All in the messaging.
For example, if Mitt Romney went on a debate stage and said "This President signed a bill that allows the US military to indefinitely detain ANY US citizen for ANY reason, with no trial to that citizen" I believe he would have won the election.
But Mitt Romney agreed with NDAA
ACA was pretty unpopular - yet the Republicans put up the man who implemented it first.
Obama won in 2008 bc of his opposition to the war, unbalanced budget, and attacks to civil liberties. But Ron Paul was the only Republican who could have made an argument against him in 2012
If Ron Paul discussed how we are broke, can't afford wars, the wars on drugs, etc etc, that message resonates.
And Ron Paul laid out his plans for SS, did you not see it? He basically said that congress is constutionally forced to pay the benefits it has promised, but he would offer an opt out for anyone under 25 years old - and eventually the program would have died on its own, but voluntarily.
In 2008, I thought Ron Paul was crazy because... everyone told me he was crazy. When I actually listened to what he said, I realized he was brilliant
Perhaps the ACA isn't as unpopular as the Republican Party would have you believe...
Goes back to the whole which one do you dislike more, Obamacare or ACA?
LOL Obama won in 2008 because of his views on habeus corpus, patriot act, and opposition to war? Absolutely not. The economy crashed 2 months before the election, and the country did NOT want McCain in because they viewed him as Bush 3. There was no way any Republican was going to win the election in 2008. Country was tired of Republicans by 2008, the 2006 historic landslide mid-term elections were just the beginning. The fact of the matter is, the economy was the major issue on election day 2008, not civil liberties or anti-war sentiments. The banks collapsed just a few weeks before, and the economy is what every middle class person was worried about and they felt the Republicans had their time and blew it.
I actually liked Ron Paul, until I realized that most of his views were asinine, crazy, and unrealistic.