Ron Paul and Stupidity: A Clarification

This post appears to have touched a nerve among Ron Paul supporters, many of whom have left comments hoping to show that they are not, in fact, too stupid to live. Not all of them have been entirely successful.

But I think some of them labor under something of a misapprehension about the nature of my original post. I am emphatically not saying everyone who votes for Ron Paul is too stupid to live. If you support conservative policies and you vote for an extreme conservative, that's a rational choice. If you're a wingnut and you're voting for a wingnut, go with God.

If, on the other hand, you support the broadly-defined goals of the Democratic party, the only way to promote those goals is to vote for the Democratic nominee. If you vote for some über-progressive no-hoper (*cough*nader*cough*), then you're incredibly stupid, because you're effectively casting a vote for the Republican candidate and thus (in practical terms, which are the only terms that matter) you are working against the goals you claim to support.

But even then you would be a towering intellect compared to people who support Democratic values but vote for Ron Paul, who would be casting their lame-ass throwaway protest vote for someone who is opposed to everything they believe in. Those people would, in fact, be too stupid to live.

So, to recap: if you're a conservative, by all means vote for Ron Paul; if you're at all progressive, don't. Thank you.