Another Strategic Blunder: Rand Telegraphs Another Flip Flop

Originally appeared on the Rand Paul campaign site.

Rand Paul is now apparently, perhaps, maybe, against war.

David Weigel reports:

 The first Republican debate of the 2016 presidential election, said Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, will be between him and people who “want to blow up the world.” The Thursday night showdown will pit him against opponents who will “send half a million of your sons and daughters back” to Iraq. He vowed that he will ask his Republican presidential rivals, face to face, whether they “want to always intervene in every civil war around the world.”

“I want to be known as the candidate who’s not eager for war, who thinks war’s the last resort,” Paul said on a weekend swing through Iowa. “When we fight, we fight to win, but much of our involvement has led to consequences that made us less safe. You’ll see that come into sharp distinction.”...

Paul’s approach almost ensures that there will be a vigorous debate on Thursday night over foreign policy...It also marks a shift [flip-flop -RW ] back toward Paul’s roots — and, he hopes, a winning coalition of voters — after months in which he seemed to slide toward a more traditional Republican foreign policy as the Islamic State and other global dangers grew more worrisome.

If this is to be Rand's big gotcha moment, why is he announcing it in advance?

If he plans to  ask each candidate  if they  “want to always intervene in every civil war around the world," why would Rand telegraph this in advance? It only gives the other candidates time to think about how to answer the question, instead of dropping the question on them for the first time during the debate, where they would have to answer without preparation.

If Rand expects his question to shift the debate toward foreign policy, as Weigel indicates, Rand is sadly mistaken.

With Rand diving in the polls no one is going to engage him. Trump and Bush have no reason to, by being so far ahead of him in the polls. Those trailing Rand will go into attack mode against Trump and Bush not Rand. Now that they are prepared, by this advance warning, they will give short innocuous answers or perhaps just draw him out and cause him to flip flop on stage, on national television, by asking him if he believes the US should not continue in the fight against ISIS.

Rand's strategic thinking has been horrendous since he has entered the campaign and it appears he is not going to change that blundering momentum in the debate.

 -RW