As Paul points out, when was the last time toppling of secular dictator guided a Middle East nation towards a self-sustaining liberalism? Was it Egypt or Libya? The notion that we have the capacity to create a functional ally in the Middle East is laughable. What happens if ISIS is repulsed? Are we in it with them until Assad is expelled from power? I sure didn’t hear a coherent answer from the administration or any of the cowering Senators up for re-election on the matter.

Instead, what senators are doing right now is figuring out a way to allow Obama to use the existing Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) against ISIS.

AUMF authorizes force against those who bore responsibility for the 9/11 attacks. John Kerry – who Paul called “intellectually dishonest” – tells the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that congressional authority passed in 2001 justifies arming moderate Syrian rebels to fight against ISIS –or maybe the Christians, or maybe the Alawites, or maybe themselves.

Remember, this is the same John Kerry, who, when it was convenient, voted for the Iraq War and when it was also convenient said, “There’s nothing — nothing — in my life in public service I regret more, nothing even close” than voting for the Iraq war. This is the president who lamented the growing scope of the War on Terror. Built his early career on the argument. Both of them now embrace – no, perpetuate – an open-ended mission creep. The question is: Do presidents get to use this power in perpetuity? Or is it only Democrat presidents?