I honestly don't give a feces if he doesn't. The fact that he's bringing in new blood into the GOP and returning it back to its roots is his legacy, and it's long overdue. Fiscal conservatives & libertarians have been getting crapped on for far too long. He's already achieved it, and years from now future Republicans will speak fondly of him at GOP conventions. Who's going to call themselves a Giuliani Republican? A Huckabee Republican years from now?
Even you must know this. His fund raising acumen is not materializing into actual support - mostly because those giving him money are not Republicans.
And that's a bad thing, how? Paul's message of freedom should only include those who are registered Republicans & toe the party line? I thought introducing liberals to conservative beliefs was a positive thing? Liberals used to listen to Rush and now they're conservatives. There have been liberals and FR changed them as well. Paul's not allowed to do the same thing too?
So, how should the eventual GOP nominee reach out to Dr. Paul’s supporters? I don’t understand how this is possible since every single other candidate strongly supports the War in Iraq and the war against Islamic terrorism.
The GOP nominee needs to understand that most Americans want the troops to come home. They don't need to compromise with Paul on an immediate pull-out, but staying in the Middle East for decades with permanent bases should be taken off the table. And the GOP needs to start talking about REAL limited gov't - no, not the "tax credits," "middle-class deductions," or "targeted spending cuts" BS, START ABOLISHING SOME FRICKING AGENCIES AND DEPARTMENTS.
Even if the eventual nominee adopts every single other stance Paul has, it won’t be good enough for his supporters as his opposition to the War on Terror is what they care about the most.
You think that the bulk of Paul's support are anti-war leftists, but it just isn't true. Paul's supporters for the most part are conservatives disgusted with the GOP and Bush in general. If Paul endorses someone like Fred, Fred will get a good percentage of his supporters AS LONG AS the GOP lets Paul speak at the convention and not support his opponent in the Congressional race.
You really think that’s true, E^3? I’ve got serious doubts that the “new blood” that Paul’s brought into the process won’t just disappear when he does...because they aren’t really conservatives or libertarians, they’re single-issue anti-war voters who couldn’t give a rip about the rest of his stands.
I know there’s a lot of folks like you and billbears and the rest of the FR Paul contingent—conservatives and libertarians who support the totality (or most of it) of what he preaches. But I can’t bring myself to believe that he’s done what he’s done without getting a lot of the hardcore anti-war left on his train—people who would NEVER support him otherwise.
Maybe I’m wrong. I’m not a pundit, I’m just a normal guy who can’t support Paul because of his foreign policy stand, but likes a lot of his other positions.
}:-)4