imported post
I find this topic interesting. I’ve often heard people say that, “a vote for RP is a vote for Hillary”, (first time I’ve heard the reference to Giuliani). Or, that a vote for RP is taking a vote away from Thompson, McCain, Romney, as well as Huckabee and some of the other lower tier candidates. It’s all nonsense. A vote for RP is a vote for RP.
The type of people who support Ron Paul wouldn’t vote for someone like Giuliani, McCain, Romney, or Thompson. Either one of those candidates represents more of what we’ve had for the last seven years, and the people made it known what they thought of that in the 2006 election. Give Rudy McRomney, or Fred Thompson the nomination, and the same thing will happen that happened in 2006. The Republicans will loose. People who support RP support him because of his message that is backed by his record. None of the other top tier candidates come close to that and the majority of his supporters understand this. Therefore, a vote for Ron Paul wouldn’t take a vote from Giuliani, McCain, Romney, or Thompson.
Now, Thompson supporters, who are freedom minded, could be swayed toward Ron Paul when they discover that Thompson isn’t what they initially thought. That’s possible because while his message does sound conservative, his record is close to being in lock step with the current administration. People who support Ron Paul know what he stands for, while Thompson is sometimes riding on sound bites.
The idea of Ron Paul “taking votes away from” some of the lower tier candidates may have something in the sense that Hank refers to. However, they are second tier, and Ron Paul isn’t. Ron Paul has a better chance of getting the nomination than they do. Just yesterday, the guy raised $3.8 million in just one day. It’s gotten to the point where they can no longer ignore him, so now they are trying to demonize him.
I do agree with Hank T’s theory to a certain degree. If you support Huckabee, and dislike any of the other candidates, then you should vote for Huckabee, because you don’t want the others to get the nomination anyway. However, if you think you could support one of the top tier candidates then, voting for Huckabee is most likely taking a vote away from that candidate that you could support. The problem with Hank T’s theory is that it makes an assumption that Ron Paul supporters would support another candidate other than Giuliani, but that is just plain false. Sure, there may be some fence sitters that could see themselves as voting for Thompson, but they’d most likely vote for him anyway since “He’s that Law & Order guy!” Supporters of the Ron Paul revolution support Dr. Paul because they don’t like what we currently have, and they see Thompson as more of the same, just as they also see Rudy McRomney as more of the same.
I dislike Hillary just as much as I do Rudy McRomney, and I really don’t see Thompson doing very much different that the current prez. Therefore, none of those people will get my vote. If I thought Giuliani, McCain, Romney, or Thompson was that much better than Hillary Obama (the analogy of the plane and the train was spot on), then one of them would probably get my vote, but that isn’t going to happen. If you want to make sure that Ron Paul doesn’t get the nomination, then start posting like Hank T, and vote for one of the other candidates. If you aren’t sure about RP, then do some research. Read his writings, speeches, and voting record. Don’t just take Sean Hannity’s word for it, do the research yourself. There’s going to be a lot of misinformation put out on him by people who want to see him fail. If OTH you think he might make a good prez, then vote for him in the primary, and vote for him in the general regardless if he wins the primary. You won’t be alone.
