(libertarian being the small l variety, what could aldo be called the classical liberalism advocated by the Founders and Framers)
Correct, and that is why we see so much antagonism aimed at all of the anti-statists, whether they are Sarah Palin, Sen. Cruz, Sen. Paul, or even the big L libertarians like Ron Paul himself.
There are always a range of ideas among people who have similar ideas about one issue, in this case being against an ever increasing role for the government in society. To the leftists however they all must be ridiculed and rendered irrelevant. That's one reason you see so many attacks against the ideas of freedom loving conservatives and small l libertarians, and attempts to associate them with other political ideas held by some folks who also oppose an ever growing intrusive federal government.
There is no such thing as big l little l libertarianism, that is yet another lie created by social leftists as another approach to defeating conservatism, change the language.
Just ask Beck who embraced gay marriage and every poll that measures libertarianism, they all recognize that libertarianism is social liberalism.