Rand Paul: Lindsey Graham, John McCain are ‘lapdogs’ for President Obama’s foreign policy

POLITICO

Lindsey Graham and John McCain are “lapdogs” for President Barack Obama’s foreign policy, Rand Paul said Tuesday, at once firing back at recent remarks from the hawkish Republicans and seeking to distinguish his defense credentials.

“This comes from a group of people wrong about every policy issue over the last two decades,” the Kentucky Republican said in an interview with Fox News, touting his credentials as 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,” he said.

Paul characterized himself as a “Reagan Republican” when asked about whether he was an interventionist or an isolationist.

”I believe in a strong national defense. I believe in peace through strength. I think that intervention’s not always the answer and that some interventions lead to unintended consequences,” he said, ticking through what he called the administration’s failures in Libya, Syria and with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

“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. People who call loudest to criticize me are great proponents of President Obama’s foreign policy — they just want to do it ten times over,” he said.

On Monday, Graham said Paul is “more wrong than right” when it comes to foreign policy and that the current president is stronger in dealing with overseas threats. McCain asserted that Paul “just doesn’t understand” and has carried a naïveté in the Senate.

Graham has said that he is 91 percent sure he will run for the Republican presidential nomination and has made it known that he strongly disagrees with Paul.