So, I guess that means that Ron Paul isn’t a ‘real’ libertarian either? Huh. Who knew?

It’s fascinating to watch this. First of all, lesson number one, for Rand Paul, who is, by the way, not a libertarian. If you believe you ought to be able to tell women what to do with their reproductive rights you are not a libertarian. Lesson number one for Rand Paul, do not take on a guy from Jersey. Obviously this guy does not watch HBO, and, you know, you’re not going to win a fight like this with Chris Christie. That’s not the way it’s going to go.

First of all, no, I don’t know that we would classify Rand Paul as a full-blown, isolationist libertarian looking for a major retrenchment away from the world, and you could reasonably mention that point when the issue at hand is the recent foreign-policy tiff with Chris Christie in the neoconservative corner and Paul representing the recent libertarian-leaning shift. But, why on earth bring up abortion as a libertarian disqualifier in a conversation in which we’re discussing the two sides of the GOP’s national-security spectrum? A, how does it apply? And B, since when can libertarians not be pro-life? I’m pretty sure if Howard Dean thought about it for a moment, he could rationally conceive of why there’s still plenty of debate on abortion among the libertarian set — “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” no?