Wave of Backlash Hits Ron & Rand Over Romney Endorsement, Campaign Mismanagement

I took a lot of heat in the 100+ comments to my recent editorial about the failure and fraud that was the Ron Paul campaign of 2012.  In the piece, which you can read here, I argued that anyone still blindly worshiping Dr. Paul should have their heads examined.  Now that the details of his extreme nepotism and the massive squandering of donor money have been made public, it seemed crystal clear to me that those in the liberty movement would move to embrace either Gary Johnson or Virgil Goode in the general election.  That is, if there is much of a real “liberty movement” out there and not just a cult of personality surrounding one man.

Critics of what I wrote argued that I was hurting the candidate I sought to promote, and my words damaged the chances that these precious babies could be convinced to support another candidate, specifically Gary Johnson.  I was warned repeatedly that they must be carefully wooed, and nothing negative can be said about their dear leader.  Despite the fact that he took perhaps millions of their donated dollars and used it to pay off family members, it still seems that Dr. Paul can do no wrong.

When the Congressman’s son, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, officially endorsed Mitt Romney for President, it seemed to FINALLY wake up more than a few people about the real motivation that’s been driving the Paul family.

The Libertarian Party swooped with a press release: “Rand Paul Betrays His Father’s Principles, Endorses Mitt Romney

In an article on the Constitution Party’s website, Darrell Castle took an even harsher tone and compared Rand Paul to Benedict Arnold: “Last Friday’s endorsement of Mitt Romney by Senator Rand Paul conjured up images of how George Washington must have felt when betrayed by his trusted general, Benedict Arnold. That’s way too harsh, you may say, because Washington was betrayed when his countrymen were fighting for their lives and the life of their nation against the greatest empire on earth at that time. Benedict Arnold traded his honor for position and power with the empire and as a result his name has been forever synonymous with treason and deceit.  I can’t help but conclude that Rand’s endorsement of Romney falls into the same category of deceit. Those of us in the liberty movement are struggling to survive against an even more powerful empire than that which existed in Washington’s day.  Rand has not only set the liberty movement back but perhaps has also destroyed his father’s legacy.”

Read the full editorial from Castle here.

Ron Paul’s former political director, Penny Freeman, agreed to an interview with Adam Kokesh in which she actually started to break down and cry a little bit when talking about the way Paul’s presidential campaign has been handled. She took particular issue with Paul’s grandson-in-law and campaign manager, Jesse Benton.

“I know that there are members of the Paul family that call Jesse Benton the idiot-in-law,” Freeman remarks. “I know that there are members of the campaign staff that are disgruntled and amazed that so much power and influence has been concentrated into one human being.”

Freeman shares that she believes the Paul campaign’s mission was never about winning the Republican nomination, and that donors were mislead into giving huge sums of money to a campaign that never took itself all that seriously to begin with.

“There’s just a lot of things going on that you really can’t know how much Ron knows,” she says in response to a question about how involved the Congressman is in the day-to-day of his campaign “I hope and I pray that he knows very little about this, because the implications of him knowing are not good. The implications are that he has been participating in a scam of his supporters.”

Kokesh presses Freeman, asking if she believes the Ron Paul campaign never intended to seriously contest the GOP nomination, and that it was “deliberately deceptive” in it’s mission and fundraising. At that point, she breaks down.

“I don’t know,” she replies. “I know that his portfolio has grown.”

Watch the full half-hour here, or you can skip ahead to the 25 minute mark for the worst of it.

22 Comments

  1. I literaly fell asleep reading this horrible article.

    • Austin Cassidy says:

      You must be an awfully slow reader, it’s only a few hundred words. 🙂

    • Seriously!! Lawyers 4 RP are filing lawsuits in every state where Ron Paul has had a significant presence, which is to say, almost every state so far. The GOP has made joining the republican party as a ron paul supporter harder than finding waldo at a paul speech..

  2. I refuse to believe RP is a willing participant in any scams. Hes the one guy up there with integrity.

  3. Pingback: Wave of Backlash Hits Ron & Rand Over Romney Endorsement … – Uncovered Politics | PAULitics.US – Wake Up America

  4. If Dr. Paul is out to line his pockets with money, then why did he forego the 90k per yr. congressional pension? And why did no lobbyists darken his door in Congress trying to peddle their influence with checkbooks in hand? Riddle me that, Batman.

