Rand Paul’s Epic Rant: ‘I’m Not Particularly Happy With Being Lectured to by the Administratio

[Virgil]

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) excoriated several top Obama administration officials on Wednesday for telling Congress how the Constitution works at a Senate hearing, when the administration itself has routinely ignored the Constitution.

“I’m not particularly happy with being lectured to by the administration about the Constitution,” Paul said. “This is an administration who I believe has trampled the Constitution at many turns.”

“This is an administration that seeks to legislate when it is not in their purview, whether it be immigration, whether it be health care, or whether it not be a war that’s been going on for eight months without congressional authorization,” he said, referring to the war against the Islamic State.

Paul’s remarks seemed to be prompted by Secretary of State John Kerry, who criticized Senate Republicans at the hearing for sending an open letter to Iran that said any agreement on Iran’s nuclear program would at some point have to be approved by Congress.

“To write to the leaders in the middle of a negotiation… to write them and suggest that they’re going to give a constitutional lesson, which by the way was absolutely incorrect, is quite stunning,” Kerry said. “This letter ignores more than two centuries of precedent in the conduct of American foreign policy.”

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015...-constitution/

-Virgil

[orenbus]

[Chieppa1]

Burn.

[r3volution 3.0]

[Brian4Liberty]

Mark Levin praised Rand for this and played it on his radio show today. He basically said this was the best statement or response from any Senator on this subject.

[Origanalist]

So.....Glen Beck is one of the good guys now?

Nice rant though.

[Brett85]

Mark Levin praised Rand for this and played it on his radio show today. He basically said this was the best statement or response from any Senator on this subject.

Yet Levin doesn't believe that the President has to go to Congress to authorize a war before the President can start a war.

[jmdrake]

Yet Levin doesn't believe that the President has to go to Congress to authorize a war before the President can start a war.

The cost of signing a letter? .01 cents worth of ink.

The cost of ranting against John Kerry? $10 worth of time.

The value of getting an enemy like Levin to accidentally agree with you? Priceless!

[Brett85]

The cost of signing a letter? .01 cents worth of ink.

The cost of ranting against John Kerry? $10 worth of time.

The value of getting an enemy like Levin to accidentally agree with you? Priceless!

Yeah, I know. Rand probably got some new supporters from all of this. I wish more people would recognize Rand's strategy and that he's really a genius politically when he does stuff like this. He was getting tagged as being someone who "supports President Obama's foreign policy," and now after this letter that's going to be a much tougher charge for his GOP primary opponents to make.

[Schifference]

Is the guy behind Rand and to his left huge or is this a camera issue?

[Peace&Freedom]

Yeah, I know. Rand probably got some new supporters from all of this. I wish more people would recognize Rand's strategy and that he's really a genius politically when he does stuff like this. He was getting tagged as being someone who "supports President Obama's foreign policy," and now after this letter that's going to be a much tougher charge for his GOP primary opponents to make.

Bingo. Rand is threading a lot of needles this week, and he has been more deft at it than most supporters or critics realize. Through the letter, he's played up his opposition to the Administration so as to protect him from GOP critics. He's positioned himself as independent of us liberty folks (who would rather that he be straightforward in supporting non-intervention), yet given up nothing of real substance to further more intervention. Whether we like the tightrope techniques he's using, Rand has become a master at using them.

[KingNothing]

Rand is excellent at defining his position, as opposed to letting competitors define it for him. At the same time, he does an amazing job of putting others in completely untenable positions. He's probably the best politician any of us have ever seen. That's a significant thing, and I think a lot of people underestimate his ability.

[The Gold Standard]

He's positioned himself as independent of us liberty folks (who would rather that he be straightforward in supporting non-intervention), yet given up nothing of real substance to further more intervention. Whether we like the tightrope techniques he's using, Rand has become a master at using them.

Except for calling for nation building in Kurdistan, which doesn't even exist.

[Peace&Freedom]

Except for calling for nation building in Kurdistan, which doesn't even exist.

It's another instance of empty hawk posturing by Rand. You can't build a nation if it doesn't exist. But Rand earns brownie points with the hawks anyway, by calling for something that can't happen.

[YesI'mALiberal]

Love it. Hundreds of thousands of people are calling for him to be hung as a traitor, erstwhile allies like Justin Raimondo, BenSwann.com, and even (yikes) Lew Rockwell are abandoning him, dozens of editorials around the country (including every conservative source that's weighed in) are blasting him as stupid or worse - but the RandPaulogists are drinking toasts to his brilliance. I guess you really, really wanted Rand to finally land that date with Jennifer Rubin.

You're going to love his next act, when a deal is signed and he gets to tell everyone how he will "sweep it away with his pen" as President.

[Brett85]

You're going to love his next act, when a deal is signed and he gets to tell everyone how he will "sweep it away with his pen" as President.

No, he'll say that he'll go to Congress to get the deal approved, which is what the Constitution requires.

[Created4]

Except for calling for nation building in Kurdistan, which doesn't even exist.

Kurdistan exists. It does not need to be "built." That was done a long time ago when Bush I and James Baker enacted the no-fly zone right after the first Gulf War. They have been an "independent state" within the political borders of Iraq since then (1991) with basically their own government. Granting them more political status than they now have and calling it "Kurdistan," however, would upset Turkey big time, and they are a huge ally in the region.

[juleswin]

Love it. Hundreds of thousands of people are calling for him to be hung as a traitor, erstwhile allies like Justin Raimondo, BenSwann.com, and even (yikes) Lew Rockwell are abandoning him, dozens of editorials around the country (including every conservative source that's weighed in) are blasting him as stupid or worse - but the RandPaulogists are drinking toasts to his brilliance. I guess you really, really wanted Rand to finally land that date with Jennifer Rubin.

You're going to love his next act, when a deal is signed and he gets to tell everyone how he will "sweep it away with his pen" as President.

This kind of posts is the reason why nobody likes you. Its clear most people see this as a trap and opinion are clearly divided but you come in with this randpaulogist nonsense to antagonize people on here. Yes, there is nothing technically wrong with senators lecturing the Iranians on how our system works but the intent behind it is the problem and maybe just maybe the news would have all been why is Rand not supporting the rule of law had Rand not signed it.

We will never know but Rand needs to do some serious dmg control cos regardless of whats in the letter, the intent of it as a move to derail a chance for peace is very bad.

[YesI'mALiberal]

We will never know but Rand needs to do some serious dmg control cos regardless of whats in the letter, the intent of it as a move to derail a chance for peace is very bad.

He fell - or dove - into a mudhole by his own choice. If he has any better instincts, he should start following them. A simple test he could apply - "Will Shelly approve?" If the answer is yes, he should not do it.