Rand Paul: Republicans Should Agree to Disagree on Social Issues

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Mar 14, 2014   |   3:33PM   |   Washington, DC

Rand Paul is a pro-life Senator from Kentucky who appears poised to become one of the candidates for the Republican nomination for president in 2016. Although he has a strong pro-life voting record, Paul may turn himself off to pro-life voters with what he said in an interview today.

randpaul2Paul said in an interview that Republicans should agree to disagree on social issues. If he wants to not lose trust with pro-life voters, Paul will need to clarify his comments quickly and assure them that he is not waffling on pro-life issues.

“I think that the Republican Party, in order to get bigger, will have to agree to disagree on social issues,” Paul told vocativ.com. “The Republican Party is not going to give up on having quite a few people who do believe in traditional marriage. But the Republican Party also has to find a place for young people and others who don’t want to be festooned by those issues.”

“I have sort of a Jeffersonian belief in unity, peace and commerce with all. That means we don’t devour our own. We try to find an area where we can stand for principle. But it also includes people you don’t agree with on every issue,” he added.

Paul was asked, “There was a consensus among young people at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference that the GOP needs to get out of social issues. Do you agree?”

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“I think it’s partly that,” he responded.

On 8 votes cast in the Senate during his tenure, Paul has a 100% pro-life voting record, according to the National Right to Life Committee.

The comments hearken back to the “truce” on social issues former Indiana governor Mitch Daniels proposed in the lead-up to the 2012 presidential election that wound up took much of the sails out of his potential presidential bid and drew signficiant criticism from pro-life advocates.