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Posted on 07/05/2007 3:10:24 PM PDT by George W. Bush
The Iconoclast
GOP Candidate Catches on in Washington State
By Eli Sanders
How did a Republican Texas Congressman named Ron Paul become a darling of the Washington State Meetup scene?
It all began, oddly enough, with Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell and a stand she took against the international sex trade.
In 2004, Cantwell became a prominent voice behind the International Marriage Broker Regulation Act, which was intended to fight "human trafficking"—mail-order brides and the like. This highly displeased Adam Berman, 40, of Gig Harbor, who runs LatinLoveSearch.com, which he calls "the largest free Latin-themed dating website on the internet." His site is about love connections, not human exploitation, Berman says, and it wasn't forced to go free until after Cantwell's bill passed.
The bill actually wasn't Cantwell's alone: It was introduced in the House by another Washington Democrat, Rick Larsen, and it had strong bipartisan support. But Cantwell is a big name here in Washington State, and she stuck in Berman's mind. Her anti-human-trafficking agenda involved describing people like Berman—people running pay sites that connect Americans with foreign lovers—as "international marriage brokers," and when the bill became law it imposed strict requirements on these brokers, mandating that they conduct criminal background checks on their American customers and then translate the results into the native languages of all foreign users.
The only way Berman could get around the new rules was to stop charging people to use his site, which he did, losing a huge amount of money in the process.
As Berman was fuming about what Cantwell had done to his business, he noticed that Ron Paul, a Republican Congressman from Texas, had voted against the bill. Paul, a physician, has earned the nickname "Dr. No" because of his refusal to support any bill that he feels isn't constitutional, and apparently Paul felt Cantwell's "human trafficking" law fell short. When Dr. No jumped into the presidential race this year, Berman, who has never been active in politics before, decided to do all he could to support the guy.
"He's just against the federal government having so much control," Berman told me. "He's hitting home with people who are frustrated with what's going on."
For a web-savvy character like Berman, getting behind Paul meant starting a group on Meetup.com for Paul supporters in Washington. He now heads three groups—in Seattle, Tacoma, and Bellevue—with more than 300 members between them. That's almost as many Meetup supporters as Barack Obama has in this state, and more Washington Meetup members than Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, and John McCain combined.
The online traction Paul is getting here mirrors a national phenomenon. Thanks to his iconoclastic showing in the Republican debates—where he's been the only candidate to speak forcefully against the Iraq war and to come out clearly in favor of fiscal conservatism, limited government, and hands-off social policy—Paul's candidacy is exploding online, bringing him more total Meetup groups nationwide than any other presidential candidate.
Does Meetup membership really matter? If you ask Howard Dean, the answer is yes. It was through Meetup that Dean's surprise internet support began to take off in Washington and around the country in 2003, the year that the internet first emerged as a platform for launching nonmainstream candidates into mainstream viability. And as a gauge of potential online donors, Paul's Meetup numbers are huge; there are rumors that he may have pulled in $4 million online during the most recent fund-raising quarter.
Paul's actual fundraising numbers for the quarter won't be released until July 15, but if the rumors prove true he will vault from being an entertaining Republican asterisk to... well, being an entertaining Republican asterisk with a good chunk of cash and a lot of online supporters.
As Dean showed, that doesn't necessarily transform a person into a winning candidate. But here in Washington, the Paul Meetup contingent is optimistic. Berman, the local Meetup leader, was at a Round Table Pizza in Tacoma on July 2 communing with Paul supporters. The next day another Meetup group gathered in the food court of the Crossroads Mall in Bellevue. And Berman is planning a huge Ron Paul presence at Hempfest. (Paul has opposed federal raids on medical-marijuana operations in states that allow medical marijuana, based on states' rights principles.)
Paul's candidacy, Berman says, "is growing like wildfire" because of "a crossover message that's able to escape the party line." Paul himself likes to put it this way: "Freedom is popular." In independent-minded Washington State, it's no surprise that this message would be appealing to antiwar lefties, libertarians, and frustrated conservatives alike—people who applaud Paul's votes against the Iraq war, against the PATRIOT Act, against gun control, and against raising taxes.
