jct74
09-04-2013, 09:13 AM
The most important moment of Rand Paul’s young career
By Chris Cillizza and Sean Sullivan
Published: September 4 at 6:30 am
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/files/2013/04/rand-paul.jpg
Sometimes a man and a moment meet. The man is Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul. The moment is the ongoing congressional debate over whether or not to sign off on President Obama’s desire to use military force against Syria.
Paul, who is an all-but-certain 2016 presidential candidate, is the most high-profile voice opposing the idea of using American military might to punish Syria for an alleged chemical weapons attack against its own people the Obama administration says killed more than 1,400 people — a stance that not only sets him against Obama but also puts him on the opposite side of many within his own party.
“What you have occurring is the first real policy engagement between a resurgent realist foreign policy worldview lead by Sen. Paul, versus the interventionist McCain and Graham wing which has been dominant in the party since 9/11,” said one Paul ally familiar with the senator’s thinking. “The debate on foreign policy and the appropriate use of U.S. military power was going to be happening at some point, but it is now happening in a case that creates an excellent opportunity for Sen. Paul.”
Paul is clearly embracing that opportunity — as he not only bantered back and forth with Secretary of State John Kerry during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the matter Tuesday but then told reporters on a conference call later in the day that he has been ”talking to other senators, who I think are like-minded. I’m also talking to conservative constitutionalists in the House.”
How the debate in Congress plays out over the next few weeks — particularly among so-called “establishment” Republicans in the House and Senate — will serve as the first major test of not only how much power Paul actually has within the Capitol but also how much the Republican Party has (and/or is) changing.
...
read more:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2013/09/04/the-most-important-moment-of-rand-pauls-young-career/
By Chris Cillizza and Sean Sullivan
Published: September 4 at 6:30 am
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/files/2013/04/rand-paul.jpg
Sometimes a man and a moment meet. The man is Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul. The moment is the ongoing congressional debate over whether or not to sign off on President Obama’s desire to use military force against Syria.
Paul, who is an all-but-certain 2016 presidential candidate, is the most high-profile voice opposing the idea of using American military might to punish Syria for an alleged chemical weapons attack against its own people the Obama administration says killed more than 1,400 people — a stance that not only sets him against Obama but also puts him on the opposite side of many within his own party.
“What you have occurring is the first real policy engagement between a resurgent realist foreign policy worldview lead by Sen. Paul, versus the interventionist McCain and Graham wing which has been dominant in the party since 9/11,” said one Paul ally familiar with the senator’s thinking. “The debate on foreign policy and the appropriate use of U.S. military power was going to be happening at some point, but it is now happening in a case that creates an excellent opportunity for Sen. Paul.”
Paul is clearly embracing that opportunity — as he not only bantered back and forth with Secretary of State John Kerry during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the matter Tuesday but then told reporters on a conference call later in the day that he has been ”talking to other senators, who I think are like-minded. I’m also talking to conservative constitutionalists in the House.”
How the debate in Congress plays out over the next few weeks — particularly among so-called “establishment” Republicans in the House and Senate — will serve as the first major test of not only how much power Paul actually has within the Capitol but also how much the Republican Party has (and/or is) changing.
...
read more:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2013/09/04/the-most-important-moment-of-rand-pauls-young-career/