Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) on Friday rebutted Gov. Chris Christie’s (R-NJ) criticism of the libertarian’s “esoteric” national security positions through a senior advisor, who told the Washington Times that Christie “needs to talk to more Americans.”
“If Governor Christie believes the constitutional rights and the privacy of all Americans is ‘esoteric,’ he either needs a new dictionary, or he needs to talk to more Americans, because a great number of them are concerned about the dramatic overreach of our government in recent years,” Paul advisor Doug Stafford told the Washington Times.
In a Thursday speech at the Aspen Institute, Christie invoked 9/11 to say that libertarians in the GOP like Paul have a “dangerous” line of thought and engage in “esoteric, intellectual debates.”
“I want them to come to New Jersey and sit across from the widows and the orphans and have that conversation,” Christie had said. “And they won’t. Because that’s a much tougher conversation to have.”
Paul tweeted Friday that while Christie may be worried about “the dangers of freedom,” the Kentucky senator worries about the “danger of losing that freedom.”
Christie worries about the dangers of freedom. I worry about the danger of losing that freedom. Spying without warrants is unconstitutional.
— Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) July 26, 2013
Correction: This post has been updated to reflect that Rand Paul is a senator, not a representative.
