Olivia Nuzzi: The Cancer on Rand Paul’s Campaign

The brutal truth from Nuzzi (and Justin Raimondo):

The root of the decay is this: as Rand Paul has campaigned, it has become increasingly evident that he is not the candidate his supporters were promised he would be–a more electable version of his father. And the candidate he did turn out to be is not interesting or authentic enough to stand out from the 20,000 other Republicans seeking the nomination. Paul, previously “the most interesting man in politics,” is now just scenery...

For Rand to succeed, the conventional wisdom went, he would need to hold onto his father's base of supporters while appealing to other constituencies–most importantly, mainstream Republican primary voters.

But in his attempt to seem more appealing to those other constituencies, Paul has compromised himself into obscurity...

.Paul is an anti-gay marriage, life-begins-at-conception, boots-on-the-ground (in limited quantities!) to-combat-ISIS, prayer-breakfast-pandering right-winger. But one whose wheels are always turning!

His supporters are catching on, and they're not happy about it.

"People just don't like that kind of dishonesty," Justin Raimondo, founder of Antiwar.com and former Rand-zealot, told me.

Raimondo used to believe, as many Paul supporters do (or did), that at the end of the day, he would Stand with Rand™ because Rand was the only politician with a shot at the White House whose beliefs came close to mirroring his own. But one disappointment after another wore Raimondo down. When Paul signed Sen. Tom Cotton's Iran letter, which was designed to halt the very negotiations Paul claimed to favor, it was the last straw.
"He's basically just selling out," Raimondo said.

"How is he different from any of the other candidates?" he asked. "His father stood out. I mean, he really stood out. Rand is sort of going in the opposite direction–he's trying to blend in. But that's not a smart strategy."..

On top of his weakened reputation and wheezing presidential campaign, spokespeople for which ignored requests for comment for this article, Paul has the added burden of an upcoming Senate campaign to contend with...The nightmare "worst case scenario," the source said, "is that he loses both."