Ron Paul is a Republican-ish. What am I missing?
Ron is a Libertarian and was central to the circa 2009 tea party. Rand was popular with the tea partiers for that reason, but sought campaign help from Karl Rove because he knew a Libertarian couldn't win. He's a turncoat for a lot of Libertarians (that I admire). Most tea partiers are too stupid to know the difference between Facism and Communism, so it's no surprise they can't figure out that Libertarians aren't Republicans. Rand and Karl knew this.
And for all the editorials I've read about how the tea party is a movement separate from the GOP -- it is not. Paul, Rubio, O'Donnell, et al. carry that big (R) next to them on the ballot. Stupit.