The Wacko Birds Want to Win for a Change
Last week, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul rose to the floor of the U.S. Senate to filibuster the nomination of White House Advisor John Brennan to be the new head of the CIA. Paul was seeking an answer from the White House as to whether the Obama administration believed they had the authority to use domestic drone strikes against non-combatant American citizens without due process.
Paul began by saying, “I will speak until I can no longer speak. I will speak as long as it takes, until the alarm is sounded from coast to coast that our Constitution is important, that your rights to trial by jury are precious, that no American should be killed by a drone on American soil without first being charged with a crime, without first being found to be guilty by a court.”
Paul continued, with the aid of handful of fellow Senators, until nature’s call could be avoided no longer. Senate rules say that if you leave the floor, the filibuster is ended. Among those standing with him were Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida.
It was not until after I got home from work that I realized this was even happening. I signed on to TweetDeck to follow the Twitter stream. It was going so fast that it was unreadable. Twitter later reported that more than a million tweets were sent during the nearly 13-hour filibuster.
Paul later said in an op-ed in the Washington Post that he took this stand to, “to sound an alarm bell from coast to coast. I wanted everybody to know that our Constitution is precious and no American should be killed by a drone without first being charged with a crime.”
In the end, Paul received the answer he was seeking, in a letter to Paul, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said:
Dear Senator Paul:
It has come to my attention that you have now asked an additional question: “Does the President have the authority to use a weaponized drone to kill an American not engaged in combat on American soil?” The answer to that question is no.
Sincerely,
Eric H. Holder, Jr.
That’s a win for Senator Paul. And for our country.
But some of Rand Paul’s fellow Senators weren’t fond of Paul’s filibuster. No, we’re not talking about the Democrats, but fellow Republicans including John McCain and Lindsay Graham.
Senator John McCain said “But I also think that when, you know, it’s always the wacko birds on right and left that get the media megaphone.”
With all due respect, Senator McCain, that’s Conduct Unbecoming a United States Senator.
Let’s get some things clear.
We “Wacko Birds” are excited about the new blood in the United States Senate. Heaven knows those of you there for generations have lost your way. But allow me to elaborate.
Senator McCain, you are an American hero. You served honorably in the military, and you endured unimaginable horrors as a prisoner of war. We respect you and honor you for that.
But, politically, you’ve lost your way.
May I remind you that we have in the White House the man who is arguably the worst President in the history of these great United States?
You lost to him.
The fact is the only reason your 2008 campaign was remotely exciting was your selection of Sarah Palin to be your running mate. I would venture a guess that these days you’d consider Sarah Palin one of those “wacko birds” on the right. But this isn’t about Sarah Palin.
In 2008, not many of us were excited about your campaign. The selection of Palin and to a large degree your convention speech, helped us believe. But only in the final months of the campaign. Then in the final weeks we knew it was all over.
2008 is not entirely unlike Mitt Romney in 2012. While I somehow have a little more respect for Mitt Romney it was the same scenario. The candidate we all had to settle for inspired us with a Vice Presidential pick and some shining moments in the final weeks of the campaign.
So for two cycles, we had to work to convince the people who should already have been on our side to support the party standard bearer.
Both years of a case of Mr. Right not being available forcing us to settle for Mr. Better-than-nothing.
Then along comes Rand Paul who successfully set the Internet and the Senate on fire.
Then he got the answer he wanted.
I’m sorry effective governance annoys you. But Washington sucks and you’re part of the problem.
Perhaps more importantly, these young conservatives are already being talked about for 2016. And people are excited.
We’re excited about someone who can get things done, even if we’re not in 100% agreement.
We’re excited about getting to 2016 and not having to say of a candidate “well, okay, if that’s all you’ve got.”
If that makes us “wacko birds,” then so be it.
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