The Republicans mistake in the primaries was that instead of saying, “Ron’s right on a lot of issues but...” disagreeing with him on foreign policy, they pilloried his economic ideas, small governmetn ideas, et al. That left a bad taste in my mouth.
They were still fighting so THEY could play Santa with the Treasury instead of the Dems. That was/is the wrong game to play.
PS - Good luck funding a war in Iraq or anyplace else with these deficits.
That’s how I always felt. I think the GOP disenfranchised a lot of libertarian and potential Republican voters with their behavior towards Paul. To be fair I think a lot of those people were kind of wacko and out there, but if they saw that the GOP was embracing limited government and at the very least welcoming some differing views, it would have gone a lot further than just dismissing Paul.