The Kind Of Help Ron Paul Doesn’t Need, Part II

Back in September, I wrote about an incident in Michigan in which some overly-enthusiastic Ron Paul supporters who nearly became physical with former Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Well, Giuliani was in Metro Atlanta this weekend and, while it didn’t get quite that bad, I don’t think that this group of Ron Paul supporters did any better job to convince people to vote for their candidate:

It was Rudy Giuliani campaigning for president on the Marietta Square on Sunday afternoon, but anyone listening may well have thought the candidate’s name was Ron Paul.

“RON PAUL! RON PAUL! RON PAUL!” — a crowd chanted from Glover Park, effectively drowning out comments from the former New York mayor and occasionally changing the chant to “FREEDOM! FREEDOM! FREEDOM!”

The younger crowd of Paul supporters had stronger, or maybe more enthusiastic, lungs than the middle-aged crowd of Giuliani’s gaggle, who responded with a college try — “Rudy! Rudy! Rudy!” — while the Paul cadres tailed the GOP front runner on his walking photo op in downtown Marietta.

The Paul backers, handing out their own candidate’s literature, said they were more interested in a president who would truly try to shrink government, not just promise to do it, and who promises outright to bring the troops home from Iraq.

“You’re being very inconsiderate,” an elderly woman, aghast at the lack of Southern manners, told three young female Paul acolytes.

“You’re not helping your candidate with this,” a middle-aged man told a 20-something man toting a blue-and-white Paul campaign sign.

That’s an understatement.

I understand the enthusiasm that Ron Paul’s supporters have for their candidate, but whether your goal is to win the nomination, or simply to move the Republican Party, engaging in tactics like this that really do nothing more than annoy other Republicans doesn’t accomplish anything, doesn’t help the campaign, and doesn’t help the candidate.

H/T: Jason Pye