Reason: Rand Paul goes hawkish, becomes less interesting

UPDATED WITH STATEMENT FROM PAUL’S OFFICE!

UPDATED 3.30 P.M.: For a summary of the specifics of Sen. Paul’s amendment and a discussion of GOP attitudes toward defense spending, go here.

UPDATED 11.50 A.M.: For a statement from Doug Stafford, senior advisor to Sen. Paul, about Paul’s intention, scroll to bottom.

There’s no question that Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is one of the few bright spots in American politics, bringing a libertarianish policy orientation to questions about the size, scope, and spending of the federal government. That’s one of the reasons he’s been widely hailed as “the most interesting man in…” the Senate, politics, the country, you name it, by a wide host of folks (including Reason).

Alone among leading GOP candidates for the 2016 presidential nomination, Paul has criticized the wild defense spending and demonstrably failed foreign policy initiatives of interventionists in both parties. That’s earned him the ire of characters at the war-drum-beaters at places such as the Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute and from many of his fellow Republicans. To Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who never met a country he didn’t want to arm, bomb, or protect with U.S. troops (depending on his blood sugar levels, it could be the same country in any given month), Paul was one of those “wacko birds,” folks who questioned the military-surveillance-industrial complex. Not only did Paul want to cut defense spending, he wanted Congress to declare war when we, you know, went to war! What a kook!

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Reason: Rand Paul goes hawkish, becomes less interesting