Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul’s filibuster against John Brennan’s appointment to the CIA has gained national applause, and criticism, but one person who is standing with the senator on the president’s drone program is a very unlikely ally — Van Jones.
The former Obama White House official posted a series of tweets and appeared on CNN Thursday, applauding the senator for standing up for civil liberties.
“Rand Paul was a hero yesterday,” Mr. Jones said in a CNN appearance this morning. “And what I’ve been hearing is a lot of shame from liberals and progressives who felt like, ’Geeze we should be the ones up there sticking up for civil liberties and we should be the ones asking those tough questions. I think this is a very important watershed moment.”
“What Rand Paul did yesterday was he used the filibuster the way it’s supposed to be used,” he continued. “… I think it’s wrong to call it a stunt … This was not a stunt, this was democracy.”
Shortly after his CNN spot, Mr. Jones took his sentiments to Twitter
“Rand Paul is a villain on civil rights, but last night he was a hero on civil liberties,” he tweeted this afternoon.
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Another post read that “If a GOP prez implied he could kill US citizens on US soil without due process, we liberals would be marching down street #ConsistencyCounts.”
He then tweeted that “The point is not whether OBAMA would abuse that kind of authority. The NEXT prez might. So we must be vigilant now & #consistent. #NoDrones.”
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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