Rand Paul and the Tea Party Movement

Rand Paul didn't give a typical victory speech after winning the Republican primary in Kentucky.

It seemed that he was speaking in terms that were much broader than the Kentucky race. He was defining the Tea Party movement as a national force and appointing himself as a spokesman.

Paul was making a declaration that sounded sort of like the birth announcement of a third party.

Transcript

RAND PAUL: I have a message, a message from the Tea Party, a message that is loud and clear and does not mince words: We've come to take our government back.

We've come to take our government back from the special interests who think that the federal government is their own personal ATM, from the politicians who bring us over-sized fake checks emblazoned with their signature as if it was their money to give.

Washington is horribly broken.

I think we stand on a precipice. We are encountering a day of reckoning. And this movement, this Tea Party movement is a message to Washington that we're unhappy and that we want things done differently.

The Tea Party movement is huge. The mandate of our victory tonight is huge. What you have done and what we are doing can transform America.

I think, I think America's greatness hinges on us doing something to save the country. The Tea Party movement is about saving country from a mountain of debt that is devouring our country, and I think could lead to chaos.

We now have a president, though, who apologizes for America's greatness. We have a president who went to Copenhagen and appeared with Robert Mugabe, Hugo Chavez, and others, Evo Morales, to apologize for the Industrial Revolution. They say, these dictators, these petty dictators say that to stop climate change, it's about ending capitalism. They are explicit, and the president by attending Copenhagen gives credibility and credence to these folks, and he should not go.

Paul definitely wants his victory to be seen as the fruit of something larger happening in the entire country. He painted his win as being significant beyond Kentucky.

Paul seemed to define his victory as a turning point for the nation as a whole. Heady stuff.

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