Watch Rand Paul as President Trump enters the room. pic.twitter.com/yTzTc0Sy73— Jeremy Art (@cspanJeremy) October 12, 2017
#BREAKING: @RandPaul to drop out of #GOP presidential race https://t.co/mB2OBeRM9X #Decision2016 pic.twitter.com/cRCuuQWnV1
— NBC News (@NBCNews) February 3, 2016
In an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Monday, Paul said he would boycott the Fox Business debate and called the network's decision a "mistake."
"It's a mistake because the thing is we actually have been in the top five or six in most of the recent polls. In fact, last week in a national poll we were just one point out of fourth place. So I think it's a mistake to try to exclude me from the national debate," he said.
"I won't participate in anything that's not first tier because we have a first tier campaign," the Kentucky senator told Blitzer.
“I don’t think anybody should be fired for being gay. I do also, though, believe that your personal life should be personal and shouldn’t affect anyone firing you. So I don’t think the decision whether to hire or fire you should be based on things from your personal life. So when I say that it should remain in your house, yeah I don’t think it should be part of the decision-making of the business. So I might have been able to word it better, but I don’t think it should enter into the decision at all.”
“I think really the things you do in your house, if you could just leave those in your house, they wouldn’t have to be part of the workplace, to tell you the truth,” Paul replied.
“I don’t know that we need to keep adding to different classifications to say the government needs to be involved in hiring and firing,” Paul said. “I think society is rapidly changing, and if you are gay, there are plenty of places that will hire you.”
"I’ve had more than one individual say, 'You know what, if you want to be the president of the United States, you ought to go back to your home state and be the governor and get that executive experience before you go lead this country,'" said Perry.
The former governor calls the senators "Marco, Ted, and Rand," and made sure to say he has "great respect" for the trio. "They are smart as a tree full of owls," said Perry, "These guys are very, very capable United States senators."
Democratic trackers typically follow rival candidates to events in order to keep an eye on them, as was the case at a Rand Paul event in New Hampshire on Monday.
But a tracker from the Democratic opposition research super PAC, American Bridge 21st Century found out the hard way that Paul's staffers lick back.
“I’m for tradition marriage,” Paul said. “I think marriage is between a man and a woman. Ultimately, we could have fixed this a long time ago if we just allowed contracts between adults. We didn’t have to call it marriage, which offends myself and a lot of people.”
“I think having competing contracts that would have given them equivalency before the law would have solved a lot of these problems, and it may be where we’re still headed.”
“Saying marriage equality ‘offends’ him gives us yet another glimpse of Paul’s true colors — a restrictive, retro social agenda that sets back LGBT rights and questions longstanding gains in civil rights. Support for marriage equality is at record highs, and most Americans now live in states where it’s legal. What’s truly offensive is Rand Paul’s insistence on being stuck in the past and failing to support equal rights for LGBT Americans.”
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| (via Washington Times) |
No wrongdoing in #Benghazi. So straighten that squirrel on your head and apologize, @SenRandPaul. Start here: pic.twitter.com/oLu3tv0cQl
— Steve Marmel (@Marmel) November 22, 2014 |
| Sen. Rand Paul |
"I think all the polls show if she does run, she’ll win the Democrat nomination. But I don’t think it’s for certain. It’s a very taxing undertaking to go through. It’s a rigorous physical ordeal, I think, to be able to campaign for the presidency."
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| Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton |
"I think that the Republican Party, in order to get bigger, will have to agree to disagree on social issues.
"The Republican Party is not going to give up on having quite a few people who do believe in traditional marriage. But the Republican Party also has to find a place for young people and others who don’t want to be festooned by those issues.
"On issues that are very contentious, that involve social mores — I think that allowing different parts of the country to make their decision based on the local mores and culture is a good idea.
"But when it comes to taxes and benefits, the [federal] government ought to take a neutral position — a way where marriage wouldn’t have an effect, positive or negative, on those things."
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| Steve Grand |
