Tuesday, February 3, 2015

How Rand Paul Bombed at Koch Brothers Desert Sitdown

Politico is out with a feature piece: How Rand Paul bombed at Koch brothers gathering.

I am not one to really care how a person is dressed, as long as it isn't thug wear. In fact, I prefer the blazer with jeans look, but Rand headed out to the Sitdown in the Desert, to meet some very serious political money players, dressed with the blazer and jeans look. It didn't go over well with these donors. To them he apparently looked like a basketball player coming off the bus of a losing basketball team, who doesn't have the discipline to put on a suit and tie.



The authors Kenneth P. Vogel  and Tarini Parti write:
Some of the most influential players in big-money conservative politics gathered late last month to discuss government’s role in society, but their focus kept shifting to a less weighty topic: Rand Paul’s outfit.
The Kentucky senator and prospective GOP presidential candidate — whose libertarian politics mesh with those of the billionaire megadonor brothers Charles and David Koch — appeared at the annual winter meeting of the Koch donor network wearing a boxy blue blazer, faded jeans and cowboy boots


Some attendees commented that Paul’s appearance was “cavalier,” said Frayda Levin, a Paul supporter and major donor who attended the conference at the Ritz-Carlton in Rancho Mirage, California...

“This is an older crowd and much more establishment crowd. They are used to a Romney. They are used to a Jeb Bush,” Levin said.

“Jeans might work for a younger audience,” said another attendee, “but these are old bulls who put on a tie every day to go to the office.”...

During a Sunday afternoon speech at the Koch forum , Paul drew skepticism among some donors by touting tax breaks as a means of spurring economic growth in blighted inner cities. That stance is anathema to the brand of small-government conservatism espoused by the industrialist brothers and many of their network’s donors, who object to marketplace interference...

Donors were further put off by Paul’s performance later that evening in a forum for prospective GOP presidential candidates that also featured Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas. At times slouching in a cushy arm chair, Paul, with his legs crossed, gave rambling answers that contrasted sharply with other participants.

At one point, he opposed eliminating tax benefits to the oil and gas industry — from which Koch Industries, the brothers’ multi-national conglomerate, benefits but which the brothers philosophically oppose.

5 comments:

  1. one might think Paul made a point of annoying the Koch crowd.

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  2. Suppose Rand had just hit it right out of the park. Would Politico have written a different article?

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  3. "Paul drew skepticism among some donors by touting tax breaks as a means of spurring economic growth in blighted inner cities. That stance is anathema to the brand of small-government conservatism espoused by the industrialist brothers and many of their network’s donors, who object to marketplace interference..."

    Scratching my head at that one.

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  4. "whose libertarian politics mesh with those of the billionaire megadonor brothers Charles and David Koch " which means that Randy isn't a libertarian at all. That's the one thing in this piece that the Politico writer gets right.

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