BERKELEY, Calif.—Sen. Rand Paul delivered a blistering critique of America’s spy agencies on Wednesday, likening the surveillance state to the “dystopian nightmares” of literature and arguing that a growing number of his colleagues on Capitol Hill now fear an intelligence apparatus that is “drunk with power.”
“If you have a cell phone, you are under surveillance,” Paul warned an auditorium of more than 350 at the University of California (Berkeley), adding, “I believe what you do on your cell phone is none of their damned business.”
He demanded stronger oversight, calling for a new, bipartisan select committee to monitor the nation’s intelligence agencies. “It should watch the watchers,” he said.
Paul said the National Security Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency have run amok. The intelligence world, he said, had wrongly interpreted that “equal protection means Americans should be spied upon equally.”
“I oppose this abuse of power with every ounce of energy I have,” Paul declared.
“I find it ironic that the first African-American president has, without compunction, allowed this vast exercise of raw power from the NSA,” Paul said. “Certainly, J. Edgar Hoover’s illegal spying on Martin Luther King and others in the civil-rights movement should give us all pause.”
If he learned one thing from his father, it’s how to build coalitions.
Well, I just saw this on David Stockman’s Contra Corner web site.
And I then watched David on a CNBC video (on the Contra Corner web site) where I lost a little respect for David. During the 3+ minute interview the CNBC bimbo asked David “so why did the unemployment rate go down?” (a farce of a question – I mean come on, REALLY?). David’s answer never touched on the totally false BLS numbers – come on, REALLY?
Ghost of Mario Savio Rising at Berkeley: Kudos to You, Rand Paul
by Mike Mish Shedlock • March 20, 2014
It’s early, but I am pleased to report enthusiasm for Ran Paul is growing, and in the right places. Please consider Rand Paul gets standing ovation at Berkeley: ‘Your right to privacy is under assault’
Delivering a rare speech for a Republican at this bastion of liberalism, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul on Wednesday was given multiple standing ovations by the left-wing audience after railing against government surveillance and warning the students: “Your right to privacy is under assault.”
“I am here to tell you that if you own a cell phone, you’re under surveillance,” he told the crowd.
Paul’s address at the Berkeley Forum on the campus of the University of California at Berkeley focused on the National Security Agency’s collection of telephone metadata and the debate over privacy.
During his remarks, the potential 2016 Republican candidate discussed California Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s claim that the CIA had spied on her congressional staff, and announced that he plans to call for a special committee on Capitol Hill to investigate the domestic spying by government agencies .
“No one should be allowed to invade your privacy,” Paul said. “That’s why I’m announcing today that when I return to Washington, I will push for a select committee styled after the Church Committee that investigated the abuses of power of the intelligence committee in the 70s. It should be bipartisan. It should be independent, and wide reaching. It should have full power to investigate and reform those who spy on us in the name of protecting us.”
That Paul decided to take his libertarian-leaning message to one of the most liberal campuses in the country is no mistake. He is actively making an effort to appear before crowds that have not been supportive of Republicans to demonstrate his ability to appeal to a broader electorate.
To win in 2016, a Republican better do more than appeal to core Republicans who will never vote for Hillary Clinton or whoever the Democrat candidate is.
Republicans need independent voters for sure. Youth support would be icing on the cake. Thus, I like Paul’s strategy a lot.
Hopefully Republican infighting does not take him down.
Time to rally around Paul!
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
If Rand Paul is going to get elected president in 2016, he’s going to need to get the Republican Party nomination. Hopefully Paul will have his fingers crossed behind his back when he’s schmoozing the party’s power brokers.
Rand != Ron
Good on fiscal, bad on empire.
Rand Paul is good at tailoring his message to his audience. I’d bet he wouldn’t have received a standing ovation at Berkeley if he had talked about opposing the BDS movement, sanctioning Russia, opposing negotiating with Iran and the importance of “standing with Israel.”
This is of course what separates him from his father who delivered the same message to every audience regardless of whether they wanted to hear it or not. This is what separates a politician from a statesman.
For any Republicaan to get standiing o at Berkley should give the Fascists pause to reflect.
Zarathustra, sorry, each time i heard ron paul on a tv show, all he would say was “end the wars”, “stop the war machine”, etc., to great applause. that’s fine of course. but did he ever say “end the welfare state”, “end abortion”, “end affirmative action”, “end the curb on gun rights”? (I can think of a bunch of ron paul’s views that the rabid left hates.) no of course not. if he did, i never heard it. and he would have been booed off stage. had he said these things at berkeley, the womb of leftist activism, he might have been torn apart limb from limb.