The leftist media, of course, always tries to paint Republican presidential candidates as a little unhinged, if they can’t sell the public on him being a compete moron. Generally, it’s both.

I have blogged some about Ron Paul, who is leading the Iowa caucuses in recent polls, explaining the things I like about him, but making a case that he would never be able to beat Obama in the general election.

My primary reason for not wanting Paul to win the nomination is that the media would come after him like you have never seem them do to any candidate. They would make mincemeat of him and they would have a lot to work with to do it.

While Paul has a small group a fervent supporters, he will never be accepted by many who make up the Republican base, because of his foreign policy issues among other reasons. Democrats and independents who support Paul now won’t support him after the media gets done with him, so he will need Republican supporters beyond Iowa.

One reason that Paul is doing well in Iowa is because he has had very little media scrutiny and the little scrutiny he has gotten up until now hasn’t been particularly negative. That’s because the media generally agrees with Paul’s anti-war stance and, moreover, has never considered him a serious candidate.

If Paul were to somehow become the standard bearer for the Republicans, the gloves would be off. You might remember that John McCain was the media’s favorite Republican until he he became the presidential nominee.

It would be nice to think that the Main-Stream-Media is no longer such a deciding factor in elections, but that is just wishful thinking. It still is.

People who pay scarce attention to politics most of the time have votes that count just as much as political-junkie who pay attention all the time. If uninformed people didn’t vote, we would not have Barack Obama in the White House.

I doubt that Paul would be able to handle what is coming his way, especially if you look at the way he handled a recent interview with CNN’s Gloria Borger who was asking him questions about racists writings in newsletters that he published in the 1990s.

True, Paul gave his answer to Borger, a rather weak one, and she just kept pressing. He evetually got fed up and walked out on the interview. Not good.

If Paul can’t handle this one reporter asking legitimate questions–even though she was beating a dead horse–how is he going to be able to handle the media lies that would come his way? And, oh yes, they would come. Lies would come, but so would other legitimate questions about earmarks that Paul voted for that went to his district and other votes he made during his 30-plus years in Congress. They would paint him as a hypocrite as well as a crank–an old crank. They would say that Paul, at 76, is just too damned old and loopy to be president.

The media made the same charge against Ronald Reagan in 1984 when he ran for re-election against Walter Mondale. Reagan, who was 73, is younger than Paul is now. Here is how Reagan handled criticism about his advanced years:

Even Mondale had to laugh, what else could be do? Reagan was such an amiable gentleman that even his political foes were charmed by him.

And Reagan wasn’t just criticized for his age, far from it.

Those old enough to remember don’t have to be told, but for voters who were too young or maybe not even alive when Reagan was in power–he media portrayed him as a complete doofus with a shaky finger on the trigger to nuclear holocaust.

If Paul were to go up against Obama, he would have it even worse.

We live in much more divisive times than the 1980s. Our nation is at a crossroads, teetering on falling into a socialist abyss that we will never be able to climb out of. The 1960s radicals who were the up-and-comers of the 1980s are now at the pinnacle of power and it’s do-or-die time for them.

They are seeing the stateist dreams they have built their lives on crash all around them as Europe sinks abroad and the economy flounders at home. They are going to have to hold on to the power that is slipping through their fingers now, because they might never be trusted with the reigns of government again.

They surely won’t be shut down by some old white guy from Texas who’s considered a kook by many in his own party—that’s they way they see it. Moreover, Obama has no achievements to run on. He can do nothing but wage a dirty, scorched earth campaign.

It would be hard for even Ron Reagan to be able to handle what is coming the Republican candidate’s way next year. I don’t think that Ron Paul would stand a chance.