The efforts to gently guide Ron Paul out of the race while coaxing his supporters to Mitt Romney are already beginning. It’s an entertaining dance to watch, especially from conservatives like Jim DeMint, who’s been bubbling with praise this week for a candidate who he clearly thinks is a complete lunatic on foreign policy and social issues.
“I really don’t want Ron Paul to drop out until whoever our frontrunner is is collecting some of the ideas that he’s talking about,” DeMint told the Daily Caller. “I don’t know whether Ron Paul expects to be our nominee, but if Republicans don’t listen to a lot of things he talks about, I don’t see how we can become a majority party.”
Translation: “Ron Paul will never be the nominee. Never. Now banish that idea from your head, while I say some patronizing things to appeal to his supporters.”
But if it’s ludicrous to believe Ron Paul could appeal to enough Republicans to win the nomination, it’s also wrong to ignore the fact that he’s built a sizeable, devoted following. How Republicans deal with that following is a tough call. Will Paul be invited to speak at the GOP convention, after he got iced out of it in ’08? Grover Norquist argues that Paul will only bring his supporters into the party if he’s given a prominent speaking role this time:
However, Ron Paul is the only candidate for the Republican nomination whose endorsement will matter to Mitt Romney. It is the only endorsement that will bring votes and the only endorsement, if withheld, that could cost Romney the general election.
If Ron Paul speaks at the GOP convention (as he was not invited to do in 2008), the party will be united and Romney will win in November 2012. If Ron Paul speaks only at his own rally in Tampa, Florida (as happened at the 2008 GOP convention in Minnesota), the party will not be at full strength.
The longer Paul stays in the race, the more leverage he can likely rack up for the convention. But Charles Krauthammer reminds in his weekly column that the last time the GOP was forced to placate a fringe candidate by offering him a prime convention speaking role, it had disastrous consequences for the party:
No one remembers Bush’s 1992 acceptance speech. Everyone remembers Buchanan’s fiery and disastrous culture-war address. At the Democratic conventions, Jackson’s platform demands and speeches drew massive attention, often overshadowing his party’s blander nominees.
The Democratic convention will be a tightly scripted TV extravaganza extolling the Prince and his wise and kindly rule. The Republican convention could conceivably feature a major address by Paul calling for the abolition of the Fed, FEMA and the CIA; American withdrawal from everywhere; acquiescence to the Iranian bomb — and perhaps even Paul’s opposition to a border fence lest it be used to keep Americans in. Not exactly the steady, measured, reassuring message a Republican convention might wish to convey. For libertarianism, however, it would be a historic moment: mainstream recognition at last.
I don’t think Paul would be as toxic as Buchanan, if only because he doesn’t engage in the aggressive culture warrior rhetoric. When Paul starts spouting nonsense at the debates, he comes off as laughable and harmless, not hateful and angry. He also has a lot of fans on the left, so Democrats would have to be careful about mocking any speech he makes.
"The efforts to gently guide Ron Paul out of the race while coaxing his supporters to Mitt Romney are already beginning." n nI think i speak for most Ron Paul supporters when I say we will never support Mitt Romney. He's no better and no worse than Obama, and Obama is terrible. Obama is no better and now worse than Bush II, and he was terrible. n nWe are fed up with these fake choices. I will not vote for another set of empty promises from a dirtbag that will say anything just to get elected and once in office, continue all the same policies that I hate now.
Word. Even if Ron Paul endorsed Mitt Romney i would just end up voting for Gary Johnson. The GOP treats all of us horribly, I would never vote Mitt. I know a lot of people would vote for Obama just to get back at the GOP. I think all of Ron Paul supporters need to unite, and threaten to vote for Obama. The GOP needs to make a choice… Ron Paul or Obama?
Lawyers stubbornly continue to occupy senate, congress & WHITE HOUSE n nCall the doctor — RON PAUL 2012 —
"a complete lunatic on foreign policy and social issues". The idiot Paul is dangerous to the country and to the GOP. The more that I see and hear of him, the further to the left that I go. There is a tipping point. I seriously do not want Obama again, but I, and millions more, may have to do with Obama if the GOP is stupid enough to include Paul as anything but a toilet attendant. I do not even want him there. I do have some respect for toilet attendants.
It's tiresome explaining to your morons what Paul is advocating. n nHe's simply advocating that the power to make decisions on social issues be left to the states, and keep the federal government ENTIRELY out of it. n nThat you still think our foreign policy is sane after this nation was LIED INTO A WAR in Iraq that still continues to this day only with MERCENARIES, excludes you from being a member of any intelligent group. I don't believe anybody can be so stupid as to think that our current foreign policy makes any sense whatsoever. I don't believe you're this stupid, nobody is.
I'm so proud to have 16 minuses at this point. This merely points out how many fools, nasty ones, are apt to reply in these comments. Are these comments, and 'disqus' in other web news sites, really of any value? Not zip in my opinion. Something closer to minus infinity.
You''re the one that posted the inflammatory troll type comment. So what if it's what you believe. It turns a lot of people off, except the odd one that actually thinks like you do.
Ron Paul's supporters will not back Romney. Romney is no better than Obama. Romney and Obama receive financing from the same people. They both want endless wars and have the same health plan. Big business owns both horses in that two horse race. n nDr. Paul is the people's candidate. He is not just a politician, he is the head of a movement to restore liberty, honor and prosperity to this country. Dr. Paul's support is not transferable to anyone who does not embrace his ideals. If Dr. Paul is not the Republican nominee the Republican Party is doomed. The only Republican who can beat Obama is Dr. Paul. who appeals the the youth, the Independents and Democrats wanting to end the wars and restore civil liberties. That equation makes it quite clear. Romney can't win because Dr. Paul's support is not going his way. There are only two choices fro president this year and they are Dr. Ron Paul and President Obama. That's reality. The Republican party needs to get over themselves. The Ron Paul Revolution is on!
