I've been extremely disappointed in the Republican higher-ups lately, not just because they're trying to brush Ron under the carpet, but also because from my perspective their treatment of him makes no sense strategically. Even assuming I was not a Ron Paul supporter, but just a steely-eyed Republican who wanted to replace Obama with a neocon at all costs, it would make more sense to have Paul in the tent (peeing out, so to speak), then outside the tent and possibly screwing things up for them with a third party run. I had really hoped they would placate the Paulites with a Rand Paul VP-nomination, an appointment of Ron as the Treasury Secretary or something like that, but they really seem to want to brush all that aside and just pretend it's Romney, Romney, Romney and the Paul thing was just an irrelevant flash in the pan.
I don't understand how they can't see that while Ron Paul may not have the power to beat Romney in the nomination process (at least, it's not very likely), he DEFINITELY has the power to ruin it for them. Romney's chances are already looking pretty questionable and his would be a slim margin of victory in November at best. If Paul takes away even 3% of his votes, even with just simple write-ins, Romney loses. All Ron has to do is run third party. Or even not run third party but say, endorse Gary Johnson or something. I think they think all the Paulites will just grit their teeth and vote for Romney since at least he's slightly better than Obama. But how little they understand the Paul people if they think that!
How do they not see that Paul has the power to snatch the presidency from their grasp? How can they be so stupid as to alienate his supporters?
Just a rant, really...