jct74
06-05-2013, 08:40 AM
Rand Paul’s Impressive Evening
By SCOTT MCCONNELL • June 4, 2013, 3:06 PM
Rand Paul’s Reagan Library barbs about McCain’s photo-op with some jihadis inside the Syrian border may well be the best news for the GOP in years. For quite a long time, since well before the origins of The American Conservative in 2002 there has been an undercurrent of Republican skepticism about neoconservative foreign policy. It took diverse forms: essays and conversations among the realists who contributed to The National Interest, the regular contributions of the somewhat more isolationist scholars at Cato, the energy of Pat Buchanan’s campaigns. Most polls–save perhaps in the two years after 9/11, would have shown large minorities and sometimes majorities of Republicans skeptical about promiscuous foreign intervention. Yet these views were seldom forcefully represented on Capitol Hill, where they count the most. Most of the conservative media, and most Republicans in the House and Senate would speak about about foreign affairs as if they were reading talking points from the Weekly Standard. Ron Paul of course was an exception, but a distinct minority.
Yet now look at this clip of Rand Paul, speaking Saturday night at the Reagan Library. It’s not only the headline making understated jab at McCain, whom he politely leaves unnamed–the senator who meets with “vetted” kidnappers on the Syrian border. It’s the whole set piece, obviously prepared and well-prepared. Paul was asked what he sees as the top priorities for U.S. foreign policy. His reply in full (my unofficial transcript):
...
read more:
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/rand-pauls-impressive-evening/
By SCOTT MCCONNELL • June 4, 2013, 3:06 PM
Rand Paul’s Reagan Library barbs about McCain’s photo-op with some jihadis inside the Syrian border may well be the best news for the GOP in years. For quite a long time, since well before the origins of The American Conservative in 2002 there has been an undercurrent of Republican skepticism about neoconservative foreign policy. It took diverse forms: essays and conversations among the realists who contributed to The National Interest, the regular contributions of the somewhat more isolationist scholars at Cato, the energy of Pat Buchanan’s campaigns. Most polls–save perhaps in the two years after 9/11, would have shown large minorities and sometimes majorities of Republicans skeptical about promiscuous foreign intervention. Yet these views were seldom forcefully represented on Capitol Hill, where they count the most. Most of the conservative media, and most Republicans in the House and Senate would speak about about foreign affairs as if they were reading talking points from the Weekly Standard. Ron Paul of course was an exception, but a distinct minority.
Yet now look at this clip of Rand Paul, speaking Saturday night at the Reagan Library. It’s not only the headline making understated jab at McCain, whom he politely leaves unnamed–the senator who meets with “vetted” kidnappers on the Syrian border. It’s the whole set piece, obviously prepared and well-prepared. Paul was asked what he sees as the top priorities for U.S. foreign policy. His reply in full (my unofficial transcript):
...
read more:
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/rand-pauls-impressive-evening/