Liberal comic Bill Maher praised Sen. Rand Paul following his straw poll victory at CPAC, saying the Kentucky Republican could give Hillary Clinton “a run for her money,” if both run in 2016.
Maher, during his HBO program “Real Time with Bill Maher” on Friday, said that while most of the Republican lawmakers at CPAC called for action in Crimea, Paul is “the one guy who says quite the opposite, like his father, he is for not for having an American empire. That’s the thing I love about the Pauls.”
Agreeing with Maher, blogger Andrew Sullivan commended the ability that Paul, who won over 30 percent of the CPAC straw poll vote last week, has in delivering his message.
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“I think Rand Paul’s attempt to say what most people in this country really understand, which is we don’t need to run the world. We don’t want to run the world. America would be in a better place if we were less interested in our own power, and more interested in freedom,” Sullivan said.
“He could give Hillary a run for her money,” Maher added.
Author Salman Rushdie said if the two ran against each other, Paul could attract the “youth wing of the GOP” comparing it to the appeal President Barack Obama had during his 2008 campaign.
“If he can break into that, then he’s got a chance,” Rushdie said.
Sullivan echoed Rushdie, adding if Clinton were to run against Paul, “She’ll come off like a neocon, because in fact, she is a bit of a neocon.”
Author Amy Chua said Paul is “so independent-minded,” which attracts a lot of support.
“I think, Hillary Clinton, you feel like it’s just going to fit into certain familiar things,” Chua said. “And he’s just a little unpredictable, you know, he doesn’t care what people think and that’s appealing to a lot of people.”
Maher: What "I love about the Pauls"
