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Feb. 13, 2014

Sen Rand Paul files lawsuit against Pres Obama and the leaders of several intelligence agencies challenging as unconstitutional the National Security Agencys program that is collecting bulk records about Americans phone calls.MORE

Sen Rand Paul of Kentucky has been trying to broaden his appeal as he test-markets a presidential candidacy, and in doing so he is also trying to take libertarianism into the mainstream of American politics; Paul has impressed Republican leaders with his staying power, despite the fact that interviews, documents and a review of his speeches and articles reveal that he is steeped in a narrow, rightward strain of libertarianism, which has long been on the fringes of American politics.MORE

Senator Rand Paul speaks at Citadel military college in Charleston, SC, sharing his opinions on military intervention, Pentagon and cutting wasteful spending within armed forces.MORE

Sen Rand Paul of Kentucky addresses claims of plagiarism with mix of contrition and defiance, acknowledging that 'mistakes' in his office led to unattributed writing by others to appear in his own work but adding that he is being held to an unfair standard.MORE

Sen Rand Paul of Kentucky, who has had to explain how Wikipedia entries came to be incorporated into his speeches with no attribution, faces charges of direct plagiarism; op-ed article Paul wrote for The Washington Times on mandatory minimum prison sentences appears to have copied language from an essay in magazine The Week.MORE

Rivalry between Tea Party stars Sens Ted Cruz and Rand Paul has been quietly building as they pursue distinctly different paths, diverging not just in style but in approach to intraparty politics; Cruz, who appeals to Christian conservatives, is seen as more extreme while Paul is considered more moderate; divergent strategies could help determine whether Tea Party remains outside Republican establishment or is eventually integrated.MORE

Sen Rand Paul, Kentucky Tea Party Republican, appears to have lifted words for a speech about eugenics from a Wikipedia entry about futuristic movie Gattaca, which imagines a population that has been genetically engineered.MORE

Several Republicans, including Sens Marco Rubio and Rand Paul and New Jersey Gov Chris Christie, are using the government shutdown to stake position for potential presidential bids in 2016.MORE

Gail Collins Op-Ed column reflects on the fact that New Jersey Gov Chris Christie and Sen Rand Paul are seen as frontrunners for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, race which is still in its infancy; notes that Christie, who has been widely praised for his brash political style in his home state, seems to have come to understanding that abrasiveness would be less welcome across the nation.MORE

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Rand Paul - Times Topics - The New York Times

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. signs copies of his book at the Conservative Political Action Committee annual conference in National Harbor, Md., Friday, March 7, 2014. AP/Susan Walsh

This article originally appeared on Slate.

Sen. Rand Paul may not be a foreign policy hawk but he is a political one. He wrote, in a recent critique of his Republican colleagues: "What we don't need right now is politicians who have never seen war talking tough for the sake of their political careers." Incoming! Paul was talking about grandstanding responses to the Ukraine crisis. It wasn't a pinprick attack about a policy disagreement: Sen. Paul is claiming his rivals--ignorant to the sacrifices of war--are too cavalier about committing American troops to foreign conflicts in their rush to make a name for themselves. He made this point in an essay where he also charged these performance hawks with misappropriating Ronald Reagan's legacy, a special desecration in a party where the 40th president is revered. So: ignorant, heartless, self-absorbed, reckless, and distorting history.

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Libertarian Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., tells audience members at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Oxon Hill, Md., that they shouldn't ...

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Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., says in order for the tea party to succeed politically, "We have to reach out to more people."

Paul is not the only one to link the issue of sacrifice and hot rhetoric. That was a central message of former Defense Secretary Robert Gates' book: Both parties are too quick to threaten war. It's a fascinating question that should engage us between now and the next presidential election. Paul's words pose a problem for all of the GOP's would-be commanders-in-chief, including himself; his charge undermines his party's foreign policy critique of President Obama, which operates on the blunt formula that if you are not rhetorically tough, you invite global aggression.

It wasn't immediately clear who Paul was attacking. He did not name names, but that may simply have been because he had too many targets. He could have been referring to several of his potential rivals for the presidency. Sen. Ted Cruz told ABC News "I don't agree with him on foreign policy. I think U.S. leadership is critical in the world." New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has talked about the dangers of the isolationism running through the party (which led to a public spat with Paul months ago.) Sen. Marco Rubio has been staking out the hawkish position as a part of his effort to present himself as the foreign policy voice in the GOP field.

Paul had more advice: "I will remind anyone who thinks we will win elections by trashing previous Republican nominees or holding oneself out as some paragon in the mold of Reagan, that splintering the party is not the route to victory." That was clearly a shot at Cruz, who had criticized Bob Dole, Sen. John McCain, and Mitt Romney in his speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference last week.

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Rand Paul's preemptive strike

March. 11 (UPI) -- One Republican presidential hopeful took veiled shots at another in a scathing op-ed Monday chiding the party for misinterpreting Ronald Reagan's legacy.

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul blasted his fellow Republicans in an essay apparently aimed at his colleague from Texas, Ted Cruz.

