Rand Paul's self-defeating realpolitik

By Richard Barry

With statements like this, one would assume Rand Paul doesn't want the Republican presidential nomination all that badly.

Rand Paul ripped into his hawkish rivals for the Republican nomination Saturday, suggesting that problems in the Middle East would actually be worse under them than President Barack Obama.

“There’s a group of folks in our party who would have troops in six countries right now — maybe more,” the Kentucky senator told hundreds of activists at a GOP cattle call that has drawn every major presidential aspirant. “This is something, if you watch closely, that will separate me from many other Republicans. The other Republicans will criticize Hillary Clinton and the president for their foreign policy, but they would have done the same thing – just 10 times over!”

Not only is he giving a back-handed compliment to the much-hated Barack Hussein Obama, but he is calling into question the role of America as protector of all that is good and holy in the world.

Have to give Paul credit for saying things he might actually believe, but that's hardly the way to win the GOP nomination.