Don’t chalk Rand Paul up as a libertarian just yet.
Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party’s 2012 presidential nominee, said the Republican senator from Kentucky is just that — a Republican — but definitely not a libertarian.
While Paul may be the most libertarian-minded candidate in the field of prospective GOP presidential candidates, Johnson said, Paul doesn’t fit the libertarian mold on a host of issues: from abortion to marriage equality to immigration and marijuana.
“He’s a Republican,” Johnson said.
“Great, I mean terrific,” Johnson said sarcastically. “I mean, the most libertarian candidate that Republicans may end up fielding.”
Paul has even sidled away from his libertarian foreign policy views, shying away from his isolationist views in favor of a more nuanced foreign policy that would better fit the mold of a Republican primary.