Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky said Wednesday that Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida is on the “wrong side of history” in the ongoing debate over the NSA’s phone-snooping program, saying his 2016 GOP presidential rival wants people to trade liberty for a false sense of security.
Mr. Paul said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that independent commissions have said no terrorists were stopped by the program, which the Senate voted to halt last year.
“Terrorists want us to fear them. They can’t defeat us on any battlefield, but they win when we are fearful. So Marco Rubio is buying into the fear,” Mr. Paul said.
“He wants you to trade your liberty for a false sense of security, and I object to that,” Mr. Paul said. “I think it’s a really important debate to have. But I think he’s on the wrong side of history, and I think if he finds that he’s going to tout across the country that he is for generalized collection of records of all Americans, I think he may be surprised that maybe most Americans don’t want that.”
Mr. Rubio has defended the NSA program as a necessary tool to fight terrorism and in recent days has criticized Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas in particular on the issue.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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