Why gop hates ron paul

Coming in just 3, votes shy of Republican front-runner Mitt Romney and runner-up Rick Santorum, concern that Paul's supporters won't eventually warm up to the non-Ron Paul nominee or even worse, Paul could stage a third-party presidential bid and split Republican votes, is more palpable than ever.

The end-result of appeasing his campaign means a greater airing of views like cutting off foreign aid to Israel and legalizing marijuana, positions that generally make Republicans' heads explode. Party operatives tell the New York Times that Paul's libertarian fingerprint on Republican politics isn't going to go way as long as his campaign performs. All this third-party hype of coures makes things increasingly uncomfortable for Senator Rand Paul, who is tasked with both stumping for his father while not straying too far from the Republican Party.

And less than a decade before Republicans nominated McCain to be their standard-bearer McCain was persona non grata in the GOP and may or may not have flirted with the idea of becoming a hawkish Democrat.

But Romney and McCain were disliked for being too moderate, something that the Republican primary electorate eventually recognized, in its grudging way, would be necessary to win in the general election.

Indeed, in every election of the last quarter-century, Republicans nominated a moderate and then compelled him to impersonate a doctrinaire conservative on the campaign trail. It worked once with the first Bush and twice with the second with the added benefit that Bush fils actually ended up governing from a position much further to the right than anyone expected. Twice since World War II have Republicans nominated a more doctrinaire conservative for president: Barry Goldwater in and Ronald Reagan in and of course David Levine Pat Buchanan.

News about upcoming issues, contributors, special events, online features, and more. The New York Review of Books: recent articles and content from nybooks. I consent to having NYR add my email to their mailing list. Submit a letter: Email us letters nybooks. A Thing for Men in Uniforms. Sam Tanenhaus. Lorrie Moore. Jacob Heilbrunn. Aline Kominsky-Crumb and R. Daniel Drake. Brian Urquhart. Neal Ascherson. Paul walked out to a standing ovation by the mainly youthful audience. The fact wasn't lost on Leno who noted that he drew lots of support from young people.

Paul also touched on his ongoing feud with Donald Trump, telling Leno that the New York real estate magnate is "a little offended" he didn't accept his GOP debate invitation. The Congressman again said he has "no intention" of running on a third party ticket but added he hasn't ruled it out.