"The guy's definitely a phenomenon that most people haven't seen," Berman says.
Online gamblers and dating sites, those who oppose modem taxes and online sales taxes, those who oppose the Surveilance State in all its forms, the anti-U.N. folks, closed-borders folks, pro-gun folk, medical marijuana advocates, small-government/lower-taxes folk of al stripes, goldbugs who want to see real gold currency return to compete with paper money... these are the kind of supporters Ron Paul has.
Many post scornfully on these threads about Ron Paul's position on Iraq. What they find it hard to grasp, apparently, is there are a sizable number of people (perhaps even voters) who care rather passionately about just a single issue or just a few issues. And Ron Paul has a lot of these diverse single-issue groups supporting him. I don't think anyone could list them all because Ron Paul has said NO! to a lot of things over the years. LOL.
Some will say you can't form a political movement from groups of single-issue voters. But the reason that RP can do this is because he favors smaller government and more liberty in every case and this is precisely why he is so fittingly titled "Dr. No". And when he votes no on these bills, he often writes a piece or speaks in the well of the House to these issues and these voter groups, often the only one in Congress who speaks and votes to defend their Liberty against Big Government. So his cause is inevitably pro-liberty and small-government and, therefore, a genuinely conservative candidacy, regardless of any ongoing Wilsonian adventure the D.C. establishment has embarked upon across The Pond.
So for all of you who don't understand how Ron Paul has any support at all, look at just this one website owner and how he became a Friend Of Ron because of Big Government prying its way into his online business.
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Good find. I think it can happen! And your rant is well done, also. Nice work.
I don't see why not. It's a perfect description of the Democrat party.
L
Ron Paul will be on Stephanapolis on Sunday morning. Pass it on.
Well, if “The Stranger” endorses him, that’s good enough for me. Gawd almighty.
LOL!! You’re joking right?
This is what I mean by diverse single-issue supporters. And they are active. Just when you think you've heard it all, another group like this surfaces, all having been fans of Ron Paul for years.
July 2, 2007 Neal Rodriguez
I emailed Ron Paul's events coordinator Andrew Michel with the following proposal to offer him a free flight on a private jet to any campaign stop of his choice:
June 7, 2007
Dear Andrew,
I am Neal Rodriguez, with Imperial Jets, out of New York City. We have some private aircraft at our disposal, and I wanted to know if Congressman Ron Paul would be interested in being flown by private jet on our dime. We can arrange private jet travel to a destination on the campaign trail if he finds it appropriate.
We are most supportive of Ron Paul’s stand on limited government; particularly his opposition to FAA User Fees which surprisingly gathered considerable positive feedback and has helped spread the word on Ron Paul’s bid for the presidency on several social search networks: Ron Paul Uncensored
It would be my esteemed pleasure to make his transportation means more convenient.
Best regards,
Neal
BTW, that picture of the RP coins is from their website. Just click the graphic. It’s for real and they’re using it to campaign with all the precious metals folk.
Thats sweet. I just sent the link out to my meetup group. We went out here locally to a number of fireworks events and handed out fliers. All volunteer, all paid for by grass roots supporters. I hope this type of organization is going on in states like Iowa and New Hampshire. Those are the most important. Most people dont even know who Ron Paul is yet but when they find out about him theyre all receptive to his message. Get out there and make it happen!
gotta love that photo of Ron Paul
Nah — I’m afraid RP doesn’t do it for me. Gold coins and free jets aside, I just think he’s way too out there for me. And I’m still scratching my head to figure out how he can run as a republican and not even be close to the platform on most issues. *shrugs*
the scariest thing about ron paul are his supporters. who are these nut cases?
For todays Republican Party's acquired taste for liberalism and big government JFK would be considered too conservative. Name me one besides Ron Paul running for POTUS that is actually saying government is too big and too intrusive on our freedoms and rights. Name one who besides Ron Paul says he will roll back the increase in government programs since Reagan left office. By that I mean shut down such useless departments as Education and leave it to the states, Department of Homeland Insecurity and leave it to the various departments professionals, and other created make jobs for political friends federal programs that have been created.
His attraction though reminds me of Howard Dean.
That is a trick question. There is no candidate other than Ron Paul.
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