For those of you who doubt that Ron Paul offered a blanket endorsement in 2008 of the four 3rd Party Candidates, here he is speaking at the National Press Club with them in the background.  (Bob Barr is not in the photo.)   He offered the endorsement in return for them signing a pledge that calls for “balancing budgets, bring troops home, personal liberties and investigating the Federal Reserve," according to a Ron Paul aide in 2008.  

In my opinion, he should have been trying to influence and help John McCain beat Obama instead of cozying up to the fringe, lunatic in the case of Cynthia McKinney,  if he was to stay in the Republican Party as a so called member.  Now before all of your 'defenders of the faith' cry "Principle Over Party!", if that were truly the case, why doesn't Dr. Paul do what Bernie Sanders did in Vermont or Joe Lieberman did in Connecticut and run as an independent?  Because he couldn't win in Conservative Texas.