“Don’t kick the wheels on the glass cannon.”
I think it’s more basic than this. I’ve seen the same sensitivity with single-issue activists, who are so personally invested in their cause-du-jour that they lose their personal identities.
You don’t dare point out to an Earth First! activist the harm they’re doing in pursuit of utopia. You don’t dare point out the racism and sexism inherent in “affirmative action”. You don’t dare point out their intolerance of heterosexuals to gay activists.
When people lose their identities from fusing themselves into a cause or candidate, that’s all they have left. And shaking their foundation may bring unpredictable results.
Perhaps. I only know one truly avid supporter. A very intelligent, educated, professional whose thinking is complex and sophisticated. Impractically and unrealistically so, in many cases. He is anything but a mindless zealot, but he can be very defensive about his candidates (fatal) flaws. He only wants to look at Paul’s (legitimate) strengths regarding limited and open government.
I have heard some Paul supporters on radio though, who really do fit the template of single issue obsessives such as you describe.
A more credible candidate who would really get hold of limiting the size, scope and malevolence of the federal government would pull Paul’s fuse, but so far none have emerged, or cannot get their point out effectively.