Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) slammed several conservative websites on Wednesday for making fun of his decididely unenthusiastic applause during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress this week.
“You look less than thrilled listening to the speech,” Fox News host Brian Kilmeade said in an interview. He was referring to several responses from conservatives that mocked Paul’s slow-clap and detached expression during the speech. Video of the moment was converted into a GIF by various sites and was used to mock the senator.
Paul began to laugh.
“I think what’s funny about it is that you have these gossipy websites who really demean themselves by putting stuff like that out,” Paul said as Fox rolled footage of his expression from Netanyahu’s address.
The senator also pushed back against critics such as Washington Post columnist Jen Rubin, who sent a barrage of tweets Paul’s way on Tuesday, criticizing his expression during the speech and his allegiance to Israel more broadly.
“I gave the prime minister 50 standing ovations,” Paul said. “I cosponsored bringing him here.”
“And on the day that I also decided to cosponsor the Corker bill, that says any final deal has to be approved, we have gossipy websites looking at up at the metric of how fast you clap,” he said. “I think they demean themselves by putting that out.”
“I thought you clapped fine,” Kilmeade said later as the interview came to a close.
Watch the clip, courtesy of Fox News:
h/t Business Insider
50? Is that all??? Why not 60? 70? 80? You fucking slacker.
Bibi sowed the seeds of disruption, dissension and discontent all right; just nor where it was intended.
Oh for fucks sake. The Republicans are now at the point that they’ll eat one of their for not kissing the ass of a divisive foreign leader enough while they treat the President of the United States like a houseboy.
This is what they talk about? A warmonger just tried to lie us into another war and this is all they take from it?
I suppose if tingles didn’t run up your leg you weren’t having a genuine conservative experience.