Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) criticized President Obama for being “petulant” and “childish” by refusing to meet with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday’s “On the Record” on the Fox News Channel.
Paul defended House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) extending an invitation to speak before Congress, saying “we are a co-equal branch of government, and the speaker’s in charge of inviting folks to speak, it’s only usually given to leaders, heads of state. Benjamin Netanyahu’s been here before. I can’t understand why it would be a controversy, other than maybe the president’s acting a little bit petulant over this because he wasn’t consulted. But it almost looks a little bit childish to me that he’s going to make a big stink over ‘oh, now I won’t even meet with an ally, who’s the head of state of an ally when he comes to Washington because I wasn’t consulted.'” And “Israel’s an important ally, I don’t understand why he would refuse to meet with him other than just sort of being, like I say, petulant or childish about not being consulted.”
Paul concluded “I think if the president wants to look like an adult in the room and wants to be part of the adult conversation, yeah, absolutely, they should never have brought this up at all. It looks childish not to meet with Netanyahu when he comes…I don’t think it looks well or represents the presidency well to behave that way.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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