I took a lot of heat in the 100+ comments to my recent editorial about the failure and fraud that was the Ron Paul campaign of 2012. In the piece, which you can read here, I argued that anyone still blindly worshiping Dr. Paul should have their heads examined. Now that the details of his extreme nepotism and the massive squandering of donor money have been made public, it seemed crystal clear to me that those in the liberty movement would move to embrace either Gary Johnson or Virgil Goode in the general election. That is, if there is much of a real “liberty movement” out there and not just a cult of personality surrounding one man.

Critics of what I wrote argued that I was hurting the candidate I sought to promote, and my words damaged the chances that these precious babies could be convinced to support another candidate, specifically Gary Johnson. I was warned repeatedly that they must be carefully wooed, and nothing negative can be said about their dear leader. Despite the fact that he took perhaps millions of their donated dollars and used it to pay off family members, it still seems that Dr. Paul can do no wrong.

When the Congressman’s son, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, officially endorsed Mitt Romney for President, it seemed to FINALLY wake up more than a few people about the real motivation that’s been driving the Paul family.

The Libertarian Party swooped with a press release: “Rand Paul Betrays His Father’s Principles, Endorses Mitt Romney”

In an article on the Constitution Party’s website, Darrell Castle took an even harsher tone and compared Rand Paul to Benedict Arnold: “Last Friday’s endorsement of Mitt Romney by Senator Rand Paul conjured up images of how George Washington must have felt when betrayed by his trusted general, Benedict Arnold. That’s way too harsh, you may say, because Washington was betrayed when his countrymen were fighting for their lives and the life of their nation against the greatest empire on earth at that time. Benedict Arnold traded his honor for position and power with the empire and as a result his name has been forever synonymous with treason and deceit. I can’t help but conclude that Rand’s endorsement of Romney falls into the same category of deceit. Those of us in the liberty movement are struggling to survive against an even more powerful empire than that which existed in Washington’s day. Rand has not only set the liberty movement back but perhaps has also destroyed his father’s legacy.”

Read the full editorial from Castle here.

Ron Paul’s former political director, Penny Freeman, agreed to an interview with Adam Kokesh in which she actually started to break down and cry a little bit when talking about the way Paul’s presidential campaign has been handled. She took particular issue with Paul’s grandson-in-law and campaign manager, Jesse Benton.

“I know that there are members of the Paul family that call Jesse Benton the idiot-in-law,” Freeman remarks. “I know that there are members of the campaign staff that are disgruntled and amazed that so much power and influence has been concentrated into one human being.”

Freeman shares that she believes the Paul campaign’s mission was never about winning the Republican nomination, and that donors were mislead into giving huge sums of money to a campaign that never took itself all that seriously to begin with.

“There’s just a lot of things going on that you really can’t know how much Ron knows,” she says in response to a question about how involved the Congressman is in the day-to-day of his campaign “I hope and I pray that he knows very little about this, because the implications of him knowing are not good. The implications are that he has been participating in a scam of his supporters.”

Kokesh presses Freeman, asking if she believes the Ron Paul campaign never intended to seriously contest the GOP nomination, and that it was “deliberately deceptive” in it’s mission and fundraising. At that point, she breaks down.

“I don’t know,” she replies. “I know that his portfolio has grown.”

Watch the full half-hour here, or you can skip ahead to the 25 minute mark for the worst of it.