Posted on 12/26/2007 11:04:00 AM PST by PlainOleAmerican
Paul supporters claim to believe that Paul will shrink the size of the federal government by ending trillions in military, intelligence and foreign aid spending, the day he’s elected. Yet when questioned by Russert about the specifics of such a bold plan, Paul had no specifics about how such a plan could ever actually be implemented. He didn’t even know how many troops would have to be recalled from around the world. Russert had to tell him.
He has repeatedly stated that he wants to abolish the Department of Education, the FBI, the IRS and the Income Tax, as well as countless other federal agencies and programs. Not a bad idea. Yet again when questioned by Russert about the specifics, he either had no specifics, was wrong on his specifics, or accused Russert of being “confused” and denied that he ever made such statements.
Russert even cornered Dr. No on the very real fact that he has “ear-marked” millions for his own Texas district over the years, while railing against ear-marks and stating that the fed shouldn’t even provide disaster relief to American victims of inescapable natural catastrophes.
In short, Ron Paul is far better at rhetoric than reality. Watch Paul make a fool of himself on Meet the Press… (4 separate video segments, watch them all)
(Excerpt) Read more at capitolhillcoffeehouse.com ...
He says some things that many Americans like hearing. But he has no real plan for implimenting any of it and most of it can't be implimented without destroying a nation alread teetering on disaster.
The Paul rhetoric has a ring of conservatism to it. But a very unrealistic, even dangerus ring to it as well.
His campaign is going nowhere, except to probably lose him even his congressional seat in the end.
But it is sure causing turmoil in the Republican Party primaries and that is increasingly looking like the real goal behind the campaign. Certainly many of its leftist supporters.
Sadly, Ron Paul is killing serious libertarians where there is plenty of room for disagreement.
It’s altogether unserious. If seniors already cost 1/3 of the US budget and rising, how does Ron Paul handle these people?
None of it adds up. No matter. It’s Ron Paul.
Did you watch David Shuster (sp?) tear into Paul on this morning’s MSNBC gabfest? Kept calling him names concerning his mental health. I never expected this, a MSM journalist to be so biased. . .well, never mind.
The Republican Party is acting like it’s taken a massive dose of LSD.
A socialist posing as a conservative: Huckabee.
A Nazi posing as a human being: Ron Paul.
A socialist liar who dubs his socialist lies as Straight Talk: John McCain.
A whole crop of eastern establishment liberals, pretending to be in various stages of Conservative Conversion.
And the only two real conservatives running for office, Hunter and Thompson, are either completely ignored (Hunter) or slipping into obscurity (Thompson).
Given our responsibility to be the Responsible Party, I would say that collectively we have gone more insane than the Democrats, whose very role is to BE insane.
It’s like the staff of the institution has adopted the behavior of the inmates.
“Sadly, Ron Paul is killing serious libertarians where there is plenty of room for disagreement.”
Ron Paul = Ross Pero split of the Republican party?
Historical amnesia...
Here in Ohio I grew up with Robert Taft Republicans.
Paul sings the tune.
To tell you how ignorant the voters are on CSpan they are calling for a Paul/Kucinich ticket. The two could NEVER get along.
Ignorance is the most expensive commodity in the US.
The Paul campaign actually seems much more like a typical Democrat campaign, full of half-truths, half-baked notions and hate-filled fear-driven lunatics, all functioning without an ounce of logic or common sense...
BRAVO! Best analysis I’ve seen...
I wouldn’t count Thompson out just yet though. Something tells me he might have a few surprises up his sleave in Iowa...
Well Ron Paul has already stated he is not running on an independent line after the Republican nomination. Expect he will follow through on that.
If not, he would seriously impact the Republican candidate. Even 2-3% nationally would have a major impact on the race is my guess.
Ross Perot just had it in for Bush Sr. That’s clear now but oddly if he had not dropped out initially, the guy was actually poised to win. He was too over the edge. Read a funny story how Perot wouldn’t allow people to do the common details of a trip, re: plane, car service, etc.
That and Perot decided he could not part with ANY of his money. He rejected ads he screened and loved because they came with a bill. He said he could have someone do the ads for him for $250.
The guy was in the end, an absolute ass. I was almost working on his campaign and then he dropped out only to come back again later and screw up the election in his less than serious effort.
Indeed!
I’d LOVE to see a Paul/Kookoocinich Independent ticket!!!
LOVE IT! These two were made for each other actually!
Well most of the campaigns and coverage has been far less than stellar.
Ron Paul’s campaign is awful in how it refuses to even accept the reality on the ground in Iraq.
When you listen to him, he can’t speak to the reality there now. And in that regard you are exactly right, he is just like the typical Democrat.
Excellent analysis!
There are rumblings that Paul is now actually considering a third partyt run, which is why for the first time with Russert, he rfused to rule it out...
Perot has always been an ass with a ax to grind with the Bush family... Too many Americans did not know him for what he really was until he had already done the damage.
This time, mainstream Republicans do seem to see Paul for the nutjob he really is. But I agree with your point that every conservative vote MUST be counted in ‘08...
Frank Luntz was on CSpan Christmas Day and he said there were no constituents more committed than the Ron Paul bunch. I wanted to call in and say there were no larger group of constituents that needed to be committed!!
Kinda like Perot.
It is true that his troops are very committed to his campaign, so much so, that by the time they are through making an ass of him for all the world to see, he won;t even keep his House seat... I did like having him in the House to cast those NO votes.
But a president, he ain’t!
Exactly!
Anyone who checks my posts will know that I’m not “Paulbot.” In fact, I, too, have been dismissing Ron Paul as some kind of a wingnut throughout this campaign. This weekend, I decided to watch a few Youtube clips about Paul, including the Potatohead aka Tim Russert interview, the Leno show appearance, and the John Stossel interview.
As I listened to him, I increasingly realized that THIS, refreshingly, is the pure form of leave-us-alone, small government constitutional conservatism that Reagan ran on but failed to really pull off. Yes, it’s a little jarring to hear Paul argue that we quit Iraq immediately and bring all foreign troops home in order to stop acting as the “policeman” of the world.
But, unlike the hate-America leftists, who simply want to see this country defeated, Paul wants to do this for the best of reasons: to honor the counsel of the founding fathers about avoiding foreign intervention and limit international resentment about American heavy-handedness.
Just as the Left has been opposing the Iraq police action almost reflexively as part of its Bush Derangement Syndrome, most of us on the Right have also been reflexively supporting the continued intervention there because the Left opposes it. Not really a sound reason. I seriously doubt that Iraq — or the World — will crumble if we pull back.
Like Ann Coulter, I found Paul’s position on placing earmarks in the budget while voting against them to be not hypocritical — as some suggest — but entirely logical. Paul is saying this: “the entire process is rotten to the core, and I’m going to oppose the bloated budgets, but if the federal government is determined to tax my constituents and dole their money out, they ought to get their fair share.” Makes sense to me.
The other thing that struck me about Paul’s campaign is the excitement it is generating at the grassroots level and particularly among young people. Mark this well: the electorate is going to be in the mood for radical change in 2008, and the party that offers it will sweep to power. By contrast with Paul, the other Repub candidates — even Thompson, whom I have supported up to now — are incrementalists.
I like this guy. He has principles and he’s not afraid to stick with them. I hope you’ll take the time to hear him for yourself with an open mind.
The Republican party seems to have lost sight of the fact that every time true Conservatism is presented, it is embraced. It was when Reagan ran and again in 94. As it stands, all of the G.O.P. front runners are seeing who can sprint to the middle the fastest.
Just a heads up; The cacophony of ignorance that is Ron Pauls support will soon ascend on this thread.
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.