Rand Paul knocked off his high horse: How he lost moral high ground in attack on Bergdahl

As fellow GOPers tried to revive hysteria of Bush years, supposed civil libertarian sat silent -- exposing his lie

ELIAS ISQUITH

Although it feels like a memory from the distant past, it wasn’t so long ago that I was at CPAC, watching Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul thrill a rapt audience of conservative activists with a romantic speech extolling liberty and slamming President Obama for failing to dismantle the post-9/11 national security state. I remember how quiet and still the crowd was while Paul spoke, and I remember how that surface-level calm was periodically interrupted with wild cheers whenever Paul delivered an especially well-crafted applause line.

In reference to mass surveillance, indefinite detention and secretive drone strikes on American citizens, for example, Paul quoted William Lloyd Garrison, the famous abolitionist, and asked the congregation, “Will you, America’s next generation of liberty lovers, will you stand and be heard?” The answer was a resounding yes.

But as much as they loved imagining themselves as the modern heirs to a 19th century liberation movement that reached its apogee through the expansion of presidential and federal power, these assorted conservatives and libertarians were even more thrilled by the sections of Paul’s speech castigating President Obama for being insufficiently dedicated to protecting Americans’ civil liberties. “I don’t question President Obama’s motives,” Paul said, “but history will record his timid defense of liberty.”

A specific instance of timidity that Paul had in mind was Obama’s decision to sign the NDAA, despite his misgivings that it infringed on the right of habeas corpus. “When Congress passed legislation allowing for the indefinite detention of an American citizen without a trial,” Paul said, “[Obama] shamefully signed it while promising not to use such a power.” In Paul’s eyes, this was clearly not enough. “A great president,” he claimed, “would have risen to the occasion. Instead of merely suggesting that he wouldn’t use this dreaded power, a great president would have taken pen in hand and vetoed this abomination.”

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http://www.salon.com/2014/06/07/rand_paul_knocked_off_his_high_horse_how_he_lost_moral_high_ground_in_attack_on_bergdahl/