Stopped clock watch
by digby
The stopped clock that’s right twice a day, Rand Paul, “clarified” his comments from yesterday in which he said it would be ok for a drone plane to kill someone coming out of a liquor store with a gun and 50 bucks in his hand:
“My comments last night left the mistaken impression that my position on drones had changed.
“Let me be clear: It has not. Armed drones should not be used in normal crime situations. They may only be considered in extraordinary, lethal situations where there is an ongoing, imminent threat. I described that scenario previously during my Senate filibuster.
“Additionally, surveillance drones should only be used with warrants and specific targets.
“Fighting terrorism and capturing terrorists must be done while preserving our constitutional protections. This was demonstrated last week in Boston. As we all seek to prevent future tragedies, we must continue to bear this in mind.”
I’m not big on making policing policy around exceptions to “normal crime situations” particularly when terrorism has such a loose definition. But I’m glad to see that Paul agrees that shooting hellfire missiles at suspected liquor store robbers might be a bit over the top. (Sheesh, if you can’t count on a libertarian to hold the line on that, what good are they?)
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