Rand Paul: Tea Party Is 'Co-Opting Washington'

Kentucky Republican Rand Paul vowed on Sunday to uphold the Tea Party's core principles when he is sworn in as a United States Senator in January. Yet in an interview with ABC's Christiane Amanpour, Paul struggled to specify exactly how he would implement bold spending cuts.

When pressed on "This Week" about which programs the he would cut, Paul declined to identify individual programs. "All across the board," the senator-elect said.

Amanpour challenged Paul, saying, "But you can't just keep saying all across the board." Still, the newly elected senator refused to budge. "No, I can. I'm going to look at every program, every program." He later continued on the theme: "You need to ask of every program -- and we take no program off the table. Can it be downsized? Can it be privatized? Can it be made smaller?"

Paul stated that he wants "the Republican message to be one of balanced budgets," but made clear that any budget balancing would need to come from spending cuts, not tax increases. "I think it's not a revenue problem, it's a spending problem," he said, adding, "We don't need bigger government. We need to shrink the size of government."

Regarding entitlement programs, Paul said that he would consider raising the retirement age for Social Security, but that he would oppose immediate implementation of any such action. "What I would say is not the people who are currently on it and not those approaching retirement, but the sooner we fix it, the better. So it may be 55 and under, but that should be this year, we should be looking at 55 and under, what do we do to change the system to make it more sustainable."

The senator elect was also sure to deliver a message to Washington. In light of recent comments from former Republican Senate majority leader Trent Lott, who is now a lobbyist, that "as soon as [new members of Congress] get here, we need to co-opt them," Paul struck a defiant tone. "I think the tea party is actually co-opting Washington," he said. "We're coming, we're proud, we're strong, we're loud and... I think we're already shaping the debate."

Comments

[indamiddle]

10:01 AM on 11/09/2010

Want to "fix" Social Security?

Eliminate the cap on income for employees
Means test the NEED for it at 62 years of age.
Put the money in a REAL separate fund

Social Security is a forced Charity Program for Seniors and those who cannot work. Not an entitlement. People don't get what they paid in. Some get MORE some get less...They get what the CURRENT workers pay in. That is charity and a good charity.

However if someone earns 50K or more in retirement they should not need Social security and it should go back into the fund. I will give mine up in donations against the extreme left candidates and for anyone who cuts spending.

[ProudMilVet]

06:45 AM on 11/09/2010

I thought most Doctors had compassion for other people ?

[indamiddle]

10:01 AM on 11/09/2010

There is a difference between compassion for the sick and the lazy....

[ProudMilVet]

06:53 PM on 11/09/2010

Typical, crude, meanspirited response from the Republican/Teabaggers.

[firecoalman]

02:32 AM on 11/09/2010

The tea party movement is being financed by the wealthy to promote the interests of the wealthy, while deceiving its membership into thinking that they are acting in their own interest and the public interest. THAT is cooptation. The giveaway wording is that by now rusty saw that 'government should be run like a business', which has always been an absurdity. Businesses are run to benefit investors and management (see City of Bell). Government is supposed to serve the people. No man (or contractor) can serve 2 masters. Privatization has been the greatest recent mechanism to infinitely expand government and insulate the contractors from any public oversight. It leaves the privateers free to plunder the public treasury. I am a libertarian at heart, but this is the kind of bogus libertarianism that republicans have been succeeding with since Reagan. As with Reagan, once in power, they never shrink any government and the deficits mount.

[indamiddle]

10:05 AM on 11/09/2010

The Government SHOULD be run like a business silly..The US has no income from labor..
No products to profit from. they can only take from the general public and Foreign countries or print money which devalues it.

..No business would survive the fiscal policies of Government. Our Government is selling Bonds like a business to pay for entitlements...who is buying those bonds? The EVENTUAL OWNERS that's who....Bond holders get first dibs on the carcass.......China owns the USA.....Stop borrowing for entitlement programs.

So you want China to continue to finance YOUR retirement security? I don't and made sure I won;t need them.

[slowuncle]

05:52 PM on 11/08/2010

"struggled to specify spending cuts"

now there's a big, effing surprise

[indamiddle]

10:08 AM on 11/09/2010

Not really....Anyone with half a brain would know you have to actually DO SOME RESEARCH into ALL the programs and decide THEN what you can cut. They are trying to play "gotcha" and Rand isn't biting. I call for an 8% cut across the board. EVERYONE who is getting a Government check anywhere and for anything. There is a start.

[jane13]

11:10 PM on 11/11/2010

so your gonna cut the military pay too. How abt cutting the idea that Exxon oil, Bank of america, general electric and other big corporations, go overseas and pay taxes to foreign governments , then use those taxes claiming a loss on the US federal income taxes so they PAY 0 taxes in America and probably even get money back from US Fools in the US to allow this practice, they make other countries wealthy while screwing America. Jane

[massimo1]

04:23 PM on 11/08/2010

wooo hahahahaha --- only the deluded believe the tea party is taking over. there's still at least 1/2 a nation that doesn't agree with them. Now, if the tea party were willing to fight to remove speed limits and surveillance cameras instead of argue over trash collection, I might think about joinin' up.

