Posted on 01/29/2011 10:50:23 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Skip ahead to 3:15 for the exchange on foreign aid generally and to 4:15 for the key bit. Paul’s not singling Israel out here; it’s Blitzer who brings it up, and Paul’s careful to offer praise before making his case that we simply can’t afford it anymore. He knows he’s suspect on this point because of his surname and has tried to deal with it behind the scenes. Remember this tidbit from that GQ hit piece on him last year?
Ron Paul, in addition to his extreme views on the federal government, has been a harsh critic of the Republican Party’s “military adventurism,” and in the past Rand has faithfully echoed his father’s views. He opposed the war in Iraq, once characterized the September 11 attacks as “blowback for our foreign policy,” and scoffed at the threat of Iranian nukes. And yet here he was in Washington, seeking out a secret meeting with some of the Ron Paul Revolutionaries’ biggest bogeymen. At a private office in Dupont Circle, he talked foreign policy with Bill Kristol, Dan Senor, and Tom Donnelly, three prominent neocons who’d been part of an effort to defeat him during the primary. “He struck me as genuinely interested in trying to understand why people like us were so apoplectic,” Senor says of their two-hour encounter. “He wanted to get educated about our problem with him. He wasn’t confrontational, and he wasn’t disagreeable. He didn’t seem cemented in his views. He was really in absorption mode.”
The following month, he met with officials from the powerful lobbying group AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee), which has frequently clashed with Ron Paul over what the group views as his insufficient support of Israel. Paul, according to one person familiar with the AIPAC meeting, “told them what they wanted to hear: ‘I’m more reasonable than my father on the things you care about.’ He was very solicitous.”
The debate over foreign aid reminds me of the debate over earmarks. Yes, as Paul notes, plenty of it is wasteful, and indeed, when we’re trying to dig our way out of an umpteen-trillion dollar hole, every little bit helps. But compared to the real driver of America’s fiscal catastrophe, it’s small potatoes. That’s what I was getting at in my post about Boehner and Social Security the other day: Every relatively minor spending issue we lay on the table is an opportunity for opponents of entitlement reform to change the subject. Paul, to his great credit, is ready to go after Social Security too, but Democrats are already strategizing on how to short-circuit this debate. The latest: A new “Social Security Caucus” in the Senate aimed at giving Bernie Sanders and Chuck Schumer an extra megaphone to screech about how Republicans want to collapse a social safety net that’s well on its way to collapsing anyway. The foreign aid debate will go one (or both) of two ways for opponents of entitlement reform: Either (a) they’ll force a showdown on the issue to show how “heartless” the GOP is to the impoverished peoples of the Third World and/or (b) they’ll agree to some token reduction in aid and then tout it as a big concession in order to keep public perceptions of what constitutes a “meaningful” cut nice and low. Let’s deal with entitlements first and then start trimming around the edges with earmarks, foreign aid, etc, no?
The other reason this is a bad foot to start off on is, of course, that it’ll never pass. Financial support for Israel is deeply bipartisan in Congress. Even some pro-Israel tea partiers, like Allen West, would be loath to cancel their aid, I suspect, especially with Hezbollah now in control in Lebanon and the Muslim Brotherhood poised to ascend in Egypt. Until Iran’s regime, at least, is replaced with something less feral, there’s simply no way Congress will leave Israel to fend for itself. But I get that he’s making a principled point here about every last expense having to be on the table, so fair enough.
Yeah, nothing could go wrong with that.
The Free Trader Communist Globalist heads are spinning!
Foreign Aid...the redistribution of American wealth to other countries....is a main mantra of Free Trade Communism/Globalism....whether thru private funds or US taxpayer dollars
Rand Paul gets my support on this....but when push comes to shove....his biggest opposition will be the Free Trade Communist Globalists who want to continue the status quo
Communist China....who we have shipped all our jobs and wealth to....still receives FOREIGN AID...and not just from the USAID-subsidized American companies who move their offices and factories over there.
Although I have no problem aiding Israel....as the aid helps keep Islamic Terrorists at bay from the USA....maybe its time to include them in the end of Foreign Aid.
Although I admire Paul for his plan....too many Free Traders Communist Globalists...in Congress, in both parties, and here on FR....want the same old status quo. Ending Foreign Aid would benefit our economy and our national soverignty....something Free Trader Communist Globalists do not want.
Well, that was not “foreign aid”. It was funded via secret CIA budget.
Anyway, some foreign aid to Afghanistan in the 1990’s would probably have been enough to keep Taleban getting power and saving us a lot, in the terms of human life and money.
How profoundly fatal a losed mind can be!
