As their public squabble over national security, the future of the GOP, and pork products/spending nears almost a full week, Rand Paul appears ready to call a truce with Chris Christie.
“I didn’t pick this recent fight with the governor down in New Jersey,” Paul said on a New Hampshire radio show this morning, “but I think the party does better if we have less infighting, so I would suggest if he wants to ratchet it down, I’m more than happy to.”
The tiff between two likely 2016 presidential candidates began last week when Christie warned that the libertarian approach to foreign policy working its way into the GOP was “very dangerous.” The two then traded barbs back and forth, with Paul claiming Christie uses the “cloak of 9/11 victims” for in national-security debates and calling the New Jersey governor “the king of bacon.” Christie, meanwhile, had taken a swipe at Paul over the fact that Kentucky receives much more in federal spending than it pays in taxes, boasting that New Jersey gets much less back from Washington than it puts in.
Even as he tried to quell the tension with Christie this morning, Paul still made sure to differentiate himself. When asked about his presidential aspirations, Paul said, “I’m the kind of candidate, if I were to be a national candidate, who says, ‘Young people, Republicans, we will protect your privacy, we do care about the Internet, we do want to promote a strong national defense but a less aggressive foreign policy.’ I think if you see that, I think that will grow our party.”