Robert Wenzel elaborates on Rand’s rather strange endorsement of Romney on the Hannity Show:
By far, I think the most damaging thing Rand Paul did last week was attempt to link the Mitt Romney views on the Fed as being the same as those of his father.
In second place, I don’t put Rand’s endorsement of Romney (I put that in third place). In second place, I put these words said by Rand during the same Sean Hannity Show where he endorsed Romney:
My dad has a legion of young followers who are on the internet, and they think they rule the internet. Maybe they do and maybe they don’t.
Perhaps he was just talking out loud about his calculations as to how damaging his endorsement of Romney will be to him among internet followers of his father. But there also seems to be a cockiness to his words. It’s as if he has made the calculation and dismissed the internet followers of his father. He sounds as though he has calculated his internet support is stronger (or will be) than that of principled libertarians on the internet. He’s almost taunting the internet libertarians who follow his father.Even Business Insider gets how dangerous a move this is:
Hindsight may show that these remarks underscored some serious political hubris. Rand Paul’s political clout depends, in part, on his ability to rally these grassroots internet activists, and get them to make noise and moneybombs.
Does Rand have an internet following that is larger than his father’s?At this point, I don’t think so. The only way he could grow such, as far as I can see, is through more sellouts, perhaps to the warmongering evangelicals. Is that Rand’s plan, to diss his father’s base and carefully choose what libertarian principles he will sell out?It’s one thing to build coalitions on top of a libertarian base, but Rand’s comment suggests that this is not his plan. It sure sounds like he is throwing the followers of his father overboard, in a grab for power via sellout.
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