Rand Paul filibusters vote on CIA director nominee John Brennan over drones

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY). / SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

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Rand Paul: U.S. going to "drop a drone hell-fired missile on Jane Fonda?"

Updated: 4:50 p.m. ET

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is filibustering the nomination of John Brennan to be director of the CIA, delivering a protracted speech on the Senate floor in protest of the Obama administration's controversial drone program, of which Brennan has been a key architect.

Paul, speaking during the debate surrounding Brennan's nomination on the Senate floor, said he would "speak until I can no longer speak" in order to get his point across.

"I rise today to begin to filibuster John Brennan's nomination for the CIA. I will speak until I can no longer speak. I will speak as long as it takes, until the alarm is sounded from coast to coast that our Constitution is important, that your rights to trial by jury are precious, that no American should be killed by a drone on American soil without first being charged with a crime, without first being found to be guilty by a court," he said.

Even though Paul started his speech just before noon ET, he was not technically filibustering Brennan's nomination: In order to do that, he'd have to object to calls for unanimous consent for a full Senate vote, which would then force Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to file for cloture. At just after 4:45 p.m. ET, Paul objected to Reid's call for unanimous consent. Once Reid files for cloture, the vote would be delayed by a full day - at this point, the vote would be on Friday morning - and would subsequently require a 60-vote threshold. It is likely that Brennan would draw that support.

Yesterday, Attorney General Eric Holder clarified to Paul in a letter that the U.S. drone policy does authorize the use of military force on against Americans on U.S. soil in cases of "extraordinary circumstance."

Paul, a longstanding opponent of the administration's controversial targeted killing policy, expressed his outrage in a statement following his receipt of the letter and continued that tirade on the floor today.

"That Americans could be killed in a cafe in San Francisco or in a restaurant in Houston or at their home in bowling green, Kentucky, is an abomination," Paul said. "I object to people becoming so fearful they gradually give up their rights."

"I don't rise to oppose John Brennan's nomination simply for the person," he said. "I rise today for the principle."

[ShlomoFeldman]

How about a Drone strike on Attorney General Eric Holder who authorizes illegal gun sales to Mexican Drug Cartels so they can kill American border-patrol-agents and innocent Mexican civilians as a means to change the public view of lawful and peaceful gun ownership in the USA.

(I say this jokingly of course because I don't want a drone strike at me as soon as I post this comment.)

[ShlomoFeldman]

How about a Drone strike on Attorney General Eric Holder who authorizes illegal gun sales to Mexican Drug Cartels so they can kill American border-patrol-agents and innocent Mexican civilians as a means to change the public view of lawful and peaceful gun ownership in the USA.

(I say this jokingly of course because I don't want a drone strike at me as soon as I post this comment.)

[Patrickdh10]

Drone strike on Benedict Arnold Fonda? It's not too late is it? When is she going to pay for her collaborative actions which possibly resulted in the deaths of brave young soldiers doing their patriotic duty and her betrayal of American P.O.W.'s in desperation seeking to expose the truth of their horrifying conditions? Instead some communist infiltrators want to award her a medal. Sickening and pathetic.

[skephart]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssoOASanKao

Published Feb 2013

Emmy-winning journalist, Shad Olson, explores the controversy over U.S. drone policy, both at home and abroad.

While technological sky supremacy gives America strategic superiority on the battlefield, the prospect of drone proliferation over U.S. cities is causing concern about loss of privacy, an end to Habeas Corpus and judicial due process and the destruction of Constitutional rights.

South Dakota U.S. Senator John Thune and former U.S. Senate candidate, Sam Kephart share their views about the consequences of domestic drone deployment in the fight against terrorism.

[obwon2008]

This is one of the reasons so many educated, thinking loyal Americans refuse to give up their gun rights to these dictatorial idiots now in Washington. This is NOT about liberal or conservative, since we have more than enough manpower and means to capture and arrest a suspected terrorists. There are so many blind followers of democracy destroying socialism in this country that it is scary. If a USSR totalitarian dictatorship is what you liberal monkeys want then you should be prepared to fight and die for it. War clouds are forming on the horizon

[joe-greene]

It's amazing how the O White House even makes Bush seem less criminal. Over the decades, there has been no shortage of Cooper-style death but at least, someone had to work at it. Drone use is pure laziness.

[FOX_PARROTS_LIE]

Seems that way only to constipated conservative conspiracy theorists!

[FOX_PARROTS_LIE]

OK, so now that the teabagging moron has had his say, we can have the vote today that was supposed to occur yesterday. Just more GOP obstructionism!

[obwon2008]

So I guess that means that if the GOP ever comes to power again, they can take a drone and wipe fools like you out. Hey, I like that idea.

[hdc77494]

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2013/03/06/Holder-Drone-strike-in-US-conceivable/UPI-94601362560400/

Eric Holder says drone strikes against US citizens within the US are LEGAL???

[obwon2008]

What do you expect from an Attorney General (hack, cough, gurgle, gasp) who authorizes illegal gun sales to Mexican Drug Cartels as a means to change the public view of lawful and peaceful gun ownership in the USA. Also, a man who before becoming the Atty General, protected MERS (and still protects MERS from inside) allowing hundreds of thousands of Americans to lose their homes to foreclosure). Obama USES the power to live the lifestyle of a billionaire, his goal is to push all of America in poverty and keep them their for his benefit.

[johnlockesghost]

Deploying Drone aircraft over the United States as spy planes and killing machines to be used against American citizens is unconstitutional. It is in violation of the most fundamental relationship between a government and the citizens that it governs and has sworn to protect. However, that the Obama administration and those that support him in this outrage, would do such a thing is not, in the least, surprising, but, rather, just another assault on the constitution and the American citizenry.

[johnlockesghost]

In any case, the use of drones to kill an American citizen denies the citizen his rights, not to mention the collateral damage that will most assuredly occur. If some one is planning a mass murder, then, the authorities have the needed intelligence to head him/her off. The cop killed in the fire in California got his just desserts by the authorities following procedure. What I'm protesting is giving the government free reign to spy on and kill American citizens without due process. It's another step into the morass of tyranny. We fought a war some 237 years ago to overcome an overbearing government and allow people to live in peace and freedom. Don't you understand anything about our country?

[hdc77494]

He's not protesting drones! Of course you have to read down to the third paragraph to learn his point is that the administration, until late this afternoon, asserted that the president had the authority under the constitution to execute American citizens on American soil via drone strikes without due process. One, the military IS NOT ALLOWED to attack within the US, and the president has no such authority, no matter what our uneducated AG wrote in his legal opinion. Too bad CBS is choosing to ignore the real story.