How badly does this hurt Rand?

Toxic said:
Since the situation is what it is, it seems it would have been much better for Rand to have not endorsed Romney at all. He lost a lot of support from Ron's team and his decision simply looks like a very bad call, more now than ever. Whatever hopes he had of gaining greater mainstream support or gaining a cabinet position are moot.

I wonder if this will hurt hurt him in the end or if future supporters will be forgiving.
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My worry about Rand is he's too focused on winning rather than being ideological like Ron Paul.

He had to win his senate race, but I'm not so sure he "had" to endorse the enemy in this race but whatever.
 
How does anyone think this hurts Rand? The would be defacto leader of the GOP was just handed his ass against a wounded sitting POTUS that many thought could be beaten by a Pet Rock. The entire heart and soul is now up for grabs and Rand is in good position to take it...given a good strategy. Had Willard won, we'd be listening to how conservatism has prevailed for the next possibly 8 years. Of course its going to be tough work but we now have 4. I'm encouraged.
 
If Romney would have narrowly won Florida and Ohio by a few thousand votes, and then Romney started bombing a bunch of random countries and doing a bunch of dumb$%# stuff I bet he would have regretted endorsing him then in the name of some political checkers reasoning that his staff probably thought he should play.

ps- probably won't hurt him politically (maybe it will help), but that doesn't mean it was a good idea.
 
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If Romney won, his power-grab at the RNC would guarantee he could not be primaried in 2016.. This doesn't hurt Rand, it's the only way Rand had a chance next election.
 
funny, fox is spouting off names for the next run and rand was not included....this comes from krauthhammer guy he is an asshole
 
Agorism said:
If Romney would have narrowly won Florida and Ohio by a few thousand votes, and then Romney started bombing a bunch of random countries and doing a bunch of dumb$%# stuff I bet he would have regretted endorsing him then in the name of some political checkers reasoning that his staff probably thought he should play.

ps- probably won't hurt him politically (maybe it will help), but that doesn't mean it was a good idea.
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Indeed, if Romney would have won, Rand's endorsement would have been the worst political move he ever made. (He also would have spent the next years thinking, "Oh, Jesus, I didn't mean for anyone to actually LISTEN to me!") That said, it's really only the past few weeks that it looked like Romney even had a shot. Rand endorsed at a time when it looked like Romney had no prayer, because we all thought he'd get crushed in the debates by Obama (which didn't happen). I never agreed with Rand's move on ideological grounds (I like Ron's style better), and it narrowly escaped disaster, but...at this point, regardless of what I feel about it on an emotional level, I think it's really going to pay off in the future.

puppetmaster said:
funny, fox is spouting off names for the next run and rand was not included....this comes from krauthhammer guy he is an asshole
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Hahaha...yeah, we should expect as much, and there's a reason for that. The image Rand portrays isn't for the establishment's benefit. They'll never, ever trust him (and I think he's smart enough to know it), because simply put, they're savvy enough to know he's their enemy. (Our emotionality gets in the way sometimes, so we don't always see things as clearly as "them.") They'll never hand it to him, and they'll always look for any possible way to make him alienate either us or the Republican base...but currently, the Republican base loves him, and he has four years to earn the trust of the liberty movement with his votes. I'm confident he'll try, and I hope he succeeds, because it's up to us to carry him far enough for the Republican base to clamor for him.
 
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Rand can only receive the nomination if he accepts the Republican platform , is that what you folks want?
 
squarepusher said:
Rand can only receive the nomination if he accepts the Republican platform , is that what you folks want?
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No, he can only receive the nomination if we take over the state parties and the RNC. That's what taking the GOP from the ground up means. That's what it's meant since the strategy was first formed. While miracles are welcome, the long-term GOP strategy formed after Ron's 2008 run was never contingent upon suddenly winning a Presidential election starting from an infrastructure of zero...it was contingent upon taking advantage of our huge numbers of activists to flood Republican meetings and vote the party officials out. The insiders are Rand's problem, not the voters...the Republican base is already pretty fond of him. The media won't go along with us, but having control of the GOP leadership (and therefore the platform) and the Internet should be enough for us to neutralize their influence regarding a guy the Republican base already likes.
 
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Here's one thing to consider. You speak of Rand's endorsement as if it were the biggest thing ever, but recall the big GOP all-star rally with 30K in Ohio. Who was there? Rubio, Ayotte, McCain, etc....but yep, no Rand even though KY was only a 45 minute drive away. This is a loss for the neocons, but a victory for liberty. I feel very weird right now. I voted for Romney and am disappointed he lost, but my optimism with what could happen to our movement is much greater.
 
Romney's foreign policy cabinet was stacked with lunatics that overflowed from the Bush administration.

Scary to think he was semi close to having his finger on the button.
 
Agorism said:
Romney's foreign policy cabinet was stacked with lunatics that overflowed from the Bush administration.

Scary to think he was semi close to having his finger on the button.
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Indeed, but I'm not done holding my breath yet regarding World War III. Our chances are a little better now, but there's a reason we always say Romney and Obama aren't all that different, and when the petrodollar fails, or when Iran finally gets sick of all the provocations and does something stupid...all bets are off.
 
It just requires all of us to put our petty differences aside. If we do this right, we can have everyone from anarchists, to us, to Pat Buchanan Republicans, to liberals behind Rand.
 
I am so glad in hindsight that Rand made his endorsement and got his slot to speak at the convention. I heard from SO MANY neocons that they loved Rand and his speech. That one speech did more good than I think some give it credit for. Four years of Obama and at least one Republican house of Congress will hopefully be enough to make the liberty movement mainstream. I won't get my hopes up, but I'm gonna give it one helluva shot.
 
Rand had to endorse Romney, or else he would be blamed for Romney losing.
 
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