Ron Paul Endorses Rand Paul
After tanking in the polls after his horrible performance in the first GOP debate, Senator Rand Paul has done the only thing that he can do and run back to his father. Former Congressman Ron Paul has been largely absent from Rand's Presidential campaign, because the Rand campaign wanted to portray Rand Paul as a more "serious" candidate for the Presidency than his father was and to avoid some of the more unpredictable avenues of support that Ron Paul received in 2008 and 2012. Some elements of the Ron Paul 2012 campaign wanted to try to sanitize Ron Paul in the same way with little success, namely Jesse Benton who was heading the official Rand Paul SuperPac this go around and has been recently indicted for violating federal election laws in 2012.
Unfortunately for Rand his attempt to bridge support between his father's libertarian base and more traditional Republicans has failed spectacularly. The Republican media, such as Jennifer Rubin and Rush Limbaugh, were never going to accept Rand Paul because of who his father was, and the traditional Republican voter had far more credible candidates to choose from on the issues that they find important. As for the supporters that Rand inherited from his father, and who largely drove his success in 2010, they largely see his pandering to the Republican establishment as betrayal of principle and want nothing to do with him.
This is why Rand Paul has gone from Time Magazine's "Most Interesting Man in Politics," to polling in the low single-digits. Rand is down to 3% in the latest Fox News poll. In light of this, Rand Paul has turned to his father after snubbing him for months to shore up his base and breathe some much needed life into his faltering campaign. Ron Paul sent out a statement saying, "There is not one candidate who has run for president in my lifetime who can say they fully share my commitment to liberty, Austrian economics, small government, and following the Constitution, than my son, Rand Paul."
This is part of the reason why people don't like Rand Paul, he comes across as completely disingenuous and willing to do or say anything for political gain. When it's convenient he tries to disavow his father completely, and when he gets trounced in the polls he comes crying back to daddy. The fact is that, whatever your political leanings, Rand Paul has no business being anywhere near the Presidency because he's a complete narcissist with no thought for anything other than his own political aspirations. Not that any of his opponents are any better in that regard, but he stands in such contrast to the example set by his father that it's absolutely jarring. Obviously your average politician is three-halves a scoundrel, but, put simply, the son of Ron Paul should know that there are more important things than winning elections.