditional filibuster, Sen. Rand Paul vowed to speak on the Senate floor “as long as it takes” to draw attention to his concerns about the Obama administration’s policy regarding the targeted killing of American terrorism suspects.  But as Ben Shapiro at Breitbart points out, it wound up being so much more than that:
On Wednesday, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) served notice to both the Republican establishment and to the Democrat-Media Complex: conservatism isn’t gone. It’s not even on vacation. The new wave of conservatives is here, and they know how to play the game.

At approximately 11:47 a.m. EST, Paul took to the floor of the Senate to filibuster the nomination of counterterrorism czar John Brennan for CIA Director. Paul stated his reason specifically and clearly: the Obama administration has refused to answer question as to whether they believe it is acceptable under the Constitution to kill American citizens on US soil using drones if those citizens are not engaged in an immediate terrorist threat. Paul was broader than that, actually – he simply asked the administration for a set of rules that could be used to limit their power to execute American citizens here at home. Over and over again, the administration refused to turn over the legal memos detailing its policies.

And so Paul talked. And boy, did he talk. For nearly 13 hours, he talked, taking breaks only when spelled by Senators including fellow Tea Partiers Mike Lee (R-UT), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Pat Toomey (R-PA). Even an honest Democrat – apparently the only one in the chamber – got into the act: Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR). Citing everyone from left to right, Paul pointed out the hypocrisy of an administration ripping into waterboarding of terrorists but happy to target them for death from the skies. He asked repeatedly why the administration could not answer his simple question about the boundaries of government power. And the American people listened.

One of the remarkable things about Paul's filibuster was that he's a Tea Party guy.  He's so Tea Party that he gave the Tea Party response to the President's SOTU speech.  And yet he was getting support from true Leftists such as Van Jones, Cenk Uygur, the ACLU, Code Pink!  Amazing.

Now, do they support Rand Paul as a politician?  Of course not.  But that's the brilliance of what he did.  He took a principled stand on an issue that many Democrats would have embraced if it wasn't Obama in the White House.  He created a situation in which allies of Obama were forced to abandon him and take sides with a Tea Party senator from Kentucky in order to stay true to their own beliefs on the issue.  What a spectacle it was!  

And it had to be very uncomfortable for many liberals to have to stay silent because they couldn't bring themselves to support Rand Paul but in their heart of hearts they can't honestly support Obama.  For 13 hours Rand Paul showed the GOP how to stand up and fight and in doing so created an opportunity for his peers to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with him.  And as somebody pointed out, it was 13 hours of policy discussion, not a reading of the telephone book or some other stunts.

And when Dick Durbin tried to muddy the waters by asking questions that had either already been answered or never asked in the first place, many of the senators who had already spoken came back to speak again in order to refute and defeat Durbin's cynical efforts.

John Sexton at Breitbart has the transcript of the first hour of the filibuster here.

 National Review live-blogged the filibuster and have several clips of various speakers here.
 

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1 comment:

  1. UnknownMarch 7, 2013 at 4:34 PM

    This was an awe-inspiring, captivating event that I believe will be a seminal point in history of turning back the onslaught of social marxism. As myself and many others on twitter said, it was a drink for the thirsty and food for the starving. Conservatives have been aching for someone to STAND UP and Speak Truth To Power for far too long! A tremendous groundswell of support built throughout the afternoon and into the late evening. A telling sign of just how popular this was --> out comes GOP establishment RINO Mitch McConnell to get in on the action and DICK Turbin playing his customary DICK role by dragging in his strawmen and totally missing the point of the filibuster. This was all Tea Party Young Guns taking over the mantel of leadership which is why today, John McCain and Lindsey Graham felt the need to trash Rand Paul. They received their wake up call yesterday and realize their "day" is about over!

    You know the Senators who filibustered were hitting a home run when ALL of the major networks refused to say one word about what was transpiring. NOTHING all day today! Not surprising, but as Sen. Cruz said, if this was a Republican President....

    An excellent post Moira about a pivotal day in American History. I have a feeling this is only the beginning of special events and special days yet to come so don't wander too far from that keyboard! =)

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