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
Guns don't kill - people do? :-) I think I understand it :-)
What you are not grasping is that the United States is at war with terrorism - so you are inaccurate to use the world *we* as if you are speaking for America. America IS at war with an ideology.
You are speaking only about some hypothetical fantasy that you have - that I am pretty sure you realize is never coming true. We (the United States of America) are NOT going to kill and destroy millions of people. You can give up on that. It's not going to happen.
If that means you now give up the fight - then by all means give up the fight. Others will go on - but they will go on with far more complex ideas than you have offered here.
If you oppose his anti-war stance, fine. Calmly state your case and let other people make up their minds.
But instead of doing that you've lingered here through 400-something posts (a fourth of them your own!) personally berating virtually every other Freeper who has something even remotely positive to say about his candidacy.
That's not normal behavior.
It also brings your own political judgement into question. You've basically wasted the entire evening harping endlessly about a low-budget longshot presidential bid by an iconoclastic congressman who openly admits his chances are slim to none. Surely you cannot view little ole Ron Paul as a threat to whoever else you're supporting.
Bingo, and that's a big problem for us. First, Islam is NOT a religion of peace. Second, we are not fighting against platonic forms of "terror" or the "hate" or "oppression" or "violence." We are fighting against mahometan jihadis who commit acts of terror, hate us, and desire to oppress the entire world into submission to islam through violent and coercive means.
If we can't even call the enemies muslims - which they are - we're never going to be able to fight them and win. Believing that does not make somebody anti-war. It only means there are problems with the way the current war is being fought, and fixing those problems begins with honestly identifying our enemies.
Which brings up another point. Our government needs to drop the farce & pretense this is about liberating Iraq and installing Democracy. Even my 78 year old dad who votes GOP straight ticket with a Bush/Cheney sticker on his vehicle says this war is all about OIL. All it's doing now is making people angrier about it.
I know of no Conservatives who support that hag. None. Get a grip. They don't support her they don't support Cold Pink. So tell us do you still date your neighbors wife? I doubt you have. Get the point?
Source?
You understand it. Ones like Ron Paul understand it. Why can't the rest of the GOP? To ask our military to go to war for anything less than such a victory is indeed immoral and our leaders owe them a profound apology to all who went. Right now we are building the new Iraq for the new Saddam to follow and there will be another one about 10 minutes after we pull out of there.
We are not going to change Iraqs 3000 year plus history with trying to installing democracy nor solve their tribal problems in our lifetimes nor even our grandkids. The sooner W understands such the sooner our war in Iraq is over with a military victory which should be the only agenda for being there to start with.
Poppy made the huge mistake of leaving Iraq where they could come back on us. Like father like son. Either go to war till the enemy is no longer a capable enemy or stay home.
Kinky was the only non-Democrat in the race (yes, Rick Perry is a Republican-of-convenience) and Ron Paul is the kind of nut job that founded this country.
I agree that the war is important and that Paul is bad on this, but I would argue that the 2nd Amendment is a more vital issue. Nobody is better than Paul on this.
You do realize that Paul served in the military, right?
lol, well said my friend, quite a strange phenomena indeed...
I know it would never hapen, but hypothetically if Paul won the GOP nomination, would you guys stay home?
Fantastic!
I'm all in behind him.
Ditto
Regards, Ivan
Ron was my fraternity house roommate 56-57.
Say hello next time at a party. I have sent a check for congress run. Voted for him in 88. Not sure about 08.
"Friend or not, he's still a surrender monkey."
There is nothing to surrender in Iraq. We have won. Saddam is dead. Unless you want to kill every Shiite and Sunni in Iraq, there is no amount of American troops that will make them stop killing each other. It's what Muslims do. They have done it since the middle ages.
I don't understand why that is so hard for you to understand? Muslims are not like us. they don't want freedom, or democracy, or human rights. These things are not allowed by their religion. As long as they are Muslims they will never want these things and so will never be able to live in peace. Better to seal off Muslims from the west and let them kill each other instead of us.
"The simple - "let's kill them all" - is now off the table."
Is NOW off the table? When has it ever been on the table?
If lightning struck and Dr. Paul could get nominated, it would destroy the two-party cartel. We would, for instance, see the Bushes endorsing the Clintons in 2008!
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