  5. Austin I appreciate you turning over every stone because integrity is critical for the liberty movement’s continued growth. That being said its important to remember (for me anyways) that the objective is to increase liberty. The strategy to do that comes in the form of Ron Paul and Gary Johnson. Not sure how much we will ever be able to verify in the concerns expressed above, but one thing for sure – the Ron Paul movement / campaign / phenomenon has advanced the liberty movement way beyond what I thought would be possible in my lifetime. Now I’m rolling up my sleeves to work for the Gary Johnson 2012 strategy! (The two parties are still disgusting to me)

  6. A. Freeman? He was kicked out for being a srcub.

    B.Ron Paul said 8 months ago he wasn’t running to win but to spread his ideas, that costs money, people willingly gave it to him. Mitt got far more money than Ron didn’t he? It all corperate money to boot, Ron had 14 million more in personal donations, but mitt has gotten so much money from banks it should scare you shouldn’t it? And you don’t think he’s spending that money on himself and family too un the same way Ron did? Why? What would lead you to such a consultion ?

    C. You take politics to seriously

  7. A seriously under-rated band from ’80’s first wave. General Public is one of the greatest wave bands of all time. Up there with UB40!

    Sirius 31 First Wave is on my dial 24 hours a day.

    Hey Austin, you’re in Jacksonville right? Back in the 1980s, we had a first rate punk club at Jax Beach, “The Blighted Area.” Ever hear of Stevie Stilleto and the Switchblades? Other Jax punk band “Smashed Armadillos”?

  8. Well, I didn’t fall asleep, but yawned a lot. Austin, the establishment has taught you well. Did you stop beating your wife yet?

    • There are certainly a lot of dltaies like that to take into consideration. That is a great point to bring up. I offer the thoughts above as general inspiration but clearly there are questions like the one you bring up where the most important thing will be working in honest good faith. I don?t know if best practices have emerged around things like that, but I am sure that your job is clearly identified as a fair game. Both boys and girls feel the impact of just a momente28099s pleasure, for the rest of their lives.

  9. Travis devereux says:

    Rand has committed himself to working inside the system to spread liberty in a dark congress. So he says, I’m inclined to believe him because he fights the NDaa, drone attacks, warrant less arrests etc. so I believe him. We need somebody that can lead a movement like this in the years to come. Ron Paul never expected to get this many people interested about freedom, he is stoked, and rand is trying to reach out even farther (into the establishment) to spread liberty minded ideas. Ron Paul is a small light in a vacuum. Of subterfuge and darkness. You are but sheep to a shepherd.

  10. What’s this crap? I don’t even..

  11. I love how the comments now are ‘awaiting’ moderation.

  12. red liberty says:

    This article may be exaggerated. his campaign is not “deliberately deceptive”. I personally saw many of Ron Paul ads on television. and let me tell you buying air time is expensive. And he had to fly to different places to greet supporters, paying to fly also gets expensive. And the media completely censored his anti-corruption message so he needed to pay extra on simple exposure.

    Heck i even read and article in the news where it recorded that his campaign expenses included several visits to the dollar menu at McDonalds! I do not regret contributing to this men.

    Don’t even let me get started on the Hypocrisy of the other candidates. They are not even human beings, pure evil.

  13. Jared Davis says:

    Rand DID NOT sell out. Don’t you people understand the concept of fighting from the inside ? That is Rand’s strategy and I think it will work. Others have done it before and it worked.

  14. I will definitely vote for Gary Johnson.

  15. I don’t think the people who ate off the $1 MacDonald’s menu were the ones who charted private jets or received hundreds of thousands of dollars – directly and indirectly – from the name Ron Paul. Dr. Paul is a champion of liberty, helped frame the issues than anyone in decades, and started a grass roots movement that will last long after he’s left center stage. He did this in spite of having a blind spot for family members and a few anointed ones who cashed-in on the Paul phenomenon. Wonder how much more successful he would have been with a more professional and dedicated management team?

  16. Support Ron Paul and Rand Paul

    They are the only way

    Johnson is a tool (of Demon Obama) who supports “humanitarian” intervetionism – false profit

    Obama is the Antichrist foretold in Revelations, Rosemary’s Baby quite literally, his father was Satan in human form, he was born in Kenya in a Satanic Black Mass

    We must get behind Romney to stop Obama and elect Rand Paul in 2016

    The Libertarian Party is just a tool of the Demoncrats to re-elect Obama and send us all to the Death Camps and the Killing Fields before 2016 because there will never be another election if Obama wins

    This year, kid, I’m voting Republican!

    Ron Paul is Republican, Rand Paul is Republican, you should be Republican too!

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