Is Ron Paul Sticking Up for Mitt Romney?

Ron Paul and Mitt Romney are not polar opposites, but they do not have much in common either. That's why it was a surprise to see, of all people, Ron Paul come to Romney's aid in defending him while the other candidates lambast his business record, specifically his time at Bain Capital. Romney has been touting his statistic that he created more than 100,000 jobs while the head of Bain Capital a few decades ago.

Simply taking a look at the quotes can give one a sense whether or not Romney's opponents are bending his words to fit their criticism, which is why Paul is defending him. Here's a look at the quotes that led up to Paul sticking up for his primary opponent:

* Romney, Jan. 7, 2012 at the ABC/Yahoo!/WMUR New Hampshire GOP Primary Debate: "In the business I had, we invested in over 100 different businesses and net-net, taking out the ones where we lost jobs and those that we added, those businesses have now added over 100,000 jobs."

* Romney, Jan. 9, 2012: "I want individuals to have their own insurance," he said. "That means the insurance company will have an incentive to keep you healthy. It also means if you don't like what they do, you can fire them. I like being able to fire people who provide services to me."

* Rick Perry: "If you are the victim of Bain Capital's downsizing, it is the ultimate insult for Mitt Romney to come to South Carolina and tell you he feels your pain - he caused it."

* Newt Gingrich: Accused Romney of "bankrupting companies and laying off employees."

* Paul, in response to the above-referenced attacks on Romney: "I think they're wrong. I think they're totally misunderstanding the way the market works. They are either just demagoguing or they don't have the vaguest idea how the market works. I think they're unfairly attacking him on that issue because he never really literally said that. They've taken him way out of context. … He wants to fire companies. I think they're way overboard on saying that he wants to fire people, he doesn't care. You save companies, you save jobs when you reorganize companies that are going to go bankrupt. And they don't understand that."