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On Drones, It’s Rand Paul vs. the Polls
Commentary ^ | 03/10/2013 | Max Boot

Posted on 03/10/2013 8:04:26 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

Last year, for the first time in decades, Republicans lost the advantage on foreign policy in a presidential campaign. Exit polls showed that voters trusted Barack Obama more than Mitt Romney to handle an international crisis (57 percent trusted Obama, 50 percent trusted Romney). And of the small number of voters who put foreign policy as their top issue, Obama won by a margin of 56 percent to 33 percent. Part of this, of course, is due to the incumbent’s advantage. But Republicans, following the setbacks in the Iraq War and Afghanistan, will have a tough job restoring their advantage on foreign policy and national security issues.

Their current actions aren’t helping. Senator Rand Paul has won accolades from many on the right for his “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” filibuster. But however impressive his stamina, we must not forget what he was protesting against–the use of drone strikes which, when directed overseas, are supported by 83 percent of Americans and when directed against American citizens overseas are supported by 65 percent.

Admittedly, Paul focused on the use of drone strikes on American soil against American citizens who are not combatants–he was clever enough not to make his filibuster about drone strikes per se. But in the process he came across as a bit of a nut. No one imagines that this administration or any other is about to start launching Hellfire missiles in New York or Washington. In fact Attorney General Eric Holder finally issued a letter stating the obvious–that the administration cannot use drones or other weapons against American citizens on U.S. soil as long as they are not engaged in hostilities against the United States.

However, the administration is absolutely right to note that it has the right in extreme circumstances to use military force on American soil. If Rand Paul thinks otherwise, he should come out and explain his objections to Abraham Lincoln’s use of force to fight the Confederacy–or the use of troops to escort African-American kids to school in Little Rock in 1957. Instead of addressing the issue squarely, Paul came up with far-fetched scenarios such as the U.S. government killing Jane Fonda because she was protesting the Vietnam War.

It is all too easy for the nuances of the debate to get lost and for voters to gain the impression that Republicans are against drone strikes in general.

Republicans are only reinforcing this impression of weakness on national security by enthusiastically supporting the sequester that is keeping Navy ships from sailing and Army troops from training. Republican strategists are right that most Americans support the sequester overall by a margin of 61 percent-33 percent, but they should note that by almost that same margin they oppose cuts to military spending.

By indiscriminately embracing sequestration and by making anti-drone noises Republicans are making it increasingly hard to recover the advantage on national security issues that they maintained ever since the 1960s.


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: drones; randpaul; randsconcerntrolls; waronterror
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1 posted on 03/10/2013 8:04:27 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

The Neocons are out in full force, showing their true stripes.


2 posted on 03/10/2013 8:08:08 AM PDT by cdcdawg
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To: cdcdawg

What do you say to this little factoid in the article:

“the use of drone strikes which, when directed overseas, are supported by 83 percent of Americans and when directed against American citizens overseas are supported by 65 percent.”


3 posted on 03/10/2013 8:11:24 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

I say that polls that tell us what we want to hear are always correct. LOL


4 posted on 03/10/2013 8:16:02 AM PDT by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: SeekAndFind

I would say that those instances are not what Senator Paul was talking about, and that you and Commentary know it.


5 posted on 03/10/2013 8:16:05 AM PDT by cdcdawg
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To: cdcdawg

>> The Neocons are out in full force, showing their true stripes.

That’s because they’re #ing, statist scumbags.


6 posted on 03/10/2013 8:16:20 AM PDT by Gene Eric (The Palin Doctrine.)
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To: SeekAndFind

I despise these “smarter-than-everyone else” snarks.

Oh, how “clever” Rand Paul would have been if he’d come out against the use of drone generally....yep youbetcha the leftis would just have loved him then wouldn’t they?

I looked at the article only enough to get his dopes bio. Russian born, Berkley and Yale “edumacated”, and now works for (fanfare please) the Council on Foreign Relations.

In other news, the sun rose in the east.


7 posted on 03/10/2013 8:17:03 AM PDT by bigbob
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To: SeekAndFind

This author, and most of the GOP, are guilty of the same things: taking a poll, and then obsessing about how to “get in front” of that poll. In other words, if the American people believe a bunch of bullshit, we must pretend to believe that bullshit too.....

What Rand Paul did was called “leadership.” He was not happy to sit around and just be a thermometer....he was instead trying to be a thermostat....setting the proper temperature to bring the “polls” to him. This is how Reagan did it. This is how Newt did it with the CWA election of 1994. This is what the Tea Party did in 2010.

Our consultant driven political parties have totally lost this concept.....


