I followed Rand Paul to three events in five hours on Friday, September 25. He began with a visit to a popular inexpensive diner in a working poor area of Manchester, in a neighborhood of the descendants of French Canadian immigrants who came to work in the textile mills. There are other nearby neighborhoods of Greek and Italian ethnicity, but they don't mix, I was told by a neighborhood resident.
Then he went to a gun club to shoot and visit with voters and the media. Then he held a Town Hall. The events were in three different places, all about a half hour drive apart.
The first event was a drop-by visit to a popular place. I show two photographs here which make the central point of my observations, which is that Rand Paul is philosophically the most libertarian of the Republican candidates, in the live and let live, you do your thing I'll do mine vein.
I have never observed a candidate for any office more detached in manner in face to face meetings.
A couple of photographs illustrate my point, the photo of him strolling to the diner meet-and-greet, wearing blue genes, black shirt and black vest, dark glasses, greeting no one. It was the manner of a put-upon and jaded rock musician tired of being greeted by fans. And note Rand Paul at the diner: hands in his pockets. In his pockets! He is there but keeping his distance.
He walked right by me and three or four others standing on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant. He didn't look at us. No acknowledgement whatever.
There were about 60 people waiting at the door at the gun club when Rand Paul arrived on time at ten a.m. But only 30 of them followed the candidate into the conference room for some Q and A. The rest went directly in for the purpose they came, to shoot. Senators and presidential candidates aren't an attraction, they are a nuisance, in New Hampshire.
People who have owned adult cats will understand Rand Paul. They are self contained, they have the virtue of internal self possession. They know what they want to do, but they don't really care about you. They don't long for your approval because they approve of themselves, and that is enough. That is the manner Rand Paul projects.
I mention Rand Paul's hearing aid and gray hair grow-out not because I think it is in any way "gotcha". Lots of people use hearing aids and there is no shame in coloring ones hair. I do it myself. But in the next videos I note that he has greater gray hair grow out than my wife would fail to mention to me, and I am a retired tourist and he is a presidential candidate daily on high definition TV. It isn't evidence of anything other than his cat-like lack of particular concern about what we think of his hair.
I
As is pretty obvious from the angle of the above videos, I was standing two feet from him, as were three or four other people, presumably New Hampshire residents and voters. He completely ignored us. It was more like the relationship of people finding themselves together in an elevator or a subway car, rather than a person hoping to find votes. Or even a moderately friendly host.
n the Town Meeting event at noon he mentioned the resignation of Boehner, which drew cheers and applause from the crowed. Rand Paul was critical of the dozen or so "establishment types" in the Senate.
But to conclude my point about the cool detached cat-like attitude I will conclude with a badly videotaped display of how Rand Paul handled a tiny bit of theater at his Town Hall. A group of three or four college students asked a question, then introduced themselves as representing Exxon and Chevron and they wanted to give Paul a trophy for ignoring climate change so well. Paul did not engage them at all, neither to attempt to explain his position nor to make humorous banter back with them. He just walked away.
Please don't be put off by the bad video quality on the short video above. I made the mistake of getting seated with a bright window on the other side of the candidate. I am still on the front end of the learning curve.
Then he went to a gun club to shoot and visit with voters and the media. Then he held a Town Hall. The events were in three different places, all about a half hour drive apart.
The first event was a drop-by visit to a popular place. I show two photographs here which make the central point of my observations, which is that Rand Paul is philosophically the most libertarian of the Republican candidates, in the live and let live, you do your thing I'll do mine vein.
I have never observed a candidate for any office more detached in manner in face to face meetings.
A couple of photographs illustrate my point, the photo of him strolling to the diner meet-and-greet, wearing blue genes, black shirt and black vest, dark glasses, greeting no one. It was the manner of a put-upon and jaded rock musician tired of being greeted by fans. And note Rand Paul at the diner: hands in his pockets. In his pockets! He is there but keeping his distance.
He walked right by me and three or four others standing on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant. He didn't look at us. No acknowledgement whatever.
 |
| Strolling, self contained, private |
 |
| Detached, hands in pocket at a meet-and-greet |
There were about 60 people waiting at the door at the gun club when Rand Paul arrived on time at ten a.m. But only 30 of them followed the candidate into the conference room for some Q and A. The rest went directly in for the purpose they came, to shoot. Senators and presidential candidates aren't an attraction, they are a nuisance, in New Hampshire.
People who have owned adult cats will understand Rand Paul. They are self contained, they have the virtue of internal self possession. They know what they want to do, but they don't really care about you. They don't long for your approval because they approve of themselves, and that is enough. That is the manner Rand Paul projects.
I mention Rand Paul's hearing aid and gray hair grow-out not because I think it is in any way "gotcha". Lots of people use hearing aids and there is no shame in coloring ones hair. I do it myself. But in the next videos I note that he has greater gray hair grow out than my wife would fail to mention to me, and I am a retired tourist and he is a presidential candidate daily on high definition TV. It isn't evidence of anything other than his cat-like lack of particular concern about what we think of his hair.
I
As is pretty obvious from the angle of the above videos, I was standing two feet from him, as were three or four other people, presumably New Hampshire residents and voters. He completely ignored us. It was more like the relationship of people finding themselves together in an elevator or a subway car, rather than a person hoping to find votes. Or even a moderately friendly host.
n the Town Meeting event at noon he mentioned the resignation of Boehner, which drew cheers and applause from the crowed. Rand Paul was critical of the dozen or so "establishment types" in the Senate.
But to conclude my point about the cool detached cat-like attitude I will conclude with a badly videotaped display of how Rand Paul handled a tiny bit of theater at his Town Hall. A group of three or four college students asked a question, then introduced themselves as representing Exxon and Chevron and they wanted to give Paul a trophy for ignoring climate change so well. Paul did not engage them at all, neither to attempt to explain his position nor to make humorous banter back with them. He just walked away.
Please don't be put off by the bad video quality on the short video above. I made the mistake of getting seated with a bright window on the other side of the candidate. I am still on the front end of the learning curve.
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