Free Republic

ormer Vice President Dick Cheney fired back Sunday after Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) criticized his position on Iraq. In an appearance on ABC's "This Week," Cheney argued Paul, who is widely seen as a potential presidential candidate in 2016, is an "isolationist" who doesn't understand the "absolutely essential" need for America to be involved in the Middle East. "Now, Rand Paul and — by my standards, as I look at his — his philosophy, is basically an isolationist. That didn't work in the 1930s, it sure as heck won't work in the aftermath of 9/11, when 19 guys armed with...

The United States is considering airstrikes against Islamic rebels with our newest ally, um, Iran. from Reuters: Joint action between the United States and Iran to help prop up the government of their mutual ally would be unprecedented since Iran's 1979 revolution, demonstrating the urgency of the alarm raised by the lightning insurgent advance. As a courtesy to those readers who don't speak Obama, let me provide a translation: "We've screwed up so badly that we have to have enemies like Russia, China, and Iran bail us out in foreign policy and war, over and over and over again." This...

If financial aid to Israel were slowly decreased over time, it would increase the Jewish state’s sovereignty because they wouldn’t need to get permission from the U.S. every time they need to defend themselves against aggressive neighbors, Sen. Rand Paul said on Monday. Paul said that while he knows the idea of decreasing any kind of foreign aid is a “minority opinion” in Washington, it will be a lot harder for America to help others “if we are out of money,” reported Fox News. …

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- U.S. Sen. Rand Paul wants to end all foreign assistance, including aid to Israel. Paul, a Republican newly elected in Kentucky, was on CNN Wednesday outlining where he would cut the $500 billion in government spending he says is critical to sustaining the U.S. economy. His focus was on the departments of energy, education and housing. Interviewer Wolf Blitzer then asked about foreign assistance, asking if he wanted to end "all foreign aid." Paul said yes, and Blitzer asked him about aid to Israel. "Well, I think what you have to do is you have to look,"...

The U.S. Senator (R-Ky.), who is already being touted as a 2016 Republican presidential candidate, was recently appointed to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and is showing some strong Woodrow Wilson-style isolationist tendencies. The role of the committee, according to its own website, is to “develop and influence United States foreign policy,” and in the past has “helped shape foreign policy of broad significance.” In other words, the actions of the committee matter just a bit, and the membership of a Senator like Rand Paul, who’s primary policy goal seems to be deficit reduction and budget balancing to the exclusion...

Tea party-backed Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) isn’t sure that congressional Republicans have the guts to make the big budget cuts they’ve promised and, he said, members of the movement are becoming frustrated. “There’s a disconnect between Republicans who want a balanced budget but aren’t maybe yet brave enough to talk about the cuts to come,” the freshman senator said in an interview with ABC News, responding to the spending plan released Thursday by the House Budget Committee chairman, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), which would cut non-defense discretionary spending by $58 billion for the rest of fiscal 2011. “I go to...

Skip ahead to 3:15 for the exchange on foreign aid generally and to 4:15 for the key bit. Paul’s not singling Israel out here; it’s Blitzer who brings it up, and Paul’s careful to offer praise before making his case that we simply can’t afford it anymore. He knows he’s suspect on this point because of his surname and has tried to deal with it behind the scenes. Remember this tidbit from that GQ hit piece on him last year? Ron Paul, in addition to his extreme views on the federal government, has been a harsh critic of the Republican...

Freshman Republican Sen. Rand Paul is calling for deep cuts in foreign aid, including eliminating U.S. money for Israel, a plan that has drawn criticism from Democrats and Republicans. The tea party-backed Paul unveiled a budget proposal this week that would slash overall government spending by $500 billion, saying the growing debt requires nothing less. It makes significant cuts in education, energy and defense while eliminating some agencies.

According to a statement by Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, he is planning to propose a bill that would suspend the US government's aid to the Palestinians. The proposal is said to be a response to the reconciliation between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas-led Fatah and Hamas, which is the militant Islamist group that currently rules the Gaza Strip. Moreover, Haaretz said that the proposal also follows the warnings issued by key Congressional appropriators Nita Lowey and Kay Granger, who has voted to cut off financial aid to the Palestinian Authority in the wake of the Palestinians' warming to the militant...

Sen. Rand Paul is hammering his fellow senators for keeping billions in financial aid flowing to Egypt's military -- even as Cairo's security forces massacre anti-government activists. "This is something that those who voted in Congress are going to have to live with," Paul told The Cable on Thursday. "The question is: How does their conscience feel now as they see photographs of tanks rolling over Egyptian civilians?" As the official Egyptian death toll climbs to 638, the legislation the Kentucky libertarian is referring to was an amendment to suspend aid to Egypt until the country holds free and fair...

