Not unlike any other politician, Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney can use every vote that he can get.<\/p>\n
As the events of this past week\u2019s Republican National Convention amply demonstrate, Romney and his party are doing all that they can to reach out to demographic groups\u2014independents and moderates, single women, blacks, Hispanics, \u201cthe youth vote\u201d\u2014whose members ordinarily lean more heavily toward Democrats. But, interestingly, there is one group that currently resides within the Republican Party that they are endanger of losing.<\/p>\n
That group consists of Ron Paul supporters.<\/p>\n
And what an energized, enthusiastic bunch it is.<\/p>\n
The only problem for Romney and his running mate, Paul Ryan, is that these Paul supporters aren\u2019t in the least enthusiastic for the GOP ticket.\u00a0 In fact, they are reaching\u2014or have already reached\u2014the verge of voting for a third party candidate.<\/p>\n
Ironically, the Texas Congressman\u2019s devotees, though encompassing all age groups, are comprised predominantly of young voters\u2014i.e. exactly that demographic that the Republican Party is laboring indefatigably to attract.<\/p>\n
Yet these voters and other Paul constituents seem poised to jump the GOP ship\u2014a move, they say, that their own party has provoked them to make.<\/p>\n
For one, the party establishment caused quite a ruckus among, not just Paul\u2019s supporters, but its base when it decided this past week to rewrite its rules for counting delegates.\u00a0 This decision had the effect of slicing Paul\u2019s number of delegates significantly.\u00a0 And this in turn diminished the influence that he otherwise may have been permitted to assert at the convention.<\/p>\n
In other words, Paul supporters are miffed at the GOP for the same reason that radio talk show hosts Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, and others were miffed: in rewriting its rules, the GOP establishment succeeded in suppressing those voices\u2014Paul supporters, Tea Partiers, social conservatives\u2014within its ranks that threatened its objective to woo moderates.<\/p>\n
Secondly, although Paul was apparently offered an opportunity to speak at the convention, the offer had conditions attached. The speech would be drafted and approved by the convention planners, but, just as importantly, it would include an unqualified endorsement of Romney on Paul\u2019s part.<\/p>\n
The retiring Paul passed on it.<\/p>\n
Finally, while the RNC honored Paul with a video tribute, this decision generated controversy among establishment Republicans, leading the conservative movement\u2019s flagship publication, National Review, <\/em>to publish a denunciation of the video. In an article appearing in its on-line edition (National Review Online)<\/em>, \u201cThe Problem with Paul,\u201d Jamie M. Fly and Evan Moore write that it was \u201ca mistake\u201d to honor Paul.<\/p>\n Referencing the truncated convention schedule, the authors lament what they perceive to have been a \u201cmissed\u2026opportunity\u201d for the convention planners \u201cto reverse the ridiculous and regrettable decision made by the Romney campaign to feature a video tribute\u201d to Paul.\u00a0<\/p>\n Fly and Moore concede that because of the number of delegates that Paul won, and because of his supporters\u2019 propensity to be particularly \u201cvocal,\u201d it is not unreasonable that the Romney campaign should strive to avoid giving offense. \u201cConcessions have already been made to them [Paul supporters] on extraneous issues during the drafting of the platform,\u201d and \u201ca speaking slot has been given to\u201d Paul\u2019s \u201cson, Senator Rand Paul [.]\u201d\u00a0 However, Paul\u2019s critics conclude, \u201cpaying tribute to Representative Paul is a step too far.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Fly and Moore, as if to disabuse Paul and his supporters of all doubts regarding their fellow partisans\u2019 feelings toward them, add that \u201cinstead of honoring Paul on the way out, the delegates inTampa should be cheering his departure.\u201d\u00a0 They explain that Paul \u201chas left a legacy of extremism and falsehoods that need to be driven from the party, not embraced by it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s important to remember how far outside the mainstream Paul and many of his supporters are,\u201d the authors continue. The views of Paul on which the authors set their sights, as Paul\u2019s supporters and their opponents have by now come to expect, pertain to foreign, not domestic, policy.<\/p>\n It is Paul\u2019s foreign policy vision that has elicited the ire of the Republican Party and its spokespersons in the media (like National Review Online<\/em>).\u00a0 Fly and Moore are incensed specifically about Paul\u2019s position on the issue ofIran.\u00a0<\/p>\n Paul accuses the GOP of once again \u201cbeating the war drums\u201d in its rhetoric regarding a nuclear-armed Iran.\u00a0 Neither the CIA nor the IAEA, according to Paul, have said that Iran is on the verge of obtaining a nuclear weapon, and under the rules of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran is permitted to have nuclear weapons anyhow.\u00a0 He ridicules the degree to which Republicans particularly remain \u201cobsessed with Iran and the idea that Iran is a threat to our national security [.]\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Fly and Moore criticize Paul for allegedly painting \u201ca picture of a peaceful and benevolent Islamic Republic that has never actually existed.\u201d\u00a0 They also refer to his argument as an \u201capologia for the ayatollahs\u201d and judge it to be \u201cas absurd as it is dangerous.\u201d\u00a0 Furthermore, they contend, \u201cit is wholly irresponsible for anyone who aspires to national leadership\u201d to take the position that Paul takes.<\/p>\n Paul\u2019s objectors also allude to his \u201ctrail of similar factual errors and conspiracy-mongering on issues ranging from the defense budget to America\u2019s position overseas, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and even the origins of the attacks of September 11, 2001 [.]\u201d<\/p>\n Fly\u2019s and Moore\u2019s charge to the contrary notwithstanding, it has now been years that poll after poll has shown that Paul\u2019s views on these foreign policy-related matters are very much within<\/em> the mainstream.\u00a0 Moreover, inasmuch as Republicans persist in their belief that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are worthwhile endeavors, that our interventionist foreign policy had nothing to do with the terrorist attacks of 9\/11, and that we should remain on course with interventions in Iran, it is they who appear to be \u201cfar outside the mainstream.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2006 and 2008, Americans voted Republicans out of power in overwhelming numbers.\u00a0 President George W. Bush retired from his second term with an approval rating hovering at about 30%.\u00a0 While multiple factors doubtless accounted for their fatigue with the GOP, key among them was their weariness with what an ever growing number of Americans came to see as two regretful, avoidable wars in the Middle East.<\/p>\n Current polls establish that they have not changed their minds on this score, for foreign policy registers low among their concerns.<\/p>\n If this year\u2019s RNC was any indication, none of this is in dispute: the 2012 Republican National Convention was the first such convention in 60 years that excluded all explicit references to war.<\/p>\n It would be premature to conclude that Ron Paul\u2019s promise that his movement would one day \u201cbecome the tent\u201d of the Republican Party is now coming to fruition. In any case, though, his influence is felt.<\/p>\n Romney, not unlike any other politician, may want to place some stock in that.<\/p>\n originally published at The New American<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Not unlike any other politician, Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney can use every vote that he can get. As the events of this past week\u2019s Republican National Convention amply demonstrate, Romney and his party are doing all that they can to reach out to demographic groups\u2014independents and moderates, single women, blacks, Hispanics, \u201cthe youth vote\u201d\u2014whose…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":399,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n