Several establishment members of the Grand Old Party are living up to their namesake – at least the “old” part – Young Americans for Liberty Executive Director Jeff Frazee said Thursday in an interview with The College Fix.
“I just hope the Republican Party can wake up before it’s too late,” Frazee said via e-mail.
Frazee made the comments in response to longtime GOP senators John McCain’s and Lindsey Graham’s Senate-floor critiques Thursday of Republican Sen. Rand Paul’s 13-hour filibuster, during which Paul sought to stonewall the confirmation of CIA nominee John Brennan to force President Obama to state whether the government can order the death of noncombatant Americans on U.S. soil.
Social media stats show Paul’s televised effort Wednesday massively resonated with young and old, conservative and libertarian alike, as he challenged the federal government’s authority, questioned unchecked military power, and spoke frequently about the ideals of liberty, calling for individual rights and due process to be prioritized and respected.
Some data has found that #StandwithRand was the top trend on Twitter worldwide Wednesday, receiving 2,000 mentions per-minute, prompting Republican Sen. Ted Cruz to take to the Senate floor at one point during the filibuster to tell Paul he was “blowing up” on Twitter.
Frazee said C-SPAN 2 was the place to be Wednesday, with many libertarians and conservatives of all ages eating up the marathon display.
“He actually tackled deep philosophical issues,” he said of Paul. “We weren’t talked down to with hollow talking points. Even if you don’t agree with Rand all the time, it is refreshing to hear a politician speak truth to power and not back down. It’s not often you see a politician with the courage to stand alone and demand our rights.”
But not everyone was impressed with “Rand’s stand.”
McCain on Thursday read an editorial from The Wall Street Journal that belittled Paul’s effort, calling it a “rant.” It read in part: “If Mr. Paul wants to be taken seriously he needs to do more than pull political stunts that fire up impressionable libertarian kids in their college dorms. He needs to know what he’s talking about.”
McCain went on to state the “conversation should not be talking about drones killing Jane Fonda and people in cafes. It should be all about what authority and what checks and balances should exist.”
Graham voiced similar sentiments.
“The chance of you being killed by a drone because you went to a Tea Party rally … is zero,” he said. “As much I disagree with President Obama and as much as I support past presidents, I do not believe that question deserves an answer.”
But the fact that McCain and Graham dined with Obama during Paul’s filibuster was not lost on many of those who criticized the two Republican senators Thursday on the Twitterverse. Young Americans for Liberty, for example, posed the question to its network of more than 370 college chapters nationwide whether students wanted to #StandWithRand or #DieWithMcCain?
“I can’t think of any single event which produced anything close to this level of enthusiasm among the young people in our network,” Frazee said. “Civil liberties are a big deal for youth activists, and Senator McCain’s dismissal of their concerns shows just how out of touch his ideas are. … He represents a brand of the Republican Party that is dying.”
But Frazee was quick to praise the handful of Republican senators who aided Paul during the filibuster.
“There is a young generation of Republican leaders who resonate with the youth,” he said.
That’s important if they want to win elections, he added.
“Young Republicans are much more libertarian-leaning and want a leader who will stand on principle,” he said. “Republican youth have always rallied around our most libertarian-leaning leaders – Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan, Ron Paul. Conversely, where is the youth for McCain?”
He said he believes McCain and Graham accomplished nothing more than alienating themselves from young libertarians and college republicans.
“YAL chapters team up with college Republicans all the time, and the ideas and energy reside within the libertarian wing,” he said. “Young people are already flocking to libertarian ideas. Time to get on the bandwagon, GOP.”
Jennifer Kabbany is Associate Editor of The College Fix.
IMAGE: CSPAN
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