I'll not hazard a guess about those online but I'll say this about those I know in real life. Two main reasons Rep. Paul is getting grief. First, he's for ending the police action. Too many of my friends have the mistaken belief that you just continue bombing until the other side gives up. While that works when fighting a nation you can't very well continue that policy against an action or idea. And no even at the coldest of the Cold War we were 'fighting' the Soviet Union, not communism, over territorial gains.
The second, and surprisingly more important to the Republicans I know, is that Rep. Paul would actually cut whole departments. Some of these departments (like NASA, Homeland Security, etc.) are sacred cows to my friends. 'We' are the 'USA' and 'we' should have these departments because they forward nationalistic pride. Never mind pointing out they're redundant or they're not business of the national government, 'we' need them.
What is surprising is that Rep. Paul is pretty much preaching the same message President Reagan did. Cut departments and strong defense. I keep hearing how this person or that person is going to be the 'next' Reagan. And yet except for Rep. Paul none of the candidates have specifics about what they would cut. Why? Because once in office they wouldn't cut a d#mn thing.
And of course even Reagan recognized the futility of involvement in the Middle East. But we're not supposed to point that out....
You say that Ron Paul will cut whole departments.
You say that he is very much in the mold of Ronald Reagan.
How many departments did Ronald Reagan cut?