Sen. Rand Paul has Bill Maher unsure of which party he would vote for in 2016.
“I think it’s only a good thing for America when I’m not sure who I’m going to vote for next time,” Maher said at the end of his interview with Paul on Real Time With Bill Maher, which ranged from ISIS, to ending the war on drugs, to climate change, to Paul’s push to restore felon voting rights.
“I think it is a fiscally conservative thing to want less people in prison, particularly non-violent people because it is extraordinarily expensive,” Paul told Maher.
Maher pressed Paul to comment on climate change, at which Paul first joked, “I think the best way to do this is ‘Bill, you’re fading out here, I’m not sure I can hear the question…’”
Paul then argued that while there is “abundant evidence” of carbon increasing, “All I ask for is that the solution has to be a balanced solution, you have to account for jobs and jobs lost by regulation.”
Maher referred to his respect for Rand Paul’s father Ron Paul, famous for his strict anti-intervention stance when it comes to the Middle East. Maher then brought up Rand Paul’s commitment to targeting ISIS: “That doesn’t sound very Paul-ish to me,” Maher said. “I thought I could count on you to be against troops on the ground.”
“I’m not for sending any troops into Iraq,” Paul replied. “Every time we have toppled a secular dictator, chaos has ensued and radical Islam has become more of a threat.”
“The reason why I think it is a little bit different now …is I think that ISIS is now a threat to our embassy and to our consulate, and I think we do need to defend American interests and there are lines that occasionally have to be drawn.”
Finally, Paul assured Maher that he still strongly opposes the War on Drugs: “I will do everything to end the War on Drugs. The War on Drugs has become the most racially disparate outcome that you have in the entire country. Our prisons are full of black and brown kids,” Paul said. “So I want to end the War on Drugs because it is wrong for everybody, but particularly because poor people are caught up in this and their lives are ruined by it.”
Watch the interview below:
