Student calls on CPAC attendees to stand through duration of Sen. Rand Paul’s speech

A conservative student activist is asking attendees of this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) to stand throughout Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-Ky.) speech, as sign of solidarity for his historic 13-hour filibuster on the floor of the U.S. Senate on Wednesday.

Senate rules prohibited Paul from sitting during the filibuster of a vote on whether or not John Brennan would be confirmed as President Obama’s director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The arcane procedural maneuver drew worldwide attention and at one point the Twitter hashtag “#StandWithRand” trended as number one worldwide.

Ryan Bolyard, president of the Hillsdale College Republicans, told Campus Reform on Thursday he would like to use Paul’s CPAC speech to give a visible representation of the online support he received last week.

“My goal is to show solidarity in the conservative movement with those that are willing to stand up and defend our Constitution and our personal liberties,” said Bolyard.

He added he hopes the entire audience will stand throughout the duration of Paul’s speech.

“I hope to have everyone at CPAC participate,” said Bolyard. “Those that do not hear about the event on Facebook will hopefully understand what is going on and join in.”

At the time of publication, 86 people have RSVP’d to the event on Facebook.

Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @oliverdarcy