Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul
filibuster-like speech on Wednesday against reauthorizing the Patriot Act appears to be a high stakes gambit to boost his 2016 presidential prospects,
Politico reported.
"It re-establishes him as the candidate that is willing to buck the Washington establishment for something he thinks is important: to protect individual rights," said Steve Munisteri, a senior adviser to Paul's campaign and the former chairman of the Texas Republican Party, according to Politico.
He added, "Sen. Paul is the only Republican candidate on the forefront of protecting individual privacy."
The 10
½-hour speech was seen as a way for Paul to distinguish himself from the large field of hawkish Republicans.
"In a multi-candidate field like this, how do you distinguish yourself? How do you break out of the pack? This is one way of doing it: Every other candidate disagrees with [you]," said a strategist close to the campaign, according to Politico.
Those close to the campaign have calculated that the bold maneuver would be a way to galvanize the libertarian wing of the party without alienating mainstream Republicans.
Indeed, the Paul campaign launched a fundraising drive off of the event and resurrected the social media hashtag #StandwithRand, which they had previously used when he delayed John Brennan's nomination to the CIA in 2013 with a filibuster over the administration's use of drones.
But some say his latest move carries big risks in a climate in which the Islamic State is on the march and concerns about national security are on the rise. Polls indicate that attitudes among Republican primary voters about national security and foreign policy issues have become significantly more hawkish over the past year, according to Politico.
"The theatrics of deploying such a rarely used Senate maneuver also underscore the challenges facing Paul's 'Defeat the Washington Machine' campaign, and could backfire by pushing him even further out of step with the establishment Republicans he'll eventually need to win the White House,"
The Los Angeles Times said.
"As a presidential candidate, Paul must now be careful not to alienate mainstream Republican leaders and voters, many of whom are more worried about securing the nation against terrorist threats than government intrusion," the paper added.
The Times reported that Paul's stance on the National Security Agency (NSA) puts him at odds with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republican lawmakers who argue that the NSA's metadata surveillance program is vital to national security.
Texas Sen. John Cornyn, the number 2 Republican there, wrote an impassioned opinion piece in the
Dallas Morning News this week arguing for the act's renewal.
And a number of Paul's colleagues have harshly criticized him following his speech.
Rep. Peter King told
Newsmax that Paul is "doing a disservice to the country and he's putting our national security at risk."
"He's unnecessarily frightening the American people," the New York Republican, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, said in an exclusive interview. "He's making the [National Security Agency] out to be the enemy.
"In fact, the enemy is al-Qaida, ISIS, and Islamist terrorism, and the NSA is the key weapon that the United States has in the war against al-Qaida," King said. "The NSA does not listen to anyone's phone calls and does not read anyone's emails. There have been no abuses found against the NSA.
"This is just absolutely terrible. It's so misleading. It's fear-mongering — and it's inexcusable," he said.
Sen. Tom Cotton also challenged Paul, saying fears about the violation of privacy rights are unfounded.
"First, the constitutionality: The Supreme Court passed on this a long time ago. There's no reasonable expectation of privacy in call data. Again, not the content of calls, not even the personally identifiable information about calls, but the call data — the two numbers called, the date and time of the call, and the duration of the call, because we willfully turn it over to our telecom provider," he told the Washington Examiner.
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