Republican Presidential hopeful Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) appeared on MSNBC to hawk his book "Taking a Stand: Moving Beyond Partisan Politics to Unite America" (2015) and expand his political base in 2016. Senator Paul is renowned for his libertarian politics policy but seemed to have mollified his non-interventionist foreign policy tendencies since he announced his candidacy. Senator Paul appeared to honor his father without embracing the isolationist extremism which characterized the career of his father, former Representative (and quixotic 1988 Libertarian Party and 2012 GOP Presidential candidate) Ron Paul (R-TX 14th and 22nd).
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However when Joe Scarborough interviewed Senator Paul on the Morning Joe, Senator Paul posited that the GOP which was the reason that ISIS exists.
This is a curious conclusion, as the precipitous withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan occurred during the six years of the Obama Administration. This was on top of Mr. Obama's ever fungible red line on Syrian chemical weapons.
Senator Paul's inflammatory utterance has several unfortunate implications for winning the GOP nomination. Firstly, it violates Reagan's 11th Commandment not to criticize your own party when campaigning. Secondly, Senator Paul embraced the isolationist extremism, which puts him at odds with most party loyalists who will be participating in the nomination process. Thirdly, Paul's foreign policy pronouncement echoes his father, which was on the fringe of the Republican party. Fourth, Paul's extended Morning Joe interview was an exercise to "get" Republican neocon hawks like Senator John McCain (R-AZ) as well as McCain's minion (and quasi GOP Presidential candidate) Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC). Furthermore, the cantankerous close contributes to the perception that Senator Rand Paul is thin skinned.
h/t: KAL
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