REPUBLICAN GANG WARFARE

Rand Paul announced today that he's running for president, and a hawkish outside group plans to attack him immediately:

As Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky is set to announce his presidential campaign on Tuesday, a television ad tethers him to President Obama’s policy on Iran as part of a $1 million advertising buy painting him as “dangerous.”

The ad is a 30-second spot that will run on broadcast networks and on Fox News this week in the first four early primary states....

It is unusual for an outside group to try to swamp a candidate’s announcement day, but Mr. Paul has been viewed with deep concern by foreign policy hawks for his noninterventionist views. The ad is being run by a 501(c)4 group, the Foundation for a Secure and Prosperous America, that doesn’t have to disclose its donors and is led by Rick Reed, a strategist involved in the “Swiftboat Veterans for Truth” against John Kerry in the 2004 presidential campaign.

But Daniel Larison notes this:

While reports have emphasized Reed’s role in the attacks on Kerry during the 2004 election, the group has its roots in pro-McCain advocacy from the 2008 election cycle and Reed has been a longtime McCain supporter.

And as a pro-McCain group from 2008 gears up to attack Rand Paul, McCain himself has revealed that he plans to run for reelection in 2016 -- and he's going to be faced with immediate right-wing opposition:

The Senate Conservatives Fund (SCF) has launched an effort to defeat Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), bashing him for failing to uphold the principles of a “true conservative” just hours after he announced his intention to run for reelection.

“There are few Republicans who have betrayed our conservative principles more than John McCain,” SCF President Ken Cuccinelli said in an email to supporters Tuesday of the party's 2008 nominee for president.

Cuccinelli heads SCF now, but it was founded in 2008 by Jim DeMint, and the group endorsed Rand Paul over establishment candidate Trey Grayson in the 2010 GOP Senate primary in Kentucky.

So a group that endorsed Rand Paul is attacking John McCain and a group founded to back McCain is attacking Paul.

Root for injuries?