Add Fox News host Bill O’Reilly to the list of those critical of Sen. Rand Paul.
O’Reilly joined the chorus of voices slamming the Republican from Kentucky on Tuesday for his comments that vaccines should not be mandatory and took the chance to take another swipe at the libertarian-leaning senator’s foreign policy, calling him “perhaps the most controversial candidate in the race.”
“That’s not unusual for me disagreeing with Mr. Paul,” O’Reilly said.
The conservative host also called Paul’s stance on terrorism and Iran “naïve,” reprising previous comments that Paul’s foreign policy views would hurt him in an eventual GOP primary.
Paul opposes the GOP-led effort to impose additional sanctions on Iran in an attempt to pressure the Iranians to give up their nuclear program.
“Sen. Paul loses traction because he has no plan to defeat the jihad and he comes across, maybe he’s not that way, it comes across as kind of let them do what they want to do as long as they’re not in the U.S.A.,” O’Reilly said Tuesday.
Paul declined to appear on the show Tuesday, O’Reilly said, adding to a string of refusals to appear on the program apparently stemming from O’Reilly’s criticism of the senator’s foreign policy views.
O’Reilly attacked Paul last summer for flipping his position on Israel and denying that he ever wanted to cut foreign aid to Israel. Paul has beefed up his support for Israel and shied away from his isolationist foreign policy views as he began seriously considering a presidential run.
“Rand Paul is going to be hurt by his foreign policy,” O’Reilly said during a previous show.
O’Reilly also suggested that Paul’s father, former Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, is becoming “increasingly radical.”