The Romney endorsement should have tipped us....

[DevilsAdvocate]

Rand has tainted his image. People believes he's just a politician unlike his father who stuck by his guns and his principles.

Endorsing Mitt Romney
Endorsing McConnell
Signing Iran letter

And the worse was coming out against the confederate flag.

"inescapably a symbol of human bondage and slavery” and needs to go."

Maybe im wrong and i hope I'm wrong. But i dont see a path towards winning.

The confederate flag thing absolutely killed him. I don't think you realize just how much. Conservatives in the South are really defensive about it. And then here comes Rand, Captain PC swooping in to save the day. He sacrificed the passionate support of one of the largest Republican strongholds in America in return for a tiny infinitesimal sliver of the black/liberal vote.

 

[klamath]

The confederate flag thing absolutely killed him. I don't think you realize just how much. Conservatives in the South are really defensive about it. And then here comes Rand, Captain PC swooping in to save the day. He sacrificed the passionate support of one of the largest Republican strongholds in America in return for a tiny infinitesimal sliver of the black/liberal vote.

Besides fighting a extreme turn toward a war mood in the republican electorate, I tend to agree Rand over played his outreach to the black community with this and going to ferguson.

 

[Tywysog Cymru]

The confederate flag thing absolutely killed him. I don't think you realize just how much. Conservatives in the South are really defensive about it. And then here comes Rand, Captain PC swooping in to save the day. He sacrificed the passionate support of one of the largest Republican strongholds in America in return for a tiny infinitesimal sliver of the black/liberal vote.

Maybe that explains South Carolina, but Rand doesn't have much support in Iowa or New Hampshire either.

 

[RonPaulMall]

Rand's problem has nothing to do with Romney. Rand is in the dumps because when people think of him, they think of:

Ferguson appearance
Paling around with Al Sharpton
Siding with McConnell over Cruz in public feud
Supporting Amnesty
Siding with Left on Confederate Flag
Siding with the Establishment against Trump

Then you have the whole non-interventionist foreign policy and Civil Liberty stances which by themselves can be overcome but NOT with all the above crap that has already made you suspect in the minds of GOP voters.

This was the perfect year for somebody like Rand to run. Unfortunately, he ran a campaign that renounced everything that had made him popular in the first place, drove away regular Republicans and Conservatives in droves, and aligned himself with the Establishment in a climate that is even more anti-Establishment than 2010.

Maybe that explains South Carolina, but Rand doesn't have much support in Iowa or New Hampshire either.

The flag itself is not the point. It is the PC pandering and agreeing with the Left that Conservatives are all a bunch of racists. Hatred of these things are not regionally confined to the former confederacy.

 

[jmdrake]

His comment was about ILLEGAL ALIENS. Misconstruing people's statements is why I don't like to associate with "libertarians".

Which comments about illegal aliens? When he said the "good ones" should be given amnesty or when he said he wanted a special police force to round them all up and deport them?

 

[Tywysog Cymru]

You really overestimate peoples' attention spans.

Rand's problem has nothing to do with Romney. Rand is in the dumps because when people think of him, they think of:

Ferguson appearance
Paling around with Al Sharpton

It was well after these things that his numbers dropped.

Siding with McConnell over Cruz in public feud

Even I forgot that one.

Supporting Amnesty

When did he ever do this? Or do you consider not deporting everyone to be amnesty? Because that isn't amnesty.

Siding with Left on Confederate Flag

That probably lost a few people. But the majority of South Carolinians wanted to take down the flag in the Summer of 2015. Most people probably didn't even hear Rand Paul's comments. My parents, who live in Kentucky, didn't know that Rand said anything about the flag until I told them. They agreed with Rand but that's not what they're basing their vote on.

Siding with the Establishment against Trump

Okay, this one people will remember. But what do you want him to do, constantly praise Trump like Sanders did for Clinton in the first Democratic debate?

