Rand Paul Questions Motives of Republican Hawks, But Not Obama's

Rand Paul chided Rudy Giuliani for comments the former New York City mayor made about Barack Obama's love for his country. In a television interview with local Louisville station WAVE, Paul said, “it's one thing to disagree on policy” but “it’s a mistake to question people’s motives.”

It's an admirable principle. But it’s one that Paul routinely abandons when he talks about hawks in his own party.

On at least two separate occasions, Paul accused Dick Cheney of taking the country to war to enhance Halliburton’s profits. At a campaign appearance in Montana on behalf of his father in 2008, Paul noted that Cheney had opposed going to Baghdad to oust Saddam Hussein in the first Gulf War. Cheney, Paul argued, used arguments “exactly mirroring my dad’s arguments for why we shouldn’t have gone in” to Baghdad. He continued: “And this is Dick Cheney saying this. But, you know, a couple hundred million dollars later Dick Cheney earns from Halliburton, he comes back into government. Now Halliburton’s got a billion-dollar, no-bid contract in Iraq.”

In an appearance the following year, shortly before he started his own campaign for Senate in Kentucky, Paul made the claim again. Cheney’s opposition to pressing the war further was “why the first Bush didn’t go into Baghdad. Dick Cheney then goes to work for Halliburton. Makes hundreds of millions of dollars–their CEO. Next thing you know, he’s back in government and it’s a good idea to go into Iraq.”

Paul’s charge resurrected a long-discredited claim once made by mainstream Democrats, including John Kerry’s presidential campaign, but later largely abandoned to the far-left antiwar fringe.....................

Rand Paul On Shutdown: "Even Though It Appeared I Was Participating In It, It Was A Dumb Idea"
I said throughout the whole battle that shutting down the government was a dumb idea. Even though it did appear as if I was participating in it, I said it was a dumb idea. And the reason I voted for it, though, is that it's a conundrum. Here's the conundrum. We have a $17 trillion debt and people at home tell me you can't give the president a blank check. We just can't keep raising the debt ceiling without conditions. So unconditionally raising the debt ceiling, nobody at home wants me to vote for that and I can't vote for that. But the conundrum is if I don't we do approach these deadlines. So there is an impasse. In 2011, though, we had this impasse and the president did negotiate. We got the sequester. If we were to extend the sequester from discretionary spending to all the entitlements we would actually fix our problem within a few years.
[Posted on 11/19/2013 12:16:51 PM by Third Person]

Rand Paul: Time for GOP to soften war stance
...by softening its edge on some volatile social issues and altering its image as the party always seemingly "eager to go to war... We do need to expand the party and grow the party and that does mean that we don't always all agree on every issue" ... the party needs to become more welcoming to individuals who disagree with basic Republican doctrine on emotional social issues such as gay marriage... "We're going to have to be a little hands off on some of these issues ... and get people into the party," Paul said.
[Posted on 01/31/2013 5:08:50 PM PST by xzins]

Rand Paul's immigration speech
...The Republican Party must embrace more legal immigration.

Unfortunately, like many of the major debates in Washington, immigration has become a stalemate-where both sides are imprisoned by their own rhetoric or attachment to sacred cows that prevent the possibility of a balanced solution.

Immigration Reform will not occur until Conservative Republicans, like myself, become part of the solution. I am here today to begin that conversation.

Let's start that conversation by acknowledging we aren't going to deport 12 million illegal immigrants.

If you wish to work, if you wish to live and work in America, then we will find a place for you...

This is where prudence, compassion and thrift all point us toward the same goal: bringing these workers out of the shadows and into being taxpaying members of society.

Imagine 12 million people who are already here coming out of the shadows to become new taxpayers.12 million more people assimilating into society. 12 million more people being productive contributors.
[Posted on 03/19/2013 7:04:07 AM PDT by Perdogg]
Rand Paul calls on conservatives to embrace immigration reform
Latinos, should be a natural constituency for the party, Paul argued, but "Republicans have pushed them away with harsh rhetoric over immigration." ...he would create a bipartisan panel to determine how many visas should be granted for workers already in the United States and those who might follow... [and the buried lead] "Imagine 12 million people who are already here coming out of the shadows to become new taxpayers...
[Posted on 04/21/2013 1:52:42 PM PDT by SoConPubbie]
[but he's not in favor of amnesty, snicker, definition of is is]

Rand Slams Congress for Funding Egypt's Generals: 'How Does Your Conscience Feel Now?'
Sen. Rand Paul is hammering his fellow senators for keeping billions in financial aid flowing to Egypt's military -- even as Cairo's security forces massacre anti-government activists. [by "anti-government activists" is meant church-burning Christian-murdering jihadists]
[Posted on 08/15/2013 5:44:10 PM PDT by Hoodat]

Republican Eisenhower got a cease fire in Korea and taught the enemy a tactic they have employed against us in recent years (nuclear weapons plus threats to get a result at a negotiating table).

We always hear how the Dems geared up the war in Vietnam and they did bad stuff like not bombing the head of the supply line at Haiphong (fear of Soviets being killed).

But Indochina was partitioned in 1955 at the Geneva Conference with Eisenhower president and John Foster Dulles Sec. of State (the John Bolton of his time who made great anti-Communist speeches). Ho Chi Minh was given North Vietnam which he turned into a base to launch the war.

Bush did the tough guy act well after 9/11 but I don’t see the winning strategy. He did Vietnam in Afghanistan with defensive bases and very limited airstrikes in Pakistan with the drones.....technology and rules of engagement kept the casualties low but it was just Vietnam with a new name.

Don Rumsfeld admitted the war we fought after 9/11 was not WW 2 (BUT IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN).

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