Trailhead

Ron Paul vs. His Supporters

Carl Cameron tries to play Ron Paul off against his crazy 9/11 conspiracy theorist supporters. Will Paul tell them to renounce their beliefs?, Cameron asks.

He might as well have asked a cat to bark. Paul, good libertarian that he is, refuses to denounce them. He says he doesn’t agree, but that they’re entitled to their own opinions. “So please can I participate in the current debate?” Big applause.

Paul must know he’s being kept around as something of a side show. It’s the least he can do to request legitimate policy questions.

UPDATE 9:41 p.m.: Moments later, Paul gets laughed out of the room for railing against a “rush to judgment” surrounding the faceoff with Iranian boats, which he compares to the Gulf of Tonkin incident. Mitt Romney gets in a pretty devastating slam: “I think Congressman Paul should not be reading as many of Ahmadinejad’s press releases.” Paul looks like he might cry.