It’s been an active week in terms of activity around Ron Paul in the run up to the South Carolina Primary. Bill Kristol said, idiotically, that Ron Paul should leave the Republican Party. While Ron’s son Rand gave an interview and surprised a few people with one answer in particular.
Bill Kristol of The Weekly Standard was quoted this week in an interview in C-Span really letting into to Ron Paul movement:
“A lot of people when they criticize Ron Paul have to preface their criticism by saying, ‘you know, he’s good guy, he brings a lot to the debate,’ I actually don’t buy that. I do not think he’s a particular good guy . . .” Kristol then suggested that Paul could, and probably should, vacate the Republican Party: “A lot of Republicans are spending a lot of time [thinking], ‘how do we keep Ron Paul under the tent? How do we make sure he doesn’t go third party... I don't think anyone should plead with him not to run or to stay in the party.”Kristol claimed that Ron Paul’s departure would be like Pat Buchanan’s in 2006, which he claims helped the party. He also mentioned how Pat’s protectionist run in ’92 harmed the Party. This site has made similar comparisons to Paul and Buchanan, before Kristol’s statement, but for very different reasons. Pat did indeed harm the Republican Party in ’92 but the comparison is flawed.
Kristol’s argument is lacking in a few important points: Paul is not running a Primary challenge to an incumbent Republican president, as Pat did: Paul’s following is, by most measures, significantly larger than Buchanan’s, and: Ron Paul has a son in the Senate who is eloquent, rational and pragmatic. These three qualities are not found in very many supporters of Buchanan, or in Pat himself.
One example of how the Paul-Libertarian movement is much more pragmatic than Pat Buchanan’s movement (I’d describe Pat’s movement but who really cares), is that, in a radio interview with Michael Medved, Rand Paul announced that he would support the Republican nominee even if that nominee is not Ron Paul. He further explained that he sees little chance that his Father would run as a third-party candidate.
Pertinent section of the interview is around 5:30.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=TVFxTUN4lRo#!
Kristol may disagree with many of the positions of both Paul’s, but the Republican Party is clearly better off with the Paul’s in it, than outside it. We can hope and pray that Ron Paul supporters take Rand Paul’s mature position to heart and act likewise, but Kristol served no one by his short-sighted statement. Rand Paul in particular demonstrates a political maturity that Pat Buchanan, and it seems Bill Kristol, lack.
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