U.S. Sen. Rand Paul has noticed that some of his would-be rivals for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination are using this week's Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) meeting to portray him as a foreign policy isolationist.
"I think people ought to spend their time trying to sell their own ideas instead of trying to mischaracterize mine," Paul said Friday.
Hours before Paul was set to speak at CPAC, a conference that is in many ways the first audition for Republican presidential candidates, Kentucky's junior senator told the Herald-Leader his position on what is happening in the Ukraine is in line with what most Americans are thinking.
Paul said neither Republicans nor Democrats are calling for military intervention in the region, where Crimea is attempting to secede from the Ukraine amid a heavy Russian military presence, drawing sharp rebukes the U.S.
"So I'm definitely within the mainstream of opinion that I'm not proposing we send soldiers to the Ukraine," Paul said.
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Sam Youngman
Lexington Herald-Leader