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Sen. Rand Paul accuses John McCain of McCarthyism …

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On the Senate floor earlier this month, McCain accused Paul of "working for (Russian President) Vladimir Putin" when Paul objected to a resolution on allowing Montenegro to join NATO. Paul later fired back at McCain by saying the 80-year-old senator made "a really strong case for term limits." He added he was "past his prime" and "gotten a little bit unhinged."

Paul did not back down when asked about McCain on the Sean Hannity radio program.

"You know, I thought the old McCarthyism got kind of old," Paul said. "Calling people communists, calling people friends of Russia, I thought that was so 1950s. I really thought we're beyond that. I take it pretty seriously because when somebody in the Senate calls another senator basically a traitor to their country, you think that somebody ought to be rebuked for that?"

A McCain spokeswoman didn't immediately respond to Paul's comment.

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Sen. Rand Paul accuses John McCain of McCarthyism ...

Sen. Rand Paul: Montenegro Joining NATO Is Against US Interests – TIME

Sen. Rand Paul speaks in Washington on Feb. 15, 2017. Bill ClarkCQ-Roll Call,Inc.

Paul is the junior U.S. Senator for Kentucky

President Donald Trump said in his inaugural address : Weve defended other nations borders, while refusing to defend our own.

I couldnt agree more.

Today, the question is: Will we add yet another commitment to defend yet another foreign country?

For decades, NATO has been an organization where the U.S. disproportionately spends our blood and treasure. The other NATO countries have largely hitched a ride to the U.S. train that subsidizes their defenses and allows them to direct their revenues to domestic pursuits.

Adding a country with fewer than 2,000 soldiers to NATO is not in our self-interest. There is no national security interest that an alliance with Montenegro will advance. If we invite Montenegro into NATO, it will be a one-way street with the U.S. committing to defend yet another country.

Advocates of allowing Montenegro to join NATO admit as much. The Senate hearing on admitting Montenegro to NATO was really just a Russia-bashing session. Not one word was said of how allowing Montenegro into NATO would advance our national security. Even the citizens of Montenegro are divided on entry into NATO. Fewer than 40% favor joining NATO and approximately the same percentage of Montenegrins oppose joining NATO.

Those who want to allow Montenegro into NATO believe that unless the whole world joins NATO, Russia will conquer the world. The truth is, as always, more complicated.

During the Cold War , the myth of Russian might was endlessly circulated here at home and the effect was the production of endless munitions and ever-expanding debt. The Cold War ended and the Soviet Union failed, not because our military might overcame them but because their economic system was fundamentally flawed and our economic system outlasted them.

Now, we are told we must fear the Russian Bear once again. But if you look closely you will see that Russian aggression around the world, particularly among the former Soviet satellites, is an attempt to mask a weak economy that runs the same risk of over-extension. Without question, Russia is an adversary, a country that ignores international norms and does not respect the territorial integrity of its neighbors. But Russia is weak because of corruption, oligarchy and human rights abuses. If Russia continues on this path, they may well encounter the same cataclysm that brought down the Soviet empire.

This debate today is not just about Montenegro but about NATO expansion in general. The same cheerleaders for admitting Montenegro also recklessly pushed to admit Ukraine and Georgia; if they were still members, we could right now be at war with Russia.

From the very beginning, our republic was founded with a deep suspicion of entangling alliances. Our founders wanted to do everything possible to avoid the chronic wars of Europe, where, for centuries, kings from one nation fought their brothers or cousins in other nations. The endless, meaningless wars of fratricide continued even into the 20th century.

Washington wrote that our true policy is to steer clear of permanent alliance with any portion of the foreign world. Jefferson famously wrote, peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none.

In modern times, such military heroes as President Eisenhower opposed intervention in Hungary, even when the naked aggression of the Soviets was appalling. Eisenhower likely had no real opportunity to militarily intervene before 200,000 Soviet troops with 4000 tanks rolled into Hungary. But at least part of the decision was a realpolitick decision that risking a nuclear confrontation with Russia did not justify war.

Fast forward to today. For 16 years the US has been at war in the Middle East. Our justified response to the attacks of 9/11 has dragged on and on. The vote Congress made to authorize military force against the planners and attackers of the World Trade Centers is now used to justify all military action anywhere around the world.

That vote is now used to justify war around the globe in dozens of countries. It is a lie and a disservice to our young men and women in uniform to have them fight under false pretenses. No active war involving the U.S. anywhere around the globe has been approved by Congress.

