believer;939466 wrote:Perhaps but unless he can put together some miraculous grassroots momentum, Paul doesn't stand a snowball's chance in hell of getting the nomination. I like Paul and I am considering voting for him in the primary but when Romney gets the eventual nomination, I'll hold my nose and pull the lever for him in 2012 just as I did with McCain in 2008.
What is it, then, that makes the Republican base throw logic out the window on this, then? If the Republicans are dedicated to just getting the current President out of office (it's a sad state if they aren't going to stand for anything more than this), then why is it a long shot to get the guy most agreeable to the largest demographic in the general election?
believer;939466 wrote: So you'll be voting for Obama again?
Not on your life, but anyone voting for Romney might as well be. You're gonna get the same thing out of him. If I vote for Paul in the general (or the person who embodies the philosophy of small government and liberty the most), I'm voting for the person the LEAST like the incumbent, whereas anyone who would be voting for Romney (or some of the other schleps in the running) would be voting for someone who has a lot in common with Obama in terms of track record.
It would seem, then, that those who would vote for someone more similar to Obama are the ones closer to voting for him.
Moreover, as long as most people blindly accept the logical fallacy you're espousing here (False Dilemma, False Dichotomy, or Excluded Middle, depending on your learning experience), there won't be any victor except for the two parties' propped-up candidate. The belief that you should vote for a candidate because it gets the incumbent out of there only perpetuates the inevitability of someone like that candidate returning at a later date, because you admit that Romney ... for lack of a more appropriate term ... blows as a candidate.
Say Romney or another "lesser evil" does get elected. He bum rapes the country for the four years he's in office, and the people get (or stay) pissed. Now, their discontentment is with the Republican in office, so guess who many of them are going to vote for. Yep, the next DEMOCRAT candidate.
Voting for a poor candidate just because he's "not Obama" (a technicality with Romney) does nothing but give someone with Obama's ideals more ammo for the following election.
As such, by voting the way you vote, you're only helping the Democrats retake the White House sooner instead of later.
All that to say, no. I am not voting for a big-government, fiscally irresponsible, wasteful, militant candidate ... and I'm voting in such a way to try to keep such a candidate from taking the White House back at a later date as well.
If a person votes for Romney, however, they're voting for that kind of candidate in him AND they're fueling the flames that will help a Democrat counterpart reclaim the White House after Romney.