Back in June of last year, I wrote two posts about why Ron Paul wouldn’t win the nomination. I was met with a flood of reponses ranging from the quasi-rational to the wildly insane. Here’s some of the responses I got:
“Ron Paul is VERY popular, even though polls don’t reflect that yet. A friend of my father (mormon) went on a trip to Europe, and he got so tired of people asking him questions about Ron Paul, he pretended not to know who he was! Also, look at the fact that Ron Paul has 10,000 more supporters on myspace than your boy Mitt.”
“Will you please wake up? the drivel about islamic jihadists just shows that you have fallen for the government’s ‘boogeyman plan’ to scare you into submission . a vote for any candidate OTHER than ron paul – i.e. democrat, republican, left, right, conservative, liberal, ultimately equals more of the same. “
“No chance for Ron Paul?
Don’t believe it for a minute!!
A local Iowa talk host, Jan Michaelson of WHO news talk radio has been handling the latest supporter focus in Des Moines Iowa. In one afternoon/evening….they documented over 17,000 server requests to download the broadcast coverage concerning Ron Paul.”
“i think ron paul’s foreign policy changes would help out a lot with so called ‘terrorism’ and maybe ron paul’s administration would even bring the bush family business partner and vacation buddy -osama bin laden- to justice…lord knows george w. never wiill!”
“He is also the MOST popular candidate in NH and on the internet on any social networking that exists…and won most all the polls after the debates. He had more people at his rally in NH than Barack Obama!”
“Whether 9/11 happenned or not is irrelavent.”
“Wait a minute here. According to polls he connects more with the American people than all the other pro-war Republican candidates. 70% of Americans want us out of Iraq, and he would do just that. So his anti-war stance actually makes him the only electable Republican candidate. RP voted to use force in Afghanistan to hunt down Osama, and punish the people responsible for 911, I don’t think that’s being weak on terror.”
“GO RON PAUL! GO RON PAUL! GOD BLESS RON PAUL! RON PAUL FOR PRESIDENT 2008!”
“Anyone who has to invoke Hitler to make a foreign policy point can’t be taken seriously, however, it’s always interesting to note that the anti-Paul forces are remarkable Pro-Stalin regime, or at least, Stalin Denialists and don’t care that our WW2 Ally was the worse mass murderer of all time.”
“Muslims are not out to get your mom, no matter how many times it is suggested to be so by George Bush or Dick Cheney.”
“If you stop and think about it, Ron Paul has voted “no” on a lot of legislation. “
“Trying to “do something” about “humanitarian crises” is totally counterproductive. The Third World’s root problem is irresponsible (badword)ing, i.e uncontrolled baby making without regard for whether the additional billions can be fed, let alone educated, etc. Our contribution to their overpopulation is what leads to the kind of conflicts that inevitably arise when there isn’t enough food to go around.”
“Can you please show me where women did not have the right to vote before the 19th Amendment was put in there? From what I can see, the 19th was a waste of time.”
“Why isn’t anyone talking about the Real ID Act and the fact that we all will have a Verichip implanted in our bodies if Ron Paul doesn’t win? Why isn’t anyone talking about that? Is that something that is not important to you or do you just believe that it doesn’t exist? Which candidate is talking about stopping the North American Union, you know where there will be NO borders for this country and people in Mexico and Canada will be able to travel into the United States by that big new super highway that the Government will build using Eminent Domain?”
“Ron Paul voted against the prohibition of cloning. Its not the federal governments place to decide. Where does the constitution give them the authority?” (To which I ask, where does the Constitution give him the authority to clone people?)
“He voted against the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act. Another vote against big government prying into personal family business.”
“He voted against the Reduction of Spam Bill. So he voted against the federal regulation of the internet. Thats a good thing. He voted against the Do-Not-Call-Registry Bill. He voted against the federal regulation of telephones. Thats a good thing!”
“I think it’s great the way Paul’s relatively pristine voting record attracts so much scrutiny. All I would ask is that we provided the same level of scrutiny to all candidates.”
And my personal favorite: “Ron Paul is going to win this nomination, wait and see.”
To all of this I say:
Ah yes, I tried telling you. I told you he wasn’t strong enough on the War on Terror. I tried telling you that the polls had him down too far. Some of you responded that those polls were simply liberal mainstream media nonsense and that Ron Paul supporters aren’t among “likely voters.” And I think you were right because, relatively, there weren’t that many Ron Paul supporters among actual voters either. Yet, I found it ironic that many of you pointed to the same liberal/mainstream media for polls that showed Americans wanted us out of Iraq, thus a reason why Paul would gain support.
I told you that some of his views were outside of the Republican and even American mainstream. I told you he was unelectable. But either you didn’t believe me or you did and didn’t want to admit it.
Here’s the deal: I do not believe Ron Paul would be a bad President. In fact, I frankly think he’d be better than the current frontrunner John McCain. But it just wasn’t in the cards. Your movement was generally valid, but it needs a new leader. Who will it be?
Right now, Ron Paul will lose the GOP nomination. He has said he won’t run as an independent, which would have only helped the Democratic nominee win in 2008 anyway. He’ll never have a chance to run for President again. Plus, there’s a chance that Chris Peden could even beat him for his congressional seat.
The conservative movement in America is fractured among Paulocons, Social Conservatives/Evangelicals, Moderates, Fiscal Conservatives, and Defense Conservatives. Ronald Reagan was the last leader we had that could truly unite all conservatives. We need another nominee like that. But Ron Paul isn’t it. John McCain isn’t it. Mike Huckabee isn’t it. And unless something extraordinary happens, Mitt Romney won’t have the chance to be it.
I can sympathize with you. It’s a sad state for our party. We need a resurgence of conservative ideals in the worst way.
But for all those Ron Paul supporters who treated me with sardonic disrespect, I leave you with a video from the extremely talented Keith Urban:
Update:
For those honest, non-hostile Paulocons out there, I feel your pain. My guy doesn’t have a chance either. We each did our best and still failed. But instead of bickering back and forth, it’s time to go on and regroup.
Posted by Braden 
