Politics

Rand Paul Peeves Fans of Ron Paul's Foreign Policy: "Any Attack on Israel will be Treated as an Attack on the United States"

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As Nick Gillespie noted earlier today, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is being pretty sharp in at least defending proper constitutional prerogatives when it comes to decisions about when U.S. military might ought to be extended overseas.

But today he said something to Breitbart News that highly distresses those who thought his vision of when U.S. military might ought to be used would be similar to his father Ron Paul's: only in actual defense of the United States.

As reported in Daily Caller:

Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul took what very well could be considered his most pro-Israel stance yet, saying in an interview that an attack on Israel

 should be treated as an attack on the United States.

Asked whether the United States would stand with Israel and provide it foreign aid if the Jewish state were attacked by its enemies, Paul went a step further.

"Well absolutely we stand with Israel," he said in an interview with Breitbart News, "but what I think we should do is announce to the world – and I think it is pretty well known — that any attack on Israel will be treated as an attack on the United States."

From Daily Paul, a sampling of some of the discomfited reactions of Paulites who thought Rand might follow his father's (and George Washington's) mistrust of entangling alliances and the dangers of war they create.

Paul has understandably and obviously been walking a line between keeping his dad's (not insignificant, 11 percent of the primary vote in 2012) base and reaching out to enough other Republicans to be a viable national winner down the line. But Ron Paul's fans are very easy to disappoint if you don't hew to what seemed strong and unique about him as a politician. My book, Ron Paul's Revolution: The Man and the Movement he Inspired.