Ron Paul left 50,000 votes on the table.

[btwilli1]

People are mentioning this but nobody has as cool of a title as me!

If everybody who dissaproved of the Iraq war, and everybody who wanted to deport Illegal immigrants voted for Ron Paul instead of McCain. If you assume the Iraq war and the deport them opinion goes together somewhat, there were probably 50,000 votes that could have swung Dr. Paul's way. Then we are talking about a completely different race. Ron Paul is the only one to blame for leaving those votes on the table.

Ron Paul should have finished 3rd or even 2nd. 35% of NH dissaproves of the Iraq war. 50% of that vote went to McCain. That is almost 40,000 votes. Even if Ron Paul pulled half of those votes, he would have finished 3rd. Apparently the message isn't getting out.

50% of NH says to Deport all illegal Immigrants. 24% of them voted for McCain, that's another 27000 votes. McCain helped introduce the Amnesty bill.

People just don't know, and that is Ron Paul's fault. He needs to take that 20million and tell every person in America his plan to get out of Iraq, and why it is "honorable," and tell every person McCain is for Amnesty, and Huckabee is an illegal immigrants best friend as well. If people knew the message and we could sway the supposed 70% of America who is against the war. This is an entirely different election.

The other candidates will hit Guilani and Romney hard for their questionable character and flip flopping.

Spend the money, fling some mud!
Spend the money, fling some mud!
Spend the money, fling some mud!

 

[Duckman]

I think personal attacks should be off limits for a campaign ad, but merely calling out a rival opponent's position I think is definitely fair game. It makes me sick how many people voted for McCain thinking he was a peace candidate.

 

[jaumen]

This shows the irresponsibility of American voters and nothing else. They voted for a guy who will do NEITHER of those things. Maybe they don't know about Ron Paul. Well, I still call them irresponsible. A responsible voter would have checked out every candidate who is running. This is the freaking 21st century. Information is EASY to come by. Could Paul have gotten their votes somehow? Maybe, but I don't see what could have been done differently in NH in order to reach them.

 

[pmbug]

I'm not so sure that is the problem. I think most anyone who has watched the debates and/or heard of Ron Paul knows that he is against the war.

The Republican voters that I have talked to (not talked at), indicate to me that Ron Paul has not won the debate on:

• non-interventionism vs. interventionism - The cold war may be over, but many Republican voters that I'm talking to see Ron Paul's platform to completely withdraw the military and foreign aid as emaciating the USA's ability to influence world affairs. Ron has talked about blowback and such, but it has not convinced older folk who believe the USA's interventionist history has largely been the correct course.
• Keynesian economics vs. Austrian School/gold standard - The Republicans voters I have talked to believe that Keynesian economics has been proven better than the gold standard which was in use during several depressions leading up to the Great Depression.
• 100% individual freedom/property rights vs. "some" social program safety nets - Everyone likes to rail against the cost of entitlement programs, but I think most secretly believe that government should not stand by and let people starve to death. Ron Paul's stance on strict property rights is seen as tolerating/supporting racism.

Unless the message from the campaign changes, I think Ron Paul has likely hit the ceiling of his support. The issues I outlined above are deal breakers for the Republican voters that I have encountered. I'd like to hear from anyone else who is talking to long time Republican voters.

Also, most of the people I talk to see Ron Paul as an extremist. He really needs to communicate that he is (or can be) pragmatic - ie. that the changes he wants may not be 100% possible solutions, but he will move in those directions. I have heard him intimate this in a few interviews, but he needs to communicate it clearly, forcefully and often IMO.

 

[noztnac]

We should have handed every voter in New Hampshire a DVD with McCain saying "Make it 100" w/ re to Iraq.

 

[speciallyblend]

Voters ARE STUPID thats the problem

 

[ZzzImAsleep]

tagged for later viewing.....