Paul packs a CPAC punch

The Kentucky senator whose 13-hour filibuster was a worldwide top trending event on Twitter electrified more than 2,000 attendees at the Conservative Political Action Conference March 14 held at National Harbor’s Gaylord National hotel.

Advertisement

In a rollicking speech, Sen. Randall H. Paul, a Republican, got his biggest applause when he ridiculed President Barack Obama finding an extra $250 million for Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood government. “I say not one penny more to countries that our burning our flag.”

Paul holds up the briefing book binders he used during his 13-hour filibuster during his March 14 address to the Conservative Political Action Conference.
Paul holds up the briefing book binders he used during his 13-hour filibuster during his March 14 address to the Conservative Political Action Conference. (AP)

In a nice reference to his March 6 filibuster, Paul held up the two black briefing book binders he read from and referred to during talking marathon. “I was told I got 10 measly minutes,” the senator said to laughter and applause from  the most buoyant audiences of the four-day annual conference.

The senator, who wore blue jeans and brown cowboy boots with his blue jacket, white shirt and red tie, touched on spending and other issues, but the centerpiece of the speech was the threat to civil liberties.

Advertisement

“President Obama defends his signing of the bill by stating that he has no intention of detaining any American citizen without a trial,” he said.

“Likewise, he defended his possible targeted Drone strikes against Americans on American soil by indicating that he has no intention of doing so,” he said. Well, my thirteen hour filibuster was a message to the President:  Good intentions are not enough.  The presidential oath of office states ‘I WILL protect, preserve, and defend the Constitution,’ NOT ‘I intend to preserve, protect, and defend the constitution.’”

Watch the video of the entire speech here:

Join the conversation as a VIP Member