Posted on 09/01/2007 12:48:20 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
FORT WORTH -- Rep. Ron Paul wasn't there for most of the first day of the Republican straw poll Friday, but his presence was felt everywhere.
In the "Ron Paul" placards people carried throughout downtown.
In the T-shirt likeness of him that supporters wore around the Fort Worth Convention Center.
In the signs posted in front of the convention center, on vehicles parked there and on some downtown businesses such as Four Star Coffee Bar.
Paul, of Surfside, didn't make it into Fort Worth until his night rally downtown. Nonetheless, he was a candidate who was impossible to ignore.
"We're going to surround the area as more people come," said Paul supporter Christopher Laskoski of Fort Worth. "You will see more ground support for Ron Paul than any other candidate."
Paul supporters are typically proud of their outsider status, but they yearn for mainstream media attention for him as a top contender for the GOP presidential nomination. Several, including Paul's son, Benbrook doctor Robert Paul, believe that their candidate would be one of the front-runners if the media gave Paul, a Texas congressman and former Libertarian presidential nominee, the attention they think he deserves.
Some Paul volunteers have complained about who can vote in today's poll.
The rules require straw poll delegates to have been a delegate or alternate to a recent GOP convention. But delegates can bring guests, and Paul supporters are trying to persuade delegates to take Paul supporters in with them to the candidate speeches that begin this morning.
"While we may not win the actual straw poll vote, we want to outnumber any of the other candidates' support to show that he has a strong chance in the actual primary, where all of the people in attendance will be able to vote," volunteer Clayton Slade of Richardson said.
They were outside the convention center Friday, many decked out in orange T-shirts with Paul's likeness saying: "Who is this man? And why is he going to win the Texas Straw Poll?"
In the afternoon, about 30 supporters crashed a rally that Rep. Duncan Hunter, a presidential hopeful from California, held outside the Water Gardens. As Hunter spoke to 50 Republicans about supporting the troops, Paul supporters stood just feet away, holding up Ron Paul signs.
"We're not necessarily against Duncan Hunter. We're just here to support Ron Paul," said Robert Brushaber of Austin.
BTTT
Why are they using leftist-style tactics?
As I’ve said all along. I personally like Ron Paul a great deal (I still disagree about the war) but some of the people who support him are only harming him.
Paul himself is a good man.
All I will say is that it would be best to let every candidate be heard. Then let their arguements rise or fall on their own merrits.
There will be time to challenge what others have said. I don’t think raising an opponents signs in the midst of the supporters of another candidate is going to win friends.
yuck... The nail just drives a little deeper.
>Why are they using leftist-style tactics?<
Let’s see. George Soros’s MoveOn Org.?
The headline in parentheses is misleading. "Crashing" the rally would mean going into an area reserved for the rally. It's my understanding this was an open-air affair in a public garden.
-----
Paul supporters stood just feet away, holding up Ron Paul signs.
At least they were in a public area and apparently didn't disrupt the Hunter rally by saying anything.
-----
Very disgraceful on their part.
I agree. Their actions were in very poor taste.
Saturday, 12:30 p.m.: Speech highlights
The candidates have spoken. Now it’s up to the delegates. Here's a look at what some of the contenders said.
"Right now, Texas, the eyes of the United States are on you," he said. "Do you want to send a message to politiicans, to Americans ... that we are so fed up that we want to send a guy who wants to work for a living there to Washington?"
"We can bring real ideas...back to the Republican Party," he said. "We want solutins, no celebrities. We want results, not rhetoric ... So I'm asking for your support today."
"I'm a strong defender of individual liberty," Paul said. "Personal choices means tolerance against other people as long as they’re not hurting us.
"I am a strong defender of the right to life of all living human beings," he said, adding that a vote for him is a "vote for the constitution, a vote for limited government."
"Until 9/11, I was just a happy psychiatrist and when 9/11 happened, it horrified me and all of us," Cort said.
Citing different sources, Cort said with certainty that Osama Bin Laden has snuck "suitcase nukes" into the U.S.
"He wants to blow up ten American cities with nuclear devices like we blew up Hiroshima," Cort said.
Cort received a mix of cheers and boos when he called for bombing Iran but made it up to the crowd when he promised his first acts as president would be to ban abortion and homosexual marriage.
He said he wants U.S. troops to leave Iraq the "right way" and he promised to build the entire 864-mile border fence in his first six months in office.
Hunter told the crowd that his grandson, also named Duncan, is even helping him campaign, telling people "my grandpa is going to be president. Now, can I count on your vote?"
-- Anna M. Tinsley and Aman
9:08 a.m.: Monkeys for Ron Paul
With two police escorts on bicycles, Ron Paul's supporters finished their march to the Convention Center and are now rallying outside the delegates' entrance. Several buses and RVs passed by covered in Ron Paul signs.
According to one of our correspondents, a live monkey could clearly be seen in the window of one of the Ron Paul RVs.
No comment.
-- Aman Batheja
“Paul himself is a good man.”
Then he seriously and firmly and PUBLICLY need to distance himself from the loonies and instruct his supporters to act in a seemly fashion.
If FRudy McRomneyson represents the Kennedy wing of the Republican party, Ron Paul represents the Andrew Jackson wing.
Thanks for the report.
I am not convinced I’d be in favor of a psychologist for president. Jimmy Carter’s fireside chat was about as close as I ever want to get.
As a Hunter supporter I agree.
Who’s the psychologist? Ron Paul is an obstetrician, but I am not aware of any candidate who is a psychologist. Please enlighten me.
See Hugh Cort post #11....
>>>Very disgraceful on their part.
Hey, they got Duncan Hunter and Ron Paul in some more google hits.
::shrugs::
And to coin Robert Brushaber of Austin:
“I’m not necessarily against Ron Paul. I’m just for Duncan Hunter”
Bump for Duncan Hunter worthy.
No one trashing anyone one and more text to feed the search engines.
Not just kooks, but jerks, too.
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.