Our unrestricted, un-voted upon involvement in war everywhere informs my opposition to expanding NATO. Everyone likes to talk of NATOs Article 5 obligation to come to the defense of any NATO ally that is attacked. Many in Congress believe that Article 5 of the NATO alliance farms out the power to declare war to an international body.

David Fromkin put it this way: If it is now agreed by treaty that an attack on a... NATO ally is deemed an attack on the United states, then it can be argued that the President is empowered without Congressional authorization to send us war.

This is the crux of the debate: Congress abdicating its role in declaring war.

So, NATO. Should we expand it? Perhaps what we should do is make it clear that the NATO treaty is not a blind, open-ended promise to go to war anywhere and everywhere.

I continue to believe and will advocate for always having an official vote in Congress before we declare war.

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Sen. Rand Paul: Montenegro Joining NATO Is Against US Interests - TIME

‘America’s Best Senator’ — Drudge Praises Rand Paul After ‘Intriguing Lunch’ – Daily Caller

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Conservative news giant Matt Drudge had high praise for Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul after meeting him for an intriguing lunch this week.

Intriguing lunch in hill office of Americas best senator, Rand Paul, Drudge wrote on Twitter. Hes bold, brave and has somehow kept his heart in such a corrupt city. (RELATED: Should Be Sued For Fraud Matt Drudge Unloads On Republicans)

Rand Paul (Getty Images)

Matt Drudge has a phenomenal take on the news and is a leader who others in the business can only hope to emulate, Sergio Gor, a spokesman for Paul, told Business Insider. We enjoyed visiting with him, and we share a strong mutual admiration!

Drudge is known for living a rather secretive lifestyle and rarely gives interviews or attends public events.

His website, the influential Drudge Report, was one of the early promoters of Donald Trumps presidential campaign.

Follow Hasson on Twitter @PeterJHasson

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'America's Best Senator' -- Drudge Praises Rand Paul After 'Intriguing Lunch' - Daily Caller

Rand Paul: 75 Percent Chance We Repeal Obamacare – Breitbart News

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Thursday on CNNs The Lead, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said even after Speaker of the House Paul Ryans (R-WI) failed effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act there was still a 70 percent, 75 percent chance that we still do get repeal of Obamacare.

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Paul said, I think the Freedom Caucus is doing what is best for America. Theyre very principled and honorable men. I think that were trying to also let Republicans know if we pass something bad, if insurance rates are going up at 20 percent, 25 percent a year from now after Republicans have taken ownership of health care, that wont be good for the party. It is also just not good for the country.

We do want insurance rates to go down, he added. We want more people to have insurance at a lower cost, and Im still talking to the White House. I am still talking to the Freedom Caucus. I am talking to anybody that will listen, and I do still think I think 70 percent, 75 percent chance that we still do get repeal of Obamacare, that we are going to find a good meeting place at some point.

Follow Pam Key onTwitter @pamkeyNEN

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Rand Paul: 75 Percent Chance We Repeal Obamacare - Breitbart News

Activists Rally to Urge Rand Paul to Support an Independent Investigation into Russian Influence – WEKU

A handful of southern Kentucky activists rallied at the Bowling Green office of U.S. Senator Rand Paul in support of a national campaign to urge the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to establish an independent investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Rand Paul is a member of that committee.

Bowling Green resident Peter Zielinski said he used to be more politically conservative, but he attended the March 28 rally because he has concerns aboutnational leaders appointed by President Trump.

The history of many of the appointees is at least suspect, said Zielinski. There is a preponderance of people with ties to Russia and foreign governments and thats just the tip of what we know, at this point. We dont know the whole truth and we should know the whole truth.

A spokeswoman for Senator Paul said he was in Washington, D.C. on the day of the Bowling Green rally, but was glad to receive the letter from the local group and will review it.

Bowling Green retired teacher Claudia Hanes adapted a song from the musicalLes Miserablesfor the rally. Some of the lyrics were, Do you hear the people sing, singing the song of angry men? It is the music of a people who will not vote for you again."

Hanes said there are many questions about members of the Trump administration and their ties to Russia, and she wants answers.

Our rally is to convince Rand Paul to be part of the movement to get an independent commission to investigate thoroughly what happened and if nothing else, to see that it never happens again.

The rally was part of national campaign to deliver a similar message to all members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

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Activists Rally to Urge Rand Paul to Support an Independent Investigation into Russian Influence - WEKU