Was NJ Governor Chris Christie right to call Rand Paul dangerous?
New Jersey Republican GovernorChris Christie took a harsh swipe at Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky last week declaring Pauls criticism of the National Security Administration as dangerous. Appearing on a panel with other Republican governors Christie said:
This strain of libertarianism thats going through parties right now and making big headlines I think is a very dangerous thought.
Asked if he was referring to Rand Paul Christie responded You can name any number of people and hes one of them.
Christies remarks were part of a strategy for his possible presidential run in 2016. He is trying to write off fears about NSA snooping as libertarian and drive a wedge between neoconservatives who are hawkish on foreign policy and Paul. Christie wants to portray himself as further to the right on foreign policy than Paul since many of Christies other positions are relatively liberal.
However it is not just libertarians who oppose the surveillance. Christians afraid of the government turning on them oppose the surveillance. The socially conservative news site WorldNetDaily and pundit Glenn Beck loudly oppose the surveillance. Republican congressman Justin Amash of Michigan who is leading the congressional effort to curtail NSA surveillance had no problem with the US invading Afghanistan and going after bin Laden in Pakistan. Christie is sneakily trying to confuse genuine objections to libertarian isolationism with libertarian views about government surveillance hoping Republicanswill write Paul off as libertarian on the former too.