Posted on 09/16/2007 2:18:45 AM PDT by traviskicks
More than 1,000 people gathered Saturday at the Union Pacific Depot in Salt Lake City to rally behind U.S. Rep. Ron Paul in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination.
Paul, an obstetrician from Texas, was impressed with the turnout.
"Wow. If they only knew you existed over in Washington, they'd change things over there," he said as he greeted the cheering crowd.
Paul spoke fervently of his support of smaller government, including the abolition of agencies, such as the Internal Revenue Service, and of his support for strictly following the Constitution. He also spoke out against the war in Iraq and any pre-emptive military action.
"Because of our careless attitude about foreign policy and how we go to war, we have allowed our government to build an American world empire," he said. "We are not an empire. We're a republic."
Paul's stances on such topics are "clearly proven" in his voting record, which has earned him the nickname of "Dr. No" in the House of Representatives, said supporter Ronald Levine Saturday.
"I tell people not to listen to what a candidate says before an election or what he does," he said. "I tell them to look at what he has consistently done for the past 20 years."
That voting record is what drives his grass-roots supporters, said Mark Hudson of Syracuse. "He is the only candidate who attracts everyone from libertarians to constitutional conservatives to true conservatives," Hudson said.
Paul visited Utah for the free rally and for a $1,000-a-plate brunch that drew fewer than 20 supporters and a $2,000-per-plate dinner. He is the eighth presidential candidate to visit Utah, the fourth Republican. Paul had raised about $13,000 in Utah as of the June 30 filing, according to the Federal Elections Commission.
Though polls show Paul garnering an average of only 2 percent of potential voters, many of his supporters believe the polls don't accurately show how many people support him.
"He's the only candidate I've seen homemade signs for," said Tom Salt, who is studying mechanical engineering at Brigham Young University.
Salt sees many young people supporting Paul.
"We look at his principles and we're too young to be cynical about his chances," Salt said. The mainstream media has not treated Paul fairly, said Jed Hardman of Springville, and neither have some of the other Republicans in the race, pointing to Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney "openly mocking" Paul after debates.
"They're afraid because as soon as such a true conservative emerges, one who is anti-abortion and has conservative views on taxes, they're going to lose," he said.
funny, publius, we had the same answer. :)
I just read what I wrote and I think I should add that, at least among the RP supporters I have met, there are many lifelong republicans and I think most of them will end up voting for the republican nominee. I think in my answer, I was projecting my personel opinion onto them. :)
Wonder how all of these “life long Republicans” supporting Paul feel about the issues of legalizing marijuana, gay marriage, and the immediate pull out of our troops from Iraq and Afghanistan . All of these Ron Paul supports, and none of these are or have ever been part of the GOP Party platform or even showing up on the radar screen. I find it hard to believe that more than a handful of Republicans can look past those big issues because they agree with Paul on others.
Wow!! Delusional people for Ru Paul. Gotta love it!!!!!
So, is there a website where one can go and donate money for RP’s mental health needs (not to mention for those who are delusional in their support of him)?
so one should look at the polls before deciding whether to support a candidate? I think rather one should take the more ‘radical’ approach and see where the candidates stand on the issues.
Oh, soooo, now you don’t believe in these polls you and your fellow Ru Paulians have been spouting off about for the past month and a half? You know, the ones where you people keep trying to indicate that Paul has greater public support than reality demonstrates. I will not be picking my candidate based on polls, but it’s interesting how so many of you want to have your cake and eat it too.
well, there is a pretty large (10-15%) libertarian leading contingent of the Republican party.
Also, people may not agree with all his stances, but are avidly against the IRS, gun protection, or border security, or some combination thereof and have such high priority on those issues they let the other stuff slide.
It’s been my experience that people that disagree with his domestic platforms, but like him for his foreign policy above all else, generally are not republicans.
Interestingly, there are some people who like him just on the character issue.
So everything is supposed to change because of 1,000 people? Wonder if Ron grasps how many people are actually in the U.S.?
I think the polls are fairly accurate and I’ve never said otherwise, so I’m not sure who you are lumping me with. It is true, Paul may have a bit more support than the polls give credit d/t the cell phone issue, but I don’t think significantly more.
However, I do think the freedom movement is growing by leaps and bounds, so we shall see what the future holds... :)
“Interestingly, there are some people who like him just on the character issue”
I’ll grant you that one, he is a character.
Yes, we certainly shall. Come the day after the Primary we’ll know if all this fuss was worth their effort. Popcorn is popping.
Based on what figures and from whom?
The other story posted today about his talk in Seattle had a standing room only crowd. In the comments after the article, several people who were there said that the reported number of people attending (200+) was off by at least 50% (400+).
Possibly, but since we know that Ron's supporters have been actively trying to recruit from Code Pink and Moveon.org, how do we know how many of those people were conservatives?
That is an insult to twits everywhere...
It is worth the effort regardless of the result of the primaries. Today someone from our Meetup group is going to talk to the UNLV ‘college democrats’; now, some may mock this, but we are converting people to conservative/libertarian values. There are many people who were entirely apolitical, who now understand how harmful the heavy hand of government is, who now reject socialism. RP is expanding the Republican party and the movement is educating many, many people - I think this is a success, any way you cut it, regardless of how the horse race ends. :)
A bill board is up? One Bill board?
Looking at it, it should have an “order now” and a 1-800 number as well...
Also the should point out his is a Republican, or at least trying to run as one, the “End the war now” piece could confuse people.
Scratch that, don’t put he’s a Republican up there...
Peace and love dude....
Hey, if all of the Paul Freepers were there they could have made up 15% of the group. Impressive...
Sorry, but now I see you as just plain delusional. Ru Paul is not expanding, he's dividing. I don't understand how those who support him are blind to this fact. Look around and pay attention to what is going on. While there are GOP Candidates whom I think have zero business running on a GOP ticket (Guiliani, Romney for example), Ru Paul is also not a Conservative, or a Republican. He's strongly Libertarian, despite his efforts to lie to people around the country. If anything, his candidacy will help Hitlery more than the country.
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