Sad Rand
by digby
You’d think that the Kochs and their buddies, big libertarians that they are, would just love rand Paul, wouldn’t you? He’s the guy who wants to deliver their dream agenda, after all: a small government, free market bonanza of no taxes, no regulations and no programs other than some police and military functions to keep their money safe. What’s not to like?
Well, they don’t like him. At this week-end’s ring kissing ceremony, he came in dead last:
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul — who received the least enthusiastic response from donors during a Sunday night forum of prospective candidates that also featured Rubio and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz — finished last in Luntz’s poll, the source told POLITICO.
They like Ted Cruz better than Rand Paul.
The Politico reporters seem confused about all this:
Rubio got the most votes despite espousing hawkish foreign policy stances that seem to clash with the Kochs’ non-interventionist sensibilities. Paul, meanwhile, finished last despite a libertarian worldview that in some ways seems most similar to the Kochs’ own philosophies — and his loss marks a potential setback in his effort to build a base of wealthy supporters for a presidential bid.
The “non-interventionist” sensibilities are highly exaggerated, both Pauls and the Kochs. In fact, they are downright hawkish themselves if the intervention means more profits and market dominance. They aren’t stupid.
What’s more interesting is the fact that they liked Rubio so much despite the fact that he’s extremely callow and untried. The reason is that he’s a young and he’s Hispanic and the Big Money Boyz are smart enough to know that will be very useful in beating back an old woman. There is a model to draw from.
These are the guys who recognize that they are unlikely to get every single white vote in the country so it would be useful to peel off some Latinos. And knowing the way Republicans think, I’d guess they figure that Marco might make some of the young ladies swoon as well. He makes them swoon anyway.
The Kochs are true believers. But on’t kid yourself about what they believe. They are hard core economic conservatives who are willing to put up with the social conservatives because they don’t care about abortion or gay rights or anything religious, not really. It’s fine with them either way. And while they don’t think that national security should translate into a police state, they aren’t going to get too uppity on that count either since without it they simply cannot win in the United States of America. No, what they care about is the taxing and the regulation portion of the program and in that regard any Republican will probably do — so given the choice they’ll pick the one they think has the best chance of winning the general election.
Ultimately, they’ll go with the Republican nominee. It doesn’t really matter which one it is. In the meantime, they’ll play around in the primary. Unfortunately, it looks like Rand Paul is the guy nobody wants on their team. He just doesn’t look like a president. Why should they waste money on someone like that? Ideology isn’t the game they’re playing.
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