Rand Paul Granted Speaking Slot At GOP Convention

Ron Paul snubbed one last time by Republicans?

Steve Watson
Infowars.com
Aug 7, 2012

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul will accept a speaking slot at the Republican National Convention in Tampa later this month, along with Jeb Bush, Rick Santorum and Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin, according to a senior GOP official.

The anonymous official told CNN that Paul has been selected as a primetime speaker at the event specifically to appeal to “anti-government, young, libertarian minded activists.”

Readers will be divided over whether it has been Paul’s success as a Senator and his continued growth in popularity among libertarians and disillusioned tea partiers over the past year or whether it was his controversial endorsement of Mitt Romney back in June that has garnered him the slot.

Brain Doherty of Reason makes the following observation:

“As much as it annoys many of the Paul hardcore, it will be easier to help define the future of the Republican Party from a believable position of being Loyal Opposition rather than rebel outsider.”

“So don’t expect Rand Paul to attack Romney explicitly in Tampa. But I do hold out hope he may speak of serious spending cuts, serious curbing of government’s civil liberties violations, and seriously sensible foreign policy in a way that implicitly does so.”

• A d v e r t i s e m e n t

And what of Ron Paul? It “remains unclear” as to whether the Congressman will be afforded a slot, but is seemingly unlikely given that his son has been given the nod by the party elite.

The Congressman has so far stuck to his guns and refused to endorse Romney on the grounds that he simply disagrees with the presumed nominee on so many issues.

However, for the party to completely ignore the Congressman, despite the fact that he has fought a long hard campaign and will have many delegates on the floor of the convention, and given the fact that he is also retiring, represents an unmitigated slap in the face. Yet this is hardly surprising coming from a GOP leadership that has scratched and clawed to keep Paul in the shadows for so long.

Is Rand Paul worthy of a speaking slot at the convention? Will he inject real issues that cut through the phony left right paradigm, or is this just another attempt by the GOP at co-opting the growing freedom movement?

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Steve Watson is the London based writer and editor for Alex Jones’ Infowars.com, and Prisonplanet.com. He has a Masters Degree in International Relations from the School of Politics at The University of Nottingham in England.

This article was posted: Tuesday, August 7, 2012 at 10:27 am

Tags: domestic news, ron paul

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