CNN "Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees" - Transcript: 2010 Congressional Election

Interview

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COOPER: Senator-Elect Paul, you're part of this new wave of Republicans taking power now, probably the best-known Tea Party candidate. What's the number one item on your agenda?

SEN-ELECT RAND PAUL (R), KENTUCKY: That we have to balance the budget and we need to do so by cutting spending. And I think that's the message -- the number one message from the Tea Party.

COOPER: There's been a lot of talk about cutting spending and reducing deficits. Not a lot of specifics. Dr. Paul, you're really one of the few Republicans I've heard say point-blank, there needs to be cut in Defense. Where do you see cutting in Defense, senator- elect?

RAND PAUL: Well, some people have pointed out that in the Defense budget, we have about 40 percent overhead. And we require our Defense contractors to only have 15 percent overhead. So some have said there's a lot of middle management that could be cut in the military department. There are weapons systems we need to look at and see if they are work projects or if we need them for the defense of our country.

But they say that the middle management in the military now is as big as it was in World War II, when we had 15 million soldiers. And now we have three million soldiers. so we have a lot of things left over from 40 and 50 years ago that I think we could streamline in the military.

COOPER: Why do you think it is so few people are actually willing to say we need to cut Defense? Even those who say we need to cut across the board, when you try to pin them down on, well, do you also mean Defense, they get kind of cagey on it. Why is that?

RAND PAUL: Well, I think it's ultimately the compromise we have to have, you know. Because you've always had conservatives who say cut domestic spending and you have always had liberal who say, cut the military budget. But what we really need is the compromise, that conservatives and liberals need to get together and say, it's not that the emperor has no clothes; it's that the emperor has no money. We've got to do something. It's going to take dramatic, across the board look at everything in the budget.

COOPER: Congressman Paul, in terms of Defense cuts, I mean, you indicated, basically ending the wars in Afghanistan, getting troops out of Iraq. Is that required in order to really, truly cut defense spending?

REP. RON PAUL (R), TEXAS: Yes, I'd come home from Afghanistan, Iraq, the Middle East, Germany, Korea, Japan. I mean -- and you could have a transition period for some of these entitle problems that we have at home. Basically, I want to get rid of all of those too.

But I would start with all this overseas spending. And I think we could work our way out.

COOPER: Congressman Paul, Vice President Biden has said we'll be out of Afghanistan, pulling troops out of in three years, come hell or high water. Do you buy that, a? And B, certainly you think it should be happening right now?

RON PAUL: It should happen right now. It's not going to happen then. They're always telling us that. They're not going to leave Iraq. Why would they be building all these military bases and building billion dollar embassies in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iraq?

I mean, they have no intention on leaving and the people know that. That's why they hate our guts. And that's why they're disgusted. And that's why we're bankrupt. Because, you know, war is the health of the state. Anybody who wants small government, conservatives and the constitutionalist, libertarians -- if they want small government, they have to understand that war is the health of the state. When you have war, you can justify just about anything.

COOPER: Senator-Elect Paul, what about you? On the campaign trail, you really didn't talk much about Afghanistan during the election. We're spending a lot of money there. Is it worth it? Do you agree with your dad?

RAND PAUL: Well, I think when you look at it -- one way of looking at it is, when you look at the troop presence that we had after World War II in Europe, and you say, how large was the presence compared to how big the enemy was -- now we look at how big the enemy is in Afghanistan. They're saying less than 100 al Qaeda fighters. Do we need 100,000 fighters to stop 100 people? Or would there be a way that a small base there for a year or two of 5,000 to 10,000 soldiers, no longer patrolling the streets, no longer patrolling the remote provinces, could be a way of keeping some stability without having a large scale land war there.

The other question is, is having too large scale land wars, like Iraq and Afghanistan -- do you detract from being nimble enough to really be looking for the threats of terrorism that are really global and not in just one or two places.

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COOPER: Are there issues that you guys totally disagree on? Is there one issue that you fundamentally disagree on?

RAND PAUL: We agree not to talk about that. We say it's a new year's and I'm staying at his house. How can I get into a war with my dad on TV if I have to come over for dinner tonight?

