GOP Debates Are Pure Hawk Without a Paul

Ron Aldof Sat, 01/16/2016 - 15:35

 

 

Anti War. com

"Former Texas Congressman Ron Paul was not the perfect antiwar candidate sent down from above, but you would be forgiven for thinking so if you compare the 2008 and 2012 presidential races to the 2016 one.

Ron Paul was not without fault (early immigration fearmongering, the vote for the Afghanistan Authorization for Use of Military Force) but he was the rare politician who got better and more interested in peace and freedom the longer he stayed in office. The 2012 election was basically a victory lap for him, but one that involved the vital message of peace and nonintervention. There’s a reason that he’s so beloved, and that YouTube videos with titles that call Paul a seer for predicting more terrorist attacks on the US back in 1998 are amusingly common.

And though he’s never been as purely principled in rhetoric, Rand Paul is still much closer to his dad than he is to the rest of the political masses."


"During both the “kids table” debate starring former Hewlett-Packer CEO Carly Fiorina, former Sen. Rick Santorum, and former Gov. Mike Huckabee (where Rand was supposed to be) and during the “serious” one starring the big candidates, not one anti-interventionist sentiment was expressed. Nor was the Fourth Amendment or the right to privacy defended.  Fiorina and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie took particular umbrage at the recent restrictions placed on the National Security Agency (NSA). Sen. Marco Rubio also tautologically suggested that NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden was a traitor who should be tried for treason

Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz put all their interventionist cards on the table whenever the topic of war came up. Sleepy-eyed neurosurgeon Ben Carson – who previously said he did not support the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan –   jumped on the Cruz and Trump bandwagon by suggesting that the US be more unrestrained in its bombing campaigns.

Huckabee and Christie vaguely suggested that wars should be better planned when the US engages in them. Christie even said “we’re not the world’s policemen” but that ended with  “we need to stand up and be ready.” Jeb Bush actually said the same not policeman phrase while still desperately fear mongering about the state of the world. Ohio Gov. John Kasich gamely suggested that maybe US ally Saudi Arabia also had some flaws. Former Gov. Jeb Bush suggested a peace through strength vibe, while bemoaning the many imagined military cuts America has suffered.  And that was quite literally all in terms of interventionist, hawkish hesitation."


"None of this is to say that Rand Paul is the antiwar candidate of our dreams when he is there, or that he didn’t make several major blunders in terms of pandering to the hawks. You can find Rand viciously disappointing for all sorts of reasons while still admitting that he is better than the screeching masses who confuse chest-puffing with policy."

"Without Rand on stage, the GOP is all bluster and war drums. It took him not being there to fully demonstrate how much we need Rand Paul after all."   Lucy Steigerwald



more:
http://original.antiwar.com/lucy/2016/01/15/gop-debates-are-pure-hawk-wi...

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#IStandWithRandAndLiberty! Let's get back to Liberty and Freedom. Trump is working with the Establishment.