LF: Floundering Old Guard Republicans re-launch attacks on Rand Paul

Back in March, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) propelled himself to the forefront of Republican politics when he led an inspiring 13-hour filibuster against the confirmation of CIA nominee John Brennan.

For the entirety of his procedural protest, Paul and several of his colleagues, most notably Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Mike Lee (R-UT), highlighted the constitutional problems with President Barack Obama’s drones policy, which is largely consistent with the views of his hawkish predecessor and many of today’s conservatives. Paul would go onto win the CPAC straw poll the following week and has been a frequent voice of opposition to the Washington political establishment on foreign policy.

The reaction from the Old Guard Republicans was expected. Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and John McCain (R-AZ) both sided with President Obama on drones and foreign policy and admonished Paul from the Senate floor with the latter referring to his colleague from Kentucky a “wacko bird.” Bill Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard, called Paul’s foreign policy views “dangerous” and tried to label him as an “neo-isolationist.” Jennifer Rubin, the Washington Post’s token Republican, has also taken shots at Paul on foreign policy, though with little effect.

These numerous attacks on Paul’s constitutional approach to foreign policy and civil liberties simply haven’t worked. The hawkish foreign views that were so prominent during George W. Bush’s presidency have lost credibility as many conservatives now embrace a skeptical approach to foreign intervention.

Rush Limbaugh has made note of this. Just after Paul’s filibuster, Limbaugh told his audience that Paul has ”totally upset the power structure in Washington.”

“Somebody challenged the [Obama] administration and they’re alive today to talk about it, and they’re heroes. They’re heroes,” added Limbaugh. “I’ll tell you who else upset by this…the neocons are paranoid. The neocons are paranoid because Rand Paul comes from his father’s gene pool.”

But the attacks on Paul took a turn last week when the Washington Free Beacon reported on the controversial views of one of his staffers.

Jack Hunter, who works as Paul’s social media director, was formerly a shock jock and columists. Among his columists, Hunter expressed pro-secessionist views and, being from South Carolina, had an affinity for the South. The Free Beacon cherry-picked Hunter’s columns in an attempt to paint him in the worst possible light while putting heavy emphasis on his connection to Paul, including co-authorship of the Kentucky Senator’s 2011 book, The Tea Party Goes to Washington.

Make no mistake about it, this wasn’t about Jack Hunter; it was about Rand Paul.

Hawkish Republicans immediately seized on the comments. For example, Seth Mandel, assistant editor of Commentary, questioned Paul’s integrity, Jennifer Rubin once again attacked his foreign policy views, and Philip Klein wrote that the Senator is “not ready for primetime.”

Clearly, there is an orchestrated effort to try to take down Paul before the 2016 presidential primary. And while Kristol and company may be proud that they’ve finally put Paul on defense, others see it as another part of the civil war currently taking place between the GOP’s political establishment and the grassroots.

“This has sadly become standard protocol for the neocon wing of the Republican Party. Their priority is not to advance freedom, it’s to shift spending from domestic to defense, smearing the reputations of libertarians that get in their way,” wrote a senior staffer at a DC-based organization. “They have no concern for the collateral damage to the small-government movement, because they’re only part-time members of it.”

What hawkish Republicans seem to be missing is how out of touch they are on foreign policy with most Americans. It obviously remains to be seen what, if any, damage they’ll inflict on Paul before 2016. But if they are ultimately successful at undermining his candidacy in favor of someone who fits their views — such as Marco Rubio or John Bolton, who appears to be laying the groundwork for a presidential campaign — they will lose yet another election.

Anyone that William Kristol, Graham, and McCain dislikes, can't be all bad. The enemy of my enemies, is my friend.

In Defense of Jack Hunter by Andrew Napolitano

A word about Jack Hunter by Andrew Napolitano

Yesterday you saw some hawks, whose ideology is dying and whose worldview is being discredited every day, launch an attack on Senator Rand Paul by attacking one of his brilliant aides, Jack Hunter.

Jack’s sin in their eyes was having spoken favorably of states’ rights, and negatively of Lincoln. They can’t seem to recognize that states’ rights–even secession–does not equal racism; it constitutes a brake on the feds’ march to totalitarianism. Most modern day states’ rights advocates recognize the sovereignty of the states and their inherent ability to nullify and avoid federal violations of the Constitution in order to protect life and liberty from an overgrown, intrusive federal leviathan that literally now interferes in or spies on every facet of our lives. And most historians and legal scholars who appreciate personal liberty and limited government recognize that the history of Lincoln’s assaults on civil liberties is a topic capable of divergent views and worthy of exposure.

UPDATE: Tom Woods adds his support…

We’re the Sweetie-Pie Libertarians (my reply to the oh-so-sensitive libertarians who are shocked at Jack Hunter) http://t.co/V16Pra9az9
— Thomas Woods (@ThomasEWoods) July 10, 2013

But really, the hawks and neocons weren’t attacking just Jack—who possesses profound intellectual honesty and who has a gift for reducing complex arguments to understandable terms–for his views on federalism. Everything that was “broken” in the “news” story in the Free Beacon has been public information for a long time. It was not hidden. And it was not news. Some of it was youthful hyperbole, and all of it was sliced and diced out of context.

What’s news? Egypt is in chaos and President Obama continues to fund the military there as it slaughters protestors. There are new calls from both sides of the aisle to reconsider foreign aid. Americans are rallying against their own government spying on them. Left and right are coming together to say “enough” and soundly reject the idea of arming the al Qaeda affiliated rebels in Syria.

In other words, the neocon world view, which assaulted our civil liberties in a way that would make Lincoln blush and brought us 12 years and two trillion dollars’ worth of useless wars, is crumbling. And it isn’t just crumbling on its own. It has a sledgehammer being taken to it every day by Senator Rand Paul.

So when someone does a hit piece on the Senator’s gifted aide, or when you see a vicious attack on the Senator himself as you no doubt will, think about why it is happening. The attacks are coming from those on the losing side of history.

And then go carry on the fight for liberty…

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— iroots.org activism (@irootsorg) July 10, 2013