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Rand Paul Channels Selina Meyer

April 16, 2014

Here's Rand Paul taking a firm stand on an important issue:

I am not for containment in Iran. Let me repeat that, since no one seems to be listening closely: I am unequivocally not for containing Iran.

I am also not for announcing that the United States should never contain Iran. That was the choice I was given a few months ago and is the scenario being misunderstood by some in the news.

To be against a "we will never contain Iran" resolution is not the same as being forcontainment of a nuclear Iran. Rather, it means that foreign policy is complicated and doesn’t fit neatly within a bumper sticker, headline or tweet. ...

Containment of Iran is a bad idea, but our leaders need to think before they speak and consider that preemptively announcing responses to every hypothetical situation may well damage our ability to keep the United States safe and strong.

I have often said that we have, for too long, had a debate between the extremes of foreign policy — and that to be on either end of the extremes can have life-or-death consequences.

I couldn't help but think of Veep's Selina Meyer (the always-lovely Julia Louis-Dreyfus) while reading that bit of waffling. Here is her staff reading the position she staked out on abortion in her pre-presidential run book:

"Pastel-colored shit." That sounds about right. Fortunately, Paul's not being asked to take a tough stand on anything important like the world's largest sponsor of terrorism acquiring nuclear weapons.

Published under: Rand Paul