Ron Paul’s Foreign Policy Views Divide Southern Republican Leadership Conference

[cal04]

Ron Paul continues to breed lingering divisions on the right. The former Republican presidential candidate delivered a blistering criticism of neoconservative foreign policy views at the Conservative Political Action Conference earlier this year while taking home a victory in the presidential straw poll with 31 percent of the vote. Rush Limbaugh responded by claiming CPAC is “not an organization of conservatives,” and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee similarly said CPAC is becoming “increasingly libertarian and less Republican.”

Today at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, a similar dynamic played out. House Republican Conference Chairman Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) was booed by Ron Paul followers during his speech. Washington Post blogger Dave Weigel, who is reporting from the conference, described the scene: “Pence says ‘America stands with Israel’; Ron Paul contingent boos, shouted down by chants of ‘USA!’”

Later, when it was his turn to speak at the convention, the libertarian Paul delivered a scathing criticism of Republican foreign policy views:

Conservatives spend money on different things. They like embassies, and they like occupation. They like the empire. They like to be in 135 countries and 700 bases. (boos)

Don’t you think it’s rather conservative to say, ‘oh it’s good to follow the Constitution, oh, except for war. Let the President go to war anytime they want.’ We can do better with peace than with war! (mixture of boos and applause)

Throughout his speech, Paul’s comments were met with an awkward tension from the crowd, many of whom appeared uncomfortable with him.

Watch it: http://thinkprogress.org/2010/04/10/ron-paul-at-srlc/

[Ardent15]

1. They don't know what to do when someone deviates from the talking points

And "peace" is a foreign concept to them.

[elleng]

2. Glad to hear it!

[Warpy]

3. How anyone can be so right on foreign policy and

the desperate need to abandon empire while being so wrong on just about everything else is a real study in contrast.

I'd love to hear someone on our side of the rest of the country's issues echo that foreign policy. Kucinich has been close, but not close enough.

[Ramulux]

4. I love hearing about this

Ron Paul is the republican party's only chance to stay relevant and reasonable and the farther they move away from him, the better off democrats will be.

[rurallib]

5. and the further they move from Paul, the closer they move to creating a third party.

[Enrique]

6. and the other speakers I heard were stressing 'unity'

hacks like Haley Barbour and Herm Cain telling the rubes to keep their brains turned off and just vote for whatever hack the GOP puts up.

Hopefully Ron Paul will help them realize they're being had.

[patrice]

7. "USA, USA, USA, USA . . . ~" is their answer to everything.