Rand Paul Christie Latino outreach
Lisa Lerer shares her #39;Inside Politics #39; notebook about what GOP 2016ers are doing to court Latinos in the coming weeks.
By: CNN
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Rand Paul & Christie Latino outreach - Video
Here's Rand Paul on what a 2016 matchup between himself and de facto Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton might look like: "If you wanna see a transformational election in our country, let the Democrats put forward a war hawk like Hillary Clinton, and you'll see a transformation like you've never seen."
While I'm not sure Clinton would describe herself as a "war hawk" she has tended -- as Secretary of State and in the Senate -- to favor more aggressive approaches to international conflicts then those advocated by President Obama or, for that matter, Paul.
Consider:
* Clinton, while in the Senate, voted for the use of force resolution against Iraq in 2002. Obama, spoke out in opposition to it. Paul, who, like Obama, wasn't in the Senate at the time of the vote, has worked to repeal the use of force resolution.
* Clinton supported a larger troop surge in Afghanistan in 2009. Obama chose a smaller one. Paul penned an op-ed -- along with two Democratic Senators -- advocating for a faster withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan than Obama proposed.
* Clinton was a strong voice advocating military intervention in Libya.President Obama eventually sided with her. Paul opposed military intervention.
*Clinton favored more directly and broadly arming Syrian rebels early in the civil war, a move Obama resisted.Paul opposed arming the rebels.
Given that record, if Clinton and Paul were their party's respective nominees, it seems certain that she would be more hawkish in her approach to nearly every major international conflict than he would be. And that fact alone would be a remarkable turnabout -- given that Republicans have built much of their electoral success over the past three-plus decades around a muscular foreign policy. (It remains to be seen whether Paul's non-interventionist views will be disqualifying for him in the Republican primary fight.)
"It's pretty funny to see Rand Paul trying to direct Democrats on policy and politics alike," said Adrienne Elrod, communications director for Correct The Record, a Clinton-aligned super PAC. "He's too cute by half,and as a whole, he istoodangerous for our nation."
The more intriguing question is whether Paul or Clinton would be closer to where the American public stands on what role the U.S. should play in foreign conflicts.
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The Fix: Rand Paul says he scares Democrats. Should he?
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul speaks at the Americans for Prosperity gathering Friday, Aug. 29, 2014, in Dallas. Paul and Texas Gov. Rick Perry are bashing what they call the presidents lack of leadership in response to the violent militant group ... more >
Sen. Rand Paul lambasted former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clintons foreign policy Friday, saying shed likely had been canned had her husband been in charge during the 2012 terrorist attack on U.S. Consulate in Benghazi.
I think had Hillary Clinton worked for Bill Clinton, she would have been fired, the Kentucky Republican said during a speech at the annual Americans for Prosperity Summit in Dallas.
There will be a discussion over the next four years to discuss if Hillary Clinton is fit to be in charge of government, Mr. Paul said to audience jeers, adding that Mrs. Clintons handling of the attack goes to the core of whether or not the people in charge of this should be in charge of government.
Mr. Paul is one of several prospects routinely floated for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination. Mrs. Clinton is widely seen as the front-runner for the Democrats.
On NBCs Meet the Press Sunday, Mr. Paul called Mrs. Clinton a war hawk and claimed the rise of Islamic State militants in the Middle East was a direct result of her push for war in Libya.
During his speech Friday, Mr. Paul also harshly criticized President Obama for saying he did not have a strategy to combat the Islamic State terrorist group, which has beheaded an American journalist and taken control of large areas of Iraq and Syria.
If the president has no strategy, maybe its time for a new president, Mr. Paul said.
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Rand Paul: Even Bill Clinton would have fired Hillary for Benghazi
Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, already sounding like announced presidential candidates, appeared before several thousand conservative activists in Dallas on Friday to attack President Obama and Hillary Clinton while laying out their respective platforms.
Perry derided what he called Obamas era of lawlessness, comparing it in a nod to Tea Party activists to British rule over American colonists.
We need to make Washington as inconsequential in our lives as we can, he said to more applause. He added with a chuckle, In Texas, we actually do pretty well without Washingtons advice.
Perry, who has made a well-publicized practice of luring businesses from other states, particularly California, noted that Texas leads the nation in high-tech exports, passing up California, home of the famous Silicon Valley, a statement that drew laughs.
He praised fellow Republican governors in swing and early-primary states that he recently visited, including Florida, Iowa and South Carolina, for increasing jobs and cutting taxes.
Washington hasnt gotten the message yet, he said. They intrude where they dont belong. They ignore their basic responsibilities, such as the crisis on our southern border.
Perry noted that he had asked Obama to visit the border earlier this summer when thousands of immigrants, many of them children, were streaming north from Central America.
He turned me down, saying he doesnt do photo ops, Perry said. A man in the audience shouted, Shame!
Faced with the specter of coyotes, smugglers, gang members and other lowlifes who are taking advantage of these children, Perry said, he did what Obama refused to do: Deploy the National Guard. (Obama administration officials have insisted that the border could be better protected by congressional approval of a multibillion-dollar proposal.)
If Washington, D.C., will not do its job to secure that border, Texas will! the governor shouted, and the crowd rose to its feet, whooping and clapping.
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Rick Perry, Rand Paul take aim at Obama, Hillary Clinton at Koch event
Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.),stepping up his criticism of U.S. policy in response to the rise of Islamic militants, Thursday criticized Hillary Clinton for suggesting that a more aggressive U.S. policy supporting rebels in Syria might have impeded the militants rise.
To interventionists like former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, we would caution that arming the Islamic rebels in Syria created a haven for the Islamic State, said Mr. Paul in an op-ed article in The Wall Street Journal, referring to the militant group sweeping through Syria and northern Iraq that is also known as ISIS. We are lucky Mrs. Clinton didnt get her way and the Obama administration did not bring about regime change in Syria. That new regime might well be ISIS.
Mr. Paul, who like Mrs. Clinton is likely to run for president in 2016, also criticizes military hawks who dominate his own party.
Mrs. Clintons more-interventionist views have also under fire from liberal Democrats. The emerging debate points to the prospect that 2016 presidential nomination will open foreign policy divisions within both parties.
Mr. Paul alluded to that prospect in a Sunday interview on NBCs Meet the Press when he called Mrs. Clinton a war hawk.
I think thats what scares the Democrats the most, is that in a general election, were I to run, theres going to be a lot of independents and even some Democrats who say, You know what? We are tired of war, Mr. Paul said.
Mr. Paul maintained a low profile on the situation in Iraq in the aftermath of President Barack Obama recent decision to launch air strikes in northern Iraq to protect U.S. interests and to aid a religious minority under siege by ISIS forces. Mr. Pauls first comments were noncommital, saying that he believed Congress should have to vote for or against airstrikes but thatI have an open mind as to exactly what we do.
But in his interview Sunday andhis article Thursday, Mr. Paul offered a more full-throated denunciation of U.S. interventionism in the Middle East.
Shooting first and asking questions later has never been a good foreign policy, Mr. Paul said. The past year has been a perfect example.
He criticized the Obama administration for considering aid to rebels and air strikes against Syria last year in order to undercut Syrian President Bashar Assad, warning that regime change in Syria could have bolstered rebels allied with ISIS.
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Rand Paul Targets Hillary Clinton in Hawk Criticism