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Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican, responded to critics questioning his foreign policy stances saying, I am not an isolationist, and laying out his own strategy to deal with Islamic State militants on Thursday.

If I had been in President Obamas shoes, I would have acted more decisively and strongly against ISIS. I would have called Congress back into session even during recess, Mr. Paul wrote in an op-ed for Time magazine.

Mr. Paul, a rumored contender for the GOP presidential nomination, has been the subject of harsh media scrutiny in recent weeks, being accused of flip-flopping on foreign policy in the middle east.

In June, Mr. Paul said theres no good case for U.S. Military intervention, in Iraq in an editorial for the Wall Street Journal. But later said he had mixed feelings about airstrikes against the Islamic State and blasted Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton for her war hawk policies in Syria.

Now, Mr. Paul wants to set the record straight. He clarified his foreign policy agenda for confused pundits saying, Ive said since I began public life that I am not an isolationist, nor am I an interventionist. I look at the world, and consider war, realistically and constitutionally.

Mr. Paul wrote on Thursday that he still sees war as a last resort, but added that no country should mistake U.S. Reluctance for war as a lack of resolve saying, Peace through Strength only works if you have and show strength.

He joined a chorus of other GOP leaders who have lambasted President Obama for saying he did not have a strategy to combat the Islamic State during a press conference last week.

This administrations dereliction of duty has both sins of action and inaction, which is what happens when you are flailing around wildly, without careful strategic thinking, Mr. Paul said.

The Obama administration must first define the national interest and lay out a strategy to defend it, Mr. Paul said.

He wrote that the U.S. Should continue targeted airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, arm and aid allied Kurdish fighters, reinforce Israels Iron dome, and keep terrorists out of the country by securing the vulnerable southern border and revoking passports from any American or dual citizens fighting with jihadists groups.

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Rand Paul: 'I would have acted more decisively and strongly against ISIS'

Ron Paul vs. Rand Paul on ISIS
Ron Paul vs. Rand Paul on ISIS.

By: Keyur

Link:
Ron Paul vs. Rand Paul on ISIS - Video

A funny thing happened over the weekend: While President Obama took heat for saying he didn't havea strategy to deal with the Islamic State (also known as ISIS and isil) in Syria, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) delivered a pretty remarkable statement.

"If I were president, I would call a joint session of Congress," Paul told the AP. "I would lay out the reasoning of why ISIS is a threat to our national security and seek congressional authorization to destroy ISIS militarily."

The quote didn't really make the rounds and was buried deep in the AP story, but it's a pretty telling little nugget.

Why? Because, to date, it's one of the most hawkish things that any potential 2016 presidential contender has said about the Islamic State. And Paul is supposed to be the non-interventionist in the bunch.

Below isa sampling of what the others have said.

Hillary Clinton: Has not weighed in recently.

Chris Christie: ""The ISIS situation is one that deserves a really detailed answer, which I'm not going to give you while walking down the boardwalk and taking selfies."

Marco Rubio: "If we do not act now to assist our Iraqi partners and moderate Syrians who oppose ISIL, as well as utilize our own forces to directly target ISILs leadership, the result will be more suffering and tragedy for our people.

Paul Ryan: "What we need to have is a strategy to finish them off, to defeat ISIS. Not contain them, not to react, but to fundamentally finish them off."

Ted Cruz: Said that the Islamic State is "mocking America" and "we ought to bomb them back to the Stone Age."

Read more from the original source:
The Fix: Rand Paul just said something very important, and almost nobody noticed

A funny thing happened over the weekend: While President Obama took heat for saying he didn't havea strategy to deal with the Islamic State (also known as ISIS and isil) in Syria, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) delivered a pretty remarkable statement.

"If I were president, I would call a joint session of Congress," Paul told the AP. "I would lay out the reasoning of why ISIS is a threat to our national security and seek congressional authorization to destroy ISIS militarily."

The quote didn't really make the rounds and was buried deep in the AP story, but it's a pretty telling little nugget.

Why? Because, to date, it's one of the most hawkish things that any potential 2016 presidential contender has said about the Islamic State. And Paul is supposed to be the non-interventionist in the bunch.

Below isa sampling of what the others have said.

Hillary Clinton: Has not weighed in recently.

Chris Christie: ""The ISIS situation is one that deserves a really detailed answer, which I'm not going to give you while walking down the boardwalk and taking selfies."

Marco Rubio: "If we do not act now to assist our Iraqi partners and moderate Syrians who oppose ISIL, as well as utilize our own forces to directly target ISILs leadership, the result will be more suffering and tragedy for our people.

Paul Ryan: "What we need to have is a strategy to finish them off, to defeat ISIS. Not contain them, not to react, but to fundamentally finish them off."

Ted Cruz: Said that the Islamic State is "mocking America" and "we ought to bomb them back to the Stone Age."

Here is the original post:
Rand Paul just said something very important, and almost nobody noticed

U.S. Senator Rand Paul from Kentucky gives the keynote speech to the delegates of the Texas GOP Convention in Fort Worth, Texas Friday June 6, 2014.(AP Photo/Rex C. Curry) AP

Two-thirds of registered voters in Kentucky oppose legislation that would ease a potential headache for Republican Sen. Rand Paul should he decide to seek reelection to his current seat while simultaneously mounting a White House bid, a poll out Tuesday found.

Earlier this year the Bluegrass State's senate majority leader sought to clarify an ambiguous law that Paul argued is unconstitutional if it indeed bars running for reelection to the Senate and for president concurrently. The purpose of his proposed legislation, Republican Sen. Damon Thayor said at the time, "will be to make clear that Rand Paul or anything in a smiliar situation in Kentucky can run for both offices in the same year."

Democrats running the state House ultimately blocked the bill, which is a move that seems largely popular among Kentucky voters: Only 15 percent said they believe Paul should be able to campaign for both seats, and a third say the freshman lawmaker shouldn't run for anything.

But among those who back Paul as a voice in the political arena, a slim margin - 24 to 22 percent - favors him in the Senate chamber then in the Oval Office. Some voters who spoke to the pollster, like 67-year-old Harvey Tincher, made the case that Paul's libertarian-guided foreign policy would preclude his qualifications for president.

"He's more of an isolationist, and we don't live in an isolated world," he said. Tincher added that "the fear of losing" shouldn't establish grounds for a candidate to seek multiple offices: "You've got to run for one or run for the other," he said. "If you're going to do it, go all the way."

Of course there are those in the minority who back Paul's potential double candidacy, including Mary Dean, a Kentucky Democrat.

"I do think he's a good senator and I think he'd make an excellent president, if they would change the law to allow that in the state of Kentucky," she said. "I think he's a personable candidate -- you can talk to him and he will answer you."

Paul, who's made no secret of his presidential ambitions, isn't the first potential White House candidate to seek two offices concurrently. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, then-Sen. Joe Biden and former Sen. Joe Lieberman all sought reelection while running for vice president.

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Original post:
Kentucky voters oppose Rand Paul running for two offices concurrently