Rand Paul trashed military option for Iran and blamed the U.S. for WWII

[Draggingtree]

:

Rand Paul trashed military option for Iran and blamed the U.S. for WWII

 

By Jennifer Rubin
March 30 at 12:00 pm

 

Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul’s push to be a Reaganite on foreign policy is eviscerated by remarks caught on video last year in which he denigrates the potential use of force in Iran and bizarrely claims the United States was partially to blame for causing World War II. In the video, posted on a Paul fan Web site and dated Feb. 24, 2012, he minimizes the threat of an Iranian nuclear weapons, saying merely “It is not a good idea” and claims an Israeli official doesn’t think an Iranian bomb is an existential threat to Israel, something no Israeli government official or Obama administration appointee has ever agreed with:

 

American Enterprise Institute’s David Adesnik studies the history of U.S. isolationism. After viewing the video, he tells Right Turn, “Blaming the U.S. for Pearl Harbor is a long-standing isolationist habit that reflects tremendous historical illiteracy. Sen. Paul is very poorly informed if he thinks U.S. sanctions ‘probably

[Draggingtree]

The Federalist

Jennifer Rubin’s Amazingly Dishonest Rand Paul Hit Piece

There’s a debate to be had on foreign policy. This isn't it.

By David Harsanyi April 1, 2014

As visitors to her blog already know, the Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin has a big problem with Rand Paul. The disagreement centers on foreign policy, which is fair game and reflects a broader, genuine ideological split on the right. Except when it doesn’t …

 

Like when Rubin pretends to have uncovered an explosive video of Paul channeling isolationists from Robert Taft, Charles Lindbergh and Pat Buchanan. “Rand Paul trashed military option for Iran and blamed the U.S. for WWII,” reads the dramatic headline. Here’s Rubin setting the tone for her misleading post:

 

Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul’s push to be a Reaganite on foreign policy is eviscerated by remarks caught on video last year

http://thefederalist.com/2014/04/01/jennifer-rubins-amazingly-dishonest-rand-paul-hit-piece/

[Valin]

@Draggingtree

 

I am not a big fan of Jenny, BUT Rand Paul has a problem if he wants to run for POTUS....his father, and libertarian "foreign policy"....ie Isolationism.

 

Not sure if David actually listened to the vid, but Rand did put the blame on the US. Shades of Patrick J. Buchanan.

[Valin]

http://youtu.be/JnB8Ehb9jd8

[righteousmomma]

I heard Rand Paul being interviewed by either Rush or Sean Hannity a couple years ago. I was very impressed. He did not agree with his dad on certain foreign intervention issues. Then I read this. I have to remenber that he is a libertarian. I am not. There are reasons.

He does have problems.

[Valin]

Ramesh Is Right about Rand Paul
Quin Hillyer
April 22, 2014

Ramesh, as usual, hit the nail on the head with his brief response to today’s misleading NRO column by Senator Rand Paul. To quote Ramesh, “None of Paul’s critics at NRO have said anything like what Paul claims about nuance or realism, or called for unlimited involvement in foreign wars.” Indeed, Paul seems to have the Obama Disease: accusing his critics of having “no place for nuance or realism . . . no middle ground,” when it is in fact he who is the only one actually positing the polarizing options.

 

(Snip)

 

When I write that Paul is factually incorrect to blame Ronald Reagan and a “war caucus” for arming Osama bin Laden, is that, as Paul says, evidence that I want “democracy worldwide now and damn all obstacles to that utopia”? Of course not. And when Ramesh writes that Paul was, well, a bit off in Paul’s early reactions to Syrian atrocities and Vladimir Putin’s bellicosity, in the exact same column where Ramesh also took hawks to task for taking libertarians’ concerns too lightly, Ramesh is hardly taking a “for me or against me” stance. Yet for Rand Paul, anyone who is even a smidgen more hawkish than Paul himself must therefore, it seems, be nothing but a Wilsonian utopian.

 

Rand Paul is more intelligent than this. He must know he is vastly misrepresenting his critics and vastly oversimplifying complex foreign-policy questions. If he continues to do so, his statements will no longer be able to be considered rhetorical sloppiness, but instead will justly be labeled demagoguery.

 

 

Comments.......

 

Douglas

Scott Wilson

Ah, but we shall find out as we get nearer to 2016 and the candidate field emerges. I look forward to the Republican debates. I just hope we are not treated to 47 candidates on stage searching for a 10 second sound bite, but a handful of serious candidates (no book sellers) engaged in meaningful debate.