It's never good when a family-values candidate loses the family. John Garver, who identifies himself as Rick Santorum's nephew, has written a column for the Daily Caller that not only endorses Ron Paul but seriously disses Uncle Rick. "If you want another big-government politician who supports the status quo to run our country," writes Garver, a 19 year-old student at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown,
you should vote for my uncle, Rick Santorum. My uncle's interventionist policies, both domestic and foreign, stem from his irrational fear of freedom not working. [...] My Uncle Rick cannot fathom a society in which people cooperate and work with each other freely. [...] The reason we have so much debt is not only because of Democrats, but also because of big-spending Republicans like my Uncle Rick.
And so on. The column dumps on Uncle Rick more than it praises Ron Paul, probably because Garver (to judge from the tone of his column) doesn't especially care who carries the libertarian banner into battle so long as somebody does. Which, given Paul's sordid paper trail of racist, homophobic, and anti-Semitic newsletters (in 2008 Paul's campaign spokesman told TNR's James Kirchik, who broke the story, that Paul "did not see" prior to publication "most of the incendiary stuff," which is hardly reassuring), may explain why so many others support Paul, too. I'd hate to think it's because the newsletters enhanced Paul's appeal in Iowa or elsewhere.