RON PAUL: Have you ever -- Anderson, let me ask you a question. I know I'm not allowed to ask a question, but have you ever met two people that agreed on everything? You know, my wife doesn't agree with me on all my policies either.

COOPER: Well, Congressman Paul, I've heard you say that when your son -- that Rand, of all your kids, was the one who kind of gave you the most pushback when he was younger. Is that true?

RON PAUL: Oh, yeah, because he did a significant amount of reading. He read the economics books and many books he'd get off my book shelves. And he was very challenging, but I considered that healthy, not unhealthy.

COOPER: So how are you guys going to live together now? How is this going to work out?

RON PAUL: Well, just so you know, I told people at work, if I don't have to cook, that's all.

RAND PAUL: My response to that was, I think I'm pretty lucky that I don't have to rely on his cooking. So, no, I think we'll get along well. In fact, I lived with my father in the summers when he was in Congress and I was in high school. So it won't be the first time we've actually shared the condo.

But I think he scratched his head a little bit when he found out that his 47-year-old son was coming back to live with him. Most people are ready for their college kids to get out of the house, and now he's got a 47-year-old coming back. So we'll see how it goes.

COOPER: Congressman Paul, I mean, obviously you're incredibly proud of your son for his win. Are you concerned about what happens now? I mean, are you concerned about, you know, kind of the Washington brawls that occur, and watching him get, you know, battered about, as will inevitably happen? As a dad, is that going to be a hard thing for you to watch?

RON PAUL: I think it will get easier as time goes on. I think how he was treated right after the primary race wasn't much fun for him, or me, because it was pure demagoguery, you know, in a political sense. That wasn't very good. But I think on true issues, you know, discussions and all -- I think it would be less so than in these campaigns.

Campaigning is a rough and tumble business. And I think that would -- I think that's sort of in the past now.

COOPER: Congressman Paul, did you ever expect that your son -- that Rand Paul would follow in your footsteps?

RON PAUL: Yeah, I suspected that for the last six months at least. No, not two years -- two years ago, you know, he was going out and giving a few speeches during the presidential campaign.

COOPER: Well, he was helping to run your campaign.

RON PAUL: -- the other day I said,, you know -- yeah, he was helping with my campaign. And then I thought back, you know, who would have ever thought, two years ago, with him being up in New Hampshire and doing a little MCing for us, that in two years he'd be in the Senate. No, I don't think very many people thought so. I'm not even sure whether he thought, you know, in two years, I'm going to be in the Senate.

Politics is a lot of luck and timing and things come together. His timing was right. The events were right. The Tea Party people were there. And sometimes if you don't take advantage of that, you don't have a political career.

COOPER: Congressman Paul, the last time, I read, I think you were asked this question, you said there was about a 50/50 chance you might be running for president again in 2012. Are those odds still about where you'd put it?

RON PAUL: Yeah, those are very good odds. If you want me to be wishy-washy on that answer, it is 50/50. And it is true. People ask me if I think about it a lot, and I say, all the time, because I get asked it all the time.

But, yes, I give it very serious consideration. And I know all the pros and cons. But I do listen to many supporters that seem to be so sincere and interested in what I've been doing over the many years. And they've responded to the monetary issues and the foreign policy issues and the personal liberty issues.

And because the young people are responding and giving the encouragement, I am really thinking very seriously about it. But at this time, I cannot give an answer. It's still 50/50. COOPER: Do you know who you think would be the biggest challenger you would have in the race? Do you think Sarah Palin -- for instance, do you think she's going to run?

RON PAUL: Well, probably not. It looks like she's enjoying herself a whole lot right now. So I don't know whether she'd run. But I would think I'd consider every one of them a pretty big challenge, because, you know, I'm involved in a revolution. I want revolutionary ideas. I want to return our country to the original roots of individual liberty.

So everyone that I know of, Republican, Democrats, in many ways, they represent the status quo. You know, they don't get excited about the Federal Reserve. They don't get excited about bringing troops home from Japan. They don't get excited about reducing the government by 50 or 60 or 70 percent, and letting college kids get out of Social Security.

Now, they would all fit the position of the status quo. And the supporters I have know that we're talking about something quite different.

COOPER: Representative Ron Paul, appreciate your time, sir, and Senator-elect Rand Paul, as well. Thank you very much.

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