Rand Paul: My Foreign Policy Most Like George H.W. Bush's

A day after he won the CPAC straw poll, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said that he believed his foreign policy was most in line with that of George H.W. Bush.

Appearing on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace and addressing concerns that he was too soft on foreign policy to win the GOP nomination should he run for president in 2016, Paul said, “I see my foreign policy in the same line as what came out of probably the first George Bush.”

He said his view was “the mainstream of the Republican position” and mentioned that after he opposed intervention in Syria, “that became the dominant position in the country” among Republicans and Democrats.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has said he does not agree with Paul on foreign policy, and Cruz positioned his Reaganesque foreign policy between Sen. John McCain’s and Paul’s during a significant speech at the Uninvited II national security forum across the street from CPAC. Breitbart News sponsored that event.

Paul said that those who are trying to say his views are not in the mainstream of Republican thinking are “people who want to take advantage for their own personal political gain” before saying that he believes in a “strong national defense” like Reagan did.

After mentioning that there aren’t Republicans who are clamoring to send troops to Ukraine, Paul said that Reagan also understood that nations should not “mistake our reluctance for a lack of resolve.”

“They still need to know that with the United States,” Paul said.

Paul and Cruz would be competing for the same voters should they both run for the office of president. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, whose endorsement has the most impact in GOP primaries, said that if she does not run, Cruz and Paul would be at the top of her list.