Guest Contributor: JDB

You may have noticed that Ron Paul is getting exactly zero play in the media despite his Fall fundraising success. He wasn’t even invited to participate in recent debates and he’s had to defend some personal accusations lately. It’s my observation that the bulk of attitudes toward RP’s campaign in the blogosphere (those that I pay attention to, anyway) have turned from intrigue to dismissal or even opposition. See here, here and especially here, for example.

JDB has the distinction of being this blog’s most frequent (only) commenter. Thus, by default, he is one of Coarse Evaluations biggest fans. JD is an ardent Ron Paul backer and an expert on all things Mormon, so he has some interesting perspectives on the Republican campaign. Here is JD:

I tend to agree that the Ron Paul campaign is a cult. Many of his followers look past the faults of the leader-his mistakes, personal deficiencies, and evils. However, Ron Paul's campaign isn't about getting votes based of any personality traits (which is why I think he won't win). Ron's campaign is about issues and ideology. You can't win the office of President by focusing on issues; you CAN win on personal qualities. Paul couldn't win even if he did run that way (he looks kind of old, scrawny, has kind of a whiney voice).

I also think that a cult leader asks for the recognition/praise of the group. I don't think Paul is looking for that kind of support. I really feel like he wants people to look past him and to the issues--not because he has something to hide, but because that's the type of guy he is. I think the smarter Paul followers are interested in the issues, so it naturally leads them to look past the man.

I think Paul's message is more, "Here are the problems that need to be fixed and here are the years and years of evidence/conspiracy/bad practices that led to the problems and...." I like Paul's message better, but I don't think it is the winning one.