Ron Paul, when asked why he was running an ad of his calling Rick Santorum a "fake" at Wednesday's GOP debate, didn't miss a beat.
"Because he's a fake," Paul said to laughs.
Santorum, sitting next to him, gave a tight smile and jokingly patted his arms. "I'm real, Ron," he replied.
"Congratulations," Paul said with a smirk, before attacking Santorum's record. "I find it really fascinating that when people are running for office they're really fiscally conservative," he said. "When they're in office they do something different and when they explain themselves, they say 'oh, I want to repeal that.' the senator voted for No Child Left Behind. He voted for it. The record is so bad with the politicians."
Santorum responded by citing strong grades he'd receivedvfrom a variety of conservative groups, and pointed out that Paul had ranked 145th in the American Conservative Union's most recent ranking.
"That's always a cop-out when you compare yourself to the other members of Congress," Paul responded, and said he'd ranked poorly in some rankings because he'd voted against almost all spending bills and "sometimes conservatives want to spend money too."
There is no love lost between Paul and Santorum: The two have fought since the start of the GOP campaign. Paul has repeatedly attacked Santorum on his fiscal record, and the two have often sparred on foreign policy.
