Texas Congressman Ron Paul has had an impressive showing so far in the race for the GOP nomination. With a third place finish in Iowa and a strong second place in New Hampshire igniting his campaign he has quickly risen to become the Anti-Romney candidate the GOP has been looking for. His numbers continue to rise in South Carolina as well, as another primary approaches. Things are only looking up. Influential tea-party favorite State Sen. Tom Davis has also announced his support for the congressman, once thought to be a fringe candidate. Santorum himself has said that such an endorsement would be a “big deal”
Already Huntsman’s campaign has announced dropping out of the race to endorse Romney as the GOP frontrunner, the latest twist in the path to the nomination. Yet, as candidates have fallen and risen in the polls only two have been stable and consistent. While one is slowly rising to meet the other. It has been anything but a smooth trip for the congressman, however, who has first been ignored by the media completely, and now rises to be viciously attacked. Earmarks, racist newsletters (not written by Paul and disavowed by him), and mostly baseless attack by the media have shown just how desperate they are to discredit his candidacy. So far no attack has been able to stick.
The latest attack came in a story released by the Associated Press, who dug through travelling financial records of the congressman to reveal that he has flown 1st class on the taxpayer’s dime on congressional business. The article suggests that if Paul really cared about reducing the size of the federal budget that he should fly economy class. The Paul campaign responded to the questions, stating that they did this because the tickets were refundable, and they needed flexibility incase adjustments in schedule needed to be made.
Of course the article also fails to mention that Paul has returned large portions of his congressional salary directly back to the treasury. It forgets to tell us that though he has been in congress for over twenty years he has never accepted government junkets, money from lobbyists, or that even though he is eligible, he refuses a congressional pension.
If this is the best they can do, the only dirt they can dig up on the GOP presidential hopeful, then a landslide lies ahead. Everyone, this has been my moment of “Really??“