Ron Paul: Another Kind of Conservative [Pres. candidate challenges Republican Party orthodoxy]

OhmyNews (Korea) ^ | May 30, 2007 | Jeremy Jacquot

[jdm]

Emerging from the back of the stage to a vociferous round of applause from the audience, Ron Paul quickly took a seat next to the show's host, a visible look of surprise on his otherwise placid face. Leaning into him, the host quipped that he had never seen such an animated audience before and attributed the tangible excitement in the room to Ron Paul and his appearances at the Republican debates and other talk shows.

With the recent surge of support for Paul's once obscure presidential candidacy, spurred in part by the tremendous amount of buzz he's garnered online (his name was the #1 most-searched-for term on blog search engine Technorati), the overwhelming approval he met on the show may not seem that surprising. What was surprising was the audience that accorded it to him: the mostly liberal crowd that had come to watch HBO's "Real Time" with Bill Maher.

For those unfamiliar with the exploits of Bill Maher, he is the famously outspoken liberal host of Real Time and a risque comedian who has made no effort to hide his contempt for the president, his acolytes and the religious right, amongst other conservative bogeymen. Indeed, in the latest episode of the show he proclaimed President Bush the worst president ever, noting, "And while other presidents have sucked in their own individual ways, Bush is like a smorgasbord of suck. He combines the corruption of Warren G. Harding, the war-mongering of James Polk, and the abuse of power of Richard Nixon."

Yet here he was agreeably interviewing arguably one of the most conservative of Republican candidates, a true red-blooded conservative in the tradition of former Senator Barry Goldwater (R-AZ). Maher recently praised Paul thusly:

"I watched the Republican debate, and I saw this guy Ron Paul, who has no chance of winning it, and therefore he was very honest, and he's my new hero. I used to think he was Rupaul. And then we had him on our show a few weeks ago and I realized he was a completely different person. And he spoke real truth about the war on terror, about 9/11, about Iraq. He said 'you know what, they hate us because we're over there. They don't hate us because of our freedom, or any of those stupid slogans that the Bush people put out.' I'm just wondering why a Democrat isn't saying things like that. Say, a Democrat that could use a bump in the polls."

And while he has become an overnight sensation on the Internet for some segments of the conservative faithful, he has also attracted a fair amount of criticism from the mainstream Republican right, particularly right-wing blowhards like Fox's Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly, who have repeatedly impugned his credentials and conservative credo, labeling him a "crackpot," for, amongst other things, his virulent opposition to the war in Iraq and many other policies advocated by the Bush administration.

In the second Republican debate held in South Carolina, he was widely derided for his contention that U.S. policies in the Middle East had contributed to the attacks on New York and Washington. Republican front-runner and former New York mayor Rudy Giulani dismissed the notion by stating, "I don't think I've ever heard that before, and I've heard some pretty absurd explanations for Sept. 11th," to raucous applause from the audience.

It is perhaps a consequence of the Republican Party's shape-shifting and rapid movement away from its core principles during the Bush years that once traditional conservatives like Ron Paul have found themselves besieged by aggressive mainstream party operatives. Though he holds many positions popular with the conservative base, including support for gun ownership, opposition to abortion and support for tax cuts, his mistrust of the religious right and opposition to U.S. foreign policies have earned him the enmity of many current power-brokers. Andrew Sullivan, in a recent posting on his blog, The Daily Dish, characterized the opposition to Ron Paul's candidacy thusly:

"We have a real phenomenon here -- because someone has to stand up for what conservatism once stood for. Whether you agree with him or not (and I know few outside doctrinaire libertarians who agree with everything he says), he has already elevated the debates by injecting into them a legitimate, if now suppressed, strain of conservatism that is actually deeper in this country than the neo-conservative aggression that now captures the party elite and has trapped the U.S. in the Iraq nightmare. Last night, Fox News tried to destroy him. Today the right-wing blogs will. My view is that the Beltway has this wrong again, as Byron York is finding out. Paul is saying things many Americans and many Republicans believe."

An obstetrician-gynecologist from the Houston area, Paul has built a career out of defying the mainstream political winds, winning his first off-term House election in 1976 following the Watergate scandal that sunk Nixon's and many other Republicans' fortunes. Although he lost the regular election in 1976, he won the subsequent elections in 1978, 1980, and 1982 and then left the House to mount a quixotic and failed challenge against Senator Phil Gramm. He later ran for president as the Libertarian Party candidate in 1988, drawing slightly over 400,000 votes, after which he removed himself from politics for several years before going on to win another term in the House in 1996, where he has remained until this day.

