Posted on 11/17/2011 2:26:31 PM PST by Kurt Evans
Texas Rep. Ron Paul, long dismissed by the GOP establishment as a fringe candidate, has broadened his electoral appeal and emerged as a major player in the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses, according to several recent polls and conversations with a handful of longtime Hawkeye political operatives...
In a Bloomberg News survey — conducted by renowned Iowa-based pollster Ann Selzer — Paul was in a four-way statistical tie for first along with businessman Herman Cain, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich...
And, in a new Iowa State/Gazette/KCRG survey, Paul took 20 percent — behind only Cain at 25 percent...
Paul is using the relatively uncluttered airwaves to tell a story of himself as a consistent champion of fiscal responsibility in a field of candidates that have not always hewed so closely to that mantra.
One ad attacks the inconsistencies of Cain, Romney and Perry on fiscal matters — TARP, economic stimulus — before cutting to Paul; “I’ve been talking about these problems for a long long time...now we’re bankrupt and we have to decide which way we’re going to go,” he says.
And, it’s not just Paul’s television ads that have blanketed the state. Sixty seven percent of those tested in the Bloomberg poll said they had been contacted by the Paul campaign via email, direct mail, telephone or someone coming directly to their door over the last year — the highest percentage for any candidate...
“We have a strong ground game in the state that is reaching out at a faster pace than any other campaign,” argued Trygve Olson, a Paul adviser...
“We are picking up support among social conservatives in Iowa -- particularly ones who believe our country’s fiscal situation is in serious peril,” noted Olson...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Chow down, Viking Lizard!
LOL! Ideal graphic, and I like the one with the baseball bat too.
With that said, I have my issues with Paul. Great fiscally, but I think he is sadly mistaken with his viewpoint of the Muslim world. Newt would destroy Obama in a debate, but I am not down with his lovefest on global warming with Pelosi, and he is a freakin' moron for having an affair during the Clinton impeachment stuff. Cain is ok, maybe would make a good VP. But I don't see much focus on cutting spending, and that 999 stuff will never pass. I also think he is out of his league a bit. Bachmann-gag. I really cannot stand that woman. What really honks me off is how she pretends to be from Iowa, when she has on multiple occasions flubbed up basic Iowa stuff, like "I was at the University of Iowa in Ames." Not a chance I am voting for her. Romney-gag. It has been said on here before, no need to review him. Perry--I really take offense to being lectured about being a heartless SOB for not giving in state tuition to illegal immigrants. Huntsman--He is like Eeyore. Drone, drone. Santorum--eh, a little too socon for me, and so far back that I don't see a vote for him having much value.
So as often mentioned here on FR, none of the choices are "perfect". So what do I hold my nose over?
In the end, I want to see 0bama defeated. So who best does that? No matter what, the R candidate is going to be painted as the devil, stupid, or whatever. I also have my "who pisses off the media more" theory of who to choose. That would probably be Cain or Gingrich. For his solid base of support, Paul really gets ignored by the media, and I don't really get that.
I also know, being in Iowa, we drive the train somewhat. So I take my vote seriously. I also do not want Romney to be the nominee. So I also consider the "strategery" of the whole thing. I may vote to give somebody more of a push, because even tho I want 0bama out, the first order of business is to keep Romney from the nomination.
So if it still all stinks come January, I may still vote for Paul out of an appreciation for the libertarian point of view, which is why I voted for him in 2008. I may also vote for Perry, because of all the reasons these candidates peeve me off, his reason is the least bothersome to me, and I think he is the most electable vs Obama. I might choose Newt, cause I'd love to see him and Zero go one on one, and despite his flaws, he would do the right thing the most of the time. And maybe Cain, because I am interested in seeing what a person with an extensive business background could do, since we've never really had a person like that in recent years.
So, my vote, TBD.
The domestic communists must be dealt with.
This is not going to be solved at the ballot box, for the marxists have usurped the Founders Constitution and enfranchised all, turning the Republic in a doomed to fail Democracy.
