Posted on 04/19/2015 6:22:22 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Bernie Sanders couldn’t have said it better:
“There’s a group of folks in our party who would have troops in six countries right now — maybe more,” the Kentucky senator told hundreds of activists at a GOP cattle call that has drawn every major presidential aspirant. “This is something, if you watch closely, that will separate me from many other Republicans. The other Republicans will criticize Hillary Clinton and the president for their foreign policy, but they would have done the same thing – just 10 times over!”
“Six countries – maybe more”? Which countries, Senator? And how many of your rivals have proposed sending troops to Syria? To Yemen? To Libya? (Do we have to count Lindsey Graham?)
Rand Paul is trying to separate himself from other candidates on foreign policy while not appearing to be a head-in-the-sand isolationist. But in doing so, does he have to lie like a Democrat about his opponents?
“Everyone who will criticize me wanted troops on the ground, our troops on the ground, in Libya,” he said. “It was a mistake to be in Libya. We are less safe. Jihadists swim in our swimming pool now. It’s a disaster.”
Did Ted Cruz want troops on the ground in Libya? Did Scott Walker, Chris Christie, or any other GOP governor who might run for president want troops on the ground in Libya? Marco Rubio specifically advised against troops on the ground in Libya, believing that the president could have intervened “more decisively” but rejecting American military intervention.
Paul’s statement is either an ignorant rant or a baldfaced lie. Falsely accusing opponents of things they don’t believe and wouldn’t do obscures Paul’s real problems with rank-and-file Republicans who want a president to stand up strongly for American interests and want to make America the pre-eminent military and economic power in the world once again. Many simply don’t believe his foreign-policy ideas are proactive enough. They are suspicious of his libertarian leanings on national-defense strategy.
One aspect of a Paul campaign Republican regulars can get behind is his position on NSA snooping:
Contrasting himself with most others in the field, Paul also promised to end the federal government’s collection of American phone records if elected president. “I’m a Republican who believes in the right to privacy,” he said. “It doesn’t mean collecting 300 million people’s phone records. The 4th amendment is not consistent with a warrant that says Mr. Verizon on it. Last I heard Mr. Verizon isn’t a person.”
“Your phone records are yours,” he declared. “It’s none of the government’s damn business what you’re doing on your phone.”
“You can say damn in New Hampshire, can’t you?” he quipped.
“Damn straight,” a man yelled back from the crowd.
NSA spying is a peripheral national-security issue and there is disagreement among the candidates about how much of what the NSA has been doing is really necessary. This is a legitimate way for Paul to put distance between himself and his rivals — as long as he accurately enumerates their positions.
But otherwise, Paul’s rank dishonesty in describing what his opponents would do if elected is intolerable. Might we see a sound bite of Paul dishonestly ripping his opponents in a Hillary Clinton commercial? Perhaps the senator should think about that the next time he feels compelled to grossly exaggerate the positions of his opponents.
Rand Paul is not a realist.
This does not compute with realists....those that should be his base.
Rings with young people afraid of war though.
That fake fig leaf doesn’t play.
Paul is trying to move the nation, and the GOP, to the left on social issues.
Paul is running for federal office where abortion and gay marriage and many other issues have to be decided on for the military, federal employment, immigration and foreign policy, and no office or person is more important in shaping public opinion on these issues, yet here is Rand Paul campaigning for everyone to be more liberal on them, he wants the republican party to become more like the democrats on theses issues that so important to conservatism and Christian America.
We conservatives cannot afford to put that man into the most influential opinion shaping platform in America.
There hasn’t been a draft since 1973.
I’ll ask again, why is Ted Cruz not the best choice of canadates for president ?
There is another thread here that’s just the opposite of what you are saying, go check it out.
The subject is that Ted Cruz appeals to conservatives and when conservatives stick to their principles and values they win.
That term “ extremist “ is what the left and the media is crying about to brand Ted Cruz with.
It’s funny, a generation ago Ted Cruz would not be seen “ extremist “ but rather normal...
It’s the left who are the ones who have shifted the culture and poplar opinion to the extreme left, and who are the true radical “ extremist “.
