From Barefoot and Progressive, more words of wisdom from wunderkind Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY).

Rand Paul then decided to play some Tea Party History. You know Tea Party History, right? How the Founding Fathers ended slavery, Sputnik brought down the Soviet Union, Reagan never raised taxes, so on and so on. Rand Paul's been known to play this before with Hitler-flation, and played with Henry Clay in his opening speech on the Senate floor. And here's what he had to say about the Iraq/Iran War in the 80's:

"During the Iran/Iraq war from 1980-88, there were F-14's on both sides, you know, we're bombing each other with planes that we paid for on both sides because we got them for the Shah, and then we were supporting Sadam Hussein at the time."

That would be a great point, if it actually had any basis in reality. The United States didn't sell or give any aircraft to Iraq. Iraq never had F-14's. I get the "point" he's making here, but this once more shows either an incredible lack of understanding of history, or a willingness to make stuff up in order score political points.

Reality in the Republican World does have a different bend. It helps them make serious decisions about taxes and budgets and such. But even with these words of wisdom, I'll bet he and other Repubs don't think there's anything wrong with arming both Egypt and Israel, past enemies, with US military weapon systems. It's all good business for them, and they have no illusions about retaining the military-industrial complex.

But it is kind of weird to see M1 Abrams tanks facing off from the Egyptian protestors, isn't it? And F16s flying over Cairo? (Hat tip to Prof Farley)

UPDATE: Ron/Rand/Ryan typo corrected. Apologies.