Rand Paul, Cory Booker Kindle Festivus Bromance Over Sentencing Reform ... - Huffington Post

One is the Kentucky-based scion of a libertarian icon. The other is a New Jersey-reared former big city mayor. On Monday, Sens. Rand Paul (R) and Cory Booker (D) came together on Twitter to air their common grievances about mandatory minimum sentences and the war on drugs.

The occasion was Festivus, the parody holiday popularized by a 1997 episode of “Seinfeld.” And just as Frank Costanza once did, Paul and Booker came to complain — but this time for a cause.

Paul has repeatedly bucked Republican stereotypes by championing the end of federal mandatory minimums — laws that force judges to impose harsh sentences, even up to life, for non-violent drug crimes. He’s also had the back of Kentucky farmers in pushing for an end to a federal law that prevents them from growing hemp.

Booker, meanwhile, has been in the Senate for less than two months, but as one of the chamber’s two black members and a witness to the fallout from the war on drugs in places like Newark, he has said criminal justice reform will be at the top of his agenda there.

Here’s the full, sometimes hammy, back-and-forth between the senators. Just months after Paul campaigned for Booker’s opponent in the latter’s Senate race, the two are sharing Twitter high-fives. It’s a bipartisan Festivus miracle.

One more Festivus grievance about bipartisanship. @CoryBooker doesn’t RT me enough.

— Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) December 23, 2013

U, me & “feats of strength:” Senate floor, name the time MT @SenRandPaul A Festivus grievance re bipartisanship. Booker doesn’t RT me enough

— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) December 23, 2013

@CoryBooker how about mandatory minimum sentencing reform instead?

— Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) December 23, 2013

Yes, If u throw in reforming Fed Hemp & Marijuana laws u’ve got a deal! RT @SenRandPaul: How about mandatory min sentencing reform instead?

— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) December 23, 2013

@CoryBooker I am the Senate author of Hemp bill!

— Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) December 23, 2013

I know. U told me last week. Here is to a 2014 where we take on the failed war on drugs RT @SenRandPaul: I’m the Senate author of Hemp bill!

— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) December 23, 2013

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