I dont claim to be the next Ronald Reagan nor do I attempt to disparage fellow Republicans as not being sufficiently Reaganesque, Paul wrote in the column, published on Breitbart. I will remind anyone who thinks we will win elections by trashing previous Republican nominees or holding oneself out as some paragon in the mold of Reagan, that splintering the party is not the route to victory.

Paul does not directly name Cruz, who is hardly the only Republican to frequently mention the former president as the standard to which they must all try to measure up. But Cruz is perhaps the most egregious user of the Reagan reference, making the op-ed an almost certain shot at him.

In his Conservative Political Action Conference speech Sunday, Cruz was blunt: "I don't agree with [Paul] on foreign policy."

But in the column, Paul tried to draw together the points of agreement within the party with regard to international military action, rather than hold up divisions.

"Regarding Russias invasion of Ukraine, for example, there is little difference among most Republicans on what to do," Paul wrote. "All of us believe we should stand up to Putin's aggression. Virtually no one believes we should intervene militarily."

In the end, he charged his fellow Republicans with failing Regan's legacy by failing to put country first and choose diplomacy over intervention.

"Todays Republicans should concentrate on establishing their own identities and agendas," he wrote, "as opposed to simply latching onto Ronald Reagans legacy -- or worse, misrepresenting it."

[Breitbart]

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Rand Paul slams Ted Cruz, GOP for Reagan references

WASHINGTON, March 10 (UPI) -- Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., says if he were president he'd take a harder stance against Russian President Vladimir Putin for events in Ukraine.

"Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine is a gross violation of that nation's sovereignty and an affront to the international community," Paul, mentioned as a 2016 Republican presidential candidate, said in a commentary published by Time magazine Sunday. "His continuing occupation of Ukraine is completely unacceptable and Russia's president should be isolated for his actions."

The United States has the duty to condemn these actions "in no uncertain terms," Paul said, speaking of the presence of thousands of troops in Ukraine's autonomous, pro-Russia Crimea, which has scheduled a secession vote for Sunday.

"This does not and should not require military action. No one in the U.S. is calling for this. But it will require other actions and leadership, both of which President Obama unfortunately lacks," Paul said.

He recommended several "specific and decisive measures" to punish Putin, including economic sanctions and visa bans imposed and enforced without delay, which Obama has ordered.

Paul said he would urge European allies to leverage "their considerable weight with Russia and take the lead on imposing these penalties. I would do everything in my power to aggressively market and export America's vast natural gas resources to Europe."

"I would immediately remove every obstacle or current ban blocking the export of American oil and gas to Europe, and I would lift restrictions on new oil and gas development in order to ensure a steady energy supply at home and so we can supply Europe with oil if it is interrupted from Ukraine," Paul said.

Current U.S. energy laws and regulations "left Europe completely vulnerable because of its dependence on Russian oil and gas," he said, adding that he'd order the immediate construction of the Keystone Pipeline.

"It is important that Russia becomes economically isolated until all its forces are removed from Crimea and Putin pledges to act in accordance with the international standards of behavior that respect the rights of free people everywhere," he said.

U.S. loans and aid to Ukraine should be halted because they could be seen as having the counterproductive effect of rewarding Russia, he said.

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Rand Paul outlines how he'd respond to Putin's actions in Ukraine

By Mark Murray

A budding rivalry between Republican Sens. Rand Paul and Ted Cruz -- both potential 2016ers -- now appears to be underway on the issue of foreign policy.

It began on Sunday, when Cruz (R-Texas) told ABC that he disagreed with Paul's foreign-policy views. "I'm a big fan of Rand Paul. He and I are good friends. But I don't agree with him on foreign policy." More Cruz: "I think U.S. leadership is critical in the world. And I agree with him that we should be very reluctant to deploy military force abroad. But I think there is a vital role, just as Ronald Reagan did... The United States has a responsibility to defend our values."

But this morning, Paul fired back with an op-ed on the conservative site Breitbart.com, arguing that some Republicans -- apparently Cruz -- have misrepresented Ronald Reagan's foreign policy.

Though not mentioning Cruz by name, Paul wrote, "Every Republican likes to think he or she is the next Ronald Reagan. Some who say this do so for lack of their own ideas and agenda. Reagan was a great leader and president. But too often people make him into something he wasn't in order to serve their own political purposes... Many forget today that Reagan's decision to meet with Mikhail Gorbachev was harshly criticized by the Republican hawks of his time, some of whom would even call Reagan an appeaser."

Paul concludes, "Today's Republicans should concentrate on establishing their own identities and agendas, as opposed to simply latching onto Ronald Reagan's legacy-or worse, misrepresenting it."

Foreign policy has the potential to be one of the top issues that will divide Republican presidential candidates, with Paul arguing for a lighter U.S. footprint around the world , and other Republicans advocating more hawkish views.

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First published March 10 2014, 11:42 AM

Mark Murray is the Senior Political Editor at NBC News, where he covers politics for the network, writes and edits its popular First Read blog, and appears daily on MSNBC and Washington DCs NBC affiliate to discuss the latest political news.

Read more from the original source:

2016 Rivals Cruz, Paul Face Off on Foreign Policy