Free Republic

Sen. Rand Paul (R) of Kentucky, who is a candidate for his party's 2016 presidential nomination, has created a national brand as a man unafraid of challenging party orthodoxy. That was on display Wednesday when Senator Paul credited the rise of the Islamic State terrorist group to hawks within his own party. "ISIS exists and grew stronger because of the hawks in our party who gave arms indiscriminately, and most of those arms were snatched up by ISIS," Paul said in an interview with MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough that aired Wednesday on “Morning Joe.” "They’ve created these people."