"Democracies have been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their death." James Madison
Remember democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. John Adams: letter to John Taylor, April 15, 1814
The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.:Thomas Jefferson
Congressman Paul’s Letter
As a lifelong Republican, it saddens me to have to write this letter. My parents believed in the Republican Party and its free enterprise philosophy, and that’s the way I was brought up. At age 21, in 1956, I cast my first vote for Ike and the entire Republican slate.
Because of frustration with the direction in which the country was going, I became a political activist and ran for the U.S. Congress in 1974. Even with Watergate, my loyalty, optimism, and hope for the future were tied to the Republican Party and its message of free enterprise, limited government, and balanced budgets.
Eventually I was elected to the U.S. Congress four times as a Republican. This permitted me a first-hand look at the interworkings of the U.S. Congress, seeing both the benefits and partisan frustrations that guide its shaky proceedings. I found that although representative government still exists, special interest control of the legislative process clearly presents a danger to our constitutional system of government.
In 1976 I was impressed with Ronald Reagan’s program and was one of the four members of Congress who endorsed his candidacy. In 1980, unlike other Republican office holders in Texas, I again supported our President in his efforts.
Since 1981, however, I have gradually and steadily grown weary of the Republican Party’s efforts to reduce the size of the federal government. Since then Ronald Reagan and the Republican Party have given us skyrocketing deficits, and astoundingly a doubled national debt. How is it that the party of balanced budgets, with control of the White House and Senate, accumulated red ink greater than all previous administrations put together? Tip O’Neill, although part of the problem, cannot alone be blamed.
Tax revenues are up 59 percent since 1980. Because of our economic growth? No. During Carter’s four years, we had growth of 37.2 percent; Reagan’s five years have given us 30.7 percent. The new revenues are due to four giant Republican tax increases since 1981.
All republicans rightly chastised Carter for his $38 billion deficit. But they ignore or even defend deficits of $220 billion, as government spending has grown 10.4 percent per year since Reagan took office, while the federal payroll has zoomed by a quarter of a million bureaucrats.
Despite the Supply-Sider-Keynesian claim that “deficits don’t matter,” the debt presents a grave threat to our country. Thanks to the President and Republican Party, we have lost the chance to reduce the deficit and the spending in a non-crisis fashion. Even worse, big government has been legitimized in a way the Democrats never could have accomplished. It was tragic to listen to Ronald Reagan on the 1986 campaign trail bragging about his high spending on farm subsidies, welfare, warfare, etc., in his futile effort to hold on to control of the Senate.
Instead of cutting some of the immeasurable waste in the Department of Defense, it has gotten worse, with the inevitable result that we are less secure today. Reagan’s foreign aid expenditures exceed Eisenhower’s, Kennedy’s, Johnson’s, Nixon’s, Ford’s, and Carter’s put together. Foreign intervention has exploded since 1980. Only an end to military welfare for foreign governments plus a curtailment of our unconstitutional commitments abroad will enable us really to defend ourselves and solve our financial problems.
Amidst the failure of the Gramm-Rudman gimmick, we hear the President and the Republican Party call for a balanced-budget amendment and a line-item veto. This is only a smokescreen. President Reagan, as governor of California, had a line-item veto and virtually never used it. As President he has failed to exercise his constitutional responsibility to veto spending. Instead, he has encouraged it.
Monetary policy has been disastrous as well. The five Reagan appointees to the Federal Reserve Board have advocated even faster monetary inflation than Chairman Volcker, and this is the fourth straight year of double-digit increases. The chickens have yet to come home to roost, but they will, and America will suffer from a Reaganomics that is nothing but warmed-over Keynesianism.
Candidate Reagan in 1980 correctly opposed draft registration. Yet when he had the chance to abolish it, he reneged, as he did on his pledge to abolish the Departments of Education and Energy, or to work against abortion.
