Posted on 01/11/2007 6:06:07 PM PST by Rodney King
Texas Congressman Ron Paul files for GOP presidential bid
HOUSTON -- Ron Paul, the iconoclastic nine-term congressman from southeast Texas, took the first step Thursday toward launching a second presidential bid in 2008, this time as a Republican.
Paul filed incorporation papers in Texas on Thursday to create a presidential exploratory committee that allows him and his supporters to collect money on behalf of his bid. This will be Paul's second try for the White House; he was the Libertarian nominee for president in 1988.
Kent Snyder, the chairman of Paul's exploratory committee and a former staffer on Paul's Libertarian campaign, said the congressman knows he's a long shot.
"There's no question that it's an uphill battle, and that Dr. Paul is an underdog," Snyder said. "But we think it's well worth doing and we'll let the voters decide."
Paul, of Lake Jackson, acknowledges that the national GOP has never fully embraced him despite his nine terms in office under its banner. He gets little money from the GOP's large traditional donors, but benefits from individual conservative and Libertarian donors outside Texas. He bills himself as "The Taxpayers' Best Friend," and is routinely ranked either first or second in the House of Representatives by the National Taxpayers Union, a national group advocating low taxes and limited government.
He describes himself as a lifelong Libertarian running as a Republican.
Paul was not available for comment Thursday, Snyder said.
But he said the campaign will test its ability to attract financial and political support before deciding whether to launch a full-fledged campaign. Snyder said Paul is not running just to make a point or to try to ensure that his issues are addressed, but to win.
Paul is expected to formally announce his bid in the next week or two, Snyder said.
Snyder said Paul and his supporters are not intimidated by the presence of nationally known and better-financed candidates such as Sen. John McCain of Arizona or former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts.
"This is going to be a grassroots American campaign," he said. "For us, it's either going to happen at the grassroots level or it's not."
Paul limits his view of the role of the federal government to those duties laid out in the U.S. Constitution. As a result, he sometimes casts votes that appear at odds with his constituents and other Republicans. He was the only Republican congressman to vote against Department of Defense appropriations for fiscal year 2007.
The vote against the defense appropriations bill, he said, was because of his opposition to the war in Iraq, which he said was "not necessary for our actual security."
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not b
Those that feel that way aren't fit for duty. The guys you're fighting don't care about your civilians.
In a fight, perhaps, in a war, no. You let the other guy know you're all about winning. Nothing gets between you and that goal. Period.
LOL! Good night, CWO.
Goodnight all.
How about we just close our borders, the way we should have on 9-12-01, so they can't get in or get their weapons and support into the country. How about we do THAT, as a start? What is it that the Islamist OTMs coming across our southern border are carrying that they would leave behind in the desert their Korans and prayer rugs and the other paraphenalia of their heathen "religion?" Then we can start to deal with the ones who are already here, smart guy.
This is reality; not a movie.
Your proposals are patently ridiculous and in spades.
The presidency is a high pressure job and I can't see electing someone who would be pushing 80 at the end of two terms. If America could survive two terms of such a lunatic.
Since you brought them up, I'm asking you. My congresscritter's just another big government demonrat.
Not to burst your bubble here - but no - (except for perhaps you and a few crazies) would do anything but laugh at your proposal.
"It came crashing down on New York sidewalks a few years ago."
The authority for FedGov to be involved in prescription drugs or education or social insecurity? Please learn to read with comprehension.
And then, there is that wee worrisome problem of native born, from serial generational American citizenry terrorists/al Qaeda members. How are YOU proposing that we handle the Caucasoid ones and the Puerto Rican ones and the black ones?
Excuse me, you are at war with *people*?
That's you, the person, at war with people? The US is NOT at war with *people* you understand that don't you? We are saying that we are at war with terrorism - which IS an ideology.
America wouldn't survive the first month of a Paul presidency and thank GOD we shall never have to worry about that!
LOL...after a week of a Paul presidency, his paltry few drooling sycophants would abandon him!
He may have announced, but I bet you he doesn't even make it through the entire primary season.
I have neighbors who are "certain people", they're either lazy, crazy, or certifiable. Hardly an act of war.
supported by some governments, who use certain tactics against us.
"Supported" isn't exactly the right term, take Lebanon for instance, they're just basically a neutered body, and the country itself is run by a terrorist organization named Hezbollah.
It is NOT a war against an ideology; for we can never fight against an ideology.
Sure it is. You can look long and hard, and you won't find a Catholic terrorist group, or a Seventh Day Adventist terrorist group. Saddam wasn't hung because he was Sunni, or Arab. He was hung because he commited unjustifiable crimes against humanity. Crimes which Human Rights Watch defended.
That is just an excuse for an open voucher on the nation for an endless state of war.
One person's opinion. This isn't a fight against a nation in a worthless, wasteful "endless state of war", this is a fight for civilization's ultimate survival against a mindset that wants you to bow down toward Mecca five times a day to pray to some deity that may as well be someone's crazy uncle in the attic.
Certainly, denying these thugs any safe haven anywhere in the world means they have no place to fight FROM... and THAT is what we need to be doing as a start.
That's what we're trying to accomplish in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Then we can say that we are finally properly defining our task... and not giving FedGov a blank check on our future and our children's future.
How much do you think the war should cost? 3,000 lives lost in Iraq is a helluva lot, but it will cost a helluva lot more if we engage in the cut and run, appeasement strategy. Not just over there, but here as well.
You either fight the enemy or you don't. You can't have it both ways.
We fight the PEOPLE who subscribe to that "ideology" and we grant no quarter until they no longer have either the capability or the will to continue. Simple.
Zarqawi couldn't have said it better.
Mine are too.
Ron Paul is the male Cynthia McKinney.
Wacko!
You must be driving either a Volvo or a Saab. Check out a Honda, Toyota, Mercedes, or BMW next time you're car shopping and see how 'stupid' I am.
No way am I supporting this guy. He seems to like to cut his nose off to spite his face.
This thinking will get you killed.
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