by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright February 27, 2015
All Rights Reserved.

                Proving he can take a shot the Democrat’s possible 2016 candidate former First Lady, U.S. Senator and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, 52-year-old Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) insisted Clinton was not fit for president.  Paul, while not yet announcing himself as a 2016 GOP candidate, blamed Clinton for the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya that killed 52-year-old Amb. Chris Stevens and three other Americans.  “The biggest mistake Hillary Clinton made, and I think this will be an albatross over her neck for the rest of the campaign—I don’t think she’ll be able to overcome this—is that when she was asked to provide security for Benghazi, she didn’t do it,” said Paul, rehashing old news.  Paul—and the rest of the GOP—hopes they’ve got anything relevant to impeach the credibility of clearly the most qualified person to run for president in modern history.

             Whatever steps are needed to beef up security at U.S. missions, consulates and embassies overseas, Paul surely knows that a Cabinet secretary isn’t responsible to for actual embassy security.  When Libya strongman Muammar Gadaffi fled Tripoli Aug. 24, 2011 in the peak of the Arab Spring, Libya was flooded with rival Sunni terror groups, deteriorating the security situation.  While Hillary took responsibility for Benghazi Oct. 18, 2012 and again Jan. 23, 2013 before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, she did so as head of the State Department.  She had no more control of what happened on the ground in Libya than former President George W. Bush had on Sept. 11.  Paul raises Hillary’s shortcomings but says nothing about the egregious security lapses that caused 2,996 deaths on Sept. 11.  Paul never blames Bush or former Vice President Dick Cheney for dropping the ball on Sept. 11.

             One of the Senate’s biggest critics of the Oct. 26, 2011 Patriot Act, Paul learned his libertarian ways from his 79-year-old father Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), a strong opponent to government controls of any kind.   Rand’s extreme libertarian views hark back to obsolete arguments about the original mandate in the U.S. Constitution in providing for the national defense.  Both Rand and Ron are favorites of the Tea Party, currently controlled by 42-year-old Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus.  With moderates like Republican Jeb Bush jockeying for position, Priebus will make sure that he’ll have zero backing.  Rand, on the other hand, can count on Priebus use him to push the Tea Party brand.  Bush has nothing to offer Priebus other than the same feeble excuse given by the RNC when President Barack Obama beat 2012 GOP nominee former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney.

             When sifting through GOP ruins of the 2012 election, Priebus insisted the party lost because its candidate was not conservative enough.  To placate Priebus and other conservatives, Romney’s chief strategist Stuart Stevens picked 45-year-old House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), whose rookie mistakes quickly sank Romney’s campaign.  Ryan, at the time, welcomed the opportunity to take on Medicare and Social Security, promptly tanking the campaign.  Jeb’s recent publicity stunts, putting his toe into the 2016 water, prompted 52-year-old conservative diva Ann Coulter to lash out, comparing the Bush’s to the Three Stooges.  Whatever donors line up behind Jeb, they’ll find themselves with zero support from the RNC or the conservative base.  More than any other GOP candidate, Priebus thinks Paul fits the bill to push the Tea Party agenda in 2016.

             More than any other issue, the Tea Party wants to continue hacking away at the U.S. tax base.  If they could de-fund the government or at least sunset various Cabinet level department like the Departments of Energy or Education, they’d do it in a heartbeat.  “I’m someone who wants to defend the country, but I’m not eager for war.  And we’ll make that presentation to the people and see if it resonates,” said Paul, letting out his isolationist views.  Paul wants U.S. foreign policy to scale back on the playing global policeman, playing less of a role on the world stage.  When you consider what’s happened in Ukraine, or for that matter Iran and Syria, Paul’s got a lot of explaining to do how that all gets resolved without U.S. intervention.  Paul would just assume to leave the heavy lifting to the European Union or other countries more closely tied to hot spots around the globe.

             Paul walks a tightrope trying to score points with the RNC.  As soon as he steps out of line, he’ll find himself behind the Eight Ball, convincing the party to back his campaign.  When Rand partnered with liberal Black Sen. Cory Booker D-N.J.) last summer to push the Redeem Act, decriminalizing drug laws and reforming the criminal justice system, he showed he could work with Democrats.  His views on foreign policy or immigration reform could run afoul with the Tea Party, who wants to turn back the clock on government entitlements.  Focusing on Hillary’s Benghazi problems could backfire when the Tea Party demands Paul take strong positions on abortion and same-sex marriage.  Whatever Paul’s views on the Constitution and Patriot Act, he’s going to have to stake out strong views on government spying, immigration, abortion, same-sex marriage to sell himself to Priebus and the Tea Party.

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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