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Lately I am being bombarded with questions about Rand Paul endorsing Romney.
People are feeling betrayed. They are calling Rand a sell-out.
It might seem that way at first blush.
But Rand is not a sell-out, and Ron is not a quitter.
Let me try to explain what is really going on here.
My friend Dan McCarthy, editor of the venerable publication The American Conservative, put it this way:
"I'm an old Buchananite. Pat Buchanan always endorsed the nominee, no matter how painful it was. Because to not do so causes more harm to the holdout, than to the candidate."
It is at this point certain that, while we will certainly have an enormous impact on the national convention and the Republican party, winning the nomination is just outside of our grasp.
Our goal now, as ever, is to advance the "Ron Paul Revolution" in the best ways possible. That will mean continuing the tasks that once served our goal of winning the primary: to build strong local organizations that continue to recruit, train, equip, and mobilize grassroots leaders all across America.
By giving Romney the obligatory endorsement, Rand Paul just denied his enemies (and ours) a hammer to whack him (and us) over the head with for the next several years, should Obama be re-elected.
If Ron and Rand both refuse to endorse Romney and he loses narrowly to Obama, we would never hear the end of it. We would be villified by every other conservative group out there.
And nobody outside of our own circles would believe the truth, which is that we are the real Republicans and they, Romney and his fellow aristocrats, are the counterfeits.
Rand just did a great thing for us. I'm sure it was not easy for him.
He gave a purely obligatory endorsement, so that we can continue to carry on our fight to reclaim the American Right without being beaten over the head in the media for hurting the party.
Remember, Rand's endorsement compels nobody to act on it. And I haven't heard a single Ron Paul supporter saying they'll support Romney because Rand said so.
Rand did the right thing.
And as Jack Hunter explains:
"Ron Paul conceding he won’t be president and Rand Paul supporting the presumptive GOP nominee are but trivial anecdotes to the obvious and ongoing success of the most transformative political movement of our time: The rEVOLution."
He made a 10-minute video elaborating on this interesting point: that Ron Paul is becoming something more important than President. Watch it here.
Most importantly, what has been the reaction of Dr. Paul to his son's endorsement of Romney? I don't think there have been any media appearances about it yet, but I know for certain the elder Dr. Paul will stand 100% behind his son's decision.
In a webinar recorded back in October, now posted to Grassroots Central under the title Leadership with Michael Rothfeld, the last question I asked him concerned the subject of character. Mike explained:
"Character is what you do when nobody is watching... but character is also what you do when everyone is watching.
"What are you going to do if you lose?
"Are you going to quit?"
Are you going to call it a rigged game and give up? Are you going to let this historic campaign reduce to nothing more than a bump on the road to tyranny?
Or are you going to continue the fight, yield the battle graciously, and begin planning for the next battle?
Saul Anuzis, who always hated Ron Paul's movement and spent his resources engineering the primary to benefit Romney, recently lost his re-election campaign for National Committeeman... badly.
He had to take to the dais and call for the party to unite behind David Agema, his opponent, for national commiteeman.
I'm sure he would have loved to have denounced the convention for revolting against him, to tell us we're all a bunch of idiots, and so on.
But he could not. Not there on the dais. He would have done himself great harm by being anything other than a good sport in front of the state party. He had to concede to his opponent.
Originally posted by Swills
reply to post by CALGARIAN
Reason for Rand Paul's endorsement from a Ron Paul campaign manager
(see link for full email. Stupid character count keeps me from posting more info, mine or the email )
Lately I am being bombarded with questions about Rand Paul endorsing Romney.
People are feeling betrayed. They are calling Rand a sell-out.
It might seem that way at first blush.
But Rand is not a sell-out, and Ron is not a quitter.
Let me try to explain what is really going on here.
My friend Dan McCarthy, editor of the venerable publication The American Conservative, put it this way:
"I'm an old Buchananite. Pat Buchanan always endorsed the nominee, no matter how painful it was. Because to not do so causes more harm to the holdout, than to the candidate."
It is at this point certain that, while we will certainly have an enormous impact on the national convention and the Republican party, winning the nomination is just outside of our grasp.
