Lost amid the avalanche of coverage over Ted Cruz’s 21-hour filibuster protesting Obamacare was the delicate positioning of his colleague and potential future rival, Rand Paul.
While the Kentucky senator had plainly stated over the weekend that defunding the health care law was a lost cause, he joined Cruz on the floor Wednesday morning to lend the Texan a hand.
Yet in an interview with Glenn Beck, Paul even distanced himself from some of the no-holds-barred rhetoric Cruz had flung on the Senate floor, particularly blistering members of his own party who wouldn’t join his crusade.
Paul said that was a bridge too far for him:
“I think it is a little bit unfair, on some of the criticism. For example, you know, Senator Barrasso, the M.D., has fought Obamacare like nobody else, puts out information every week on it, has always voted to defund it. It’s a little unfair, really, to say that if he’s unwilling to filibuster a bill that he actually agrees with that he’s opposed to Obamacare — and so I think that really some of the tactics aren’t necessarily fair.”
In the Beck interview, Paul acknowledged he had “mixed feelings” about the entire procedure.
Here the pragmatic, electorally-minded Rand appeared to be staving off the instinct to fight simply for a principled stand, as he had against the government’s drone strikes.
“For us to win and take over the Senate and the White House it isn’t in our best interest to be perceived or accused of shutting down government,” he told Beck.
Beck attempted to bait him into rapping the leadership of Sen. Mitch McConnell, his homestate colleague.
But Rand didn’t bite. He maintained his space in the middle.
Much as Paul’s own brash nature helped him eclipse Sen. Marco Rubio among activist conservatives earlier this year, Cruz could very well endanger Paul’s front-running status.
It’s Cruz who is the conservative celeb of the moment, who will eat up much of the rest of the week’s news coverage and set himself up for a grand appearance in Iowa on Oct. 25.
But there’s another chapter coming next month — when the government comes up against the debt limit deadline.
On that approaching fight, Paul signaled to Beck that he’d be once again suiting up for battle, willing to pass the debt ceiling deadline by two or three months.
Follow Dave’s blog at TheRun2016.com
Don’t miss out! Subscribe today to have Alabama’s leading headlines delivered to your inbox.