Friday, October 11, 2013

Rand Paul’s Strategic Islamophobia

Rand Paul delivered a hate fueled speech against Muslims today, at the Values Voters Summit. As Alex Pareene writes :
Senator Rand Paul today addressed the summit, and he wanted everyone to know that while he may have a bit of a “peacenik” reputation, he definitely hates Islam just as much as the people who want to bomb the Middle East forever.

Paul’s speech (which greatly resembles one he gave to an evangelical audience last June) hit nearly every toxic fixation and delusion of the evangelical Right. He generously indulged the persecution fantasy that fuels so much of the modern conservative movement, claiming that “there’s a worldwide war on Christianity,” waged largely by Islam, but also by “liberal elites.” It is “a war that the mainstream media is ignoring,” he said. Mainstream media liberals are too scared and too PC to say it, but Paul wasn’t: We must blame Muslims more or less as a homogeneous undifferentiated mass.
Ever since 9/11, commentators have tried to avoid pointing fingers at Islam, which is somewhat fair. It is fair to point out that most Muslims are not committed to violence against Christians, but it’s not the whole truth. The whole truth is – and we shouldn’t let political correctness stand in the way of this truth – the whole truth is that there is a minority of Muslims who condone killing of Christians, but, unfortunately, that minority number is in the tens of millions.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: That’s right. 
The entire speech was like this, really: Bits of “reasonable” rhetoric awkwardly jammed against Pamela Geller-style accusations of collective guilt.
Bottom line: This is more evidence that Rand will say anything that advances him on the road to the presidency.  Rand's wording was clever throughout the speech, with occasional curtsies to peace. But the message that most in the audience would have taken from Rand's speech is that Rand was just about ready to put on full body armor, jump on a horse and  lead the next crusade---if only he is elected president.

19 comments:

  1. How was this a "hate" filled speech? He was calling out Muslims who commit violence against Christians. These muslims exist. Do you deny that they exist?

    He was also calling an end to foreign aid to these countries. Should we be sending them foreign aid?

    He also called for not intervening in military style in countries like Egypt, Syria, Lybia etc because it makes the problem worse. Forget to mention this part Bob?

    Just more knee-jerk Rand hating hyperbole from Wenzel on EPJ, what else is new?

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    1. Did you listen to the speech? It's full of hate mongering.

      WATCH: Rand Paul Powerful Speech at Values Voter Summit - Full Statement 10/11/2013
      http://youtu.be/pGlFtIkurQA

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    2. Yes, I did listen to the whole speech before even seeing this thread. What was the "hate mongering" part of the speech?

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  2. Go Rand Go !
    Save the Christians !

    Did Rand talk about Palestinian Christians and who was driving them out by any chance ?

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  3. Sickening political pandering and demagoguery. So Rand wants to talk about a "war on Christianity", does he? I suppose he could talk about the American military-industrial complex that arms, trains, and radicalizes Muslims for their own geopolitical aims - thereby directly contributing to the persecution of Christians. But Rand knows that won't play with his audience, so he doesn't tell the truth about the Empire's demonic foreign policy. This is sadly yet another example of how Paul the Lesser in no way compares to his father, who was and is a man of genuine faith and principle.

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    1. Praise God and Amen, Brother!

      If the US stayed out of the Middle East then NONE of this would matter.

      The people too blind, foolish or ignorant to see how "western" support of Israel and how "covert" actions have created a few generations of people that hate the US Government need to wake up.

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    2. This! This! This!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  4. I am related by marriage to someone who has met with oil ministers from oil producing countries on a regular basis for over 15 years. When I asked him eight years ago this month what would happen to the price of oil if the U.S. attacked Iran, he stated that gasoline would be well over $10.00 a gallon. Looking back on our conversation I would have to say that he was grim concerning the availability of gas or oil during a state of martial law while the U.S. was at war with Iran.

    Politicians like Rand Paul are either completely ignorant of the facts, or they have never invested the time to research what the implication of a of regional war in the middle east would be on the U.S. economy. He wants to play up the idea that he is a devout christian zealot so he can assure himself of having the religious rights, and the neocons support in the early 2016 primaries. The sad fact of the matter is this ignorant warmonger seems to be completely unaware that the percentage of people who attended church has dropped with each successive generation for over a hundred years. This is a trend that is not the friend of any right wing christian politician who wants to play upon the fears of well meaning christian voters.

