Chad’s Morning Brief: Rand Paul Says Moderates Aren’t the Future for the GOP, Iraq Crisis Continues, and Other Top Stories

Here is your Morning Brief for the morning of June 16, 2014. Give me your feedback below and tune in to The Chad Hasty Show for these and many more topics from 8:30 to 11am. Remember, you can listen online at KFYO.com or on your iPhone/Android with the radioPup App.

Important Election Dates:

Early Voting for the District 3 Runoff Election: June 9-17

Election Day for Lubbock City Council District 3 Runoff: June 21

U.S. Senator Rand Paul (Alex Wong, Getty Images)

Rand Paul on Moderates

Senator Rand Paul has been outspoken recently about how Republicans can win in the future. Over the weekend in Iowa Paul spoke about moderates inside the GOP. According to POLITICO, Paul doesn't see the moderates as the way forward.

Rand Paul said Saturday that Republicans need to nominate a different kind of candidate to win the presidency.
“You guys have a strong force here but frankly the president won Iowa twice so we can’t do the same old same old,” the Kentucky senator told the Iowa Republican state convention here. “The definition of insanity is thinking the same thing will get you different results.”
Paul said he wants Republicans “to be the dominant party again,” and noted that he’s been spending time in African-American areas and on college campuses trying to broaden the base. He said talking about the drug war and his emphasis on privacy resonates.
The likely 2016 candidate spent most of his 20-minute speech throwing red meat to the about 1,300 delegates at Hy-Vee Hall.
“There are people who say we need to be more moderate,” he said. “I couldn’t disagree more.”
“I think the core of our message: we can be even more bold,” he added. “When Ronald Reagan won a landslide, he ran unabashedly … that’s what we need … It isn’t about being tepid.”
Before his speech, Paul met with Iowa Republican Senate candidate Joni Ernst. He opened his speech with jokes about the campaign commercial in which she talked about castrating hogs as a kid on the farm.
“I can tell you the purveyors of pork are shaking in their boots and worried that Joni Ernst will win,” Paul said.
Then he attacked her Democratic opponent, Rep. Bruce Braley, over recorded comments he made at a fundraiser that were critical of the idea the state’s senior senator, Chuck Grassley, could become chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee if Republicans win the majority this November. Braley noted in the video that Grassley is a farmer who does not have a law degree.
“I don’t see how Iowa can send us a guy who disparages farming and disparages my friend Chuck Grassley,” said Paul.

Iraq

USA Today reports that Iraqi insurgents have posted photos that appear to show terrorists massacring Iraqi soldiers. The only good news lately out of Iraq is that the Iraqi military seems to be fighting back.

Iraq's military appeared to regain some of its footing Sunday even as the Islamic militant group that captured two major cities last week posted graphic photos that appear to show its fighters massacring dozens of captured Iraqi soldiers.
The pictures on a militant website appear to show masked fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) loading the captives onto flatbed trucks before forcing them to lie face-down in a shallow ditch with their arms tied behind their backs. The bodies of the captives are then shown, soaked in blood after being shot.
The Associated Press said the images were verified and were consistent with its reporting. Iraq's top military spokesman, Lt. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, confirmed the authenticity of the photos Sunday and said he was aware of cases of mass murder of Iraqi soldiers
The news came as insurgents advanced on the northwest of the country, with a raid on a strategic town close to the Syrian border, where the Iraqi military repelled the assault, military officials said.
Fierce fighting erupted in the early morning hours in Tal Afer, about 30 miles west of Mosul, and the only larger town in Nineveh province not under control by ISIL.
"The army with the help of residents of the city managed to stop the attack on the city," said Qassim Atta, spokesman for the Iraqi military.
Military officials said army helicopters destroyed 50 cars full of ISIL fighters Sunday, adding it also killed 279 "terrorists" in the past 24 hours.
Residents who fought against the militants described a chaotic scene.
"The ISIL attacked the town from four directions but we were ready to fight back," said Mohamad Ahmad, a resident of Tal Afer. "We endured for hours, they came in big numbers and we fought along with Iraqi army to protect the city."
Tal Afer is strategic city and ISIL considers it key to their plan to create an Islamic state spanning Iraq and Syria.
After stunning gains last week including two provincial capitals, Mosul and Tikrit, the advance toward Baghdad was slowed about 30 miles away from the capital with Iraqi commanders saying their forces were now starting to push the militants back, and that soldiers had recaptured two towns north of Baghdad.
The crisis prompted Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel on Saturday to order the aircraft carrier USS George H. W. Bush and two other shops into the Persian Gulf as the U.S. weighs options for responding to the situation as some Congressmen call for airstrikes.
Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., chairman of the House intelligence committee and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., argued Sunday on Fox News and CBS, respectively, that the insurgents' success will create a safe haven for planning terrorist activity against the U.S.
While talking on CNN's State of the Union, Graham said the U.S. should engage in talks with Iran to negotiate a settlement in Iraq.
"The Iranians can provide some assets to make sure Baghdad doesn't fall. We need to coordinate with the Iranians," he said.

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