I think he had/has a few major flaws.
These are in no specific order.
1. He is too radical. Everyone complains about wanting change, but very few people actually do want it. most people look around at their lives and if they have a decent house, a car and a decent job they are happy and they don't want to jeopardize that. you can do as Obama does and talk about change because his ideas are not too crazy, but Paul has some ideas that are little far out there for many.
-Unfortunately you're right, people won't listen to Ron's ideas until the dollar has crashed and America turns into a third world country.
2. A lot of people think he is full of shit. He can say anything he wants, but really he (and anyone running for president) is selling an ideal or a pipe dream. The president can say all they want about shutting down this and reforming that, but without the house and senate supporting them they aren't going to do much of anything. I think a lot of people see Paul's ideas as being unattainable.
-A lot of people haven't bothered to look up his voting record. He has an impeccable record and I shit you not, is the ONLY person in congress to always vote based on if the constitution authorizes it. If there is one thing you can count on with Ron, it's that he will do what he says he will do. A quality not found in a typical politician. A lot of the idea's that Ron talks about are unattainable, basically anything that requires domestic change. Which is why he always says that the people have to want change for it to happen. What Ron COULD do is change foreign policy. Stopping the Iraq war and adopting a NONINTERVENTIONIST (big difference from isolationist) policy where America would stop policing the world. America spends a trillion dollars a year overseas, adopting Ron's policies would bring much needed money home.
3. I hate to say it, but he doesn't look the part. He looks like your grandfather. He looks like a guy you would want to talk to or go play bingo with, but not like a guy who runs the country. In the modern age looking the part is probably the single most important thing. You need look no further than Obama to see that. At the beginning of his campaign he didn't talk about any ideas or policies he would work on. he didn't take a stance on anything, but he spoke well and looks presidential and it made him a rock star.
-If only politics wasn't so superficial and people debated ideas with substance, maybe our country wouldn't be going down the shitter.
4. This one might just be my own pet peeve, but his supporters are annoying. A friend of mine is a Paul supporter and whenever we start talking about political problems he pipes in and lets us know that Paul would fix that. They make it seem like Paul can and will do everything and he will make the government run better than it ever has and hearing them go on and on about internet groundswells and grass roots this and money bombs that just annoys me.
-Paul supporters are very zealous because they're seeing the country be destroyed right in front of their eyes. I for one really don't want to sit here with my thumb up my ass watching as our country prepares to bomb Iran and the value of our dollar plummet. With that said, of course their are Paul supporters who can be dumbasses. There are also plenty more Paul supporters who are educated and understand the complex problems our country faces. I could just as well find you plenty of crazy Obama, Hillary and Mccain supporters. Anyways, are you seriously going to ignore anything that Ron Paul says just because you have an annoying friend?
5. Many republicans don't see him as an actual republican. Getting the republican nomination is a game of trying to out conservative each other so the people on the far right will vote for you. He is way too much in the middle/left for anyone in the base to support him and that will doom you every time.
-This comment made me laugh. First off, Paul is the most conservative man running (counting the republican candidates who dropped out). Why don't you look at what George Bush ran on in 2000, a humble foreign policy, no nation building, no policing the world, reducing the size of government and less taxes. This is what Paul has advocated since he got into politics and this is exactly what the republicans now have not been delivering. If you want to talk about being too far int he middle/left you need only to look at Mccain. The republican party is hijacked by neocons which believe in some social conservative values but are far from real conservatives.
Anyway, these are just a couple of my thoughts on why he disappeared. maybe you could also say that it seems like he never spent any of this money he was famously raising. I haven't seen one ad or commercial for him, but my state is just voting this week and the republican race has long been over so maybe he did spend earlier on.
-I can agree with you there but would like to add, the major gain from his campaign is educating voters on what an actual republican stands for and to spread the ideas of limited government, nonintervention, a stable currency and individual freedom. It's been a long time since people have been talking about REAL change and I welcome it.
and this here is for sausage -
http://dougwead.wordpress.com/2008/0...heat-ron-paul/