Rand Paul’s Opponent Attacks Him For Opposing Patriot Act and War

by Elias J. Atienza

Kentucky Democratic Senate nominee Jim Gray released an ad today that attacked Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) for his foreign policy. It features the words of the Republican nominee Donald Trump, and other prominent Republican leaders.

According to the Lexington Herald-Leader, his campaign is spending $325,000 to air the ad on radio and television.

“Rand Paul is a disaster on military!” the ad starts with Donald Trump. The Republican nominee and Paul have had their spats, with Paul asking if Trump was a serious candidate in December of 2015.

The ad then goes onto to feature  Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ), and Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly criticizing Paul on his foreign policy.

The ad also attacked him for opposing the USA PATRIOT Act, which Rand Paul spent ten hours filibustering last May. Paul has been a vocal opponent of the USA PATRIOT Act ever since he arrived in the Senate in 2011.

In addition, Gray’s ad attacks him for wanting to cut military spending by 30 percent. According to PolitifactPaul has submitted budgets which would cut defense spending by 25-30 percent, but Gray’s ad omitted one key factor.

Both Paul budgets also eliminated funding in the defense budget for war spending and overseas operations based on the assumption that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were winding down. Lawmakers can argue whether that was prudent, however, it’s important context.

The Lexington Herald-Leader says this is the first negative ad to be aired by either campaign, though America’s Liberty PAC, which supports Paul, aired an ad which was critical of Gray and tied him to Hillary Clinton.

Watch below:

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