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They Will Start Being Nice To Ron Paul Now
by James Glaser January 5, 2012 
"They" are the Republican establishment, and here is the reason I think they are going to start being nice. Even though it has taken a while, the Republican Party has come to realize that Ron Paul is the only candidate they have that is broadening the base of their Party. Paul has excited a whole lot of young voters with his anti-war, smaller government, return to the Constitution message. Republicans know Barack Obama made it into the White House with the enthusiasm he generated with young voters who worked hard for his election. The Republicans have been lacking young voters, and as their Party-faithful age, they haven't been making up the numbers lost by attrition by attracting the young vote. Republicans have two fears. One is that Ron Paul will not push his followers to stay with the party-endorsed candidate if it is not him. The other fear, and this might be a greater fear, that Ron Paul will mount a third party run for the White House. Their fear is that a strong libertarian third party run would split the conservative vote, thus ensuring Barack Obama a second term. Personally, I would like Ron Paul to pull out of the Republican Race right now, and start his third party run. I think the man could win, just like Jesse Ventura did when he ran as an Independent and became Governor of Minnesota. But back to the being nice to Doctor Paul. The fear of losing the young vote and the possibility of a third party campaign by Ron Paul is forcing the Republicans to play lip service to some of Paul's ideas about our national debt and spending cuts. No, I don't think for a minute the rest of the Republican field will adopt Paul's positions on anything, but they will publicly say these are positions that should be thought about. Really, it is hard for any politician of any party to be nice to another politician. Politicians are narcissistic, and every one of them really believes that they and their ideas are what is best for America. We have all seen every other Republican candidate say nice things about Ron Paul in the nationally televised debates, and I bet it just gauls them to have to do that. In the weeks to come you are going to see more and more of that, because every Republican candidate believes he can end up being the endorsed candidate, and they surely don't want Ron Paul screwing up their chance to be President of the United States. I do believe knowing this is going on will make watching the next several primaries way more entertaining. |
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