Rand Paul endorses Mitt Romney; Ron Paul Says He Can’t Win GOP Nomination

Posted by clnews _Featured_, Politics Friday, June 8th, 2012

Last night on the Sean Hannity Show, Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) endorsed Mitt Romney for President. [watch on YouTube]

Instantly the Vice-presidential buzz filled the air with many asserting that the only thing that could compel the son of one presidential candidate to throw his support behind another one would be the promise of the number two spot on the Republican ticket.

Telling Hannity that his “first choice had always been [his] father,” Senator Paul went on to say that now that the nominating process his over he would be campaigning for former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney.

It may come as a shock to some readers to hear a member of the Paul family admit on national television that the nominating process is over and that Romney is the Republican candidate. What is even more shocking, perhaps, is that Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas) said nearly the same thing in an email to supporters and in an address to the Texas State Republican Convention earlier this week.

“When it is all said and done, we will likely have as many as 500 supporters as delegates on the convention floor,” the libertarian-leaning icon said in his email.

“That is just over 20 percent! And while this total is not enough to win the nomination, it puts us in a tremendous position to grow our movement and shape the future of the GOP,” he continued.

Then, in reference to the hundreds of delegates chosen at the various state party conventions to represent their states at the national convention, Ron Paul said, “[we] will send several hundred additional supporters to Tampa who, while bound to Romney, believe in our ideas of liberty, constitutional government, and a common-sense foreign policy.”

Finally, the elder Paul encouraged his legion of devoted followers to “let the establishment know that we are the future of the Party and of the country.”

Which may cause many Paul supporters to scratch their heads and wonder if the best way to wrest control of the Party from the tight grip of the Establishment is to endorse the Establishment’s candidate.

In fairness, Ron Paul has not endorsed Governor Romney as yet, but he surely understood that his son was about to and that it would be seen by many as an act of betrayal.

In that vein, Twitter, the online social media site that has become a haven for constitutionalists and progressives alike, was awash in messages calling Rand Paul a “traitor” and a “sellout.” Millions of Ron Paul admirers that use the service to keep each other abreast of pro-Paul events, alternative news stories about topics near to their hearts (end the Federal Reserve, gold as currency, the end of the foreign conflicts, and the Tenth Amendment, for example) and a flurry of tweets expressing dismay and confusion as to why the son of their hero would abandon the cause and sign on to serve in the campaign of a man they consider little better than the current occupant of the White House.

As I said earlier, it may be the prospect of a place in the White House that compelled Senator Paul to make his announcement Thursday night.