Is Paul still a longshot? Yes, but so were George McGovern, Jimmy Carter, and Gary Hart. It is true that Republicans have, for over half a century, nominated whoever was leading in the first Gallup poll after Labor Day. But the past doesn’t control the future. Until 2000, for instance, no-one who had lost the New Hampshire primary had ever won the general election.
Polls show that about quarter of Americans are libertarians, in a general sense, so Paul has lots of room for growth. If he can keep raising enough money to get his message out, then with some strong finishes in the early states, he will start getting earned media.
But the "conventional wisdom" tells us he can't win--that is, the people who always tell us to give up without a fight and to negotiate from an initial position of compromise and appeasement say don't even try...
If half the gun owners who mindlessly parrot this line would throw their support behind him, they might be surprised at what can be accomplished.
I saw this same defeated-before-engaged "strategy" play out in California, where the establishment Republicans and weak-kneed gun owners proclaimed a Tom McClintock loss a foregone conclusion--even though Gallup polls at the time showed he had a substantial lead over the top democrat if Arnold--an avowed gun grabber--was not in the picture. The result? Welcome to the first and only state (thus far) to ban a bolt action rifle based on caliber.
Ah the hell with it. Tell me I'm wrong and put your faith in a "lesser of two evils." The skids are already being greased by some in the "gun camp" to fall behind Giuilani because of the Hillary threat. Besides, why enter the fray and actually do something based on principles when we can just make a dismissive comment and give up now? Isn't that the way revolutions always happen?
I read a comment on KABA Newslinks this morning that I really like:
If supporting the Constitution makes you unelectable we're doomed anyway.
16 comments:
I was behind Ron Paul, until I watched him standing on the House Floor attempting to pull the rug out from under our troops.
I respect the fact that he voted against the war, and has been against the war from the begining, but now that we are there, it needs to be resolved in our best interests. We can not just pull out now.
Way to go, David! Glad to hear you giving Paul a plug. you reach a lot of folks, and he needs your help as much as we need an honest man in office.
I would be a LOT happier with Ron Paul if he would STOP giving "face time" to the idiot "twoofers", ya know, the simpletons who think Bush was BEHIND 9/11.
Otherwise, Paul is THE candidate for a real "libery" re-birth in this country.
Somebody tell him to get a clue and STATE FOR THE RECORD that 9/11 was caused by 19 murderous MUSLIM terrorists!
Paul doesn't get caught up in comdemning people, he focuses instead on promoting liberty. That is a message all kinds of people get behind. In Paul's case it is the smartest and the dimmest who get behind him, but he doesn't dog on anyone who isn't threatening our liberties.
So JR, you are telling us that you are fine with the fact that thousands more of our sons and daughters must be put through the meat grinder in order to assuage your ego? OK. Stop staring at the flag for a minute and think for yourself.
Any, for the record ROn Paul never said Bushy was behind the atacks, he has only stated he doesn't believe the "official" version of the events. No thinking person could believe the "official" version. No steel framed skyscraper has collasped, before or after 9/11, from fire and/or aircraft impact. I agree with Ron on this, the story stinks to high heaven, but I don't claim to know what actually happened and neither does Mr. Paul.
Hey JR, when you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.
No holes here Kent, and Henery, facts have nothing to do with my ego.
There are many, many things I like about Ron Paul. But I feel he is way off the mark on this issue.
Personal attacks against myself, and others who may disagree with you do nothing for your cause.
JR,
The problem is that the Arabic culture is different than ours. IF you want peace in the Middle East then kill them all. Yep, genocide it's not pretty. Otherwise in order to get them to accept your terms you are going to have to beat the everloving cr*p out of them, kick them a few times after they are down and then TELL them what you want them to do. Ultimately they will obey until they think that you are not paying complete attention and then they will once again attack you. Any respect, western courtesy etc... is viewed as weakness. OBTW, the way you know if they are lying? Same as with a politician, when their lips are moving. Yes, I have a lot of personal experience with middle easterners and yes I am fully conversant with the histories of the region and the histories of european contact with them.
Personally, I have a problem with invading a sovereign nation and telling them how to live their lives. We should pull out and allow them to live as they choose. If that means three new nations where Iraq is then so be it. Remember, the current national boundaries were set by europeans.
If you wish to support ongoing intervention in the Middle East then please feel free to donate treasure and/or blood to an ongoing intervention, but don't force me to donate as well. Yes, actually right now you and the people in power in our government are forcing me to fiscally support the war. Taxation is theft with the threat of force.
