Debating Ron Paul’s Spending Record

By JEFFREY H. ANDERSON

During tonight’s GOP debate, Ron Paul took exception to Rick Santorum’s claim that Paul had finished “in the bottom half of Republicans this year” in ratings published by the American Conservative Union (ACU). Santorum made the comment immediately after having highlighted that the National Taxpayers Union (NTU) scored Santorum as one of the most fiscally conservative senators across his 12 years in the Senate. Santorum’s overall NTU grade point average (GPA) placed him 5th out of 50 senators who served throughout his tenure — and all four senators who beat him represented more conservative-leaning states. In fact, considering the state that he was representing, Santorum may well have been the most fiscally conservative senator during his tenure.

Paul replied that the ACU ratings that Santorum had referenced (in regard to Paul) aren’t an accurate reflection of Paul’s spending record. He said that “some of the conservative ratings — you have to realize sometimes conservatives want to spend money, too.” Paul concluded that “if you’re a strict fiscal conservative and a constitutionalist…you can’t just go by the ratings.”

Paul is right as far as the ACU ratings go. Those ratings don’t focus exclusively on votes related to spending or deficits. Instead, they focus on a wide variety of conservative issues, many of which have little or nothing to do with fiscal matters.

Read more: http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/debating-ron-paul-s-spending-record_631782.html