‘Tom Sawyer’ Still Welcoming in Rand Paul at Events
Republican National Convention, Tampa, Fla., Aug. 29, 2012
I was at the Tampa Bay Times Forum August 29 for work and was surprised to hear the opening of “Tom Sawyer” serve as the introduction to Rand Paul, who had one of the prime-time slots on the third night of the Republican National Convention. I thought when Anthem counsel Bob Farmer sent a cease and desist letter to his campaign in 2010, when Paul was running for his U.S. Senate seat from Kentucky, that we’d heard the end of “Tom Sawyer” and “The Spirit of Radio” at Rand Paul appearances. But there it was, in front of all of us in the arena (played ably, I should add, by the G.E Smith Band, which did all the live musical accompaniment throughout the program).
“Tom Sawyer” even served as the intro to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. Now there’s a combination you don’t expect. But maybe the band was just using McConnell’s intro to get a little more practice before Paul’s entrance.
In any case, it was pretty clear Rand Paul is a Republican rock star, at least among those in the arena that like his libertarian brand of politics. They gave him a full-throated welcome and their cheers became more powerful as he proceeded through his remarks. It was clear many in the arena would love to see him run for president now that his dad, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, is riding off into the sunset.
Not sure if a Rand Paul White House would hurt or help the popularity of Rush’s music, but there’s no doubt we would be hearing a lot more than the opening bars of “Tom Sawyer” when Paul holds events on the south lawn. Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing, I couldn’t say, but it would definitely be a sure thing.
My recording of the “Tom Sawyer” snippet is above.
rush vault 