Hillary Clinton is a “war hawk,” Sen. Rand Paul said Sunday, as he warned that image will hurt Democrats’ chances in 2016.
“If you want to see a transformational election in our country, let the Democrats put forward a war hawk like Hillary Clinton and you’ll see a transformation like you’ve never seen,” Paul, R-Ky., told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Paul s seen as a possible Republican presidential candidate.
“People are going to find that, and I think that's what scares the Democrats the most, is that in a general election, were I to run, there's gonna be a lot of independents and even some Democrats who say, 'You know what? We are tired of war,'" he said. "We're worried that Hillary Clinton will get us involved in another Middle Eastern war, because she's so gung-ho."
Clinton was Secretary of State in President Barack Obama’s first term. As a U.S. Senator, she voted in 2002 to give President George W. Bush broad authority to attack Iraq. She has since said she “got it wrong.”
Democrats were quick to react. “Senator Paul’s foreign policy vision is to retreat from our responsibilities abroad by ending all foreign aid to our allies. including Israel,” said Michael Czin, Democratic National Committee spokesman.
“That’s the vision he’s laid out and defended time and time again and that even conservatives have said would bring ‘terrible misery’ to millions of people across the globe.
“If Senator Paul wants to have a debate between his fringe, isolationist vision and that of Democrats who have restored our credibility around the world and brought countless service members safely home, that’s a debate we’re eager to have.”
Paul in the past has said he would end foreign aid, but has softened his position in recent years.
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