Ron Paul’s long game (Rand?) [View all]

[Little Star]

UGH!!! Salon has a write up on this shit!

Salon.com
By Steve Kornacki
Jan 6, 2012

Ron Paul’s long game


~snip
Ideological differences between father and son are virtually nonexistent, but Rand Paul may not face the same hard ceiling within the Republican Party that his father does. Nor is Rand burdened by the extremist paper trail that will dog his father for as long as he remains on the public stage. This offers Ron Paul a different, more meaningful way of enjoying the last laugh in his war with the party establishment: Stepping aside gracefully at the end of the GOP primary campaign and handing off the family political franchise to his son.

The logic is compelling. The Paul libertarian economic message is becoming increasingly mainstream in the Republican Party, as the growth in Ron Paul’s support between 2008 and 2012 attests, and long-term trends suggest the GOP will only move further to the right in the years ahead. In other words, if there’s an open presidential nomination in 2016, Rand Paul could be a major factor — starting with the base that his father now enjoys and expanding it in ways he never could. Or maybe he’d have to wait until 2020. Either way, though, it’s not inconceivable that Rand Paul could ultimately mount a successful campaign for the Republican nod.

But if the Paul name were to turn into the Republican equivalent of Nader, the fallout could threaten the inroads that Rand has made and his otherwise bright future in the party. Against this backdrop, Ron Paul’s third party dilemma doesn’t seem like one at all. He could run this fall, garner a lot of press attention, win five to ten percent of the vote and maybe keep Mitt Romney (or whomever) out of the White House. Or he could resist the urge and then watch with pride a few years from now when his son plays the presidential game for real.
snip~

http://www.salon.com/2012/01/06/ron_pauls_long_game/