8 posted on 03/10/2013 8:17:36 AM PDT by C. Edmund Wright
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To: cdcdawg

I was thinking that too. The neocon minions of Karl Rove, and the country club republican set are loose!

Here comes the circular firing squad and more losses for freedom.


9 posted on 03/10/2013 8:21:49 AM PDT by LibertyLA (fighting libtards and other giant government enablers!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Bill Clinton perfected the art of looking tough using the cruise missile and bombs from Angels 15. The drone has given Obama and Dems a foolproof way to appear concerned about nat’l security without risking the unpopularity of flag draped caskets at Dover AFB. The fact that drones are more precise and Hellfires have less collateral damage than Tomahawks is a plus for the Dems. Of course the Dems won’t say this but the fact that we’re only killing ragheads is a big plus for the policy’s popularity. I also expect, in the near future if Rand’s dissent spreads, that an admin spokesman will say if Janet Reno had had a Predator at Waco she could have targeted David Koresh and saved the children. And the public will nod in agreement.


10 posted on 03/10/2013 8:24:33 AM PDT by xkaydet65
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To: LibertyLA
The neocon minions of Karl Rove, and the country club republican set are loose!

I think they're going to get their butts kicked this time. A growing number of people are thinking for themselves and aren't concerned about where they disagree with Rand Paul but they damn sure know where they agree.
11 posted on 03/10/2013 8:30:28 AM PDT by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: SeekAndFind
There's at least one major problem with this diatribe...Osama Obama’s DHS has already declared that military veterans must be considered to be potential domestic terrorists.
12 posted on 03/10/2013 8:33:41 AM PDT by Gay State Conservative ("Progressives" toss the word "racist" around like chimps toss their feces)
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To: cdcdawg
"The Neocons are out in full force, showing their true stripes."

You got that right! They are in desperate need of a purging from the Republican party. They can join back up with the big .gov dems. There needs to be legislation and a vote that prohibits the use of 'weaponized' drones in the United States. Would be interesting to see how that one turns out.

13 posted on 03/10/2013 8:51:53 AM PDT by KoRn (Department of Homeland Security, Certified - "Right Wing Extremist")
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To: SeekAndFind

We’re not talking about overseas.

We’re talking about right here at home.


14 posted on 03/10/2013 8:53:09 AM PDT by Tzimisce (The American Revolution began when the British attempted to disarm the Colonists.)
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To: cdcdawg
"The Neocons are out in full force"

Yup seeing more and more anti-Paul articles. Rand is going to get the Palin/Newt treatment.

15 posted on 03/10/2013 9:02:03 AM PDT by jpsb
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To: cdcdawg
The Neocons chickenhawks are out in full force, showing their true stripes.

A modification without change.

16 posted on 03/10/2013 9:10:30 AM PDT by ex-snook (God is Love)
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To: Gay State Conservative
My veteran friend had a melt down at the VA hospital to the way he was treated, cancelled his appt but forgot to call him. He screamed at everybody and then went home. About a half hour later the police showed up to make sure he was alright, then asked if he had any guns in his home.

"No, I don't officer." If he had said yes, they would have come in and taken them from "an unstable veteran."

17 posted on 03/10/2013 9:12:01 AM PDT by thirst4truth (www.Believer.com)
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To: C. Edmund Wright
BRAVO!!!:

This author, and most of the GOP, are guilty of the same things: taking a poll, and then obsessing about how to “get in front” of that poll. In other words, if the American people believe a bunch of bullshit, we must pretend to believe that bullshit too.....

What Rand Paul did was called “leadership.” He was not happy to sit around and just be a thermometer....he was instead trying to be a thermostat....setting the proper temperature to bring the “polls” to him. This is how Reagan did it. This is how Newt did it with the CWA election of 1994. This is what the Tea Party did in 2010.

Our consultant driven political parties have totally lost this concept.....

18 posted on 03/10/2013 9:18:52 AM PDT by SW6906 (6 things you can't have too much of: sex, money, firewood, horsepower, guns and ammunition.)
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To: KoRn
The GOP is in the us (beltway) against them (American people) bunker mentality. From Breitbart

House Gop Leaders: We Can Pass Gun Control, Immigration, Without Republican Support
19 posted on 03/10/2013 9:28:38 AM PDT by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: cripplecreek

If the House GOP yield on gun control, particularly banning so called “assault weapons” and high capacity magazines, you can stick a fork in them, because they will be DONE! Seriously!

They would sure as hell lose me.


20 posted on 03/10/2013 9:39:01 AM PDT by KoRn (Department of Homeland Security, Certified - "Right Wing Extremist")
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