He has always been a vocal proponent of small conservative government, famously proposing to abolish the Department of Homeland Security and voting against both the Military Commissions Act of 2006 and the USA Patriot Act. Nicknamed "Dr. No" for his tendency to vote no on all bills he considers unconstitutional, he has often been a thorn in the side of his colleagues in the House for refusing to consistently vote along party line. He has also rankled some by repeatedly refusing to vote for Congressional pay raises and for his strong opposition to pork-laden bills and earmarks.

As many have noted, the chances of his winning the candidacy are minute, if non-existent. Among a field of candidates desperately vying to out-Reagan one another, it is refreshing to see a candidate willing to stand solidly on his own merits, even if it means going against the political current. When one looks at the current crop of Republican heavyweights, which include Mitt Romney, Rudy Giulani, and John McCain, it is not difficult to see why a majority of the base still feels unsatisfied with its options. Whatever one might think of the Gipper, it's hard to conceive that he would've been satisfied bequeathing his legacy to any of the current frontrunners.

[jdm]

An obscure Korean editorial for you Ron Paul fans out there...

[jdm]

ping.

[Hoodat]

Ron Paul has been anointed by the Clinton camp to be the Ross Perot of 2008.

[jdm]

his [Ron Paul's] name was the #1 most-searched-for term on blog search engine Technorati)

I think I speak for most of America when I say...

WTF is Technorati?

[M203M4]

It is like Google, but indexes only blog content (I think...).

[jveritas]

Trust me, Ron Paul will pull on his side more left wing lunatics who are for total surrender to the terrorists than he pull those few lunatics in the conservative movement who want to surrender as well.

[lonestar67]

What the United States has done for Muslims:

1. Pressured Israel to accept a Palestinian state.

2. Interjected marines in Lebanon to bring “peace” in the early 1980s— Muslims said thanks by bombing the Marines.

3. Funded and aided muslims in their fight against the Soviet Union in the 1980s.

4. Militarily intervened and stopped the slaughter of muslims by Milosevic while Muslim states stood by and watched.

5. Liberated the muslim state of Kuwait after being over run by the secular governance of Saddam Hussein.

6. Defended the muslim holy land of Saudi Arabia after Saddam seized Kuwait and promised to take Saudi Arabia.

7. Defended moderate muslims from Taliban extremists in Afghanistan.

8. Created a southern no fly zone for Shia muslims in Iraq.

9. Created a northern no fly zone for muslims living in northern Iraq.

10. Made possible the largest transfer of wealth from rich countries to poor countries in something known as the oil trade. Most of these nations are muslim.

11. Provided decisive and critical military assistance to the Indonesian tsunami victims while most foreign aid sat in docks undistributed due to inadequate resources.

12. Made Jordan and Egypt the second and third larget security asssistance recipients in the world.

13. politically and economically negotiated the tremendous economic boom of India— the world’s second largest muslim nation.

The idea that America has it coming from Islamic fascists is transparently false. It is an open incitement for the killing of Americans. There is no reason to treat Ron Paul or Rosie O Donnell as credible advocates within American society.

[jdm]

Or... they could just go here:

http://blogsearch.google.com/

:O)

[Jake The Goose]

Did you happen to hear Ron Paul on the Dennis Miller show today?

http://www.dennismillerradio.com/site

Slide down to the middle of the page and you can hear it.

The guy is logic and nuts in one package.

[P-40]

Still better than Rudy. He could even answer questions as simple as this:

Those who called 911 from floors below the impact were generally advised to remain in place.One group trapped on the 83rd floor pleaded repeatedly to know whether the fire was above or below them,specifically asking if 911 oper= ators had any information from the outside or from the news.The callers were transferred back and forth several times and advised to stay put. Evidence sug= gests that these callers died.9

[heywaitadarnminute]

Ron Paul has always been like that. He is right on the money and almost brilliantly mesmerizing then he says something totally insane.

He's never been very effective in Congress and it's time for a change:

Peden for Congress

[P-40]

Is that a serious list....or humor?

[Jake The Goose]

That’s a great comment - well done - I agree.

[DesScorp]

For the last time...Ron Paul isn’t a conservative, he’s a Libertarian. Big, big difference.

[Gondring]

Regardless of what the US has done for Muslims, what matters is the perception. Try talking with some of our roops coming back from Iraq (esp out in the villages) and you find that regardless of what you or I might see, the indoctrination can overrule any reality.