Anonymous,
Why do you care if he listens to the truthers? Why would you even care if he is a truther? Look at his bloody voting record and tell me if ANY of the other candidates is half as good. He votes the way he says he will vote. The others do not. Not even the much praised Fred Thompson. Now, whether or not the Bush Administration had anything to do with the attack on 9/11 is irrelevant. They took full advantage of the tragedy. How quickly was the Patriot act passed? How long do you think it took to write an act of that magnitude? Was there really time to do so?
THe thing is, none of that is relevant. I don't care if a lunatic is elected as long as he or she reduces the size of our governemtn and moves us closer to freedom and away from socialism/totalitarianism.
I have been supporting both RP and FT. Both are great candidates with respect to Gun Rights. I also like Huckabee.
That said, I feel FT is our best hope.
FT? Our best hope?
I don't think your post requires any comments.
You won't make it on your own as a comedian.
Amen, amen David.
If you look at the fight from a position of having something to loose, then the irony is that you will loose what you are trying to hold onto.
I have said it many times and I will say it again: REMEMBER ANIMAL FARM!
You remember the story don't you? (You can read the whole book free thgrough Google Books)
The drove out the dems humans(Jones and gang), and the pubys pigs led them. Of course the pigs soon began near-to if not identical power-grabs as the ones the humans had enslaved them with. But each and every time the animals of Animal Farm protested, they were met with the rebuke "If we don't __________, then Jones will; be back. Surely Comrades, you do not want Jone back?"
They Animals ended up falling under the same dictatorship, if not a worse one, then they had under the rule of Jones. God Bless Orwell.
If the past two Rep/Shrub terms have not taught us the lesson, then we will never learn it....
In the last few years, have we not gained so many of policies we so fear and harshly fought against under the the rule of Bill Clinton? The "Enabling Act"(PATRIOT Act), bigger Gov't, etc.? But those policies and infringements we feared and fought yesterday, we are now accepting and embracing. George Bush did something Clinton could not: He got us to give up our conservative(what was once called conservatism) fight.
This election, no more. I will vote for Ron Paul. He is the only one truly "electable".
-C.H.
"Ultimately they will obey until they think that you are not paying complete attention and then they will once again attack you."
Yeah, like those pesky Japanese and Nazis. Enemies who attack us can be defeated by war, and befriended in the post war. Unfortunately Afghanistan and Iraq are wars isolated in a region of enemies which is why we haven't been highly successful after the war.
I know Ron Paul is principled and is correct on many issues. Unfortunately I think his idea of immediate withdrawal is recipe for disaster, with consequences that would make gun control appear trivial.
Stan,
NO, NOT like Germany or Japan. Have you read ANY of the histories? Studied anything about the different cultural imperatives? Dealt with members of each of those three societies?
The inhabitants of the Middle East are NOT dark skinned Europeans, or even dark-skinned Americans. What appears logical to you does not to them.
If you read any of the chronicles or histories of the Crusades (starting late 11th Century) you will notice that the exact same behaviour is happening today. The weapons are different, but the actions are not.
No, leaving Iraq won't be fun for a lot of people. However, it will be less fun for a lot of Iraqis.
As far as terrorism, we have been dealing with terrorism on these shores since the 17th century. (Yes, I meant the 17th century i.e. the 1600's.) The 2a ain't about duck hunting.
Ron Paul & 911 (:
Ron Paul has long demonstrated that he does his research—all of it! If one actually looks at what BOTH SIDES are saying about 911, it quickly becomes blatantly obvious that the leadership of the US was either behind the events of 911, or actively supported who was actually directly behind those events.
RP surely knows this, but if he were to come publicly out with it, he would be crucified by the Government Media (ABC, CBS, NBC, FUX…err “FOX” …. ) Anyone can see this who has both an IQ over a hundred and the stones to look at both sides. The only reason Government Media is able to maintain the façade that 911 truth people are just a bunch of fringe wackos is the fact that, by definition, half the population have IQs under 100 (more than half now, actually). And people in that lower intelligence grouping tend to have a real problem with distinguishing between reality” and what their television set tells them.
Add together the now-plentiful number of gutless American women, males who squat when they pee,and the Establishment whores who think “ethics” is a town in Kansas, and you have the people who support the Neocon Nazi version of what happened on that terrible day.
And J.R: I did two wasted, bloody tours of Vietnam. Those speaking out against that war then were no more “pulling the rug” from under me than those speaking out against this trumped-up horror that’s now killing my children’s peers.
Note on “the idiot "twoofers", ya know, the simpletons who think Bush was BEHIND 9/11.”
