Will Paul supporters abandon Rand after Mitt sell-out?
BusinessInsider.com reports,
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul broke ranks with his father’s political army this week and endorsed Mitt Romney as the Republican Party presidential nominee, setting off a firestorm of outrage in the Ron Paul Universe. . . .
Sen. Paul’s endorsement appears to have seriously damaged his credibility within the Movement — at least among its most hardcore activists. The virulent backlash indicates that the endorsement could have harmful political ramifications for the Kentucky Senator, raising doubts about his ability to unite his father’s grassroots army with more mainstream elements of the Republican Party base.
“I think Rand Paul believed he could build from his father’s base,” said Brian Doherty, a journalist who has been covering the Ron Paul Revolution since the late 1990s. “But I think he has probably found in the last 24 hours that this might prove more difficult than he expected.” . . .
“There are a lot of Ron Paul people who like to think of themselves as a ragtag rebel army,” Doherty said. “But Rand Paul is clearly positioning himself to play the part of the loyal opposition in the Republican Party. Emphasis on loyal.” . . .
“It seems like a gratuitous kick in the face to his father’s most ardent supporters,” Doherty said, adding that the endorsement seems to indicate that “Rand Paul might have less respect for the grassroots movement than he ought to.”