In spite of the tarnished reputation of the neo-cons and the movement by many in the tea party wing toward a more isolationist foreign policy that is open to real cuts in defense spending, all but one of the leading 2012 candidates — in early speeches and campaign books — appear to be toeing a hawkish, interventionist line and promising increased spending on the Pentagon.
When Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour abruptly broke with that consensus Tuesday in Iowa, he set himself apart from the field and positioned himself to fill a potentially significant opening in the 2012 GOP debate. Former Govs. Tim Pawlenty and Mitt Romney and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, meanwhile, have differed largely only in their attempts to outdo one another in committing to what Bush called the “freedom agenda.”…
Practically speaking, the change inside the party has meant that none of the several Republicans moving seriously toward presidential runs joined former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton in calling for Obama to stand with former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak — though Bolton, on many other policy issues, is a neo-con of the first order. They have been, when asked, bullish on the notion of a no-fly zone over Libya and competitive in their devotion to Israeli security.
The GOP response to the unfolding situation in Libya is particularly illustrative.
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