Because he refused to sugar-coat the truth to make it more palpatable to the masses. Can he be abrupt? Yes. Can he be condescending? Yes. Is he usually right (although, not always)? Yes, again. I voted for him in the primary and I'd do it again. While I don't agree with him 100%, at least he seems to understand that to compromise means to give up something that you'd rather keep. IMHO
I asked myself the same thing in D.C. Oct 31 1998.....
Do you really want to know?
1. money
2. too brilliant to be President
3. makes way too much sense
4. dissed by his party of choice
IMO