OK, Anonymous, here some 911 Truth people:
General Wesley Clark, U.S. Army (ret)
Major General Albert Stubblebine, U.S. Army (ret)
Col. Ronald D. Ray, U.S. Marine Corps (ret)
Col. Robert Bowman, PhD, U.S. Air Force (ret)
Col. George Nelson, MBA, U.S. Air Force (ret)
Col. Ann Wright, U.S. Army (ret)
Col. James R. Uhl, MD, MC, U.S. Army (ret)
Lt. Col. Shelton F. Lankford, U.S. Marine Corps (ret
Lt. Col. Karen U. Kwiatkowski, PhD
Lt. Col. Guy S. Razer, MS, U.S. Air Force (ret)
Lt. Col. Jeff Latas, U.S. Air Force (ret)
Commander Ted Muga, U.S. Navy (ret)
Commander Ralph Kolstad, U.S. Navy (ret)
Col. Michael Harley, U.S. Air Force (ret)
Joel M. Skousen – Former U.S. Marine Corps fighter pilot
Major Douglas Rokke, PhD, U.S. Army (ret)
Capt. Russ Wittenberg, U.S. Air Force – Former U.S. Air Force fighter pilot with over 100 combat missions. Retired commercial pilot.
Capt. Daniel Davis
Barbara Honegger, MS
Lt. Col. Stephen L. Butler, EdD
Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer,
Capt. Scott J. Phillpott, U.S. Navy – Commanding Officer of the guided-missile cruiser USS Leyte Gulf
Major Erik Kleinsmith, U.S. Army
Major Scott Ritter, U.S. Marine Corps – Former Marine Corps Intelligence Officer and Chief Weapons Inspector for the United Nations Special Commission in Iraq 199
Capt. Gregory M. Zeigler, PhD, U.S. Army – Former U.S. Army Intelligence Officer
Capt. Eric H. May, U.S. Army (ret) – Former U.S. Army Intelligence Officer.
Wayne Madsen – Former U.S. Navy Intelligence Officer,
David L. Griscom, PhD
Lon J. Waters, PhD Mathematics
Raymond L. McGovern – Former Chairman, National Intelligence Estimates, CIA,
William Christison – Former National Intelligence Officer and Director of the CIA's Office of Regional and Political Analysis.
Robert David Steele (Vivas) – U.S. Marine Corps infantry and intelligence officer for twenty years
Steve Elson – Former Special Agent with the U.S. Navy, DEA and FAA. Retired Navy SEAL.
Sgt. Chadwick Brooks and Sgt. William Lagasse – U.S. Pentagon Police Department (Pentagon Force Protection Agency) officers, who were on duty at or near the CITGO gas station on 9/11 and eyewitnesses to the approach of Flight 77 and its alleged impact at the Pentagon.
Senator Max Cleland
Senator Mike Gravel
Senator Bob Graham
Senator Mark Dayton
Gov. Jesse Ventura
Congressman Dennis Kucinich
Congressman Curt Weldon
Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney
Rep. Dan Hamburg, MA
Norm Mineta – U.S. Secretary of Transportation 2001 - 2006.
Louis Freeh – Director of the FBI, 1993 - 2001.
I’ll stop here.
“Idiot twoofers, simpletons?” Give me an f-ing break!
You can see these folks curriculum vitas @ http://patriotsquestion911.com/
And yeah, some of them aren't 2A people, but my point here is to address the 911 Truth sub-topic that was introduced in this thread--and then remind everyone that RP IS a 2A person-the best one out there.
jr sez:
"I respect the fact that he voted against the war, and has been against the war from the begining, but now that we are there, it needs to be resolved in our best interests. We can not just pull out now."
Sure we can. Wars should be harder to get into than they are to get out of and that is why "the rules" (Constitution) give Congress the Power to Declare War, not the Executive. We haven't done that since WWII and we haven't prevailed since WWII. If this war is righteous, a minimum prerequisite is a formal declaration of war, a draft from all walks of American society and the tax increases to pay for it.
What we are currently engaged in is trying to morph a culture at gunpoint, not vanquish an enemy and charging it on the fed.gov credit card to boot. That job will take more than a hundred years given the millennial head start on evolving their culture do date. Do *you* have that much money as a taxpayer much less the patience for the blood and effort required?
With respect to 9/11 and the Truthers, as a mechanical engineer with familiarity with structures and physics, I find the "official" explanation of the three buildings collapse pure uncut tepid bovine feces. Physics doesn't lie just like water doesn't flow uphill. I don't know who/what is/was behind it all but we've been sold a bill of goods on the whole deal.
The Republicrats and Demopublicans have pissed on and pissed away our Unalienable Rights and what it truly means to be an American and a Patriot for decades. Ron Paul is the only voice I hear standing up for what is Constitutional and righteous. Un-electable indeed, that's why where in the mess we are now ... we have the government we deserve.
I'll vote for Ron Paul if I have to write him in.
--MuzzleBlast
It boggles that everyone keeps saying Congressman Paul in unelectable. WTF?!
I don't agree with him on all of his platform but his is the ONLY presidential campaign I have ever contributed money to.
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