Under most circumstances, the Paul-Perry dust-up, coming 2 1/2 years before a presidential election, would be extraordinary: a sitting governor and would-be candidate taking to the pages of a left-leaning national newspaper to criticize a fellow would-be candidate for being too left-leaning.

But it has become a common occurrence for Paul, who has found himself a regular target of criticism over the last couple of years. The GOP’s 2008 presidential nominee, John McCain, has regularly accused his Senate colleague of seeking to pull up the drawbridge around America’s shores and has said he would be undecided if the 2016 election came down to Paul and Hillary Clinton. Paul’s fellow potential presidential candidates also have not been shy about getting their shots in early on him, Ronald Reagan’s famous 11th Commandment (“Thou Shall Not Criticize a Fellow Republican”) notwithstanding.

Former United Nations ambassador John Bolton said earlier this year that Paul’s position on keeping Iran from getting a nuclear weapon was “incoherent” and said without apparent irony that the Gipper “would be rolling in his grave” to hear Paul cite him as model. Long Island Rep. Peter King has said he is thinking of running for president merely to keep Paul as far away from the presidency as possible.