With a 4th place finish, Ron Paul is all but finished

So close and yet so far.

Dang.

Ron Paul almost won South Carolina yesterday. Sure, he got 13% of the overall vote, came in a distant fourth place (one spot up from Herman Cain), but that doesn't seem to deter his loyal band of militant bloodhounds any.

They still swear that Ron Paul will be the GOP nominee no matter what happens. Even if they have to twist both space and time to do it with.

In reality--this reality--coming in fourth after placing second in New Hampshire and third in Iowa tells me up front that Ron Paul is losing steam again like he did in 2008.

With Florida looming and the rest of the caucus states still ahead, Ron Paul is going to have a nightmarish time trying to steal any more delegate votes from the two apparent front-runners, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich.

In fact, he's predicted to finish a distant fifth in the Sunshine State in the coming month. So how can a man who started out promising at first end up crashing and burning after only three tries?

Well, there's a number of factors involved--which are running gamut against the aging dinosaur of Libertarianism--prime of which is the fact that he isn't (and never will be) mainstream.

No matter what he paints himself. Ron Paul is a fringe candidate with crackpot beliefs and ideas that could never work in today's worldmind. He may be successful in injecting some of his ideas into the current GOP framework going into the November elections, but he'll never be President of the United States.

Like I've said before, candidates like him don't win nominations or the Presidency of the United States. They are simply too far removed from the mainstream voting block to make any neglible impact on the overall election.

Their ideas and their platforms don't resonate with the people. They only cater to fringe elements of one or both parties, but that's about as far as Ron Paul goes.

And considering that he doesn't scold his followers for being arrogant and belligerent towards others these days shows a fatal weakeness in the candidate himself: In his belief, what they are doing is right and there can be no mistake about it.

But bullying people into voting for Ron Paul doesn't win the man any points in my book. Nor does stepping on the journalistic integrity of reporters either.

Or trying to silence your dissenters with physical violence or other means of intimidation. (I've been keeping track of such incidences.)

Libertarians are so narrow-minded in their set beliefs, they have an impossible time recognizing the inherent damage their ideas and platform policies would cause this country and the world. In fact, they are blind to them.

So very blind.

Ron Paul thinks he can save this country by destroying its seat of government. His followers think he can save the world.

Not going to happen.

Which is why his campaign at this point is all but finished.

Naturally, Ron Paul says he's going to go on. But at some point (and it will happen), he's going to be forced to drop out of the race. And his rabid band of supporters will have to make that agonizing choice of choosing which "non-Paul" candidate that's left on the GOP ticket.

Because at this time, Ron Paul doesn't have the leverage to run as an Independent. But when crunch time does come, he'll still only receive 2% of the electoral vote.

Just like last time. And the time before that. And the time before that.

It's a reality that Ron Paul's support base is going to have to accept.