He's playing to the young crowd who support Ron Paul

But it's nice seeing him and Colbert say nice things about Ron, definitely. Especially since a lot of hardcore dems/progressives watch and they are mad that Ron Paul is talking about a lot of things they believe in, and yet their candidate is totally against those things. So they can't bring up Ron Paul without saying he's a lunatic racist or else their whole belief system is in jeopardy. They are sad individuals who hopefully will see the light one day.