How soon we forget ...
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You might be on to something, but I don’t know. As much as Ron Paul DOES get a lot of otherwise leftish support, I don’t know if it breaks the 50% mark or not, so it’s hard to say what would actually happen.
Everyone always compares it to Perot/Clinton/Bush and says “It will make us lose” just because we lost in THAT case.
But I agree with you, I think it will do exactly the same thing as before, except in our favor.
It depends on who the republican candidate is. If it's a RINO like Romney, many disaffected conservatives might go the Ron Paul route as their own protest vote.
Position by position, Perot was more like Kucinich than Reagan, and yet his persona won him an inordinate number of conservative votes.
I fear a third party run by anyone (especially Paul) will guarantee Obama a second term.
Leftists who “like” Ron Paul, like him as a Republican. In other words, they are advising us to choose him as our candidate so the nation gets a choice between Communism and Legal Weed.
If he ran against the communist, they would quickly learn that he wants to turn off entitlements and a gazillion other leftist “programs” and then the shine would wear off real fast.
I think you’re onto something here... Deep inside - I’ve been thinking RP is polling higher because the young idealist indie’s love him, he’s cool to them or whatever. I cannot for the life of me think that a rational, conservative could even consider him as our Commander in Cheif. The Young Liberal/Anarchists/Extremist Libertarian vote will pull votes from the Dems.
The problem with some of Paul’s support, is some is so far left it meets the far, far right around the bend. He really plays a nasty game. I would not consider it a completely black or white issue, although my gut says people like white supremacists may not vote as much as anti-semitic leftists.
This is the Moronic Assertion of the Week. Anyone who that takes votes away from Obama’s GOP opponent helps to re-elect Obama.
The sooner Ron Paul goes away....the better.
It is so important to shore up enough support to ensure an O-bozo defeat.
Now, after Republicans take control and they let us down once again.
3rd party independent conservative run would be just dandy with me.
Ron Paul would pull 6 conservative leaning votes for every 4 liberal leaning votes. Obama is the savior of liberals, they will vote for him if it hairlips the world.
I could see as many as 4 people running at this point.
Republican
Obama
Paul
and either a conservative like Gingrich or a RINO like Romney if either loses.
=My impression was that Perot voters were the ones that were voting against Bush 41, but couldn’t bring themselves to vote for Clinton. Perot said enough conservative sounding things to attract them. (Not that I think he actually believed in what he was saying, way too fast a talker.)
Bush lost because he didn’t govern like the conservative we thought he was. Enough voters thought Perot was a viable alternative. If Obama is going to loose like this, then enough of his voters have to believe that he hasn’t governed like the liberal we thought he was, and Paul is a viable alternative.
Is that last statement reasonable?
I think that RP pulls from both the left and right. I tend to think a little more from the right. In a 3 way race, I see barky ultimately emerging the winner. From my perspective there is little difference; both mittens and barky are cut from the same cloth.
I also think a big problem that the gop is going to face this year is with the gunnies. This hasn’t been much discussed, but given the non-choice between Fast and Furious barky and Massachusetts gun control mittens, I think a large majority of gunnies will vote for Ron Paul in a 3 way race. Regardless of who the NRA may or may not endorse.
As for how a 3rd party run affects conservatives in general, I don’t think it hurts them any more than they’ve already been hurt. Although I do think the paleo-cons and libertarians gain some traction as a result.
In my view, this election basically ended for the worst for conservatives the day Sarah Palin decided not to run. She and maybe Herman Cain could have united conservatives under a gop ticket. It’s obvious that the gop is NOT a conservative political party, and has no intent of running conservatives under it’s banner unless it is dragged into it kicking and screaming.
The problem is that Ron Paul would never have won a single election if he ran with an (L) behind his name and he knew it when he switched. He is a nutjob and would give 0 bummer another term which America can not afford.
I don’t like the current primary system at all. By the time Texas gets to vote in a primary, the voters in states like Iowa and NE states have already chosen the candidate. If it is RP or mittens, I won’t even take the time to vote.
Paul’s support is a mile wide and 1/16” deep. All this chatter is only meant to muck up the Republican primary process. And all these idiots will not vote for Paul in the general election. Having him run as a 3rd party is not a good idea, IMO.