El Rhino wrote:I went for a couple of hours, pretty much long enough to listen to Ron Paul's speech and then vote for him. Other than that, nothing really stood out to me.
RE: "Ron Paul can't win". I've never heard a Democrat or Independent say "You know, I really like what <insert neo-con here> has to say", but I hear that all the time about Dr. Paul. He doesn't get much love from a lot of the Republican base but I'd predict that he would be able to collect all the party-loyalty votes and the majority of independents... especially against Obama.
Right, because Paul (and more importantly his SUPPORTERS) is an embarrassment to the GOP and what dem. wouldn't love that? LOL, I'm all for howard dean running in 2016. I'd even vote for him in the Caucus. Look, Paul is campaigning on two issues- ending the fed. and ending the wars/"minding our own business"- that's it. And I don't know why I'm the one that's breaking this to all you Paul supporters but that is not going to even come close to being enough to carry an election. I'm so fucking disgusted with Ron Paul supporters. The 2011 batch is ten times as bad as the 2007 batch because they're YOUNGER and even DUMBER. Paul supporters are completely delusional and extremely hypocritical and hyper-defensive. It's insane and looks really bad for politics on either side. I would be FAR more accepting of Paul if not for his supporters. Shit dude, you even told me yourself that you were about to not vote for him because they wouldn't stop annoying you.
Paul results are not indicative of the voting mass for a lot of different reasons. Paul supporters, because of their age (and the technologically advanced age we live in), are able to organize much better than any other base and sway results to their advantage when they deem necessary. That's why the straw poll was as close as it was. That's not indicative of Iowans, let alone the nation and results like that will not hold up across the country. He
seemingly has a monster base, when that's not the case in reality. If Bachmann or Perry had more of a younger base it'd be very intimidating, but we all know that younger people 18-25 typically lean left. (Then once they move out of their parents basement, get a job, and start paying taxes they become conservatives.)
Paul will never be able to win the GOP nomination or GOP respect for many reasons, including but not limited to:
*His current stance on Iran- thinking it's OK to just let them have Nukes. That was a huge fuck-up and it's incredibly irresponsible. Just because there are other countries around them with more nukes doesn't make it OK. That's like giving a toddler a gun and saying it's OK because it's parents have more in the closet. --Perfect analogy if I do say so myself.
*His whole "mind your own business" mentality is irresponsible and based on a pipe-dream of "if we don't bother them, they won't bother us". It's delusional and most MATURE ADULTS understand this because they've had enough life experience to know you can't trust everyone. Not hard to see why this resonates so well with the peace-loving dumbfucks that always got picked on in school.
*He can't figure out where he stands on gay-marriage. Well I mean, sure he knows today, but what about tomorrow? It's a big deal for the GOP base and if he can't decide that, what else can't he decide on?
*Haven't heard him say shit about creating jobs. Probably because he's so busy talking about the only two things he ever talks about- the fed. and ending the wars. The economy is going to be the #1 topic for the 2012 election and 'abolishing the fed' isn't the quick-fix solution.
Santorum really had the best response by quoting Lincoln to Paul regarding the 10th amendment. "The states don't have the right to do wrong". Paul looked really bad in that debate. Lots of hesitation and lots of not very good answers. And of course, no matter what he said, his lackeys in the crowd hooted and hollared louder than anyone just to make a point. Liberals constantly make fun of conservatives for things like that, but I don't see them mocking Paul supporters. I really think they're just sitting back and laughing to themselves. So many facebook posts I read are coming from people who have never had an interest in politics and who also know nothing about politics. They almost seem to go hand in hand. If the straw poll were a house, paul supporters would be the neighbors bringing down the resale value of the entire area because they never mow their lawn and have five broken down cars in the driveway. So many of them were just dirty, unkempt, slack-jawed dipshits. You could spot every single one of them in the crowd.
I've never met a Ron Paul supporter I liked.