The Official US Politics Thread 'Ron Paul quietly amassing an army of delegates while GOP frontrunners spar' and 'Mitt Romney rebounds against the Santorum surge'

[Kantor]

Slimebeast said:

I just can't understand how the Republicans have so worthless candidates (outside of Ron Paul) ever since that McCain guy who also was laughably bad.

They totally lack charisma and the ability to be convincing. No aura of power. Mediocre intelligence and so conventional in their appearance.

On charisma alone Obama had his re-election secured as soon as he became President.

How could the Republican party not see this? Or maybe they aren't even trying, realising it was all over before it even began and perhaps they're already breeding a talented guy behind the scenes and preparing him for 2016 when they don't have Superman against them.

There's a growing culture of anti-intellectualism in the Republican party. The Republican base prefer someone who comes across as friendly to someone who is genuinely intelligent and geared for the job. They seem to find intelligence threatening.

Mitt Romney is about the closest thing to a semi-competent candidate the Republicans have, but he's a sleaze and changes his mind about pretty much everything every couple of weeks, because he realises that he has to appeal to three different groups of people:

• Libertarians and classical liberals (who like Ron Paul)
• Neoconservatives (who like Newt Gingrich)
• Evangelical Christians (who like Rick Santorum)

He does well amongst the first (and IMO most sensible) group because Ron Paul is a little bit crazy, but he has to go into the uncomfortable territory of the other two groups if he wants to stand a chance of winning.

On pure intelligence, Ron Paul should get the nomination, but the last two groups despise him.