I would not vote for Ron Paul or for Pee Wee Herman or for Larry Craig not that any one of them has a snowball’s chance in hell of being nominated for POTUS by the GOP.
If Ron Paul somehow managed to get the GOP nomination (which is less likely to happen than the Pope announcing he's converting to Hinduism), I would hold my nose and vote for him in the general election. Either way we'd end up with a terrorist-appeasing surrender monkey President that endangers national security. When faced with that choice, I'll pick the terrorist-appeasing surrender monkey who will veto abortion bills and halt higher taxes and spending.
But yes, I'm well aware if the shoe was on the other foot, the Paulites will NEVER support some of MY candidates in the general election, even the ones who agree with them on 95% of the issues.
There was a thread here on FR about a survey that showed the overwhemingly majority of Ron Paul supporters favor "no candidate" as a backup choice if their idol Ron Paul dropped out of the race. They are a bunch of fringe loons who insist those who doesn't agree with them on every issue are enemies of "the consitution". I simply won't lower myself to their level and use their own petty tactics of "my way or the highway". I've had it with the Ned Lamont-type purists on FR.
I certainly follow Ronald Reagan's belief that a candidate who agrees with me 80% of the time is not my enemy. Therefore I will support someone in the general election who agrees with me 80% of the time, even if I personally find them disgusting. (on the other hand, a backstabbing RINO like Mark Kirk or Judy Baar Topinka, or Arnie Schwartzkennedy, who agree with me perhaps 15-20% of the time, can take a long walk off a short pier)
Of course the Paulites who demand we support Ron because he agrees with us "90% of the time" will NEVER respond to my threads pointing out their hypocrisy, because they know I'm right.
Both the Fredheads and Paulites are in glass houses throwing stones when they demand we "get behind" their guy because he votes conservative over 80% of the time, when they are NOT willing to "get behind" anyone else's candidate who agrees with them over 80% of the time. They are perfectly willing to throw other candidates overboard who disagree with them on one issue, while they cry and moan constantly if someone refuses to vote for Fred or Ron because of an sinlge issue like Fred's membership in the CFR or the Ron's stance on the WOT. Total hypocrites.
THE "PURIST" BELIEVERS GENERALLY ARE:
PAULITES - The Paulites demand every politician on the planet agrees with them 100% of the time or is unworthy of office and doesn't "understand" the Consitution. Every since they drank the Paleo-libertarian kool-aid, they're convinced the only acceptable Congress would consist of 534 clones of Ron Paul.
FREDHEADS - The Fredheads are now demanding EVERY U.S. Senator agree with them 100% of the time. Fred had to be "drafted" because none of the other 10 Republicans running for President were acceptable, you see. And Senators like Jon Kyl, Saxby Chambliss, Lindsey Graham, Mel Martinez (all of whom are actually MORE conservative than their hero Fred, if you check voting records) are now their enemy and deserve defeat for daring to disagree with them on ONE bill. The except to the 100% pure rule is Fred himself, of course. When he voted the "wrong" way on McCain-Feingold, impeachment, the defense of marriage amendment, their responce is Fred was just upholding some "federalist principles" (funny, I don't remember them cheering on Harriet Miers for her "federalist" statement on abortion), and that "nobody's perfect" (except they want all the current members of the Senate to be perfect and vote their way on every issue)
Until all the Fredheads and Paulites tell me they're absolutely committed to supporting Lindsey Graham in the general election, they can go to hell with their "Do as I say, not as I do" demands.