Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., became the target of media criticism Wednesday after he accused NBC News’ Savannah Guthrie during an interview of “editorializing” her questions.
“That Rand Paul sure is a charmer,” tweeted Business Insider’s Nicholas Carson, after Paul said Today Show co-anchor Guthrie was phrasing her questions as declaratives rather than interrogatives during an interview with the newly declared 2016 presidential candidate.
Politico’s Ben White tweeted, “Politicians mansplaining to female journos how to conduct an interview is just, well, it’s just very bad.”
Guthrie began the exchange by noting that Paul has in the past taken foreign policy positions that departed from current GOP orthodoxy. She then said the Kentucky lawmaker, who announced Tuesday that he will compete in the 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, has switched positions on several key issues.
“You once said Iran was not a threat, now you say it is. You once proposed ending foreign aid to Israel, now you support it, at least for the time being, and you once offered to drastically cut…defense spending and now you want to increase it 16 percent,” she started.
This did not sit well with Paul, who accused her eventually of “editorializing.”
“Before we go. Before we go. Before we go through — Before we go through a litany of — Before we go through a litany of,” Paul said over crosstalk from the Peacock Network Washington reporter. “Why don’t you let me explain instead of talking over me, OK?”
Guthrie fell silent.
“Before we go through a litany of things you say I changed on, why don’t you ask me a question: Have I changed my opinion? That would be sort of a better way to approach an interview,” he said.
The NBC News reporter attempted to reword her original questions, but Paul was still unimpressed.
“No, no. You’ve editorialized. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,” he said. “Listen, you’ve editorialized. Let me answer a question. You ask a question, and you say, ‘Have your views changed?’ instead of editorializing and saying my views have changed.”
Paul said he still supports ending all foreign aid but acknowledges that terminating that unpopular but politically-treasured program must be done “gradually.” He said he favors cutting off aid first to countries that are explicitly anti-American. Paul added that his position is the same as that stated to a joint session of Congress in 1996 by Benjamin Netanyahu, who was re-elected last month as Israel’s prime minister.
Reporters were unenthusiastic about Paul’s response to Guthrie, questioning his alleged foreign policy flip-flops.
“Rand Paul on NBC sounding like that drunk dude in a bar,” Business Insider U.K.’s Jim Edwards quipped on Twitter.
Talking Points Memo’s Caitlin MacNeal added, “Rand Paul thinks he knows how to be a journalist better than you do.”
The senator’s aggressive response to Guthrie’s line of questioning Wednesday morning comes on the heels of his shushing CNBC’s Kelly Evans in February during a similarly combative interview.
