Apparently clinging to the old adage “there’s no such thing as bad publicity,” Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) has inexplicably decided that the endorsement of pageant-walkin’, not-much-else-doin’ Sarah Palin actually has political value in this day and age.

“I love an endorsement by Sarah Palin, what’s not to love?” Paul enthused on CNN. The addition of Palin to “Team Rand” comes because the failed reality star believes the Kentucky senator “gets it,” unlike his current adversary, New Jersey governor Chris “King of Bacon” Christie.

“Rand Paul understands. He gets the whole notion of ‘don’t tread on me’ government,” said Palin on — where else — Fox “News.” “Whereas Chris Christie is for big government and trying to go along to get along in so many respects.”

Christie is also a phony who likes to perform for the camera, Palin added, without a trace of irony or self-awareness. “He’s got a schtick going there where he’s got a YouTube videographer following him around, kind of these setup situations sometimes so he can be seen as perhaps a little bit avant-garde and going rogue on things.”

We all know Palin is for “small government” considering she instantly made Alaska’s government smaller by quitting the job halfway through her only term, amid multiple ethics investigations. But Team Rand… well, Team Rand is happy to be big… big enough for everyone!

“Team Rand, you know, whatever that means, can include a lot of people,” explained Paul. “What I’ve been telling people is that I want to grow the Republican Party and that means that some of the libertarian ideas of respecting people’s privacy, respecting the Fourth Amendment, not spying on Americans, I think that appeals to a lot of young people and will bring new people into our party if we become the party of privacy. It’s hurt the president significantly.”

Paul is considered to be a leading contender for his party’s nomination in 2016, but between making juvenile, mean-spirited “fat jokes” about his possible opponent and surrounding himself with political lightweights like Sarah Palin — who has spent the last five years not being politically active, but instead parading herself and her family in front of reality TV cameras and posting on social media — one would have to wonder if he’s serious about this at all.

The knee-slapping interview with Palin can be seen above.