R. Paul to J. Kerry: If it was wrong to bomb Cambodia without Congress’s approval ok?

[Taco John]

Rand Paul to John Kerry: If it was wrong to bomb Cambodia without Congress’s approval, why is bombing Libya without approval okay?

POSTED AT 8:21 PM ON JANUARY 24, 2013 BY ALLAHPUNDIT

Excellent, and not just the Libya stuff. Stick with it for Paul’s questions about how smart it is to be arming the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt when Morsi is already wheezing about Jews controlling the media in official diplomatic sessions with the U.S. If you’re wondering why it fell to Paul to ask this question instead of any of the more senior senators who preceded him, it’s because the Senate was perfectly happy to have Obama act unilaterally on Libya. The Iraq war authorization came back to haunt many of them; no one knew at the time how messy Libya might get. O did them a favor, left and right, by freeing them from a tough vote. But Kerry can’t say that so instead he squirms through a few minutes of how the two bombing campaigns are different because they just are. Frankly, Paul let him off easy. You could, if you chose, defend U.S. actions in Cambodia as a cross-border extension of the war already being fought in Vietnam. No such defense for Libya; if anything, the Libya war cut against the AUMF against Al Qaeda that was passed after 9/11 because, as we’ve recently learned, eliminating Qadaffi was actually a boon to jihadist groups like AQ.

My one criticism of Paul here is his failure to press Kerry on his proferred excuse, that Obama had no time to ask Congress for action because Qadaffi was about to put thousands of Libyan rebels in Benghazi to the sword. Nonsense. Go look at the timeline leading up to the west’s military intervention. Protests against Qadaffi broke out in mid-February; by February 21, Libyan diplomats were asking the UN for a no-fly zone. A day later Hillary was issuing public statements denouncing Qaddafi and by March 1 the Senate had passed a non-binding resolution — unanimously — encouraging the UN to impose that no-fly zone. It wasn’t until March 15, however, that NFZ was finally approved and not until March 19 that France, backed by the U.S., began an air campaign over the country. Obama had nearly an entire month in which he could have asked for congressional approval but Kerry wants you to believe that his decision was made under some sort of emergency conditions, a la an invasion or nuclear attack, where the president had no choice logistically but to act on his own. Pitiful. He’ll be confirmed with 95+ votes anyway.

[Taco John]

That video is hilarious.

[Buzz_TinBalls]

Is this the same video posted in the other rand paul thread? I don't really find humor in any of this. There are few folks in america even paying attention, and so goes the house etc. Rand Paul does not impress me. He is a cackler, doesn't use kill shots when given the opp. It is as if he's the token hillbilly in an otherwise non diverse authority claiming diversity and he knows it, everyone in the room knows it.

don't get me wrong -- I appreciate your posts and comments very much. But something about all of this looks meaningless in effect.

the gov't admittedly has been ignoring USC protocol during extremely sensitive events over the course of 50 years, and none of them are interested in perhaps amending it.

[listopencil]

Originally Posted by Buzz_TinBalls

Is this the same video posted in the other rand paul thread? I don't really find humor in any of this. There are few folks in america even paying attention, and so goes the house etc. Rand Paul does not impress me. He is a cackler, doesn't use kill shots when given the opp. It is as if he's the token hillbilly in an otherwise non diverse authority claiming diversity and he knows it, everyone in the room knows it.

don't get me wrong -- I appreciate your posts and comments very much. But something about all of this looks meaningless in effect.

the gov't admittedly has been ignoring USC protocol during extremely sensitive events over the course of 50 years, and none of them are interested in perhaps amending it.

This is Kerry's confirmation hearing. He's the guy that Obama picked to replace Hillary. Rand's comments and questions are on point.

[Buzz_TinBalls]

Originally Posted by listopencil

This is Kerry's confirmation hearing. He's the guy that Obama picked to replace Hillary. Rand's comments and questions are on point.

his questions are pertinent. that was not my point.

[listopencil]

Originally Posted by Buzz_TinBalls

his questions are pertinent. that was not my point.

Well, I assumed that you didn't watch the video when you made that comment. The other Rand Paul thread has a video of him questioning Hillary Clinton in the Benghazi investigation.

[Buzz_TinBalls]

Originally Posted by listopencil

Well, I assumed that you didn't watch the video when you made that comment. The other Rand Paul thread has a video of him questioning Hillary Clinton in the Benghazi investigation.

this video was put in the other thread also, I went ahead and rolled this one a moment to confirm.

[Buzz_TinBalls]

to be clear with you folks, I don't mind reposted stuff at all (in most cases), it is sometimes necessary imo -- like this. It is dynamic enough to make a thread, though the vid was posted previously in the forum.

[listopencil]

Originally Posted by Buzz_TinBalls

this video was put in the other thread also, I went ahead and rolled this one a moment to confirm.

Ah, OK. Yeah you could say that Rand is somewhat of an outsider. He's playing the part of an outspoken R in a Senate that is predominantly D. It falls on him (and other R's) to ask the "tough questions" because I'm sure that the D's aren't going to. It's also a bit of political theater, and a way for him to score points with his constituents.

[Taco John]

Originally Posted by Buzz_TinBalls

his questions are pertinent...

That's the only point here. Sure, the personality politics are one thing - but this isn't American Idol. This is US Government. The true question is about how the new Secretary of State is going to conduct his business...

[Taco John]

The thing that strikes me the most about John Kerry's testimony is just how close to GWB in foreign policy he really is.

[lcarus]

Originally Posted by Taco John

The thing that strikes me the most about John Kerry's testimony is just how close to GWB in foreign policy he really is.

Democrats/Republicans - they're just different sides of the same coin in my humble opinion. That's why it's hard for someone like Ron Paul to win an election. People are so set in their perception of their favorite party that they try to pigeonhole a politician that thinks outside the box. I don't even know what I'm talking about. I'll shut up now.

[RNR]

Originally Posted by lcarus

Democrats/Republicans - they're just different sides of the same coin in my humble opinion. That's why it's hard for someone like Ron Paul to win an election. People are so set in their perception of their favorite party that they try to pigeonhole a politician that thinks outside the box. I don't even know what I'm talking about. I'll shut up now.

Oh they are different don't kid yourself. They take turns grabbing power, one from the right and one from the left. You will however notice that neither side is willing to give up the power grabs from the other side. All of these take it in the ass ****heads who worship Obama do not seem to notice he is gleefully using power grabs from Nixion and Bush. The patriot act and HR347 come to mind, oh and there was a base he was going to shutdown...did that happen? Oh yeah those bad guys from the right were mean to some guys and forced them to provide information. Good old Obama and his trusty sidekick Holder said they needed to bring charges against those bad guys because you cannot get good information by being mean to people. That all faded away and sure enough the information provided by those bad guys being mean led to the only thing this ****up can hang his hat on~