Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, a potential contender for the presidency in 2016, released a parody tape of a phone call between former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, hitting his presidential rivals on the issue of political dynasty.
The parody, released by Paul's political action committee RAND PAC, used actors to envision the two talking about the dynasties in their political families.
In a 2009 interview with AntiWar.com radio, however, the son of two-time Republican presidential candidate and longtime Congressman Ron Paul cited his father as making his 2010 run for Senate possible.
The question to Paul focused on the topic of political families.
"I couldn't have done this in 2006 because, ya know, my father's campaign hadn't grown to a national level," Paul said. "I hadn't gone out and helped him in many different states and become well known to some people in the movement. No, I couldn't have done this in 2006 in a statewide race, but it does allow me now to run a statewide race and be treated as a credible candidate."
Paul said his father's 2008 presidential campaign "opened doors" for him, and hopefully would lead to more fundraising.
"So it has opened doors, it hopefully will open doors in fundraising. But to be embarrassed by that no, I'm absolutely ecstatic that I'm able to participate in this process and that I can help be a leader in the freedom movement."
"That's for better or worse the way it is," Paul would add. "But at the same time we should hopefully glorify in the fact that we've gotten a lot of political families that have been pretty crummy, maybe we can get a political family that will be a little bit better for individual freedom."
Earlier in his response, Paul said the problem centered around incumbency, and the difficulty in challenging incumbent politicians.
"Well I think the problem is the electoral process makes it very difficult for anybody to run for office to beat incumbents. Once you have incumbents, incumbents almost never lose. If you look at the rate of incumbency in the United States vs. the Soviet Politburo, actually the Politburo had a higher rate of turnover. So there's a problem with that and people try to look at this and say, 'how do we fix the system?' But nobody's been able to come up with a way to fix the system where very wealthy people don't have an advantage by spending their own money."
Paul said "celebrity status" does help in running for president, but it wasn't a criticism to have a famous family, adding that people create their own way.
"And does celebrity status or being well-known help, yeah, Jesse Ventura won because of his celebrity, Arnold Schwarzenegger won. And then some people win on the celebrity name's of their families. And is there a way to make the world perfect, I'm not sure there is. And I don't also think it's a criticism that says 'hmm you're family's famous, therefore that disqualifies you from participating in the process.' I think you create you're own way and it may open some doors in the beginning."
Via Politico, here's the transcript of Paul's fake call. It can be listened to here.
Bush: "Hey, Hill. It's Jeb."
Clinton: "Hey, Jeb. To what do I owe this pleasure?"
Bush: "Well, it's true — I'm thinking about running for president."
Clinton: "Well, Jeb, so am I."
Bush: "I just wanted to call and give you a heads up in hopes we could work something out."
Clinton: "What do you mean, Jeb? It's clearly my turn: Bush, Clinton, Bush. Now, Clinton."
Bush: "Well, Hillary, there hasn't been a Republican White House without a Bush since 1977, and we're ready to be back."
Clinton: "Let me shoot straight with you, Jeb, OK? Bill and I are dead broke and need a place to stay. 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. is calling me home — I've still got the back door key. Being president offers a lot more job security than writing another memoir."
Bush: "Well, the Bushes have weathered attacks before. And, READ MY LIPS, Hillary: We're not backing down this time."
Clinton: "Well, you're right — maybe we can work something out. We both agree on so many issues: bigger government, Common Core and amnesty for illegal immigrants."
Bush: "Well, we've both got problems. You've got problems with the grass roots, and I've got all those damn conservatives. What say, we make a deal?"
[Call beeps in.]
Bush: "Sorry, Hillary, but I have to go. Mitt keeps calling."
Clinton: "Oh, for crying out loud."