Republican presidential candidate U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) speaks at the First in the Nation Republican Leadership Conference in Nashua, New Hampshire on April 18. Reuters/Brian Snyder
Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) can never stop fighting over who gets in the last word.
Despite earlier signs of simmering down, this feud between the libertarian hoping to become the 2016 Republican standard bearer and the 2008 GOP presidential nominee keeps finding ways to bubble back to the surface.
Paul's entry into the presidential campaign earlier this month set off the latest round of back-and-forth attacks. It's entering a particularly sharper phase because McCain, 78, is backing the long-shot bid of his friend and fellow military hawk, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).
At a Wednesday night think-tank event honoring Paul and other civil libertarians, Paul launched into an attack on the National Security Agency's surveillance programs designed to interrupt terrorist plots. Paul, 52, has pledged to eliminate the program because of findings that the agency ends up collecting many communications of innocent Americans — but McCain and Graham have staunchly defended the program as necessary to monitor terrorist activity.
"One unapologetic senator who I've had a few rounds with said, 'If you're not talking to terrorists, why are you worried?'" Paul said at the event. "Have we fallen so low that that is our standard? If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear? It's a long way from innocent until proven guilty."
That's probably directed at Graham, who in 2013 said a slightly different version of that. McCain had already taken so many shots from Paul Wednesday afternoon that he probably felt a need to punch back. In an appearance on Fox News Channel's "Your World With Neil Cavuto," McCain called the libertarian 2016 contender "the worst possible candidate of the 20 or so that are running on the most important issue, which is national security.”
[Read a deep profile of Sen. Paul's' evolution on "Libertarianish" views.]
Long gone are the days of detente, when McCain publicly mused about how much Paul had grown since arriving in the Senate in 2011. By the fall of 2014 McCain told The New Yorker all was good:
“I’ve seen him grow and I’ve seen him mature and I’ve seen him become more centrist. I know that if he were president or a nominee, I could influence him, particularly some of his views and positions on national security. He trusts me particularly on the military side of things, so I could easily work with him. It wouldn’t be a problem.”
That easing of tension was remarkable, given that in early 2013 the clash between Paul and McCain and Graham was fierce. Paul led a 13-hour filibuster of John Brennan's nomination to be CIA director because of the agency's use of military drones to eliminate terrorists, demanding assurances the drones would never be used inside the United States.
The talking filibuster generated much attention on cable TV and social media, prompting many fellow Republicans to join Paul on the floor — including senators such as Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas), each of whom is much more staunchly hawkish on foreign policy matters. Missing in action during Paul's marathon: McCain and Graham.
The duo waited till the next morning, going to the Senate floor and staunchly defending the military and intelligence agencies' tactics in the fight against terrorists. Later that week McCain called Paul and his supporters "wacko birds" because of their libertarian views and said his fears of drone attacks on innocent U.S. civilians as "ludicrous".
Unwilling to let it end there, Paul told an interviewer later that day that McCain is "on the wrong side of history, and on the wrong side of this argument, really." He felt the issue was personal with McCain: "I treat Sen. McCain with respect. I don't think I always get the same in return."
The late 2014 detente came about over the course last year's effort by Paul to blunt some of his edges on issues that alienate the traditionally hawkish Republican base. He started de-emphasizing his early focus on amendments to eliminate foreign aid to Egypt. (His 2013 offering only had seven votes until six GOP senators gave him a symbolic show of respect, losing 86 to 13.)
That new emphasis led to nice comments from McCain and McConnell. The Senate majority leader campaigned for re-election with Paul frequently at his side last year, and he's endorsed Paul for president but does not expect to play any public role out of deference to his day job running the Senate.
As Paul launched his campaign for president earlier this month, McCain renewed the attack on Paul's foreign policy, with Graham coming along for the ride. By Tuesday morning, Paul decided he wanted the last word in this case, saying that their foreign policy views were in line with the Obama White House.
"These people are essentially the lapdogs for President Obama," Paul said on Fox News.
On Wednesday McCain fired multiple shots back, beginning with the most colorful ways: by making dog-barking sounds. He said they were attack dogs, not lap dogs. Later, he appeared on Fox himself, trying to get in the last word.
“The record is very clear that [Paul] does not have an understanding of the needs or the threats of United States national security,” McCain said.
Paul Kane covers Congress and politics for the Washington Post.
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