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That, he said, would be sexist because it would ignore the reality that "women are in positions not because they're women," but because "they're intelligent and they should be equal to their counterparts and treated equally."

READ: What is Hillary Clinton thinking?

And, in an interview with Dana Bash on CNN's "State of the Union," he hit the Democratic frontrunner for aligning on foreign policy with President Barack Obama and "the neo-cons in my own party" -- highlighting a key distinction between Paul and many of his rivals in the 2016 race for the White House.

Paul's comments came in the wake of criticism over how he handled challenging questions in interviews with NBC's Savannah Guthrie after launching his bid for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, and one weeks earlier with CNBC's Kelly Evans.

Bash asked Paul whether he'll treat Clinton differently to avoid concerns that he has an issue with women.

"I would treat her with the same respect that I would treat a man, but I wouldn't lay down and say, 'Oh, I'm not going to respond out of some sort of' -- and I think that would be a sexist response to say, 'Oh, my goodness, she deserves not to be treated as aggressively, because she's only a woman," Paul said.

"I would never say that about anybody. And I don't come into our interview thinking, 'OK, it's a woman versus a man kind of interview," he said. "I just think she's going to ask tough questions, he will ask tough questions, I've got to be prepared."

Paul also lambasted Clinton's time as secretary of state, struggling to name any positive accomplishments for the former first lady and New York senator during those four years.

SEE: Clinton campaign memo lays out strategy

He said the Clinton Foundation's acceptance of donations from foreign countries like Saudi Arabia and Brunei "questions the sincerity of whether or not she would be a champion for women's rights."

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Rand Paul denies sexism

If Rand Paul could travel back in time a week and take a do-over on his 2016 presidential campaign roll-out, he probably would.

His opening speech was largely inspiring as it laid out his vision for a country more in line with his libertarian instincts. But it led with a bit of rhetorical bombast thats been heard thousands of times: We have come to take our country back. Which prompted singer-songwriter Jill Sobuleto pen a raunchy, satirical song on Huffington Post.

The Kentucky senator made the obligatory genuflection to Republican icon Ronald Reagan, declaring: I envision a national defense that promotes, as Reagan put it, peace through strength.

But then he continued, I believe in applying Reagans approach to foreign policy to the Iran issue. He was referring to Reagans trust, but verify position regarding the former Soviet Unions nuclear missiles, but he might have phrased it differently.

As political scientist Jack Pitney writes elsewhere in the Monitor:

In late 1986, we learned that the Reagan administration had sold arms to Iran and diverted the proceeds to Nicaraguan anticommunist rebels called the Contras. The Iran-Contra affair was a fiasco that humiliated the United States and led to talk that the Housemight impeach Reagan.

Then there were Pauls run-ins with the press this week following his presidential launch.

He wrangled with Philip Elliot of the Associated Press when he would not articulate his position on possible exceptions to a ban on abortion (rape or incest, for example). He appeared to lectureSavannah Guthrie of NBC Newswhen she summarized his views on foreign policy.

The crankiness of his announcement-week interviewscertainly suggests that hes still getting a handle on retail politics, Jim Rutenberg observed in the New York Times Magazine.

I think that theres more editorializing going on than questioning sometimes, Paul told the New York Times. And I, frankly, sometimes get annoyed with that. And I dont hide it very well.

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Can Rand Paul recover from his rocky presidential campaign roll-out? (+video)

Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul says that the Clintons "think they're above the law" and that there is "a grand hypocrisy" to Hillary Clinton's acceptance of donations from countries with poor records on women's rights.

"I think the thing is about the Clintons is that there's a certain sense that they think they're above the law," he said in an interview with NBC's Chuck Todd on "Meet the Press."

Paul argued that Clinton is wrong to say that Republicans are waging a "war on women" even as the Clinton Foundation receives funding from Saudi Arabia.

"Hillary Clinton has taken money from countries that rape victims are publicly lashed," he said, describing a recent case of a woman in Saudi Arabia who was whipped after being gang raped by seven men. "We should be boycotting, voluntarily boycotting a country, not buying stuff from a country that does that to women," he said.

Paul stopped short of saying that the United States should officially dissolve alliances with Saudi Arabia but suggested that individuals should consider a "voluntary boycott" of the country akin to America's view towards South Africa during apartheid.

"I would expect Hillary Clinton if she believes in women's rights, she should be calling for a boycott of Saudi Arabia. Instead, she's accepting tens of millions of dollars," he said. "And I think it looks unseemly. And there's going to be some explaining she's going to have to come up with."

In the interview, Paul, who has been criticized for recent testy exchanges with reporters, conceded that he has "a hard time hiding it" when he disagrees with a journalist's style of questioning.

"I don't like it -- and I sometimes have a hard time hiding that I don't like it -- when a lot of the question is built up into, 'Well, you've changed your rhetoric. You've changed your opinion. And I guess this is your opinion at least for now.'" he said. "And that kind of tipped me off. That's snide."

- Carrie Dann

First published April 12 2015, 6:45 AM

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Rand Paul Slams Hillary Clinton's 'Grand Hypocrisy'

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