Rand Paul in Politico.com
On Foreign Policy:
2011: eliminate all foreign aid & rebuild America instead
Rand Paul's campaign strategy is to eliminate the widespread suspicion that Paul is an isolationist echo of his father, former Rep. Ron Paul, the libertarian icon who frequently inveighed against US intervention overseas. Paul may lose support from some
libertarians who supported his father's past campaigns; the goal, though, is to get enough support from enough slices of various constituencies--libertarians who are willing to compromise, conservatives who are tired of war, & maybe even some Democrats--
to help power him through the race.Early in his Senate career, Paul was clearly influenced by his father's views. In 2011, he proposed eliminating all foreign aid, including to Israel, insisting: "I just don't think you can give other people's money
away when we can't rebuild bridges in our country." As he seeks the presidency, facing a wide and varied GOP field that includes candidates with far more hawkish views, Paul has backed off on his past support for ending U.S. aid to Israel
Source: Politico.com 2015 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls
Apr 7, 2015
On Homeland Security:
Need NSA reform, but not the USA Freedom Act
Republicans have a rift with the tech industry over domestic spying. More than a year of work by tech leaders like Facebook and Google to curtail the National Security Agency's surveillance authorities failed this month in part because Sen. Rubio joined
Sen. Paul, usually a supporter, in voting against it.A high-stakes vote over the future of the NSA further tested Republicans' relationships in the Valley. Paul and others had supported a major overhaul of the agency's authorities to collect
Americans' communications in bulk--but the senator shocked tech giants and civil-liberties groups when he pulled support at the last minute, as the USA Freedom Act reached the Senate floor for a key procedural vote. Rubio long had stated his opposition,
citing emerging terrorist threats and the need for more intelligence.
Paul defended his vote on surveillance reform, stressing in an interview he "couldn't vote for it because it reauthorized the PATRIOT Act"--a law he described as "heinous."
Source: Politico.com 2014 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls
Nov 29, 2014
On Homeland Security:
Conservative realist, matured from isolationism
Paul called for a national defense "robust enough to defend against all attack, modern enough to deter all enemies, and nimble enough to defend our vital interests." He also called for a "foreign policy that protects American interests and encourages
stability--not chaos." He is also planning to issue a series of position papers on America's role in the world.It's all part of a campaign strategy to eliminate the widespread suspicion that Paul is an isolationist. But to many foreign-policy
conservatives, Paul's past expressions of skepticism about US intervention abroad and support for sweeping cuts to the defense and foreign-aid budgets speak more loudly than his words on the campaign trail.
Paul's advisers insist that his views have
matured since being elected to the Senate. He has educated himself on international affairs, and he's developed a "conservative realist" vision of America's role in the world that is not isolationist but still judicious about U.S. entanglements overseas.
Source: Politico.com 2015 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls
Apr 7, 2015
On Homeland Security:
Oppose Trump nominees who supported Iraq War or torture
Rand Paul is vowing to do everything he can to stop Mike Pompeo from becoming secretary of state, saying that Pompeo's earlier support for the Iraq war and defense of enhanced interrogation techniques--or "torture" in the view of Paul--is disqualifying.
And the Kentucky senator indicated he may be willing to filibuster CIA director nominee Gina Haspel, who he says is "gleeful" in her defense of torture techniques.Paul argued, "I'm perplexed by the nomination of people who love the Iraq War so much
that they would advocate for a war with Iran next. President Trump campaigned [that] the unintended consequences of regime change in Iraq led to instability in the Middle East."
On Haspel's confirmation, Paul said Haspel's remarks about her time
overseeing a CIA "black-ops" site disqualified her from the job of leading the intelligence agency. "My opposition to her is over her direct participation in interrogation and her gleeful enjoyment at the suffering of someone being tortured," Paul said.
