First it was former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) who got the third degree from his fellow Republicans on Iraq — now presidential contender Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is under the microscope.
Paul delivered the offending remark this week during an apperance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” where he blamed GOP hawks for creating chaos in Iraq and Libya and arming the Islamic State terror group.
“ISIS exists and grew stronger because of the hawks in our party who gave arms indiscriminately, and most [of] these arms were snatched up by ISIS,” the senator said.
A day after declaring his own presidential run, former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) showed up to “Fox & Friends” on Thursday wearing a scowl.
“You know, it sounds like Bernie Sanders, not like some Republican running for President,” he said, comparing Paul to the self-described socialist senator who recently launched a bid for the Democratic nomination.
“This idea that, you know, we created ISIS — I mean, ISIS was created because of President Obama and his failure to maintain a presence in Iraq,” he went on. “I think that the record is pretty clear about that.”
Santorum said Paul’s comments showed “a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of the enemy that we face.”
He echoed Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R), who on Wednesday called the moment a “perfect example of why Senator Paul is unsuited to be Commander-in-Chief,” adding that Paul was “taking the weakest, most liberal Democrat position.”
“It’s one thing for Senator Paul to take an outlandish position as a senator at Washington cocktail parties, but being Commander-in-Chief is an entirely different job,” Jindal said.
