POLITICS

Republican Hopefuls Push a Muscular Foreign Policy

By 
Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, a potential 2016 presidential candidate, at the South Carolina Freedom Summit on Saturday. Travis Dove for The New York Times 
GREENVILLE, S.C. — A group of Republican presidential hopefuls gathered here Saturday to advocate a more muscular foreign policy and to criticize the man they hope to succeed for what they described as a weak and misguided approach to international affairs.
Declared candidates and those preparing to enter the race for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination sought to appeal to the crowd at the South Carolina Freedom Summit, which included many current and former members of the military and their spouses, by offering tough talk on terrorism and calling for a stronger American presence in the Middle East and a better relationship with Israel.
Senator Marco Rubio of Florida was cheered for his call for the United States to be “the strongest military power in the world” and for his blunt message to terrorists, which he cribbed from the movie “Taken.”
“We will look for you, we will find you and we will kill you,” Mr. Rubio said.
Others framed their speeches as critiques of President Obama’s foreign policy. Former Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, who often speaks of his commitment to religious liberty and social issues, spent more time than usual attacking Mr. Obama’s leadership on foreign affairs.
“Heck, I would just be happy if the president would be able to tell the difference between our friends and enemies,” Mr. Santorum said. “Let me give the current president a little primer: Iran, enemy. Israel, friend.”
South Carolina, which hosts the first primary in the South, could play an outsize role in the 2016 Republican nomination process, even as many Southern states have moved their contests earlier. The current and prospective candidates all promised that they would be back plenty.
“The great state of South Carolina plays a pivotal role in our nation,” Senator Ted Cruz of Texas said. “Y’all have the blessing and the curse of being an early primary state, so you’re going to see presidential candidates descend upon you like those federal regulators and locusts,” he added, referring to a joke he had made earlier about the differences between the two.
“My one request is: Please hold back on the pesticide,” he joked.
Several of the speakers were quick to acknowledge current and former military members, who are influential in the state’s primary. Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin began his speech as he has done before, by asking members of the military and their spouses to stand up to be recognized. About a third of the crowd rose.
“Thank you to each and every one of you,” he said, nodding and applauding as the crowd’s response grew to a roar.
Mr. Cruz also drew attention to the military when speaking about his support for an overhaul of the tax system. Calling, as he often does, for the abolition of the Internal Revenue Service, Mr. Cruz said: “We spend about $500 billion a year on tax compliance. That’s all wasted. That’s about the budget of our entire military.”

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Mr. Walker personalized the debate over national security.
“National security is something you hear about,” he said. “Safety is something you feel.”
He described a fear that “it is not a matter of if” but when another “attempt is made on American soil.” He then delivered a line that brought his biggest standing ovation of the day: “I want a leader who is willing to take the fight to them before they take the fight to us.”
Mr. Walker, who does not have as much experience as some of his potential rivals on foreign policy, sought to demonstrate that he is working to address what could be viewed as his greatest weakness. Hours after he left the stage, he boarded a plane to Israel for what is being billed as a “listening tour,” which he has said includes a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But aside from a quick mention during his remarks, Mr. Walker was unwilling to discuss the trip.
“Really, for us, though, we wanted to make it an educational focus, not just a media trip,” he said in an interview with reporters after his speech.