Roger Ebert, an American film critic and screenwriter, praised Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul Thursday. “Ron Paul is the only one I’d want to sit next to on a long airplane flight,” Mr. Ebert tweeted.
Mr. Ebert also offered some kind words to Mr. Paul in early January. “Leaving politics out of it, what sets Ron Paul aside from every other GOP candidate? He’s the only one who’s cool,” Mr. Ebert tweeted.
Back in December, Mr. Ebert justified his praise of Mr. Paul by highlighting the Texas congressman’s speaking style.
“Ron Paul is the only GOP candidate who speaks directly and clearly without a lot of hot air and lip flap,” Mr. Ebert posited via Twitter.
Mr. Ebert is not the first celebrity to tweet his or her support for Mr. Paul. American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson also praised Mr. Paul via Twitter.
“I love Ron Paul,” Ms. Clarkson tweeted back in December. “I liked him a lot during the last Republican nomination and no one gave him a chance. If he wins the nomination for the Republican party in 2012 he’s got my vote. Too bad he probably won’t,” Ms. Clarkson added.
Ms. Clarkson’s Twitter feed was quickly inundated with angry tweets from the singer’s followers. The Texas native’s tweets had the misfortune of coinciding with increased media scrutiny of Mr. Paul for a series of racist newsletters that were published under his name in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Mr. Ebert’s praise or that of any other public figure is unlikely to help Mr. Paul in the upcoming election. Both Mr. Paul and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum sit multiple points behind former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich in the latest Florida polls.
