Rand Paul to Kerry: If it was wrong to bomb Cambodia without Congress’s approval, why is Libya OK?

Hotair ^ | 01/25/2013 | AllahPundit

[SeekAndFind]

Excellent, and not just the Libya stuff. Stick with it for Paul’s questions about how smart it is to be arming the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt when Morsi is already wheezing about Jews controlling the media in official diplomatic sessions with the U.S. If you’re wondering why it fell to Paul to ask this question instead of any of the more senior senators who preceded him, it’s because the Senate was perfectly happy to have Obama act unilaterally on Libya. The Iraq war authorization came back to haunt many of them; no one knew at the time how messy Libya might get. O did them a favor, left and right, by freeing them from a tough vote.

But Kerry can’t say that so instead he squirms through a few minutes of how the two bombing campaigns are different because they just are. Frankly, Paul let him off easy. You could, if you chose, defend U.S. actions in Cambodia as a cross-border extension of the war already being fought in Vietnam. No such defense for Libya; if anything, the Libya war cut against the AUMF against Al Qaeda that was passed after 9/11 because, as we’ve recently learned, eliminating Qadaffi was actually a boon to jihadist groups like AQ.

My one criticism of Paul here is his failure to press Kerry on his proferred excuse, that Obama had no time to ask Congress for action because Qadaffi was about to put thousands of Libyan rebels in Benghazi to the sword. Nonsense. Go look at the timeline leading up to the west’s military intervention. Protests against Qadaffi broke out in mid-February; by February 21, Libyan diplomats were asking the UN for a no-fly zone. A day later Hillary was issuing public statements denouncing Qaddafi and by March 1 the Senate had passed a non-binding resolution — unanimously — encouraging the UN to impose that no-fly zone. It wasn’t until March 15, however, that NFZ was finally approved and not until March 19 that France, backed by the U.S., began an air campaign over the country. Obama had nearly an entire month in which he could have asked for congressional approval but Kerry wants you to believe that his decision was made under some sort of emergency conditions, a la an invasion or nuclear attack, where the president had no choice logistically but to act on his own. Pitiful. He’ll be confirmed with 95+ votes anyway.

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[Doogle]

gotcha!~

[Diogenesis]

[E. Pluribus Unum]

"It's OK when WE do it."

[immadashell]

Seared in my mind.

[TADSLOS]

Paul should have asked Kerry how in the hell he ever became a US Senator instead of serving time restoring government furniture at Leavenworth.

[Erik Latranyi]

I like Rand Paul and would support him, but why do these guys only find a spine and voice when they are preparing to run for POTUS?

[Ray76]

Keep calling out the hippy crits.

[Rummyfan]

A good week for Rand Paul with his questioning of Clinton and Kerry. Wish we had him as Senate Minority Leader instead of milk-toast McConnell.

[Sacajaweau]

And when did a political assassination became an “okay” ?????

[Eagle of Liberty]

During a 2007 interview with Charlie Savage, then a journalist with the Boston Globe, Savage asked Obama, "In what circumstances, if any, would the president have constitutional authority to bomb Iran without seeking a use-of-force authorization from Congress?"

Obama said, "The president does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation."

He added, "As commander-in-chief, the president does have a duty to protect and defend the United States. In instances of self-defense, the president would be within his constitutional authority to act before advising Congress or seeking its consent. History has shown us time and again, however, that military action is most successful when it is authorized and supported by the legislative branch. It is always preferable to have the informed consent of Congress prior to any military action."

[Paine in the Neck]

Maybe Rand would like to ask Kerry about his plotting to assassinate US Senators.

[sickoflibs]

Rand nailed ‘both sides of the war’ Kerry.

[rightwingintelligentsia]

Well, he was for it before he was against it. Or maybe against it before he was for it . . .

[txrangerette]

Who are “these guys”...what guys are you comparing Rand Paul with?

That’s my first question. Do you mean “Republicans in Washington DC”? Conservatives?

Rand Paul doesn’t exactly fit whatever basket you’re putting him in, and that’s not clear to me yet. He has not been in the Senate very long. He’s a Tea Party type or at least he ran as one and was endorsed and won that way. But he did appeal to Kentucky or they wouldn’t have elected him.

As far as what did he do before that, I believe he was in the House of Representatives first, before running for Senate. I believe from the get-go he has been outspoken as to what he thinks and believes. Now this has come in concert with running for offices, but that’s how you get in the news and get people’s attention to your words, your pronouncements. Otherwise you’re a nobody and people don’t even know about your views, much less care.

Now that he’s becoming more widely known, Rand Paul is making noises about running for POTUS. But otherwise nothing much has changed about Rand Paul that I can see. HE wasn’t some quiet little nobody who suddenly became outspoken. You have to remember he was sitting on a Senate committee that gave him the right to question Clinton and Kerry. Otherwise you wouldn’t be seeing such a big deal made of his statements and questions.

[plain talk]

I disagree. “Libya” would have been an easy vote. Hell no is what I would have said. What is the argument for our involvement?

[9YearLurker]

Even Rand Paul is pro-amnesty on illegal immigration—which means he is aiding the Democrat cause far more effectively than he is opposing it.

[Third Person]

I believe Rand Paul went straight from the private sector to the senate.

[hoosierham]

The U.S. military has been used to eliminate the secular strongmen rulers of the Arab/Muslim world thus allowing the militant Muslim murderers to gain enormous power and increase their threats to the entire world.

And I have to lump Bush’s attack on Iraq as another undeclared ,and I believe, unconstitutional war.

The Saudi Wahhabists must be very amused by the foolish Americans.

[silverleaf]

Gee Senator Kerry,
too bad Nixon didn’t have predator drones to send against the VC, Pathet Lao and Khmers in Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos, eh?