I agree with your post, except I'm not so sure there are many like this left in the GOP.
I could be wrong, but if there were I'd expect them to at least be donating more to Ron Paul's campaign.
Thanks WilliamC - it's nice to know I'm not the only Ron Paul supporter who is focused on making the most out of the reality of our present position. There's more of us than there are barking "absolutist" and "hypocrites" within RPF**.
re: 'smart money' - In terms of winning new voters in the upcoming states, I'd say you're probably right...though Romney's supporters are a pretty large group and I think that even the intelligent/honest/apolitical supporters of Santorum and Newt respect the fact that Ron always wants to keep the conversation focused on real issues.
But going one step beyond popular votes, I think the big deal here is that this ad has given Ron another feather in his cap and card to play come convention. Make no mistake about it folks,
little by little, these 'integrity+issues first' stances by Ron are adding up... and while ads like this might not be enough to win back the support of the
Hoi polloi, I'm certain that the real power brokers and insiders within the GOP not only notice these ads/statements by Ron but are seriously impressed by the level of
discipline he has shown when presented with opportunities to take a cheap shot at Romney (and other candidates). The anti-theocon wing of the GOP (re: Jack Welch, Ed Rollins, etc.) respects Ron now, and ads like this will only help some of the early "converts" sell Ron as an "elder statesman" to the rest of the party.
In other words, this ad is as much for party leaders/power-brokers/Romney-endorsers/etc. as it is for voters... it's strategically brilliant and makes me think that Ron can actually win over enough of them to be considered seriously for a "non-insignificant" position within Romney's general election team & administration.
But why care what these people think?? Simple... even if Romney wanted to do a deal with Ron for his (and our) support, if the GOP elites were against it, there would be no deal. That's why
moves like this = genius because they not only strengthen Ron's hand with Romney, but also make it easier for Romney and early adopters of Ron (re: Welch, Rollins, etc.) to sell a deal to all the other GOP power brokers (who continue to warm up to Ron as the campaign goes on).
**Of course, all the absolutist "ATTACK ROMNEY WAHHH!1!!" posters in RPF hate this ad because they don't actually want Ron to win any REAL power/support. What they want is to forever be able to complain about Big Government without ever having to enter the arena themselves (or via a proxy like Ron Paul). This makes them self-defeating absolutists. That's fine... as long as such supporters maintain the integrity of their 'all or nothing' position. But what's not fine is that many of these very same absolutist supporters are now, in this very thread, yelling about how 'Ron should've attack Romney over the etch-a-sketch gaffe, not Santorum or Gingrich for playing politics over such a bullshit issue!'.
Sorry
Maltheus (and everyone else in the all-or-nothing camp), but you can't piss and moan about Ron doing a standup/issues+integrity-first ad after arguing in every single Ron-Romney-alliance thread that any 'deal' with Romney = "selling out".
That's a tad hypocritical dontcha know?
The way I see it, you've only got 2 choices (which should make you absolutist happy):
- either stick to the "moral high-ground" in response to ALL ACTIONS/DECISIONS BY RON
or
- come down from out of the clouds to muck it up in the dirt with all of us "realists"....
The Man in the Arena
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
Here come the "they're working together again" claims. 
