Sen. Rand Paul acknowledged on Wednesday that his rising visibility may well be causing more scrutiny among traditional Republican operatives — but “it’s hard for me to be anything except who I am.”
“I’m pretty much a forthright kind of guy,” the Kentucky Republican told Fox’s Neil Cavuto. “I see problems that our country faces, and I’m just going to keep putting forward solutions.”
Paul recently staged a near-13-hour filibuster on the Senate floor against the nomination of CIA Director John Brennan over the Obama administration’s drone policy. He also won the straw poll for 2016 presidential candidates at the Conservative Political Action Conference over the weekend.
And the Iowa Republican Party said on Tuesday that Paul would keynote their Lincoln Day Dinner in May, long considered a coveted invitation for any GOP presidential hopeful.
“I’ve always said that I had a pretty-good job before I came here,” Paul told Cavuto. “I was a physician. I like doing surgery. I like helping people to see. I’m happy to go back at any time.
“But I also think the country’s looking for something different. They’re not looking for your traditional, sort of ‘cookie-cutter conservative.’ They’re looking for someone who can represent the whole country.
“And I think that ideas that I’m talking about can help Republicans grow in areas like California, New England, Illinois — states that have given up on Republicans,” Paul added.
“We do have to think of new ideas if we want to be competitive as a national party.”
© 2013 Newsmax. All rights reserved.