Story highlights Former Congressman Anthony Weiner wrote a column praising Sen. Rand Paul

He focused primarily on Paul's push against the National Security Agency

Anthony Weiner thinks Rand Paul is playing it smart.

The former Democratic congressman from New York, who resigned in 2011 amid a sexting scandal, offered up some 2016 insight Friday, saying the Kentucky Republican senator is wise to make privacy concerns a big part of his potential presidential platform.

"Paul's strategy could put him in a great place in a Republican primary," Weiner wrote in a column for Business Insider.

Paul has been the most vocal opponent in Congress against the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance programs involving phone metadata collection.

He filed a now-stalled lawsuit against the Obama administration earlier this year, and he voted against an NSA reform package last month because he felt it didn't go far enough in tweaking the agency.

(He took some heat, however, from some in the anti-NSA community for his vote because the measure ultimately failed to advance.)

Privacy issues have become a staple in Paul's stump speeches on the 2014 campaign trail, where he was known to hold up his cell phone in the air and declare that what Americans do on their phones is "none of the government's damn business."

The senator, Weiner argued, understands the marketplace and is trying to appeal to the same demographic targeted by companies like Apple and Google. Meanwhile, Weiner added, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie and Mitt Romney are taking the traditional path of courting "the middle of the road."

"(Paul's) looking to build a White House bid with his own new age coalition of privacy-concerned, party-non aligned, previously-non voting, SOPA hating, pot tolerant youth," he wrote.

"(If) Paul wins, it won't necessarily be through red states," he continued. "He's betting on Reddit."