“You think Jefferson, the man who went after the Barbary Pirates would brown nose Iran ala Ron Paul style?”
Remember as well that Jefferson authorized the overthrow of the Tripoli government - a first in our history - but later withdrew support with a possible wink, wink, nod, nod since the plan did continue. How very neocon of him, eh?
Note also that Washington greatly tangled the United States in foreign affiars, despite his often quoted writings. He issues letters of marque against British ships on behalf of France and supported the Jay Treaty that normalized relations with Britian and lead to an undeclared navel war with France.
The point is that one must look at the actions of these people as well as their writings and political philosophies. Paul and his supporters (and not a few other conservitives) like to quote the writings of the founding fathers, but then ignore their actions.
They lived in the real world of the late 18th and early 19th Century and responded accordingly. If they were here today they would understand new threats and new realities of our time and act in the best interest of our nation.
Paul and his brood think it's still 1789, and even in that time they would still be idiots...