Sen. Rand Paul has picked up the endorsement of popular South Carolina Congressman Mick Mulvaney.
According to the Washington Post, Mulvaney backed the Kentucky Senator because he’s a solid conservative who knows how to get things done. He also thinks the “first in the South” primary state is ready for Paul’s foreign policy message.
Mulvaney’s endorsement gives Paul a much-needed boost in perhaps the least habitable early primary state…
Mulvaney, an iconoclastic conservative who frequently breaks with leadership, said South Carolina was readier than ever for Paul’s message.
“I think people, over the last four years, have seen that an interventionist foreign policy may not be the healthiest plan for our nation,” said Mulvaney. “I will never ever forget the Vietnam vets that came into our office to talk about this — especially this one giant man, this mountain of a guy, who said to me ‘Look, we have to get our troops home. It’s killing our families. There are kids on their fourth or fifth deployments. It’s not isolationist, it’s not even close. It’s not even close to pacifist. It’s about a more circumspect, thoughtful use of military power. That’s falling on receptive ears. Our South Carolina sons and daughters are fighting these battles, and they don’t want to be used as decoys.”
The Congressman considered Texas Sen. Ted Cruz as well as others, but decided to line up with Paul.
On the trail, several candidates who’ve never held office have gone after the same voters as Paul. Mulvaney ruled them out because “to really understand how broken the system is you need to have seen it from the inside just a little.” And Mulvaney decided against endorsing Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), who has critiqued Paul’s approach to the Planned Parenthood fight, because he doubted Cruz’s effectiveness.
“I’ve seen both of them work,” said Mulvaney. “When I see Ted – it’s almost as if Ted thinks if you yell loud enough and give a dramatic speech, it’s going to solve things, and I just don’t think that’s the way the world works…”
