Rand Paul 2016: What 6 Leading Pundits Say About GOP Presidential Hopeful

Rand Paul is among a handful of early leaders for a probable 2016 presidential bid. The junior senator from Kentucky is a libertarian-leaning Republican, a mix prime for bringing out both criticism and compliments from political commentators.

Here are six examples of what leading pundits are saying about a Rand Paul 2016 run for the White House.

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Mark Levy, conservative columnist: "He needs to realize that in today’s sound-bit politics, solid principles are neither valued nor understood. The left are more than willing to take advantage of the ignorance of the electorate and hammer him mercilessly."

Glenn Beck: "I would rather have Rand Paul [run for president] than, let’s say, Jeb Bush, and trying to deal with that, because I think all of these guys — the progressives — are going to make the problem much, much, worse…"

Kevin Williamson, libertarian commentator: "Paul’s libertarianism is intended to offer a little something for everybody, on the left and right — spending cuts for the Republican base, legal relief for potheads, a presidential pat on the head for gay people. But if he gets serious about substantive reform along these lines, his libertarianism is instead going to offer something to outrage everybody."

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Karl Rove: "Freshman Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul fearlessly takes his libertarian message to young voters and blacks but makes wild claims — like saying Dick Cheney backed the Iraq war so his former employer (Halliburton) could get billions in contracts — and compensates when his libertarianism bombs by resorting to occasional flip-flops."

Rush Limbaugh on Paul's March 2013 13-hour filibuster to delay the vote on an Obama appointee to head the CIA: "There’s no question this Rand Paul business has totally upset the power structure in Washington, the Senate particularly. Low-information outreach working, successful. We have audio sound-bite proof coming up. We are loaded today. McCain has called senators Paul and Cruz 'wacko birds.' Sen. McCain is calling them wacko birds because of the filibuster."

David Brooks, conservative commentator, talking about CPAC in March 2013: "Rand Paul is the key unknown here. And he is leading the party one way. Marco Rubio is leading another."

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