Somebody Needing Help Doesn't Have To Equal Losing

It looks like the smarter half of Dumb & Dumber acted like it:

  A key challenge for Paul if he runs would be to make himself acceptable to — if not win over — traditional Republicans. His low-key approach to the shutdown and debt limit drama could help that cause.

“He was a reasonable voice in a very difficult time for the party,” said one top national GOP strategist. “He wasn’t as strident as Cruz. When he recognized there was no real end game in sight, he recoiled. He wasn’t on the tip of the spear. I think that did him a lot of good with a lot of Republicans, a lot of conservatives.”

Even Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) — whose budding presidential campaign is predicated upon taking on Paul and the tea party wing of the GOP — had kind words for how the Kentuckian has acquitted himself.

Paul is “a gentleman,” King said. In contrast, “Ted Cruz is totally different,” he continued. “I consider him to be a demagogue. … I’d say by comparison, Sen. Paul has gotten better. I have real problems with Sen. Paul’s positions, but Ted Cruz is in a class by himself.”

So, as the low-hanging fruit of Right-Wing "intelligence," all Cruz mostly succeeded in doing is taking himself out. Which is what Paul and King should do as well - willingly. They can't win the nomination or a national election. We coalesce around Christie for the White House:

We can turn this thing around,...