Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
(Image source: C-SPAN)
BY CHRISTINA HARTMAN
Now, this is really the most fun we’ve had watching C-SPAN in a long time.
It started with Kentucky Senator Rand Paul’s almost 13-hour filibuster on the Senate floor
Wednesday against Obama’s pick to head the CIA. (Via C-SPAN)
(Via ABC) “I will speak, until I can no longer speak.”
And though the epic rant had the the word filibuster AND the senator himself trending
on Twitter, some cold water Thursday from Arizona Senator John McCain.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (Via C-SPAN): “If Mr. Paul wants to be taken seriously he needs to do
more than pull political stunts that fire up impressionable libertarian kids in their
college dorms. He needs to know what he’s talking about.”
We should explain a little. Senator Paul’s filiblizzard was a protest against John Brennan.
His specific bone to pick was what he called the administration’s support of drone strikes
without due process to kill terror suspects. Brennan is often cited as the architect of
that program. (Via CNN)
Making matters worse in Paul’s eyes: this letter from Attorney General Eric Holder,
who earlier this week said it was theoretically possible the U.S. could carry out a drone
strike on U.S. soil.
Theoretically possible, but they have no plans to. Which had Paul suggesting U.S. citizens
could be randomly targeted by the government, say, in a cafe or restaurant. A ridiculous
notion, suggested McCain and South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, who called the 13
hours of speaking a waste of time and even — they suggested — hypocritical.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (Via MSNBC): “I don’t remember any of you coming down here suggesting
that President Bush was going to kill anybody with a drone, do you?”
Graham even brought out this chart: to point out almost 3,000 Americans have been killed
by al-Qaeda — in order to suggest all the drone criticism was misguided.
All of which had Time’s Michael Crowley suggesting — they ALL kinda have a point:
“Rand Paul has every right to press this question. But it’s almost an academic exercise
when compared to the more relevant questions of how reliant we should be on drone strikes...”
And in any case, a resolution later Thursday after Paul told TV reporters he’s ending
his opposition to Brennan.
He got this follow up letter from Attorney General Eric Holder saying President Obama,
or any president for that matter, doesn’t have the authority to strike U.S. citizens
that aren’t combatants on U.S. soil.