Rand Paul: The GOP's Brand 'Sucks'

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) is warning his party that it has an image problem. In fact, the GOP’s brand “sucks,” the Senator insisted.

Speaking from a newly opened GOP field office in Detroit’s Sherwood Forest neighborhood, Paul expounded on the 80-year problem that the Republican Party has had with African-American voters.

Paul helped open the new field office on Livernois Avenue and spoke to efforts by the GOP to reach out to the African-American community on Wednesday.

“Remember Domino’s Pizza?” Paul said. “They admitted, ‘Hey, our pizza crust sucks.'” The senator then said, “The objective facts are: What has been happening, what we’ve been trying, hasn’t worked. The Republican Party brand sucks and so people don’t want to be a Republican, and for 80 years, African-Americans have had nothing to do with Republicans.”

“Why? Because of a perception. The problem is the perception is that no one in the Republican Party cares,” he continued.

“We’re also fighting 40 years of us doing a crappy job, of Republicans not trying at all for 40 years, so it’s a lot of overcoming,” Senator Paul added. “You got to show up, you got to have something to say and really we just have to emphasize that we’re trying to do something different.”

Rand Paul has repeatedly appeared before African-American audiences in a concerted effort to appeal to new voters and heal old rifts.

Paul has also reached across the aisle in Congress to work on issues that black Americans care about.

“One of those bills is the Redeem Act, which would help juveniles with criminal records get jobs and avoid reoffending,” The Hill recently noted. “It is co-sponsored by Sen. Cory Booker (N.J.), the Senate’s only black Democrat.”

Paul is also working on bills to give judges more flexibility on sentencing convicted criminals and on bills to curtail the so-called war on drugs.

The Kentuckian is also working on “Economic Freedom Zones” to encourage small businesses in black communities.

Senator Paul is widely assumed to be seriously considering a run for the GOP nomination for president in 2016.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.