Lens of Liberty

Tonight’s Fox News GOP debate from South Carolina was a frustrating thing to watch. Rep. Ron Paul, after being largely ignored for the first thirty five minutes, struggled to give a clear defense of his foreign policy. In front of a fairly hostile crowd, Paul stumbled through a question about the assassination of Osama bin Laden and the war in Afghanistan. Because foreign policy is the one are where he will struggle to win over GOP base voters, the Congressman needs to be clear and effective when discussing that issue. It just didn’t happen tonight.

Video of that segment:

h/t RonPaulFlix

I thought Rep. Paul gave a number of great answers on the effect of the drug war on minorities, cutting defense spending, and taxes, but the it’s the foreign policy issue that will keep many Republicans from supporting him. That’s the issue on which he needs to convince voters.

Which is good, since he’s failed to make good on most of his own.

I’m very happy to see that U.S. forces will be withdrawn from Iraq by the end of the year. Everyone’s going to have a different angle on this news and it is true that it’s hardly the end of our involvement there. There’s still Obama’s adventures in Libya and Uganda, as well as the never-ending Afghanistan war. All fine and well to discuss all of that, but the bottom line is more men and women of our military will be home. For now, I’m just going to be happy about that.