Our goal now, as ever, is to advance the "Ron Paul Revolution" in the best ways possible. That will mean continuing the tasks that once served our goal of winning the primary: to build strong local organizations that continue to recruit, train, equip, and mobilize grassroots leaders all across America.
By giving Romney the obligatory endorsement, Rand Paul just denied his enemies (and ours) a hammer to whack him (and us) over the head with for the next several years, should Obama be re-elected.
If Ron and Rand both refuse to endorse Romney and he loses narrowly to Obama, we would never hear the end of it. We would be villified by every other conservative group out there.
And nobody outside of our own circles would believe the truth, which is that we are the real Republicans and they, Romney and his fellow aristocrats, are the counterfeits.
Rand just did a great thing for us. I'm sure it was not easy for him.
He gave a purely obligatory endorsement, so that we can continue to carry on our fight to reclaim the American Right without being beaten over the head in the media for hurting the party.
Remember, Rand's endorsement compels nobody to act on it. And I haven't heard a single Ron Paul supporter saying they'll support Romney because Rand said so.
Rand did the right thing.
And as Jack Hunter explains:
"Ron Paul conceding he won’t be president and Rand Paul supporting the presumptive GOP nominee are but trivial anecdotes to the obvious and ongoing success of the most transformative political movement of our time: The rEVOLution."
He made a 10-minute video elaborating on this interesting point: that Ron Paul is becoming something more important than President. Watch it here.
Most importantly, what has been the reaction of Dr. Paul to his son's endorsement of Romney? I don't think there have been any media appearances about it yet, but I know for certain the elder Dr. Paul will stand 100% behind his son's decision.
In a webinar recorded back in October, now posted to Grassroots Central under the title Leadership with Michael Rothfeld, the last question I asked him concerned the subject of character. Mike explained:
"Character is what you do when nobody is watching... but character is also what you do when everyone is watching.
"What are you going to do if you lose?
"Are you going to quit?"
Are you going to call it a rigged game and give up? Are you going to let this historic campaign reduce to nothing more than a bump on the road to tyranny?
Or are you going to continue the fight, yield the battle graciously, and begin planning for the next battle?
Saul Anuzis, who always hated Ron Paul's movement and spent his resources engineering the primary to benefit Romney, recently lost his re-election campaign for National Committeeman... badly.
He had to take to the dais and call for the party to unite behind David Agema, his opponent, for national commiteeman.
I'm sure he would have loved to have denounced the convention for revolting against him, to tell us we're all a bunch of idiots, and so on.
But he could not. Not there on the dais. He would have done himself great harm by being anything other than a good sport in front of the state party. He had to concede to his opponent.
edit on 8-6-2012 by Swills because: (no reason given)
Originally posted by Cynicaleye
reply to post by seenavv
He is actualy sane unlike his racist and homophobic father. I don't blame him for getting behind a real candidate, and neither should the cult of Ron Paul. You should accept he has no real support, even his son has abandoned him.
edit on 8-6-2012 by Cynicaleye because: (no reason given)
During an appearance on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show last night, Rand Paul threw his weight behind the former Massachusetts Governor.
“My first choice had always been my father. I campaigned for him when I was 11-years-old. He’s still my first pick,” Paul told Hannity. “But now that the nominating process is over, tonight I’m happy to announce that I’m going to be supporting Gov. Mitt Romney.”
The Romney campaign quickly shot back with an official press release welcoming the endorsement.
“I am honored to have earned the endorsement of Rand Paul. Senator Paul has been a leading voice in the effort to scale back the size and reach of government and promote liberty. Over the past three and half years, President Obama has made government more and more of a presence in our lives, and Americans can’t afford four more years of the same failed policies. As President, I will reform the federal government and make it smaller, simpler, and smarter. I am grateful for Senator Paul’s support and look forward to working with him to get America back on the right track.”
Originally posted by RealSpoke
Originally posted by disfugured
reply to post by RealSpoke
I'm disgusted to admit; AJ said it best... they became sellouts! They were bought out!
Only way to get back America now is by us doing it ourselves! Time to start doing things the hard way since we cannot do it through politics.
R3VOLUTION!edit on 8-6-2012 by disfugured because: (no reason given)