Then you have the whole non-interventionist foreign policy and Civil Liberty stances which by themselves can be overcome but NOT with all the above crap that has already made you suspect in the minds of GOP voters.

Foreign policy is the main issue. As soon as I saw Benjamin Netanyahu lecturing Congress on how dangerous Iran is, I knew Rand was going to have a tough time. If the elections had been in 2013 it would have been a Randslide.

This was the perfect year for somebody like Rand to run. Unfortunately, he ran a campaign that renounced everything that had made him popular in the first place, drove away regular Republicans and Conservatives in droves, and aligned himself with the Establishment in a climate that is even more anti-Establishment than 2010.

The flag itself is not the point. It is the PC pandering and agreeing with the Left that Conservatives are all a bunch of racists. Hatred of these things are not regionally confined to the former confederacy.

He never said that people who fly the flag are racists.

 

[r3volution 3.0]

This was the perfect year for somebody like Rand to run.

No, this is the worst cycle for libertarians in a long time.

The base has no interest in smaller government.

They just want a strongman to protect them from the Muslims and the Mexicans; hence Trump.

 

[cajuncocoa]

No, this is the worst cycle for libertarians in a long time.

The base has no interest in smaller government.

They just want a strongman to protect them from the Muslims and the Mexicans; hence Trump.

I'm sorry, but those were never the libertarians among us. Republicans who like to use the label, maybe. But not libertarians who keep a safe distance from the GOP unless Ron and/or Rand make it necessary for us to come near. Nope.

 

[WTLaw]

I live in a small town in Alabama, and nobody has any idea what Rand said on the confederate flag. He is losing because everyone likes someone better, normally Trump or Cruz, and also...Rand cant be trusted to deliver temporary satisfaction on foreign policy.

 

[cajuncocoa]

I live in a small town in Alabama, and nobody has any idea what Rand said on the confederate flag. He is losing because everyone likes someone better, normally Trump or Cruz, and also...Rand cant be trusted to deliver temporary satisfaction on foreign policy.

Are you some kind of Cruz troll? Almost every post you've made so far (41) you've mentioned him. That can't be a coincidence.

 

[WTLaw]

Are you some kind of Cruz troll? Almost every post you've made so far (41) you've mentioned him. That can't be a coincidence.

What type of troll would that be? Almost every time I mention him, its negatively. I live in a conservative state where all I ever hear of is Cruz this, Cruz that. So am I ate up with annoyance? Yes. Thats about it.

 

[derek4ever]

Rand has the best ideas out there! Yes, it may not be the perfect election for a libertarian/small-government storm. However, Rand has come out as somebody who thinks you can stand up to the threats without even touching the Constitution, which is the way to do it. And this is the reason why I think Rand must play with the new scenario that the GOP beltway is crafting. Matter of fact, I was just watching a YouTube video of him on Hannity from months ago saying that there's going to be a re-shuffling in the field and this new scenario of a contested convention popped up a few days ago, so now I can connect the dots and see what the real plan is.

 

[RonPaulMall]

No, this is the worst cycle for libertarians in a long time.

The base has no interest in smaller government.

They just want a strongman to protect them from the Muslims and the Mexicans; hence Trump.

If you are a Liberty Candidate and can't figure out how to win in the most anti-establishment year in modern history, you don't deserve to hold office. Dave Brat beat the Majority Leader by over 10 points just two years ago running on a populist Liberty platform. If that election had been this year Brat would have beaten Cantor by over 20 points. Anti-establishment sentiment is the Liberty Movement's best friend. You just need to harness it.

 

[r3volution 3.0]

If you are a Liberty Candidate and can't figure out how to win in the most anti-establishment year in modern history, you don't deserve to hold office. Dave Brat beat the Majority Leader by over 10 points just two years ago running on a populist Liberty platform. If that election had been this year Brat would have beaten Cantor by over 20 points. Anti-establishment sentiment is the Liberty Movement's best friend. You just need to harness it.

Define "anti-establishment."