The old guard of the Republican Party flashed its true colors last week. All it took was a 13-hour filibuster by Sen. Rand Paul to get the neocons on the Wall Street Journal editorial board worked up into a lather. According to the editors, Rand Paul was being childish and theatrical. “He needs to know what he’s talking about,” they wrote.
It seems the Journal is A-OK with taking Attorney General Eric Holder’s word for it that the U.S. won’t use drones to attack Americans on U.S. soil. “Drones are limited to the remotest areas of conflict zones like Pakistan and Yemen,” they wrote. That is until they’re not. I’ll stick with Rand’s demands.
Rand is right. Twitter was all aflutter with his stand; #StandwithRand became one of the most read feeds at one point during the day. The Wall Street Journal’s piece was so jarring to its readers that the comments section exploded with cheers for Rand Paul and jeers for the Journal.
On foreign policy, editors sound like a bunch of grumpy old men. They come off as cheerleaders for neocons like GOP Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham. As Paul said about the two, “They think the whole world is a battlefield, including America, and that the laws of war should apply.”
The editors wrote, “[I]f Mr. Paul wants to be taken seriously he needs to do more than pull political stunts that fire up impressionable libertarian kids in their college dorm rooms.” Obviously, the Journal can’t see the forest for the trees. There’s a groundswell of support for guys like Rand Paul who demand clarity on the government’s use of drones against Americans or “enemy combatants.”
By the way, defining an enemy combatant is a slippery slope. Could someone who doesn’t vote for you become an enemy combatant? Is Rand Paul an enemy combatant, because in exercising his constitutional rights, he upset John McCain?
“It’s always the wacko birds on the right and left that get the media megaphone,” McCain said, talking about Rand Paul’s filibuster. Then in reference to Paul and Senator Ted Cruz, McCain continued, “I think it can be harmful if there is a belief among the American people that those people are reflective of the views of the majority of Republicans. They’re not.”
McCain and the neocons at The Wall Street Journal don’t “get” the American people. Americans don’t trust the government. They want clarity on issues like this one and respect Rand Paul’s stand. It takes guys like Rand Paul to ring in a brand-new day, which we desperately need.
