The single-mindedness of the Ron Paul supporter
posted at 4:08 pm on May 28, 2007 by Allahpundit
Via Geraghty, here’s a great little analysis by William Beutler that answers once and for all the question, “What kind of Republican supports Ron Paul?”
They don’t call him “the only man who can save America” for nothing.
Blowback
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he doesnt go far enough. if you go to that GOP poll You’ll notice that one site or so was overwhelmed with Ron Paulites. they litterally swarmed that poll.
Also for most of the day Fred led while Paul was vastly in the negative. Then overnight after repeated spaming the numbers changed.
Its clear that Ron Paul is the Spam king.
William Amos on May 28, 2007 at 4:14 PM
There is a direct link between number of supporters on-line and how far left a candidate is. Pure and simple.
We need to start handing out free laptops and wifi at NRA conventions.
unamused on May 28, 2007 at 4:23 PM
those arent all supporters. The Left games polls by repeating voting. Thats why place like Digg get overwhelming left as they game the system.
William Amos on May 28, 2007 at 4:34 PM
The left always tries to get all clever about Republican candidates. A good example is Alan Colmes, who always says to Conservative guests something about Rudy supporting abortion and there is no way he can win the primary.
The left is afraid of Rudy.
JayHaw Phrenzie on May 28, 2007 at 4:39 PM
The best hope, neigh, the last hope for mankind. Ron Paul.
lorien1973 on May 28, 2007 at 4:42 PM
Leftists tried to game the election in Michigan back in 2004 by telling union members to vote for McCain in the republican primary, which they could do due to a flaw in the election law that allowed them to vote in both primaries. This time around we are seeing liberal kiddies gaming polls in order to select the worst possible GOP candidate.
Note to ‘progressives’: Keep up the failed effort. That keeps you out of trouble.
DannoJyd on May 28, 2007 at 4:44 PM
It’s easy to see how they can do it. While the conservatives are all working, the Lefties are either:
a) on a “smoke break” from taking classes,
b) on a “smoke break” from teaching the classes, or
c) on one of their many AFSCME breaks in a government job.
Yogurt on May 28, 2007 at 4:51 PM
It is painful to see concervatives converted into the liberal way of thinking. I’m not talking about Paul. I’m talking about everyone who wants to blast away ideological diversity and expel unique points of view. I would think the current Republican aristocracy’s handling of immigration would teach you guys that, but you are missing the lesson.
All I have heard about Paul is he is against the war, essentially an isolationist. If you think this is the same as the reasons the liberals are against the war then you are vastly oversimplifying the issue, and naive of the ‘humanitatian’ work liberals want the armed forces to do.
Of course the poll shows Paul supports are stronglg divided when he is one of the only ones against the war. Who needs a poll to figure that out? The whole analysis is hot air.
Resolute on May 28, 2007 at 5:02 PM
The problem isnt that Ron Paul is against the war on Terror. The problem is Ron paul wants to blame the US for the WOT.
When your gonna argue Osama’s talking points you better be ready for some fla(C)k
William Amos on May 28, 2007 at 5:04 PM
Ron Paul..so liberal he makes that 180 turn and is conservative? Or would that be the other way around?
SouthernGent on May 28, 2007 at 5:21 PM
William Beutler is drawing the wrong conclusions.
What’s getting ignored in his analysis is that the online poll results are vastly different than the other polls. IIRC, Ron Paul never cleared 2% favorability on any Republican poll run by a reputable agency like Rassmussen. This indicates to me that it isn’t Repubs who are voting for Ron Paul on the online polls at all, probably Democrats, or, more unlikely, Independents, that have a system in place to skew the results.
Aardvark on May 28, 2007 at 5:27 PM
Is Ron Paul the conservative version of Nader? I smell a spoiler…
el75 on May 28, 2007 at 5:46 PM
there are three types of lies…
1: lies
2: damn lies, and….
3:statistics
which can be scewed(sp?) to suppurt whichever conclusion you want
mrfixit on May 28, 2007 at 5:49 PM
support…. not suppurt
man I need some coffee
mrfixit on May 28, 2007 at 5:50 PM
Ron Paul doesn’t have a snow balls chance in hell, especially after what he said in the debate that the GWOT is all the United States’ fault. I believe the American people will not turn the security of the United States over to someone like him, just like they wouldn’t turn it over to Kerry. Conservatives are the only ones who will protect this country. Liberals like Jimmah Cartah, Al Bore, John Skerry and Bill Klinton would just sell out to the highest bidder. Americans have more sense than that.
Neocon Peg on May 28, 2007 at 5:55 PM
I love Ron Paul. He was much better than CATS. I’m going to see him again and again.
lorien1973 on May 28, 2007 at 5:58 PM
See the story was off from the start. It ASSUMED that Paul supporters have a mind to be singleminded with.
William Amos on May 28, 2007 at 6:23 PM
Ron Paul supporters can spam online polls to their heart’s content, but if he doesn’t have the actual numbers of voters his followers claim, he not his supporters, is going to really look like an imbecile.
doriangrey on May 28, 2007 at 6:43 PM
If Ron Paul is elected, (dead) people like Christopher Reeve will walk again. Morons,
HerrMorgenholz on May 28, 2007 at 6:57 PM
I would say in this case there’s a direct link between number of supporters online and how libertarian a candidate is (or is perceived to be).
So I’d be careful about assuming that there aren’t a fair number of NRAers who support (or at least like) Paul.
To be clear, I ain’t one of ‘em, particularly on foreign policy. But – if I can wax Mulderic – I believe they’re out there.
Also, as other commenters have pointed out, Paul ain’t goin’ anywhere, at least as a Republican. I think he is possibly just nutty enough to contemplate a Naderesque assault on the general election, and if so, good for him. I’ve never understood why the Dems demonized Nader for running – if anything, they should’ve been pissed at the people who actually voted for him. But my guess is that a Ron Paul independent candidacy would only really siphon votes from the Libertarian party. The Republican party of 2007/8 is in general so far from any small-government, small-c conservatism that I think a large number of those voters have already let the door hit them in the ass on their way out.
Levy on May 28, 2007 at 7:47 PM
Gawd Levy I love it when you wax anything!
TBinSTL on May 28, 2007 at 10:49 PM
I can absolutely assure everyone that the results for the GOP Straw Poll for May are not due to liberals voting for the worst candidate in a conservative poll. According to emails I got from folks at GOPBloggers, they were beset by requests from libertarians to include Paul in May’s poll.
What happened here was exactly what happened at LGF’s post-debate poll, a few net-savvy Ron Paul folks spammed the poll in order to convince you and me that he has more support than he really does.
If you want to see pretty solid evidence, go to the first link above, and you’ll find near the top of the page a list of linked candidates names. Each link gives the results of only those who chose that candidate as their first choice, and how they viewed the other candidates, i.e. acceptable/unacceptable. When you get to Ron Paul’s link, you’ll see the difference, and it’s just comical. There is no way that such a results comes from over 5,000 different people.
Freelancer on May 29, 2007 at 8:19 AM
Oh man! Between the Moon bats on the left and the Way Outs on the right, I think we are heading for a shortage of tin foil…
soulsirkus on May 29, 2007 at 10:46 AM