Paul Accuses Conway of Flip-Flopping as Kentucky Senate Candidates Clash

Rand Paul understands what this election is all about with these words from the debate:

The national debt "is threatening the very foundation of our economy," he said. "It's incredibly dangerous. It's incredibly foolhardy."

We have heard so many pundits talk about the Tea Party candidates and how they are going to shake up the Republicans in the Senate, but those pundits don't understand the Tea Party candidates any better then they understood the grassroots of Tom Coburn in 2004. All of us are about sending people to DC that will hold fast to the fiscal conservative ideals of smaller government, less taxes, and cutting spending. We also believe in a strong national defense and border security. Looks to us like the Tea Party and the grassroots of the Republican Party share a common goal -- defeat the freespending Democrats in Congress and the White House.

Mr. Paul also argued against the assumption that he and other "tea party" candidates, if elected, would divide the Republican Party.

He said he would support Sen. Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, for Senate majority leader or any other Republican the party caucus chooses should the GOP take the majority.

Rand Paul sounds like a conservative Republican to us who happens to be supported by the Tea Party which is made up of Republicans, Independents, and Democrats along with the Kentucky Republican grassroots who also make up a large part of the Tea Party. Media has totally missed that as they have pushed that storyline of Tea Party candidate in Kentucky, Nevada, and Colorado for starters.

We couldn't agree with Paul more and his comments about the EPA. They have become an organization totally out of control who believe in regulation not legislation and have to be brought under control. This idea that the EPA has been given so much power and basically answers to no one is ludicrous.

Mr. Paul said a major concern about federal intervention on state mining is that the Environmental Protection Agency has assumed Congress' role as lawmakers.

"The arrogance of non-elected bureaucrats making laws needs to come to an end," he said.

The debate on Fox News gave a clear indication what Rand Paul will do when elected to the Senate. Very good candidate to become the next Senator from Kentucky. We expect Rand Paul to be fighting alongside Dr. Coburn (R-OK) on earmarks, pork, and Obamacare, and with Sen Inhofe (R-OK) against the EPA and Cap and Trade. Looking forward to seeing more new Senators like Rand Paul elected on November 2nd who in January will join the fight to get the run-away spending of Obama and his Congressional Democrats stopped in its tracks.

Paul Accuses Conway of Flip-Flopping as Kentucky Senate Candidates Clash
Published October 03, 2010
FoxNews.com

The candidates for Kentucky's open Senate seat, one of the keystones in both parties' plans to hold the majority next year, clashed on "Fox News Sunday" over the nation's economy and over each other's personal integrity, with Republican Rand Paul accusing Democrat Jack Conway of flip-flopping on big issues.

In a televised debate, Paul described the November midterms as a referendum on President Obama's legislative agenda. Suggesting voters are inclined to vote against that agenda, he accused his Democratic opponent of backing away from the Obama proposals he once supported.

"What he needs to do is either defend his president or run away -- so far he's running away from President Obama and the agenda," Paul said.

Paul, arguably the first Tea Party-backed Senate candidate to win a Republican nomination, is trying to cast his opponent as "ambivalent" on economic issues critical to his state. So far, most polls show Paul holding a considerable lead over the state's attorney general - the latest Rasmussen poll put Paul up 11 points.

But Conway cast Paul as out-of-touch with state voters, particularly on the health care overhaul and entitlement benefits. His campaign slammed Paul after he suggested on "Fox News Sunday" that the retirement age may have to be raised for Social Security recipients.

Conway also said hundreds of thousands of Kentucky residents will have access to health care for the first time, warning that Paul's pledge to repeal the law would strip away premium assistance for low-income families and protections like a ban on denying coverage to kids with pre-existing conditions.

"I want to fix health care. He wants to repeal it," Conway said. "I think that's a stark difference."

Conway is standing by the health care law but offers mixed, and allegedly conflicting, reviews on other Obama priorities. Conway said he supported the tax cuts component of the stimulus package but that the "shovel-ready" infrastructure component has had mixed results. He said he would not have supported the bailouts -- which started under former President George W. Bush.

But Paul said Conway has changed his tune entirely, and repeatedly, on the issue of tax cuts.

After Congress adjourned without taking action on the looming expiration of the Bush tax cuts, Conway now says the Bush tax cuts should be extended. But he told the Courier-Journal editorial board in April: "I would favor letting expire probably the majority, the majority of the Bush tax cuts."

Conway explained Sunday he was talking about "special interest provisions" that allow companies to ship U.S. jobs overseas. He stressed that he was originally for the Bush tax cuts in 2002.

Paul accused Conway of simply changing his position time after time. "You were for them before you were against them before you were for them again," Paul said.

He also accused Conway of being on "both sides" of the issue on the so-called "cap-and-trade" bill that would regulate greenhouse gas emissions. A local Kentucky news report last summer said Conway issued a statement in support of a House version of the cap-and-trade bill. Conway now says he's "against cap-and-trade" and "always have been."

"Kentuckians are not going to tolerate someone who's ambivalent on cap-and-trade," Paul said. "Cap-and-trade will be a disaster to our economy."

Conway says he's been consistent in standing up for Kentucky coal miners.

Conway stressed his work battling pharmaceutical companies and criticized Paul repeatedly for controversial comments he made about the Americans with Disabilities Act. He said he would be focused "like a laser" on jobs creation if elected.

Paul said his legislative work would be devoted to reducing spending and drawing down the national debt, pledging to introduce legislation to balance the budget....

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