Rand's Stand Ends After 12 Hours of Anti-Drone Filibuster
Republicans care about due process again! Or, at least, they did for 12 hours yesterday while Kentucky Senator Rand Paul stood on the Senate floor filibustering President Obama's nominee for director of the CIA, John Brennan. And as grossly disingenuous as it is to see people like Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas—seen here in the National Review condemning John Kerry's "flip-flops" and lauding George W. Bush's national security policies—and right-wing pundit Michelle Malkin—who wrote an entire book defending the WWII internment of Japanese Americans—suddenly start caring about the rule of law, at least someone is: only one Democrat, Ron Wyden of Oregon, joined Paul on the floor, and even then admitted that he would vote to confirm Brennan. But the Republican caucus appears to have undergone a remarkable political shift, thanks apparently to the popularity of the filibuster on Twitter, and by the end of the night Paul was joined by the senior senator from Kentucky, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who announced he would oppose Brennan's nomination. Maybe if we can make it trend on Twitter we can get one party to oppose extrajudicial assassination on non-American citizens, too. [NYT | Mother Jones | NRO | BuzzFeeᴅ]