You apparently do not know the veracity (look it up) of war. I am a veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and Im tired of fighting dirty wars that have wounded and killed my friends. RON PAUL 2012
Wow, what an intelligent comment. No legitimate thoughts or facts, just slander and rhetoric. Bravo… you must be a Romney Zombie.
What is dangerous is thinking we can vote Obamneygingritorum into the Oval Office, who will continue the same policies that have taken this country from the great paragon of freedom and liberty that it once represented, to the international bullying welfare state that it has become, and then think that somehow things will change for the better. n nRomney, Obama, Gingrich, Santorum…they are all the same with just different interests to pay off once they come into power. Paul has been fighting for the Constitution and liberty for 30 years, often alone. Every party whip and lobbyist will tell you that they don't waste time on trying to sway his vote, because he votes his conscience and does not stray. Not for money, not for you-pat-my-back-and-I'll-pat-yours political favors, and not for opinion polls. He is a rock. And I and many others happen to believe he is right on the money when it comes to most of his policy positions: n n- Publicly predicted the housing bubble collapse….in 2003…warning against the shenanigans of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac at least 5 years before the rest of the world felt the hurt. n- The head of Israeli intelligence agrees with his position on Iran….but what does Mossad know about threats to Israel, right? n- Head CIA officials agree with his foreign policy positions, as does the 9/11 commission report. n nBut he steps on a lot of powerful toes, toes that pay a lot of money to both parties, and especially the GOP. So GOP leaders are scared. They will do whatever it takes to marginalize or discredit him. Don't believe the propaganda. Your choice, whether people realize it or not, is Ron Paul and a return to the principles that made this nation exceptional, or more of the same self-destructive policies that the record of human history plainly illustrates will be our undoing.
I would never vote for RP but he can speak at the Convention w/out me feeling put-out. n nI do think his newsletters matter. I also think he's fighting an old battle that never actually was but still needs winning. n nMencken said that a libertarian is made and not born. But Mencken offered no plan that one could examine and critique as alternative. He said he was only a diagnostician. Convenient but runtish. n nI'll vote for Gov. Romney w/out hesitation. I may regret that. I regret having voted for McCain and Palin. It was a desperate vote. n nI don't view President Obama as singular. He's part of a national continuum. If he represents a pressure point on that continuum it's not something I can chalk up to anything more than the rule of a class that has long lived off of and for politics -that very much includes RP- and an electorate that wants conservatism in the abstract and liberalism in the concrete.
Romney is EXACTLY THE SAME as Obama…so why the hell does.it matter??????r nr nYou people are crazy. Replace a bad president with a president with the SAME policies and has agreed with everything Obama has done….r nr nCRAZY PEOPLE!!
You can forget it, he's getting my vote whether he's the GOP nomination or not and I'd say most of his supporters feel the same way. This is about wanting change, Romney is just another corporate moderate just like Obama. Ron Paul wouldn't owe Goldman Sachs or any other special interest group that funds these other candidates.
Speaking or giving a cabinet position to Ron Paul will just turn him into a traitor in the eyes of his hardcore followers. n nThere is a way you could get Ron Paul off the campaign trail and open door to bring his supporters into the party. n nGive Ron Paul his life dream. n nGet his bills to audit and end the Fed onto the house floor. Invite him back let him be the ringleader for the media circus of hearings and debate that will take place. Then pass these with the support of the Republican majority and let make Harry Reid, Obama, and the Democrats into the villons when they sit on the bills. n nOf course Romney would have to pull yet another flip flop and go from being a supporter of the Fed being a independent and unregulated private agency which devalues our dollar by bailing out failing banks foreign and domestic to opposing them – at least until elected.
And Yes, he should be able to speak.
In what stage-managed Supreme-Soviet-style world would a party deny a chance to speak to one who earned 15-25% of the delegates? n nBuchanan, by the way, was largely on the money, if a bit impolitic in the manner he chose to express his views.
Ron Paul, a patriot, who has honorably served his country, defends both the constitution and civil liberties, and is for peace and prosperity. Dr. Paul has the wisdom, foresight, honesty and integrity to be president. n nDr. Paul believes spending and deficits are destroying this country. Dr. Paul's budget plan would save $1 trillion in the first year. Besides the spending cuts, there are other issues of importance to voters. For conservatives, Dr. Paul scores an A+ on all of them: Second Amendment protection, pro-life record, right-to-work, pro-business, anti-tax, states' rights, you name it. n nDr. Paul also believes America should have the strongest national defense on earth — which he believes begins with not trying to constantly police the earth. Right now, our government puts our best and bravest in harm's way on a regular basis for questionable reasons and with no discernible notion of victory. This is not supporting the troops. It's abusing them. Dr. Paul wants an end to this absurd, costly policy. n nThe voters have declared Dr. Paul the alternative to the liberal, flip flopping Mitt Romney. The other candidates are simply irrelevant. In the New Hampshire Primary, Dr. Paul received more votes than all the supposed Anti-Romney (Santorum, Gingrich, and Perry) candidates combined. n nThe question for Republican voters is not whether they can afford to vote for Dr. Paul – it's whether they can afford not to. n nAmerica Needs Ron Paul.
This article is junk.
Bottom line the Ron Paul supporters will back no other candidate. No other candidate can win in the general election without those votes. Looks like the Republican GOP is on a suicide mission.