To point out something is a cause is not to imply it is rational. If a Gold Star family member says, “we lost our loved one because he was shot in Iraq”...that doesn’t mean “he had it coming.” Likewise, “we were attacked by Osama because we were in Saudi Arabia” doesn’t mean we had it coming. However, it does mean we are looking at the enemy’s motivations.

Finally, my feeling is that if we are going to fight this war and put our good people in harm’s way, then we should fight it RIGHT. We need to admit that the Western mindset isn’t universal, and different techniques might be required with those who don’t respect Christian values such as forgiveness and generosity.

[elizabetty]

Ron Paul has been anointed by the Clinton camp to be the Ross Perot of 2008.

Wrong, they need somebody who will actually get votes.

Giuliani may be their man.

[Maelstorm]

Paul seems to have more appeal to the left than the right. Paul could be a great candidate if he’d drop the “we’ve been bombing Iraq” stupidity. He is like a Noam Chomsky. Taking events out of context and interpreting the events as apologetics for the enemy. If only the US would behave like a world power.

[ketsu]

America doesn't "have it coming" but you misunderstand Islamic extremism.

Let's analyze your statements point by point:

1. Pressured Israel to accept a Palestinian state.

Islamic extremists could care less, the PLO is a fundamentally secular organization, giving them a state would just make the ME more secular, Islamic extremists find the idea abhorrent.

Interjected marines in Lebanon to bring “peace” in the early 1980s— Muslims said thanks by bombing the Marines.

They considered this colonialism, the ally of an enemy power occupying their land. Although this was probably a shi'ite/Iranian job.

Funded and aided Muslims in their fight against the Soviet Union in the 1980s.

This is actually pretty funny, US support for the Taliban against the soviets actually brought about the wave of Islamic extremism later, all the former rebels from Saudi and Egypt thought "If we can beat the Russians, why not the US?".

4. Militarily intervened and stopped the slaughter of Muslims by Milosevic while Muslim states stood by and watched.

Islamic extremists *hate* all of the Muslim states and the extremists were filling up Kosovo with radical Islamists at the time. I'm sure they were snickering about the US helping them.

5. Liberated the muslim state of Kuwait after being over run by the secular governance of Saddam Hussein.

Islamic extremists have no love for Kuwait, they consider it a collaborator state.

6. Defended the muslim holy land of Saudi Arabia after Saddam seized Kuwait and promised to take Saudi Arabia.

I doubt Islamic extremists would have cared much either. They hate the house of Saud, they view it as weak, cowardly and corrupt.

7. Defended moderate muslims from Taliban extremists in Afghanistan.

You can guess why this would make Osama and the boys unhappy.

8. Created a southern no fly zone for Shia muslims in Iraq.

Sunni extremists don't take kindly to a government protecting shi'ites from Sunnis.

. Created a northern no fly zone for muslims living in northern Iraq.

You think they like the kurds any more than the shia?

10. Made possible the largest transfer of wealth from rich countries to poor countries in something known as the oil trade. Most of these nations are muslim.

This is one of the biggest reasons that AQ etc... hate the US most of the money goes to Kuwaiti and Saudi royalty, people the extremists hate with a passion.

11. Provided decisive and critical military assistance to the Indonesian tsunami victims while most foreign aid sat in docks undistributed due to inadequate resources.

Extremists don't care. Who cares about a few dead peons?

12. Made Jordan and Egypt the second and third larget security asssistance recipients in the world.

Extremists hate this too, both Egypt and Jordan are viewed as US lackeys.

13. politically and economically negotiated the tremendous economic boom of India— the world’s second largest muslim nation.

This is hilarious. Muslims absolutely *hate* the indian government. They want a caliphate there, with all of the hindus dead or converted. The idea of one of the largest muslim populations in the world under the rule of a different religion makes the extremists seethe with hatred.

The idea that muslim extremists come by their beliefs irrationally is one that conservatives should avoid at all costs. Muslim extremists *are* rational which makes them dangerous, their motives are transparent as well. Only by *understanding* what they want and how they're going to go about getting it, can the US win this battle.

[Taichi]

“For the last time...Ron Paul isn’t a conservative, he’s a Libertarian. Big, big difference.”

---

It’s a point that a lot of people keep missing. He’s a nutburger Libertarian who has the most convoluted thinking process.

Liberterians think we can just crawl into a hole and pull the dirt in over our heads and the whole blame world will just leave us alone.

[BlazingArizona]

14. If spending billions in American taxpayer funds for a Marshall Plan for Afghanistan and Iraq isn’t good enough for these people, we’ll be only too happy to issue a Potsdam ultimatum to the Ummah.