“Funny thing that. Paul is proclaiming about the same as Reagan did. And yet we have those on here that claim they will not vote for him.”
FReepers are not representative of the electorate as a whole. The electorate is far more liberal and somewhat more libertarian than most FReepers.
The candidate that wins in 2016 is very unlikely to be a social conservative. You might get lucky and get an economic conservative on some issues (like Reagan) but that’s about all you’re going to get.
I like Ted Cruz a lot and all things being equal, he would be my preference after Sarah Palin. I just question his electability in the general election. Electability should not be the primary consideration in looking at a candidate, but it still is a consideration. Rand Paul is not as conservative as I would like, but he crosses my “good enough” threshold and I think is more electable.
Rand Paul brings all his daddy’s voters and grassroots organization. A lot of GOP types don’t like those folks but had they been fully onboard with the last two campaigns we probably would have won. Paul’s libertarianism also resonates with young voters. The GOP has the opportunity to make itself the natural home for the ever growing libertarian plurality in America. We don’t have to give up on gay marriage or abortion because you can make a libertarian argument against these things but we do have to give up on the drug war. If Cruz or Paul take a Federalist/Perry approach to Marijuana it will go a long ways towards busting up the coalition that votes for the left. The Democrats are becoming ever more Nanny-Staters to the bereft of many of their libertarian supporters. We don’t have to become liberal we just need to let people alone and point out the failures of the Left. Paul/Cruz Cruz/Paul may be the last best hope for America. GOPe control of the Congress or the White House will do nothing to stop the collapse.
Right you are. I would prefer that all of them stay in the senate. Some real good governors out there that can run. But, having said that, Paul is playing politics, and he seems to be good at it. If that were me, and its not, I would lie like a SOB playing the middle ground,
and when I got in, I would jump to the right and dismantle the whole dam thing before the socialist knew what hit them.