Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) is no shrinking violet. He’s been running an ad in contenous the Michigan Republican primary calling former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum “fake.” When asked by CNN moderator John King why Paul was pushing that message, the candidate simply said, “Because he’s a fake.” Santorum, standing next to him, shot back, “I’m real. I’m real.” Paul went on undeterred: “Congratulations,” he said.
Here’s how Paul followed up, via a rush transcript:
I find it really fascinating that when people are running for office they’re really fiscally conservative. When they’re in office, they do something different. Then when they explain themselves they say oh, I want to repeal that. The senator voted for no child left behind, but now — he voted for it, but now he’s running on the effort to get rid of it. So I think the record is so bad, you know, with the politicians….So this idea of being fiscally conservative now that we’re running for office and we’re going to repeal something that we did before, I mean, it loses credibility is what our problem is.
Here’s the original ad.
