Ron Paul’s campaign and its adherents are still claiming that Governor Romney and President Obama are the same.

Such a notion would be laughably absurd, if the Obama presidency did not invite revulsion. For example, do those who believe this claim expect Romney to be as blatantly disrespectful of the office, dignity and traditions of the presidency as Obama has been? Do they really think that a President Romney would tolerate gay rights activists using a White House reception in their honor to photograph each other making obscene gestures in front of President Reagan’s portrait?

Do they really believe that a President Romney would tolerate in his administration an Attorney General who openly lies to Congress, let alone endorse and defend him as Obama has done with Eric Holder?

Do they expect a President Romney to force people of faith to violate their consciences by funding or participating in practices that violate the tenets of their religions, as Obamacare will do to opponents of abortion and contraception in less than two months?

Would President Romney pack the Supreme Court with clearly prejudiced judges nominated solely for their fealty to his agenda, as Obama did with Justice Kagan?

Do they expect a Romney presidency to be a cesspool of corruption like Obama’s quickly became? Do they think a President Romney would hand out hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars in kickbacks, disguised as guaranteed loans, to backers and bundlers, as Obama did with Solyndra?

Would President Romney bow to foreign leaders, embrace enemies and stab allies in the back, as Obama has done? Would he betray close friends, as the Obama administration did in leaking Israel’s once-secret plans to take out the Iranian nuclear weapons program, supporting election of Muslim Brotherhood members who vow war with Israel in Arab Spring countries, then giving said countries $800 million?

Did Governor Romney sit for twenty years under the preaching of a radical minister who called for God to damn America and referred to the country as the “U.S. Of KKK A”? Would President Romney form his view of the country from such hate? On the contrary: Romney’s faith has strong roots in traditional, unequivocal patriotism and love of America.

Is Governor Romney a pathological liar like the President? Ben Smith of Buzzfeed Politics has documented 38 lies and fabrications, covering everything from ancestors to college, in Obama’s autobiography, Dreams of My Father. One wonders if one of his dad’s dreams was that his son would be a man of honor and truthfulness.

The claim that Obama and Romney have no differences is itself rooted in deceit. A headline on Congressman Paul’s campaign site on June 22, 2012, states, “Romney No Different From Obama.” The evidence cited for the claim is a video from the January 16 Republican candidates’ debate of Governor Romney saying he would have signed the National Defense Authorization Act.

The text accompanying the video fails to note that, in the video clip, Governor Romney goes on to explain in detail major differences between himself and the President – and, by the way, Congressman Paul – regarding defense, terrorism and national security.

Paul supporters are also circulating a video of Congressman Paul saying in a June 20 interview on MSNBC that “people have been misled into thinking that there’s a big contest” between Obama and Romney.

Paul’s backers use this video to claim there’s no difference between the two; but then Congressman Paul explains that while he fails to see satisfactory difference in their philosophies of government, there are major differences in “personality and power struggle.” As we saw in the examples of the Attorney General, religious freedom and the Supreme Court, there are undeniable major differences between Obama and Romney regarding “philosophies of government.”

For the Paul people to present these videos as evidence that there are no differences between Governor Romney and President Obama is flatly dishonest. Such a claim is like saying that Republicans and Democrats are the same. Both positions require deliberate disregard of factual evidence and willful acceptance of falsehood.

The claim that Obama and Romney are the same is also, much like Obama, childishly spiteful. Since their hero is out of the running, Paul’s followers want to bring down his rival as well, thus ensuring Obama’s reelection. While to his credit he still wants to influence the Republican party, Paul refuses to endorse Romney, even though his son, Senator Rand Paul, has done so to the Paul camp’s chagrin.

From acceptance of delusion to willingness to believe and spread lies to indulgence of spite, I maintain that those who promulgate the notion of no differences between Obama and Romney are the same as the President and his supporters.