Rand Paul bashed fellow Republican senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham Tuesday as “lapdogs for President Obama” on foreign policy.
The Kentucky senator and presidential candidate, appearing on Fox News, was fighting back against criticism from McCain and Graham, who have called Paul too isolationist and weak on foreign policy.
Paul said the criticism “comes from a group of people wrong about every policy issue over the last couple decades.”
“I'll give you a couple examples where they support the president's foreign policy and I don't. They supported Hillary Clinton's war in Libya, they supported President Obama's bombing of Assad they also support President Obama's foreign aid to countries that hate us. So if there is anyone who is most opposed to President Obama's foreign policy, it's me,” Paul said.
“I'm the only one actually standing up and saying the war in Libya was a mistake, the bombing of Assad would make ISIS stronger, the arms to the Islamic rebels would make ISIS stronger,” Paul continued. “So I'm really the one standing up to President Obama. And these people are essentially the lapdogs for President Obama and I think they're sensitive about that.”
McCain, a hawkish Arizona senator and former GOP presidential nominee, said Monday that Paul “just doesn’t understand” foreign policy and has been naive about it since joining the Senate.
Graham, a South Carolina senator considering a run for president, said Paul has been “more wrong than right” on foreign policy, and that “even Obama” is stronger than Paul when it comes to dealing with threats abroad.
Paul defined himself in the Fox News interview as a “Reagan Republican,” who supports a strong national defense but also believes intervention abroad can have unintended consequences.
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