How likely do you think this is? Ron Paul getting the nomination in 2012.

[craigmatic]

He has lots of teabagger support without being seen as a dummy like palin. He doesn't come off as a wendell Wilkie figure like romney who's going to have to defend his own HCR plan. He actually sounds smarter than the rest of the republicans who we expect to run. Plus the lack of repubs announcing their candidacy now means there's no clear favorite. I think Paul has a shot at least on the repub side of things. If he plays it right I think paul could be the second coming of goldwater for them.

[tnlurker]

1. zero chance

[Jackpine Radical]

3. That would pretty much be my guess.

The Establishment won't stand for him because his kooky libertarianism would make him untrustworthy and uncontrollable. They don't want anyone who would actually try to create a free marketplace. Even Sarah Palin would be a better choice from their POV because her aspirations involve picking drapes for the White House, talking tough & basking in public adulation rather than trying to bend her brittle little brain around all that grubby, complicated policy stuff.

[Davis_X_Machina]

2. Not enough enthusiasm..

...for blowing up brown people who worship the wrong God, and taking their stuff away from them afterwards.

[customerserviceguy]

4. His libertarianism

scares the crap out of fundies. They believe in authoritarianism.

If you don't get at least a minimum of fundie support, you don't get the Repuke nomination, period. You have to at least pretend to fool them, and Ron Paul can't (and won't) pull that off.

[nemo137]

5. No.

Too old, too weird, too libertarian for the party brass. Not frothingly mad enough for the baggers.

Rand Paul, I could see trying it, and making enough waves to get on the ticket or chosen as some kind of campaign surrogate.

[Jefferson23]

6. The Pentagon alone would push him out..and that's only for starters. n/t

[Skink]

7. Birds would probably start falling from the sky.

[TexasProgresive]

8. As likely as George W. Bush being elected governor of Texas

And, well you know.

[Arkana]

26. If people had showed up in 1994 to vote, Ann Richards

would have been reelected and George W.'s political career would have been over before it started.

[mmonk]

9. It seems to me the right is getting crazier with a love for people

that say hateful things. Ron Paul doesn't fit that bill. But who knows? I really don't see candidate material from them lately. Depends on the independents I suppose.

[OHdem10]

10. Could he pass muster with Wall Street???? He may be seen

as having a strong will and mind of his own which
could not be molded into the likeness Wall Street
approves. Just my own thinking out loud.

[craigmatic]

13. His brand of libertarianism basically says get the government out of the markets.

[Carnage251]

11. They probably would nominate another old guy

[RichGirl]

12. Bloody unlikely....

Look at how everyone is hyperventilating over even the mention of Social Security being cut. Ron Paul thinks it should be eliminated. Nobody wants Social Security or Medicare eliminated. Even hard-core libertarians, I bet, feel secure in the fact that it'll never come to that.

Tea baggers are so dense that they fight for the rights of the rich to get richer and complain about government involvement as they carry their "Don't take my medicare..." signs. Keep in mind, they are the birthers, the rascists, etc. They like Palin, Beck, Limbaugh. They like the ugly, violent hate talk...calling Obama a Muslim, etc. Ron Paul will never do any of that. Ron Paul will never say "we want to take our country back". He's all about the fraud of the Federal Reserve and such which is way over their pointed little heads.

Also, Ron Paul was okay with a Mosque being built at ground zero. Although Rand wasn't. He's learning how to lie...something that his dad doesn't do.

[craigmatic]

14. they still have more in common than not.

Both want to get rid of the IRS. Both want to cut government regardless of the actual harm it'll do to real people. Paul might go after smaller agencies. Both want the dollar to be tied to gold (that alone gets him the beck followers). The economics, constitution-worship, and government policies work in his favor. It's just the social issues that he's bad for them on. All he really has to do is just not talk about it. Plus he hasn't used the violent rhetoric like the rest. At least on paper he looks like he would fit in well with them.

[Ter]

15. If he does, it will be wonderful

The debates will actually be worth watching. He will school Obama on bringing the troops home and ending the Patriot Act.

[Alexander]

16. The only nomination I could see him getting is the Libertarian Party nomination.

Like he did in 1988.

[Blue_Tires]

17. He didn't get it last time, so what has changed now??

He's 4 years older, has a record of racist rantings, he pissed off the GOP by not throwing his weight behing McCain, and he had a pretty poor showing in the primaries despite the truckloads of cash donated to his campaign...

Not to mention the fact that his "broad" support on the internet and on the street was apparantly a mile wide and an inch deep, and just to hammer the point home again, the guy is NUCKING FUTS -- I know that Paul has his supporters on DU and Kos, but all of quasi-leftists touting "But Ron Paul is a freedom-loving patriot who will end the wars!/audit the fed!/legalize drugs!/return to the gold standard!!" etc. While ignoring the other 99 percent of his 'agenda' can go kick rocks....

Paul is just as crazy as Beck...Sure, he speaks in soft, mild-mannered tones and doesn't try to whip up the base with screechy firebrand rants (Beck) or bullshit masked with pseudo-intellectualism (George Will), but he is cut from the same cloth...

[dionysus]

18. LOLZ

[TBF]

19. Nope, he's anti-military so he will not get the nod.

I predict either Romney or Huckabee, with golden boy Rubio as VP. They are not going to mess around this time.

[tritsofme]

20. He is a Dennis Kucinich type figure in Republican presidential politics

If he decided to run in 2012, he would do so knowing full well that it would amount to a vanity campaign.

Paul has a loud base of supporters, but overall they are quite small and not mainstream. He has no shot at the nomination.

[xxqqqzme]

21. jeb bush - get familiar w/ it.

He will be marketed as the savior/uniter of the rethuglican party.

[zulchzulu]

22. The RNC would never ever allow it

If he even hints he's going to run, they will discredit him from all sides.

He's too batshit crazy even for them.

[Ter]

27. The RNC neo-cons tried to stop every tea bagger in 2010

They failed for the most part, and the establishment lost many primaries. The question is will the Tea Party still be a force in 2012?

[nxylas]

23. Zero

He's the Republicans' Dennis Kucinich - he has a hardcore of people who love him (and I count myself among Kucinich's base), but has little appeal beyond that.

[Arkansas Granny]

24. I make no predictions about this. Who would have believed that McCain

would have gotten the nomination in 2008?

[Arkana]

25. Nope.

Paul's crazy.