Now if you were to call a badly decayed tooth that needed a root canal or drilled as being “ extreme “ to protect the patient from getting a bad infection of the gums, or worse dying from that infection getting to the heart, then, by all means call Ted Cruz a extremist.
Nothing extreme trying to save the patient’s life.
What exactly has he said about gay rights? That he doesn’t support gay marriages but believes that a contract between two people ought to give them the same federal benefits as married couples? How is that in support of gay marriage? How is that anti conservative? Saying that the states hold supremacy in whether or not they adopt gay marriage, I guess that’s not conservative either because he’s not using federal force in making all the states subject to one law? I thought we were for less federal mandates, not more.
Also, what other GOP candidate has put abortion on the frontseat in this election cycle? Rubio? Walker? Nope. Who put Wasserman Schulz on record for being for unrestrained abortion. Paul, that’s who.
I answered this question with my last response to you. So what if an article says otherwise, deferring to authority is a logical fallacy. You think independents would rather have Cruz.over Paul? If so I think you’re wrong.
Government is bloated on all levels, cutting fat isn’t antimilitary.
You are spinning too hard, part of the problem with Rand Paul is what he said about abortion that week.
He has become “in general, pro-life”.
“The thing is about abortion—and about a lot of things—is that I think people get tied up in all these details of, sort of, you’re this or this or that, or you’re hard and fast (on) one thing or the other,” Paul told Elliott. “I’ve supported both bills with and without (exceptions), you know. In general, I am pro-life.
As far as gay marriage, being anti-social conservatism, and how he wants to move the party to the left.
“I think that the Republican Party, in order to get bigger, will have to agree to disagree on social issues,” Paul advised. “The Republican Party is not going to give up on having quite a few people who do believe in traditional marriage. But the Republican Party also has to find a place for young people and others who don’t want to be festooned by those issues.”
Our military needs more GIs, and Rand Paul want to cut them, he also wants to cut their new arms, and research for new weaponry to take on the increasing China/Russia threat.
We need more personnel in the ranks, not to cut the ranks like Paul wants.
Paul is talking about expanding the coalition in the GOP. Notice he said there would continue to be a place in the party for those with social conservative focus but the tent needs to be made bigger to grow the party, nothing crazy in that statement.
As far as abortion is concerned, he may believe in exceptions on a personal basis but still defers to the states in crafting their own policies in regard to abortion, which is a states rights conservative position. He is still the only candidate to make hay out of this issue.
I don’t think you understand how things work, a party cannot be both a conservative party and an anti-conservative party.
If the party is no longer a social conservative party, then what place would the conservative base have in it?
Rand is preaching a more pro-abortion position to the American public and to republicans, and he is doing it as he is running to decide abortion policy for federal hospitals and in foreign policy.
No thanks. Paul is anti-conservative.
Thanks for the ed.
I just remember registering in my Senior year. Duh...I was 18
I was quite the chicken hawk. It would have been a great time to serve but I didn’t. Thank you Ronald Reagan!
You had to register? I seems they would have had your number already. LOL
How did the lefties abuse the term neocon? By applying it to people what applied it to themselves? By opposing their policy goals? Since when is it ant-semitic to find yourself on the opposite side of a political question dear to Likud-connected Jews? It is thuggish and anti-American, not to mention intellectually dishonest, to seek to shut down honest political debate with smears aiming at placing one’s opponent outside the bounds of decent people. This is a tactic employed by people who have no good arguments on their side, or else have something to hide.
Looks more like a Rand Paul campaign propaganda presentation in co-hoots with the communist Russians and communist Chinese justifying their military spending to match America’s military spending to level the playing field.
In major war time during WWII this would be considered treason and unpatriotic to cut military spending expesially now that we have ISIS and other threats around the world.
A trojan horse deception canadate, Rand Paul.
I think your wrong.
Most independents go with what ever way the political weathervain wind is blowing and what ever the main stream media is telling them, I should know that very well since I have family members who are Independents.
It’s a self fulfilling prophecy to say that the Independents
Go for Rand Paul if Rand Paul decieves them enough with his lies, propaganda, and pandering.
That is exactly what he is doing right now, trowing up enough crap against the wall to see if it will stick and see if Independents take the bait.
Rand Paul, Propagandists Master of Deception...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.