Paperdoll,
I’m all for and long for the Year of Jubilee!!!
;). I should have been more cleaar. A jubilee would not necessarily apply equally to the individual, but to the government of each country.
“I hope he is not just talking about foreign aid to governments but grants to NGO’s all over the world too.”
Agree.
What we’re watching is pre-planned. If we’re to save our country then we most return to our roots. Defund the UN as well as all other countries and bring our troops home. Close-down and return to isolationism. We were blessed to be one of the only countries in the world who can survive alone. This is the only way we can survive their NWO which they’re bringing about faster and faster... We can fight them better this way otherwise we’re doomed. And no I’m not crazy.
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Foreign aid to Israel?
WHAT ABOUT CUTTIN OUT THIS???
This is what the Marxist/Muslim has done with American tax dollars while Americans lose their jobs and homes:
Obama’s 2009 Supplemental Appropriations for Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Pandemic Flu was revised and “passed by the full committee.” Not sure what the next step is, but based on the summary, it gives billions http://creepingsharia.wordpress.com/2009/05/13/obamas-supplemental-bill-passes-gives-billions-to-enemies/
of U.S. taxpayer dollars to countries and entities that support Sharia law and/or harbor, hide and support those who want to destroy the U.S. and our allies.
Read the summary from David Obey’s office that was quietly released last week with nary a word from any media.
• $3.6 billion, matching the request, to expand and improve capabilities of the Afghan security forces
• $400 million, as requested, to build the counterinsurgency capabilities of the Pakistani security forces
• Afghanistan: $1.52 billion, $86 million above the request
• West Bank and Gaza: $665 million in bilateral economic, humanitarian, and security assistance for the West Bank and Gaza
• Jordan: $250 million, $250 million above the request, including $100 million for economic and $150 million for security assistance
• Egypt: $360 million, $310 million above the request, including $50 million for economic assistance, $50 million for border security, and $260 million for security assistance
• Pakistan: $1.9 billion, $591 million above the request
• Iraq: $968 million, $336 million above the request
• Oversight: $20 million, $13 million above the request, to expand oversight capacity of the State Department, USAID, and the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan to review programs in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq
• Lebanon: $74 million
• International Food Assistance: $500 million, $200 million above the request, for PL 480 international food assistance to alleviate suffering during the global economic crisis
• Refugee Assistance: $343 million, $50 million above the request, …including humanitarian assistance for Gaza. Funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency programs in the West Bank and Gaza is limited to $119 million (Note: Gaza = Hamas)
• Disaster Assistance: $200 million to avert famines and provide life-saving assistance during natural disasters and for internally displaced people around the world, including Somalia, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, the Middle East and South Asia
• Peacekeeping: $837 million for United Nations peacekeeping operations, including an expanded mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and a new mission in Chad and the Central African Republic
• Department of Justice: $17 million, matching the request, for counter-terrorism activities and to provide training and assistance for the Iraqi criminal justice system
The mainstream media remains silent on this but the International News has now picked up the story http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=22164
— and then there is Obama’s $108 billion IMF bailout scheme http://michellemalkin.com/2009/05/13/obamas-100-billion-imf-bailout-scheme/
in addition to the Supplemental.
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fair enough but stop all grants too. ALL
I wish he would stick to trying to balance the budget. World affairs are simply WAY over his head.
OTOH, Rand Paul shows once again, he's as nutty as his old man.
America's #1 ally in the ME, if not the world for that matter, is the State of Israel. Instead of ending our aid to Israel, we should be maintaining our current level of annual support to the Jewish State. There is no greater moral obligation the US has today, then the obligation we have to Israel. We walk away from Israel and we'd be undermining everything we stand for.
I don’t think tell them to stand on their own to feet is not supporting them, I’m more than willing to smack them on the back and say you go man you go. They can do that without our money.
It's okay. I hate the jews, but I support Israel 100%, so I'm not anti-semitic.
RE: I wish he would stick to trying to balance the budget. World affairs are simply WAY over his head.
Well what to say? He IS trying to balance the budget USING World Affairs as one of the items. Unfortunately you’re right, there are certain expenditures we CANNOT eliminate without considering the potential harm it might do for our country, both in terms of national security and economic certainty.
RE: I don’t think tell them to stand on their own to feet is not supporting them
THe NY Times and other news service have reported that the STUXNET virus that stopped for now, Iran’s nuclear weapon’s project and set it back for years was an Israeli project AIDED BY SOME OF OUR BEST Cyber warfare scientists.
Is this project worth our support or not ?
Have no problem with support.
Anyone have the South Korean Aid nbrs?
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