According to a new article featured in The Atlantic by journalist Molly Ball, Ron Paul has obviously sold out, and is now batting for the Romney camp. This has been revealed by way of Paul’s recent tendencies toward strongly attacking presidential hopefuls Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, while curiously avoiding any similar attacks against the former Massachusetts governor. But just because Ron Paul’s attacks seem obviously (and perhaps justifiably) more focused on Santorum in recent days, does that really mean that his campaign has been “bought” by that of Mitt Romney?
It’s interesting, to say the least, that there does appear to be an obvious congeniality between Romney and Paul. According to the piece featured today in The Atlantic, this is essentially because Romney has been nice to the Texas Congressman, who is subsequently made out to sound like the misfit who was kicked off the playground:
What Paul, who has spent his decades in the House as a political outcast, is essentially saying is this: After all his humiliating years in the political wilderness, someone important has finally been nice to him. Alone among the establishmentarians, Romney has allowed Paul into the sacred clubhouse of legitimacy.
Rife throughout the piece are also a number of assertions that Paul seldom ever attacks Romney directly; and yet, somewhat contrary to this, an email sent out by the Ron Paul Campaign earlier today not only attacked Romney (along with the other remaining GOP hopefuls), but listed him first among criticisms of each man’s background on economic principles:
Whether it’s the $700 billion TARP bailout, traditional marriage, abortion, the Second Amendment, or taxes and spending, Mitt Romney has been on both sides of virtually every issue important to conservative voters.
From supporting TARP, to Cap-and-Tax, to the individual mandate central to “ObamaCare,” to getting paid $1.6 million by Freddie Mac to keep the housing bubble expanding, the truth is, Newt Gingrich has a record even Barack Obama would be proud of.
Rick Santorum voted to DOUBLE the size of the Department of Education, give millions of taxpayer dollars to Planned Parenthood, and even voted with Big Labor against a National Right to Work Act to end forced union dues nationwide.
Also of interest, in the very same Atlantic piece, Ron Paul’s campaign chairman, Jesse Benton, is quoted stating that his campaign and Romney’s aren’t “fishing from the same pond” in terms of votes. But could that change on down the road? Most certainly… especially in the event that Santorum and Gingrich were removed from the fray… a prospect which seems unlikely, considering each man’s resolute attitude toward sticking things out until this August. But even if all four hang in there until the GOP nominate their candidate, Ron Paul’s attitudes toward Mitt Romney at present may have less to do with soft-peddling the man his supporters should view as his chief rival; but will attacking the other underdogs prove to be any more effective as a campaign strategy?
Image by Chris Meller via Flickr.