Short version: Rand Paul indicated that he wouldn't support Pompeo as Secretary of State because he's Rand Paul, and he's in the Drama Club. During the healthcare debates, that was my term for the group consisting of Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, Ron Johnson and Rand. "I can't vote for this! It's not conservative enough! It would make me impure! Oh, the drama! Look at how dramatic I am!"
Damn, something must be wrong with my caps lock. You get the point anyway.
None of them ever would have cast a pivotal vote against the legislation about which they were whining. They just like to posture. Rand Paul in particular is difficult to parse, so I spent posts like this one puzzling over his motives.
Anyway, Paul claims to be a libertarian. He's not. He's a conservative with a flare for the dramatic. (If you can't tell, I prefer dark comedy. You know, like modern politics!)
Paul originally opposed Pompeo ostensibly because Pompeo might be too much of a militarist. A conversation with Trump brought Rand Paul into line. Trump assured him that Pompeo would be a diplomat first. Supposedly, that's what happened, and after the phone call, Rand Paul flipped his vote, allowing Pompeo to scrape out of the Foreign Relations Committee with some, um... skid marks.
Nothing about Pompeo's background suggests that he is diplomatically inclined. And Trump? He's... just Trump. My point here is about Rand Paul. He was turning into a pivotal voter in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. There was a mess about Chris Coons voting "present," but that's just procedure. Rand Paul spared the GOP a major embarrassment. Why? Because at the end of the day, everything he says is for dramatic effect. As I have been writing for years.
When it comes down to the vote, if his party needs him because he is the pivotal voter, he'll flip, and every word he spoke amid his posturing disappears into the fog of journalistic memory, which is roughly equivalent to that of a goldfish.
Ladies and gentlemen, I present you with Rand Paul.
Damn. I gotta get me some new references.