Has Ron Paul Been Replaced by a Zombie?

Congressman Ron Paul has always been very concerned about wasteful government spending, that's why I was very surprised to see this chart created by Gov.track.us which examines Paul's voting record (on a quarterly basis) since 1997.

The median  percentage of missed roll calls for a member of congress is 2.4%. Since New Year's Day Paul has missed 136 votes while showing up for only 15. When you look at his record, missing 91.8% of votes, that makes his Congressional salary a horrible waste of federal dollars --and that's just the start.

The top blue line above the X axis below represents the 90th percentile of missed votes. As you can see, for a large part of 2004, from mid 2006-2008 and again from 4th quarter 2010 through today, Congressman Paul has been well above the 90th percentile.

But Wait!  Ron Paul is a budget guy. Some people say he is great domestically.  How can it be that such a fiscal conservative allowed himself to receive all of that salary when he didn't show up for work. In fact he has practically been AWOL since the middle of 2006.

I know that he has been running for president a lot of that time, but come on, a fiscal conservative such as Congressman Paul would never shirk responsibility like that.

Obviously something has happened to Dr. Paul, maybe he as been kidnapped by the person who really wrote those racist newsletters?  Perhaps he was replaced by a zombie, following exactly the orders he was given. That would even explain the strange rambling noises he made during the debates, and even the actions of some of his supporters.