And we're supposed to believe the "Neocons" are just dumb, ignorant, and stupid...and will allow somebody like Rand to walk into the White House without a fight, without being totally destroyed (one or the other)? I don't follow this line of "Rand is just doing it because he has to do it." line of thinking.
No, we're not supposed to believe that at all, and that's not what's going to happen. That's the thing: In this particular area, the ruling neocons are smarter than some of us. They're evil and calculating, not stupid. They know very well that Rand is their enemy, but some of us cannot see it, because our own judgment is being too clouded by our emotional trust issues and the expectations Ron set with his particular style. We've come to mistakenly think that Ron's style is the only possible way to go. (Personally I prefer Ron, but Rand's style is valid as well.) They threw everything they had at Rand with Trey Grayson, and they'll throw everything they can at him when he runs for President as well.
Rand is dancing on a tightrope in terms of his image, and the establishment knows it, so they passive-aggressively goad him and push his limits on party loyalty so he falls off the rope and alienates a voting bloc he needs: On one hand, if they push him to lose his poise and say something "anti-Republican" enough, they can replay it fifty times in a row on Fox News for a Republican audience a few years from now. On the other hand, if he plays it TOO cool, it will further inflame our own trust issues, which they hope will cut him off from his key grassroots support base.
The bottom line is that the ruling elite are sociopaths who treat the world like their grand chessboard, and they've been at it for a very long time. They're smart, and they're manipulative, and they know that Rand is their enemy.
Rand's tightrope act is not meant to fool the ruling elite; it's meant to make garden variety Republicans comfortable with him despite his almost 100% pro-liberty record (with the exception of Iran sanctions). He's playing chess as well, except on our behalf. I just wish more of us realized it, because Rand has made some blunders that have pushed him too far to one side of his tightrope. Our perennial mistrust and collective inability to see what's going on is giving the establishment the power to emotionally manipulate us into sacrificing a useful ally...and that's a shame. Rand has chosen a difficult path, but I think he underestimated just how difficult it would be, because he didn't (perhaps still doesn't) fully appreciate our trust issues.
