Rand Paul Saturday stressed loyalty to the Bill of Rights and more selective American involvement against foreign security threats as he addressed hundreds of New Hampshire activists.
Paul got a standing ovation from the 600 Republicans gathered for a second day of their “First in the Nation” summit. Later Saturday, they’ll hear from more presidential candidates.
Paul, the U.S. senator from Kentucky who announced his presidential bid last week, also had pointed words for Hillary Clinton. She’ll need two planes, he said of the Democratic presidential front-runner, one for her entourage, one for her baggage.
Most of his 20 minute address focused on the Bill of Rights and foreign involvement themes.
Government, Paul said, is too prone to spying on its own citizens. “We need to be the party that defends the Bill of Rights,” he said. “The Fourth Amendment is not consistent with a warrant that says Mr. Verizon on it.”
Remember, he said, “The Bill of Rights is more for the unpopular than anyone else.” The high school quarterback will thrive, he said, because “everything goes right” for him. “The Bill of Rights is for the least among us,” Paul said.
On foreign affairs, he was critical of the U.S. overreaching too often. “Every time we toppled a secular dictator, a secular strongman, we’ve gotten chaos,” he said.
Paul was particularly critical of U.S. involmvement in Libya. “Why the hell did we ever go into Libya in the first place?” he asked.