Rand Paul calls Lindsey Graham and John McCain 'lapdogs for President Obama'
Sen. Rand Paul has never been one to mince words, and his run for the presidency is no different. On Tuesday, the Kentucky Republican lashed out at two of his fellow Republican U.S. senators, calling Lindsey Graham and John McCain “lapdogs” for the Obama administration’s foreign policy.
“They supported Hillary Clinton’s war in Libya,” Paul said in an interview with Fox News’ Bill Hemmer. “They supported President Obama’s bombing of Assad. They also support President Obama’s foreign aid to countries that hate us.”
Paul’s blistering comments came a day after both Graham and McCain, who are also well-known for not pulling punches, criticized Paul’s grasp of foreign policy.
“He just doesn’t understand,” McCain said on “Fox & Friends” Monday. “He has displayed this kind of naiveté since he came to the Senate.”
“[Paul] said that we shouldn’t have any troops in Iraq,” Graham said on “Morning Joe” on Monday. “He agreed with Obama. That was a disaster. When there was a chance to do something constructive about Syria with a no-fly zone, he said we don’t need one. Generally speaking, he’s been more wrong than right.”
“People who call loudest to criticize me are great proponents of President Obama’s foreign policy — they just want to do it 10 times over,” Paul countered Tuesday. “I’m the only one actually standing up and saying the war in Libya was a mistake, the bombing of Assad would make ISIS stronger, the arms to the Islamic rebels would make ISIS stronger.”
Paul continued: “These people are essentially the lapdogs for President Obama, and I think they’re sensitive about that.”
Sen. Rand Paul at a New Hampshire diner last weekend. (Photo: Charles Krupa/AP)
McCain and Graham have often been critics of the president from the right and have urged him to take more aggressive action in the Middle East. Should they decide to become fierce ongoing critics of Paul, they could become a highly visible source of doubts about his candidacy in a GOP primary where the electorate — and donors — are often more hawkish than Paul is.
“I’m a Reagan Republican,” Paul said. “I believe in strong national defense. I believe in peace through strength. I think that intervention is not always the answer, and that some interventions lead to unintended consequences.
“… Their foreign policy is so disjointed, confusing, and chaotic that really people need to re-examine those who want to be involved in every war,” he added. “I say we get involved when there’s an American interest. I think we do have to militarily stop ISIS. But I am sad that ISIS got a lot of the weapons from interventionists in my party and the president who gave them weapons indirectly.”
(Cover tile photo: Brian Snyder/Reuters)
