With all due respect...Drop Out

Atlanta, GA – I got my first taste of politics being forced by my mother, every week, to sit on a couch and listen to what I thought was the most boring thing on earth: Ron Paul’s “Texas straight talk.” Eventually my whining, squirming, and wiggling led into listening to, and then liking, the unusual Texas Congressman.

 Rand Paul has remained true to his father’s essential message of true conservatism, no matter the cost. His stump speech throughout his campaign has not been filled with high rhetoric about glowing sand or with jokes about how he would never do anything that was bad for his mother. He has not relied on insults and pettiness to bring himself up in the polls. Instead, Rand, just like his father, tells it straight.

Rand wants to audit and end the fed. He wants big brother to get a warrant before looking at our emails. He wants to bring down the national debt while keeping our military strong. On marijuana and prison reform, Rand Paul is spot on. He was the one candidate that, had he gotton the nomination, could have ridden to victory with a coalition of minorities, women, college students, and old whites. His appeal is so broad that it is unbelievable.

But somehow, he is doing terrible in the polls.

Part of this can be blamed upon an over packed field and a guy named Donald Trump. Part of it can be blamed upon the candidate himself, who walks around like he’s sucking a sour lemon. But a large part can also be blamed upon his team, who have failed again and again to take control of the spin, and to help their candidate. While Rand Paul would have made a fantastic nominee and even better president, in the primaries, he is awful.

No one has ever won the Republican Nomination that did not come in the top three in Iowa, and Rand fell into fifth. It is time to bow out, to do it now before he alienates too many people, and before he loses all hope of reclaiming his seat. It was fun, but now its time to go away. Like, right now.

As for Ben Carson, I have at times called his performances “pathetic,” “naïve,” and “odd.” I have attacked him from the day he got into the campaign, saying right after he announced that it was highly unlikely he’d get the nomination. However, none of this is in any way directed at Doctor Ben Carson, but rather the television character, (yes, every candidate is in some ways a fictional human) Candidate Ben Carson.

My respect for the doctor’s integrity, intelligence, and character remain unchanged. However, he has been an awful presidential candidate, and having come in fourth in Iowa, it is time for him to withdraw from the race.

Andrew C. Abbott