Senator offers to take Christie for a beer, but maintains attacks are “stupid”
In an interview regarding his rift with fellow Republicans Wednesday, libertarian leaning Senator Rand Paul dropped a strong hint that he is planning a 2016 presidential run.
In an interview with a New Hampshire radio station, Paul stated “I’m the kind of candidate, if I were to be a national candidate, that would be someone that says, ‘You know, young people, Republicans, we will protect your privacy, we do care about the Internet, we do want to promote a less aggressive foreign policy – a strong national defense, but a less aggressive foreign policy. I think if you see that, I think that will grow our party.”
“I’ve been trying to help the national party to grow bigger, bringing new people into it,” Paul told WGIR-AM.
Turning to the ongoing feud with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Paul said “I didn’t pick this recent fight with the governor down in New Jersey. But I think the party does better if we have less infighting, so I would suggest if he wants to ratchet it down, I’m more than happy to.”
In an attempt to de-fuse the rift, Paul suggested that they talk it out over a beer.
“With Gov. Christie it’s gotten a little too personal, so we’re ready to kiss and makeup,” Paul told Fox’s Neil Cavuto. “I think it’s time to dial it down. I think we’ve got enough Democrats to attack and maybe Republicans can quit attacking Republicans.”
Cavuto asked, somewhat tongue in cheek, if there was any possibility of a Paul-Christie 2016 ticket, to which the Senator responded “We’re going to have to patch things up. If we can sit down. I’m inviting him for a beer.”
“Anytime he would like to come down and sit down at the pub right around the corner from the Senate and have a beer,” Paul told Cavuto. “We’ll formalize it, we’ll put it in writing but I think we could sit down and have a beer and mend things.”
Christie’s attacks earlier this week, centered around insinuations from the governor that Paul is “dangerous” for speaking out and voting against NSA spying, and and that his desire to reduce runaway federal spending is “an esoteric debate.”
Paul hit back at Christie, alleging that he was exploiting the victims of 9/11 to score political points. The Senator also slammed Christie over his excessive demands for federal aid in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.
Christie then suggested that Paul should “start looking at the pork barrel spending he brings home,” prompting the Kentucky Senator to label Christie the “king of bacon”.
“At times people have said Chris Christie has some libertarian leanings,” Paul told Cavuto in the latest interview. “So it’s actually a little ironic that we see him criticizing libertarians in the party for libertarian influences, because some libertarians actually had high hopes that he had some libertarian leanings,” he added.
“The offer to have a beer with Chris Christie stands. If he wants to break bread and see if we can find some common ground, I think it’ll help the party to not have us feuding.” the Senator stated.
Despite the call for a ceasefire, Paul maintained that it was a “stupid argument” to blame him for Kentucky’s federal aid, given that much of it is based on poverty formulas and the fact that Kentucky has military bases.
