His father Ron Paul always stood for what he believed in, even though that usually meant standing alone.

But Rand has never had as much of a spine as his father. Instead, he went for a more pragmatic approach: make a stand when he can change an outcome, but do what McConnell and his ilk want of him when he can't affect an outcome. He knew that him challenging the vote wouldn't change the outcome of the election, so he saw no point in risking his career for it.

The problem is that while that approach can work with some matters, this was a very black and white issue: stand up against fraud or put your rubber stamp on it. And he chose wrong.