Iowa Republican admits being bribed to endorse Ron Paul

[SPC]

To be fair, every politician, insider or outsider, has to be a politician. Rick Santorum stood right behind Arlen Specter as he launched his '96 campaign, and the video shows him applauding throughout his speech even when Specter clearly and staunchly declares his pro-choice views as a reason to vote for him. That doesn’t detract from Santorum being genuinely pro-life. It’s just how it is.

That's true and I don't defend it. Just as I didn't defend Santorum backing him in 2004. That being said, Paul has held himself up as some revolutionary that is so "un-DC" so the stench of hypocrisy is a lot stronger. It really says something when a Paul fan says something like, "Every politician...has to be a politician."

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Yeah, again, some of the worst kind of hypocrisy. Another reason why he can call Young a friend. Don't tell me how you're all about curbing the expansion of government...except when you can get a ton of wasteful pet projects.

As I understand it, Paul endorsed Young due to his stance on marijuana policy

[SPC]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

I do stand corrected, Paul does cite his friendship with Young as a primary factor for the endorsement. However, Paul does support his endorsement with policy specifics on environmental and tax policy, so the friendship is, at least ostensibly, not the sole factor at work.

While Paul should be faulted for endorsing big-government Republicans in contested races, rather than merely staying neutral, I find it interesting that the same people who fault Paul for being "ineffectual" also criticize his Faustian pact with Republican officeholders to avoid perpetual primary challenges during his tenure.