The Ron Paul supporters I know are none of the above, myself included. Besides foreign policy I’m not entirely sure why most in the GOP HATE him so much. As for getting people into the political process, he really got me to think about certain issues and I became much more involved than I ever have before.
As far as “electing Obama”, I was never going to vote for McCain anyway, nor would many other of Paul’s supporters. Besides, I live in California which will go to Obama whether I vote for McCain, Paul, Obama, or Mickey Mouse.
He interferes with the move to the left...toward State power. His promotion of liberty suppors holding them accountable. He supports America, not quid-pro-quo multinational corporate board arrangements.
Do you think the Democrats would like a leader who encouraged blacks to stop just being sheeple and voting for the same old lies? Well, the GOP establishment wants conservatives who are easily riled by fear, but docile--simply opening their wallets and casting blind GOP votes.
And funny thing...the same people who would be scared to death of interlopers taking over America are supporting the way the GOP has been subverted from its earlier position.
It's mostly but not exclusively the GWB/Rudy type Republicans who are conservative on foreign policy but liberal on domestic issues. They don't agree with Paul on a damned thing. The Paul hate here on FR was a lot worse before Jim gave the forum the ol' enema of '07.