Ron Paul Doesn’t ‘Fully’ Endorse Romney, Nondorsements Are Piling Up

On the eve of the Republican National Convention in Florida (a party that’s been partially canceled due to the fact it was planned during the most hurricane-y part of hurricane season at the most hurricane-y site in the US), Ron Paul has admitted that he cannot “fully” endorse Mitt Romney for President.

Mitt Romney is polling strong amongst his base, but it seems that despite locking down the vote amongst a certain subset of Americans, his “likability” problem persists, even among some of the conservative-leaning like Ron Paul. It came to light late last week that Romney is polling an astounding 0% with black voters (and that’s not a typo — it’s not 10 or 20%, literally zero percent among black voters), and it’s not just traditionally liberal folks that are finding the Romney ticket unpalatable.

Ron Paul isn’t the first conservative voice to admit not embracing Romney — former Florida governor Charlie Crist, who in the past has broken ranks with Republicans to support Obama — endorsed the incumbent candidate for president in an op-ed published in a Florida paper recently.

In the piece, Crist explains how Mitt Romney represents an ever-more-fringe Republican platform that he believes has essentially gone off the deep end. The former governor explains:

“An element of their party has pitched so far to the extreme right on issues important to women, immigrants, seniors and students that they’ve proven incapable of governing for the people. Look no further than the inclusion of the Akin amendment in the Republican Party platform, which bans abortion, even for rape victims.”

Now the New York Times is reporting that Ron Paul has declined a chance to speak at the RNC, because he was only allowed to make a speech under the condition he endorsed Mitt Romney, and Paul says he cannot.

In addition to demanding he endorse Mitt Romney, RNC leaders also wanted the campaign to approve Paul’s speech at the convention, another condition Paul declined. He explains:

“It wouldn’t be my speech,” Mr. Paul said. “That would undo everything I’ve done in the last 30 years. I don’t fully endorse him for president.”

Would you be disappointed if Ron Paul endorsed Mitt Romney?