Discussion for article #235193
The first in what I’m sure will be a series of installments titled
“Rand Paul’s Deeply Misguided _____ Policy.”
Great article!
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a real-world version of The Walking Dead
Even knowing it was coming I was still taken aback by ratings-starved cable’s efforts to dress this sham in a toga during the past week. My only solace? The toga will, of course, snag in the bike spokes as the Jr. Senator wobbles on his training wheels.
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I guess Sen. Paul believes that actual face time and diplomacy won’t work because he, himself, doesn’t care much for when those with whom he disagrees tries to engage him in conversation … or when, say, a journalist attempts to clarify a policy position and how it might square with Paul’s stated belief(s), etc. His “diplomacy” is to shush them or rudely interrupt the questioner and tell them they are “editorializing” him.
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Or just run away…don’t forget that one!
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Ha! That’s right. Maybe we’ll get to see a DNC commercial about RP with a voiceover that says, “Rand Paul’s prefers to handle foreign policy this way,” and visuals of him running away from questions followed by Yosemite Sam.
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I sometimes think the basic ideas average Americans bring to foreign policy are better matched than the bomb’em all and let God sort it out approach taken by the Washington foreign policy experts. Negotiations with Iran make sense. Trade with the Persians and we will all do well. Tell the Israelis they have to make nice with the other kids in their playpen and everybody will be happier. What pisses me off about foreign aid is mostly we give military toys to rulers to use against their own people. Take the same money and do something good with it. Build schools, roads, wells, electrical power grids, power plats, ports etc. Of course, we can use all those things at home too.
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I think Rand is a closeted Bircher like his dad. It’s no surprise that his foreign policy views sound incoherent because he’s smart enough to know that he can’t be open about his beliefs but he’s been, no doubt, receiving crackpot “programming” from Ron at the dinner table, etc. ongoing but then Ron’s isolationist views are more sane and fact/history based than most of the rest of the war-mongering GOPers.
Rand’s association with Alex Jones is telling:
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2015/04/02/how-americas-leading-conspiracy-theorist-helped/203016
Here’s Ron giving the keynote the JBS 50th anniversary:
And here is Ron making sense talking to Bill O’Reilly:
The more we learn about this guy, the scarier he becomes. Thanks, TPM!
With RonPaul as a father, who wouldn’t be deeply misguided?
The article misses the point. It’s not that Rand’s foreign policy is meant for some other time and place … he wants to boldly take us there 
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Think of foreign aid this way: It’s a handout to make other countries dependent on the USA…And that’s a good thing from our standpoint. As a Republican, I’m sure he’ll get it.
Even if Rand Paul changed his mind and decided a little diplomacy might be worth a try one time, he burned that bridge well before even crossing it by signing that letter to Iran. Every foreign leader with a freshman Senator’s reading comprehension is on notice that neither Paul nor any other Republican should be trusted as far as one could throw them, when it comes to honoring American commitments abroad.
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An overly independent disengaging republican. Oh yea, that oughta work. He could well be the last one to drop next to e-jebbie, of course. With so much libertarian minded money floating around, the neocons will certainly have their hands full. One thing for sure, none of it will make any sense.
Rand Paul’s current gig is to be a gadfly from the back benches. That’s not a useful skill in primetime. In fact all the current crop of republican hopefuls are gadflies and they all lack the heavy lifting capacity of intellect necessary to be an effective POTUS. The closest is Cruz and he’s a savant at debating and not much else. I don’t see where shutting down the government is a useful skill set.
Yes, because giving money on the order of billions to foreign governments who may or may not funnel that money elsewhere has proven to be very successful foreign policy. It’s not like all those guns and rockets and dollar bills somehow always end up in the hands of our enemies of the present and future.
Note the sarcasm.
Exit question: is OP ready for Hillary, the woman who voted for the Iraq war, supported and coordinated three new military interventions, supports the NSA spying on every American, and helped drone American citizens abroad without trial?
Rand Paul has been the only - let’s repeat that, the ONLY - Republican hopeful who has shown any skepticism towards the appallingly hawkish Republican establishment. I’m not sure why TPM, of all places, is looking to cut him off at the knees when the only foreign policy alternatives are basically offered by Tom Cotton and Ted Cruz. The man is questioning the cost of our foreign expenditures and ill conceived wars? Give him a stage! If only to make the more hawkish members of the Republican party defend their own failed polices
Exactly. He is less interventionist and anti-war than Clinton and Obama, yet TPM sees the “R” next to his name and starts foaming at the mouth. It’s as bad as the people over a RedState who foam at the mouth even though a Democrat is pro-2nd amendment and for a balanced budget.