[indamiddle]

10:09 AM on 11/09/2010

From ZERO two years ago to HALF a nation agreeing with them is a HUGE movement......I would not look at it any other way. I remember when people were making fun of the little "movement" and not giving it much credence. Now 1/2 a nation agrees with them....That is an amazing grass roots effort oif you ask me.

[ProudMilVet]

06:57 PM on 11/09/2010

indamiddle : No one is asking you. Go back over to Faux News or some other Teabagger site.

[jane13]

11:11 PM on 11/11/2010

only one half in redneck states. Jane

[R U Sirius]

04:09 PM on 11/08/2010

Settle down, Boehner boy. You ain't senior senator just yet. You MIGHT get an ice cream cone come the first of the year.

[llyd wlsh]

04:01 PM on 11/08/2010

Randy Rand doesn't realize that the Repubes are about to ride him hard and put him to bed wet.

[1murillo]

04:00 PM on 11/08/2010

At least Paul is silly consistently.
The tparty (which isn't a national party) isnt' co-opting DC. At most some radical Republicans will be a thorn in the GOP's and the country's side.
Also, passing an amendment is a long-term project. It would be decades before any such amendment would take effect.

[stallrocket]

03:44 PM on 11/08/2010

Mr. Paul. You forgot that a vast majority of the electorate put democrats in place to do what they did. It was broadcast far and wide during elections and no secrets were kept. All of a sudden, capturing the house, but failing to capture the senate represents some sort of mandate.

Now that you are one of 100, and in the minority in the senate, you believe your election changes everything. It doesn't. It's unfortunate that your education failed to include basic civics and that you haven't paid any attention to how the senate squashes the house, even when a large majority exists.

Your rantings will only be relevant the way a sideshow is relevant to the main event.

[jane13]

11:13 PM on 11/11/2010

yeh, bills just sit in the house and go no where, just as they have since Obama got elected too. Jane.

[BoojWaZEE]

03:32 PM on 11/08/2010

"A house divided against itself cannot stand"

-Abraham Lincoln

[soapington]

03:08 PM on 11/08/2010

This laughable little thug shouldn't wear magnifying lenses when he looks in the mirror.

[sfsoma]

02:11 PM on 11/08/2010

They will be quickly co-opted by the R (and D) Establishment and the lobbyists. Poor little naive tes partiers, like deer in headlights they may not even realize what hits them. Don't hurt your backs carting off the barrels of money coming your way from the lobbyists. The people running Congress like it just the way it is and fully intend to keep it that way. Why do you think their failed leaders cling on to power even to the detriment of their Party?

[dildenusa]

02:17 PM on 11/08/2010

Sure, but the "Party" just might be winding down to one heluva finish as congress realizes all the money went to the Gods of banking and commerce and the lobbyist's dole is slowly shrinking as rant paul and the democrats try to reign in the lobbyists. Poly tics makes strange bedfellows.

[dildenusa]

02:10 PM on 11/08/2010

"The senator elect was also sure to deliver a message to Washington. In light of recent comments from former Republican Senate majority leader Trent Lott, who is now a lobbyist, that "as soon as [new members of Congress] get here, we need to co-opt them," Paul struck a defiant tone. "I think the tea party is actually co-opting Washington," he said. "We're coming, we're proud, we're strong, we're loud and... I think we're already shaping the debate."

If this is the "new face of freedom" then God help us.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_from_Freedom

[wakeupnow1]

02:08 PM on 11/08/2010

Core principles already being tossed to the wayside:

In an interview published over the weekend with the Wall Street Journal, Paul signaled a major backtrack on a core campaign promise: cutting federal earmarks. The promise is a hallmark of Republican candidates of all stripes, who advocate that a smaller government is in the national interest and that money doled out for special progress is tantamount to backroom dealing.

"In a bigger shift from his campaign pledge to end earmarks, he tells me that they are a bad "symbol" of easy spending but that he will fight for Kentucky's share of earmarks and federal pork, as long as it's doled out transparently at the committee level and not parachuted in in the dead of night," Paul told the Journal for an interview published Saturday.

"I will advocate for Kentucky's interests," he added.

[MovieGuy2010]

02:00 PM on 11/08/2010

Ah, yes, "Privatize it.."

Cause that always does TWO things.

1. Costs the taxpayers WAY MORE for the same services (through higher fees)
2. Makes some corporate CEO a Billionare (see #1 above.)

Once again, Democrats SUCK at messaging, we have lived for decades with Reagans "Government is the problem" and "The Private Sector is always better" so long that even DEMOCRATS never challenge those memes?

We don't need more Barack Obama's, we need more Frank Luntz's...