Republished with permission from ConservativeHQ.com.
By CHQ.com Staff
February 20, 2017
Yesterday, our friend U.S. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky sure got it right during an appearance on ABC’s “This Week.”
Paul said Senator John McCain’s comments criticizing President Trump’s comments about the press may be fueled more by personal animosity to the president than a legitimate concern about freedom of the press.
McCain in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” warned that the suppression of a free press can lead to a dictatorial regime. He made the comments after Trump tweeted on Friday that the media is “the enemy of the American people.”
“This is colored by John McCain’s disagreement with President Trump,” Paul said. “Everything that he says about the president is colored by his own personal dispute he has got running with President Trump — and it should be taken with a grain of salt because John McCain is the guy that has advocated for war everywhere.”
“Actually, we’re very lucky John McCain is not in charge because I think we would be in perpetual war,” Senator Paul continued. “If you look at the map, there’s probably at least six different countries where John McCain has advocated for us having boots on the ground.”
“He would bankrupt the nation. We’re very lucky John McCain’s not in charge, because I think we’d be in perpetual war,” Paul added.
Senator Paul pointed-out there has been no effort by the Trump administration to suppress the media, noting that no legislation has been offered to curb press freedoms.
Paul ticked off accomplishments such as the repeal of a regulation on the coal industry that he said would have been “very, very damaging to my state.” He also said the Republicans are “on schedule to repeal Obamacare. Big progress.” And, he praised Trump’s picks for his Cabinet and the Supreme Court.
“His Cabinet picks, from a conservative point of view, have exceeded my expectations. I think Scott Pruitt is going to be great at EPA. I think we’re really going to do some conservative things,” Paul said. “I’m actually very, very pleased with where we are.”
“You can analyze this administration” on two levels. “One, words and Twitter, another on actions. And I tend to look at the actions.” Senator Paul said according to ABC’s Ali Dukakis.
“Not everyone is perfect, but I think there’s a lot of good things — and we shouldn’t lose sight of the good things from a conservative point of view of what’s happening in Washington,” Paul said.
As to the Affordable Care Act, Paul said the White House is still on board with his plan: “Legislatively, I think we will repeal Obamacare within the next one to two months.”
“There’s a debate whether we repeal the whole thing,” he said, explaining that “big-government Republicans want to keep ‘Obamacare light,” by retaining some of the law’s provisions.
“The conservatives, we’re ready for a fight. The House Freedom Caucus says they will not vote for partial repeal. I’m in the same camp. I’m not voting for partial repeal,” Paul said.
Rand Paul also noted that McCain has a history of being wrong on major foreign policy questions.
“I would say John McCain’s been wrong on just about everything over the last four decades. He advocated for the Iraq War, which I think destabilized the Middle East,” he said.
In this, and many other things about McCain, Senator Paul is right.