Sen. Rand Paul Introduces Stand with Israel Act of 2014 Bill ends foreign aid to Palestinian government Apr 29, 2014 Sen. Rand Paul today introduced the Stand with Israel Act of 2014. This legislation halts all U.S. aid to the Palestinian government until they agree to a ceasefire and recognize the right of Israel to exist. The bill, S. 2265, can be found HERE and below: "Today, I introduced legislation to make all future aid to the Palestinian government conditional upon the new unity government putting itself on the record recognizing the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish...

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul is hard at work laying the groundwork for an almost certain presidential campaign in 2016, but as he broadens his support among libertarian and younger voters, there’s a budding countercampaign to take him down if he becomes a threat to actually win the nomination. At the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) meeting in Las Vegas this weekend, Paul was nowhere to be found, but his presence was felt in the form of a straw man — and frequent worry. Speaker after speaker, from former Florida governor Jeb Bush to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, laid into Paul’s...

I promise I will not spend the next 232 days - between now and election day - writing about how the mid-terms are going to turn out. You know my record for prognostication. It's dreadful. Nevertheless, here is what I Tweeted yesterday afternoon: @richgalen Gallup Obama Approval 3-day track = 39-55. One year ago was 50-43. Reason enough for Dems to worry. http://bit.ly/6v3JWW There is not much statistical difference between an approval rating of 42 and 39 (and it is likely to bounce within that range) but, the psychology of one being in the 40s and the other in the...

There may be no way for the United States to reverse the Russia’s seizure of Crimea from Ukraine. The Obama administration still has the opportunity to send a strong message to Russian President Vladimir Putin to punish Moscow for this aggression in response to the ouster of one of their stooge in Kiev by a popular uprising. Indeed, he would do well to listen to the advice of Senator Marco Rubio who outlined eight steps the U.S. should take in response to the crisis. But whether or not the president acts appropriately now, it’s probably too late to preserve the...

Secretary of State Kerry rejects notion U.S. is disengaging from world 4:22pm EST By Lesley Wroughton DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Secretary of State John Kerry dismissed on Friday as "a myth" suggestions that the United States was withdrawing from world affairs. "I'm perplexed by claims I occasionally hear that somehow America is disengaging from the world - this myth that America is pulling back, or giving up, or standing down. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth," Kerry told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. His remarks were seen partly as a response to Saudi Prince Turki...

America has gone back to isolationism, many commentators are saying. Not just the dovish Democrats, but also Republicans who were so hawkish a decade ago are turning away from the world. There is something to this, but it's more complicated than that. To understand where we are, it's helpful to put today's developments in historic perspective. One picture of American history has it that this country left the rest of the world alone through most of its history, was pulled into world politics by World War II and the Cold War and is now just reverting to its norm. The...

Maybe everyone is misreading America's views on foreign policy? Among Republicans, there's a big argument between the so-called isolationist wing of the party and the ostensibly interventionist wing. On the left, there's a similar debate (though liberals are never described as isolationists no matter how isolationist they might be). Among Democrats, the dividing lines are murkier if for no other reason than the Democratic Party takes its lead from President Obama, and his own views are murky, to put it charitably. The biggest boon to the anti-interventionists is the simple political reality that Americans just don't want to intervene in...

Remember when your older brothers and sisters used to prank you by warning about the monster under your bed? In a similar way, Washington’s war hawks are gearing up to scare you with another phantom devil: isolationism. If you feel like you’ve already been hearing increasing warnings about isolationism, you’re right. Pundits, journalists, and now a whole new think-tank initiative are warning about this dangerous ideology.

You pay taxes? You contributed to the $2 billion your government gave Egypt this year. And last year. And every year -- for 30 years. Most of it went to Egypt's military. How's that worked out? Now our government will "cautiously" support anti-government rebels in Syria, even though some are openly allied with al-Qaida. Years before, we paid to arm and train the Mujahedeen, the Islamic holy warriors battling the Russians in Afghanistan. That conflict led to the rise of al-Qaida. One of the Mujahedeen factions went on to become the Taliban, with whom we now fight. Advocates of foreign...

Almost a decade ago, Europeans and many progressive Americans were lamenting how the United States was going to miss out on the 21st-century paradigm symbolized by the robust European Union. Neanderthal Americans were importing ever more oil while waging a costly "war on terror" and fighting two conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our budget deficit in 2003 hit $374 billion. The EU avoided foreign conflicts and embraced soft power. Its declining military budgets and centralized transnational government ensured that it could address global warming and fund ever-expanding entitlements. Even the poorer Mediterranean nations reached new heights of prosperity. The Greek...