Another prominent Republican is slamming Sen. Rand Paul and his stance on surveillance programs. Rep. Peter King (NY), who has 2016 presidential ambitions, said the libertarian wing of the Republican Party is damaging the party’s reputation on national security. He criticized Paul for supporting fugitive NSA leaker Edward Snowden.
The Hill: “When you have Rand Paul actually comparing Snowden to Martin Luther King or Henry David Thoreau, this is madness,” King said.
“This is the anti-war, left-wing Democrats of the 1960s that nominated George McGovern and destroyed their party for almost 20 years. I don’t want that to happen to our party.”
King, appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union,” said Republicans are at risk of losing a hard-won reputation as a party that is strong on foreign policy and national security.
He also criticized the 94 House Republicans who voted for an amendment, sponsored by Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.), that would have defunded the NSA’s domestic surveillance programs, which collect information metadata about phone calls.
“I thought it was absolutely disgraceful that so many Republicans voted to defund the NSA program which has done so much to protect our county,” King said. “This is an isolationist streak that’s in our party that goes totally against the party of Eisenhower and Reagan and Bush.”
Sen. Rand Paul is trying to rewrite history again by framing Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy according to his views on the civil rights movement and what it meant for America. One thing I can say about Dr. King is that he didn’t run when confronted for his views and actions. He stood firm, even to the point of being jailed. Edward Snowden, on the other hand, chose to run to repressive regimes, contrary to his reason for leaking the surveillance documents.
This was cross-posted from The Hinterland Gazette.