Under the guise of attacking drug use and money laundering, the Republican Administration has systematically attacked personal and financial privacy. The effect has been to victimize innocent Americans who wish to conduct their private lives without government snooping. (Should people really be put on a suspected drug dealer list because they transfer $3,000 at one time?) Reagan’s urine testing of Americans without probable cause is a clear violation of our civil liberties, as are his proposals for extensive “lie detector” tests.
Under Reagan, the IRS has grown bigger, richer, more powerful, and more arrogant. In the words of the founders of our country, our government has “sent hither swarms” of tax gatherers “to harass our people and eat out their substance.” His officers jailed the innocent George Hansen, with the President refusing to pardon a great American whose only crime was to defend the Constitution. Reagan’s new tax “reform” gives even more power to the IRS. Far from making taxes fairer or simpler, it deceitfully raises more revenue for the government to waste.
Knowing this administration’s record, I wasn’t surprised by its Libyan disinformation campaign, Israeli-Iranian arms-for-hostages swap, or illegal funding of the Contras. All this has contributed to my disenchantment with the Republican Party, and helped me make up my mind.
I want to totally disassociate myself from the policies that have given us unprecedented deficits, massive monetary inflation, indiscriminate military spending, an irrational and unconstitutional foreign policy, zooming foreign aid, the exaltation of international banking, and the attack on our personal liberties and privacy.
After years of trying to work through the Republican Party both in and out of government, I have reluctantly concluded that my efforts must be carried on outside the Republican Party. Republicans know that the Democratic agenda is dangerous to our political and economic health. Yet, in the past six years Republicans have expanded its worst aspects and called them our own. The Republican Party has not reduced the size of government. It has become big government’s best friend.
If Ronald Reagan couldn’t or wouldn’t balance the budget, which Republican leader on the horizon can we possibly expect to do so? There is no credibility left for the Republican Party as a force to reduce the size of government. That is the message of the Reagan years.
I conclude that one must look to other avenues if a successful effort is ever to be achieved in reversing America’s direction.
I therefore resign my membership in the Republican Party and enclose my membership card.
A picture is worth a thousand words but in this case it ain’t worth a buck of spit...
It is just the right size to hold all of the Paulbots who aren't batshit crazy!
Ron Paul is a frickin Loonuhtic and crazier than a wild eyed, two legged, racoon with distemper.
And rabies!
Since 1981, however, I have gradually and steadily grown weary of the Republican Party’s efforts to reduce the size of the federal government. Since then Ronald Reagan and the Republican Party have given us skyrocketing deficits, and astoundingly a doubled national debt. How is it that the party of balanced budgets, with control of the White House and Senate, accumulated red ink greater than all previous administrations put together? Tip O’Neill, although part of the problem, cannot alone be blamed…
Knowing this administration’s record, I wasn’t surprised by its Libyan disinformation campaign, Israeli-Iranian arms-for-hostages swap, or illegal funding of the Contras. All this has contributed to my disenchantment with the Republican Party, and helped me make up my mind…
I want to totally disassociate myself from the policies that have given us unprecedented deficits, massive monetary inflation, indiscriminate military spending, an irrational and unconstitutional foreign policy, zooming foreign aid, the exaltation of international banking, and the attack on our personal liberties and privacy…
I conclude that one must look to other avenues if a successful effort is ever to be achieved in reversing America’s direction…
I therefore resign my membership in the Republican Party and enclose my membership card.
Ron Paul, 1987
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ron_Paul%27s_1987_Resignation_Letter_to_the_RNC
It's called Blowed up!
And you did it real good.
ZOT!
Paul is the candidate of the anesthetic...
I will make this clear. I will vote for the illegal alien Obama over Romney.
There is nothing worse than a socialist in-charge of what should be the conservative party.
If the liberal rinos try to shove Romney down my throat I’ll block walk for Obama to shove another four years down theirs!
FUMR!
+ mange....
Romney is scum just like Paul.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.