Posted on 09/07/2007 10:40:07 AM PDT by NapkinUser
Edited on 09/07/2007 2:31:57 PM PDT by Lead Moderator. [history]
Has this been a hectic and encouraging time! First we got almost 17% in the Texas straw poll, an event set-up to represent the establishment, with very restrictive voting rules. That 17% of the Republican hierarchy would support our views, after a full day of pro-war propaganda, is good news. Then we won the more open Maryland Republican straw poll with 28%. In both cases, as usual, hard-working, well-organized volunteers made all the difference.
The Fox debate was a lot of fun as well. It's true that a few of the network people are not exactly with us on foreign or domestic policy (though one famous guy whispered to me that he is a libertarian), but the audience—with lots of students from the University of New Hampshire—was definitely fair and balanced, as their enthusiastic reaction showed.
My opponents called for more war, more torture, more secret prisons, more eavesdropping, more presidential power. Some seemed to identify the government and the people as if they were one entity. But you and I know that once the government moves beyond its very limited constitutional mandate, it is an opponent of the people, a rip-off operation that takes our money and our freedom and our social peace, and gives us a mess of statist pottage in return.
The government failed miserably on 911 to protect us, despite spending trillions. So the answer was supposed to be the giant, socialist Department of Homeland Security, protecting you and me from taking our toothpaste on the airplane. I was ridiculed for saying that the airlines, which know best how to protect their property, should have been allowed to arm their pilots. But then, you and I really believe in the Second Amendment. It is not just a political slogan for us.
When I discussed the blowback that came from us intervening on the Arabian peninsula, Chris Wallace asked me if I wanted to follow the marching orders of al-Qaeda. I responded that I wanted to follow the marching orders of the Constitution, and not wage undeclared, aggressive wars that cause us only trouble. This is a mystifying to some, of course, but not to more and more Americans.
There was much talk of taxes, and a pledge not to raise rates. But as usual, I was not allowed to discuss my lifelong pledge to abolish the income tax. Just holding the line, when the government takes such vast sums through an illegitimate guilty-until-proven-innocent system, is hardly enough. We need to slash taxes and spending if we are to have a future of prosperity for ourselves and our families.
After the debate, many young people gathered around the stage to discuss our ideas and ask questions about them (and to have me sign their badges). My colleagues got no such response, and after a few moments, "security" ordered me off the stage. Can't have any such demonstration of interest in liberty.
But the young are with us, and so are Americans of every stripe. Even party officials. When one of my opponent said it was OK to lose elections through supporting the Iraq war, that set party people's teeth on edge, and rightly so. The Republican party is shrinking. We need new people. It's either our ideas or President Hillary, and more and more people recognize it.
But the media, and everyone else, will be looking at fundraising totals at the end of this month. They'll judge us by how we do. And we need help to wage what we hope will be a full-scale, 50-state campaign. Please help me head into the next quarter fully armed to do battle for freedom, peace and prosperity. Make your most generous contribution https://www.ronpaul2008.com/donate/. This Revolution is on the move, but it very much needs your support.
Sincerely,
Ron
I don’t think most of them are real conservatives, maybe one in a thousand is.
His internet campaign is nothing more than a DNC dirty trick. These are mostly seminar posters who have been here for a long time to destroy FR.
Pray for W and Our Troops
Wrong. BC had a BC approach which was essentially to do nothing. I don't believe Congressman Paul ever said we should do nothing. However if you can dig up a statement in which the good Congressman said the attacks on the Cole, Khobar, and the American embassies should go unpunished I'll happily concede your point.
Then, in addition, Paul blames us for the attacks
I don't remember him doing that. I remember him saying that the attacks were a response to some of our policies in the Middle East and elsewhere. I think everyone pretty much agrees this is the case. AQ doesn't like our foreign policy. That's a fact. OBL whines and moans about it every time one of his 'greatest hits' tapes comes out.
Then when Paul says something along those lines you lot start shouting that he 'hates America'. What a load of crap that is.
One OBLs primary motivitions according to his own words was the presence of American troops in Saudi. Well Bush pulled our troops out of Saudi after 9/11.
Does that mean Bush was 'appeasing' Al Queda? How about Rumsfeld? He sure had to sign off on that decision. Is Rumsfeld an AQ sympathizer?
but he seems to forget that an armed pilot won't stop terrorists from blowing the plane in half at 40,000 feet over the atlantic with a liquid explosive IED.
Armed pilots sure would have come in handy against 4 or 5 guys with boxcutters, though. And if those mutts had been stopped we most likely wouldn't be worrying about other nuts with detonating Dentucream now would we.
Frist, the airlines (who Ron says "know best how to protect their property") opposed arming the pilots
Did they? Did all of them disagree? When was that poll taken? Got a link to the statements of each and every airline CEO to document that assertion?
he was NOT ridiculed by the administration
Maybe they didn't ridicule him openly, but they didn't do a damned thing to expedite the process either. Did Bush write an Executive Order demanding the FAA allow armed pilots immediately? That's within his power. But instead he put that bastion of right wing conservative thought Norman Minetta in charge of the 'program' to arm pilots.
So at this rate American commercial airliners should have armed pilots sometime in 2036...maybe.
I don't care if you two want to make fun of Paul. It's not like I'm supporting the guys run for President. What I don't like is the yards of bullsh** I see spewed about the guy.
Ron Paul doesn't hate America. Ron Paul doesn't think 9/11 was 'our fault'. And he certainly does support our troops.
L
Ron Paul wants to give into al Qaeda, except for maybe catching one man or two, and he wants to cut-n-run from the whole Middle East. As it is, Run Paul is more of a sissy than Bill Clinton. Run Paul is basically willing to give al Qaeda a veto over US foreign policy. He’s a dope.
And I suppose we should include moonshine as a RUN Paul priority supported by his dilettantes and philistines.
Bush pulled our troops out of Saudi. Did he give in the Al Queda?
he wants to cut-n-run from the whole Middle East
When did he say that?
L
Sorry Ron, you are a bit nutty. Have you been prescribing your own medication?
well said. :)
Long strange trip it’s been...
Good thing is it will end between here and the convention.
I perceive President Bush as espousing the principles expressed in our Constitution. The argument is not without merit that those principles are universal and not to be confined within our borders, and that to see those principle established on a wider basis requires force against those who would attack them.
The question is, on a practical basis which makes more sense? To establish borders around which those principles can thrive in practice, defend them, and invite others to participate, or to expend our blood and resources in an effort to bring them to peoples who prefer slavery to freedom.
To see the issue reduced to a bunch of lollygagging and name calling is to miss the point altogether. We need to have this debate. We need to assess what is best for the United States of America. I see President Bush, Ron Paul, and other Republican candidates making an effort to address this without discarding what we hold dearest.
On the other hand, I see liberal Democrats and tyrants who prefer nothing less than to enslave us to mediocrity on the one hand and fanatacism on the other.
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.