Source: Politico.com on 2018 Trump Administration
Mar 14, 2018
On Technology:
Oppose net neutrality; Silicon Valley has no uniform support
Web companies are pressing the Federal Communications Commission for new rules that would require Internet providers to treat all online traffic equally. But Senators Cruz, Paul and Rubio are anything but neutral on net neutrality--they hate it, much
less any government regulation at all.Companies like Facebook, Google, Yahoo and Yelp--through their Washington trade group, the Internet Association--are public backers of net neutrality.
They together have praised Obama for endorsing an approach that might subject the Internet to utility-like regulation. All three Republicans, however, rejected the president's suggestion.
To hear Paul tell it, the party hasn't hurt its standing
among the tech crowd. He and others, for example, have backed high-skilled labor reforms in the past. The GOP senator also stressed that support for net neutrality is "not actually uniform throughout Silicon Valley."
Source: Politico.com 2014 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls
Nov 29, 2014
On War & Peace:
Assist Iraqi government against ISIS, but not Syrian rebels
Gov. Perry writes, "the president can and must do more with our military and intelligence communities to help cripple the Islamic State. Meaningful assistance can include intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance sharing and airstrikes." The US is
actually doing all of this now. President Obama has said he might use airstrikes in the future. I have also been open to the same option if it makes sense.I support continuing our assistance to the government of Iraq, which include armaments and
intelligence. I support using advanced technology to prevent ISIS from becoming a threat. I also want to stop sending U.S. aid and arms to Islamic rebels in Syria who are allied with ISIS, something Perry doesn't even address. I would argue that if
anything, my ideas for this crisis are both stronger, and not rooted simply in bluster.
If the governor continues to insist that these proposals mean I'm somehow "ignoring ISIS," I'll make it my personal policy to ignore Rick Perry's opinions.
Source: Politico.com editorial by Sen. Paul, "Perry Dead Wrong"
Jul 14, 2014
On War & Peace:
No US troops in Iraq, even against ISIS
Gov. Perry writes a fictionalized account of my foreign policy, although some of Perry's solutions for the current chaos in Iraq aren't much different from what I've proposed. But the governor and I do have at least one major foreign policy difference:
Said Perry forthrightly during a Republican presidential primary debate in 2012, "I would send troops back into Iraq." Obviously, this is something he advocated long before the rise of ISIS. At the time, Perry urged the United States to return troops to
Iraq to act as a balance against Iran. Does Perry now believe that we should send U.S. troops back into Iraq to fight the Iranians--or to help Iran fight ISIS? Unlike Perry, I oppose sending American troops back into Iraq. After a decade of the
United States training the Iraq's military, when confronted by the enemy, the Iraqis dropped their weapons, shed their uniforms and hid. Our soldiers' hard work and sacrifice should be worth more than that. Our military is too good for that.
Source: Politico.com editorial by Sen. Paul, "Perry Dead Wrong"
Jul 14, 2014
On War & Peace:
Create & arm a Kurdish state as support against ISIL
In a Time magazine op-ed titled "Rand Paul: 'I Am Not an Isolationist,'" he argued that President Barack Obama hasn't been aggressive enough against militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Paul recently called for giving the Kurds, who are battling ISIL, their own country, although during his speech this week he shunned the idea of nation-building.
Paul's support for the Kurds includes giving them more weapons, but he doesn't feel the same about
Syrian rebels for reasons that include fear the arms would land in the hands of extremists. He also insists the Obama administration was wrong to intervene in Libya.
Source: Politico.com 2015 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls
Apr 7, 2015
On War & Peace:
War only when all other measures are exhausted
In a speech last year, Paul referenced former President Ronald Reagan and others as he laid out his case for "conservative realism," which essentially argues that the U.S. needs to be more picky about its foreign entanglements: "War is
necessary when America is attacked or threatened, when vital American interests are attacked and threatened, and when we have exhausted all other measures short of war," Paul said.
Source: Politico.com 2015 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls
Apr 7, 2015
Page last updated: Aug 15, 2024