Newt Gingrich has taken plenty of heat for his shifting positions on military action in Libya, but Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) offered the harshest attack yet from a member of his own party.
To be fair, Paul’s comments came at the Congressional Correspondents Dinner, an event where lawmakers typically offer comedic monologues. But even by that standard, there was serious sting to his words, especially given the well-known reputation Paul and his father, Ron Paul, have cultivated as skeptics of Middle East intervention.
“I was happy to see that Newt Gingrich has staked out a position on the war, a position, or two, or maybe three,” Paul told the audience, as ThinkProgress reported. “I don’t know. I think he has more war positions than he’s had wives.”
Paul also had some tough words for FOX News.
“There’s a big debate over there,” he said. “Fox News can’t decide, what do they love more, bombing the Middle East or bashing the president? It’s like I was over there and there was an anchor going, they were pleading, can’t we do both? Can’t we bomb the Middle East and bash the president at the same time? How are we going to make this work?”
Benjy Sarlin
Benjy Sarlin is a reporter for Talking Points Memo and co-writes the campaign blog, TPM2012. He previously reported for The Daily Beast/Newsweek as their Washington Correspondent and covered local politics for the New York Sun.
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