    With each passing day Rand looks and acts more like a christian fascist who is itching for a fight to prove his manhood to the members of his weakened congregation, while never seeming to wonder why the attendance to services are declining. When leaders like Rand make the unenviable mistake of mixing demographic ignorance with religious zealotry, the outcome will almost always be destructive beyond the zealots imagination. But the sad fact of the matter is Rand has no imagination, and no one with the true christian principals to guide him, and protect him from himself.

    Rand's dark heart is becoming more evident in his facial appearance, and ignorant words that spew from his mouth, and in the end he will soon take on the black eyed visage of Richard Perle.

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  5. Given all his criticisms (some legit, some profoundly stupid) of the various political compromises Rand makes, I'm curious how Bob Wenzel feels about Ron Paul's endorsement of Ken Cuccinelli today. Or did I somehow miss the part where Rothbard said banning blowjobs was a-okay...?

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  6. I'm stunned that Robert chose not to report on Rand's op-ed about Janet Yellen. It was written from a pretty hardcore Austrian perspective and sounded exactly like Ron Paul.

    I'm sure it was just an oversight and will be blogged about soon. http://ideas.time.com/2013/10/11/rand-paul-why-i-plan-to-grill-yellen/

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    1. Robert doesn't usually like to cast Rand in a positive light.That's why.

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    2. Ohhhh. I look forward to this!

      Rand is calculating his chance at Prez, throwing principle to the side. He may find power is less attractive up close.

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  7. http://www.humblelibertarian.com/2009/03/top-100-libertarian-blogs-and-websites.html

    You're not on this, although yours is undoubtedly one of the best read lib blogs.
    Noticed a number of sites/blogs on it that all belong to the same network. Curious, isn't it?
    Talk about CIA infiltrated.

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  8. Here are the punchlines:

    **there’s 50 million, a hundred million. This isn’t going to be fought with a conventional war. It’s going to require Islam to police Islam.**

    **But we must also re-examine our policies because military action can at times actually enable and empower radical Islam.**

    **I think going into Syria could possibly enable al-Qaida. It could make things worse.**

    **To me, it doesn’t make any sense to send American arms, American planes or American troops to aid Syrian rebels or the Muslim Brotherhood, for goodness sakes. We should stop it. **


    Sound to me like he skillfully converting these evangelicals toward non-interventionism.

    And that's a problem? Wonders never cease.

    Rand Paul 2016!!

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    Replies
    1. Exactly. I swear the blind hatred of Rand is strong in these parts. Did anyone actually listen to Rand's actual speech and look at his main points?

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  9. It's perfectly fine to hate a warmongering, intolerant, violent ideology that (taken literally) incites violence and hatred. That includes the state; and it also includes Islam.
    Just so long as one does not argue for agression against innocent people.

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  10. Excellent speech. Rand praised medieval Islam for its learning, spoke against wars of intervention, spoke against foreign aid, and condemned religious violence.

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  11. MALALA PSYOP
    And yes, Malala is a product. She was crafted and designed from the start to be the front person for the Global Education First initiative.

    The U.N. Global Education First Initiative is a plan cooked up to get billions upon billions of dollars to spend on for-profit school systems, charter schools, to replace the existing ones in various countries where we can teach them the glories of the free-market system of “Western Democracy”. We can give young people the “skills” to succeed in our free-trade zone sweat-shops. We can also “educate” the rebellion out of them while people like Bill Gates and Oprah Winfrey make millions at the same time. It’s a “win-win”

    When the big idea was first announced, they picked Gordon Brown to head it up. He gave a press conference… one reporter showed up. Apparently they needed another pitchman. here’s a little timeline I drew up a while ago:

    “It’s a big idea, the new world order” George H. W. Bush

    July 2012 – Gordon Brown announced as head of new UN Global for-profit Education program – announces roll-out to be in “autumn of 2012“
    Sept. 24th 2012 – Global Business Coalition for Education meeting “Girls Education Challenge” published
    Sept. 27th 2012 – Gordon Brown holds press conference for new UN Global for-profit Education program – one reporter shows up
    Oct. 2nd 2012 – “The One World Schoolhouse: Education Reimagined” published – lays out plan for global for-profit school system



    Oct. 5th 2012 – Google Talks with Khan about “One World Schoolhouse” which promotes global for-profit school model
    Oct. 8th 2012 – Fortune publishes “When Salman Khan met Bill Gates“
    Oct. 9th 2012 – Malala shooting staged - her father owns a for-profit school in Pakistan and has aspirations of going national.
    Oct. 14th 2012 – Gordon Brown declares “Malala’s Next Fight” is to help push the U.N. global for-profit education system

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