Posted on 01/14/2008 2:28:06 PM PST by mnehring
It was supposed to be a revolution. Ron Paul was set to take America and the world by storm by winning primary after primary on his way to the White House. The supporters of the ten-term US Congressman from Texas were convinced that the money he raised would equal support at the actual ballot box. Now in the cold hard days of January, the truth has broken though.
So what has happened to Ron Paul? The answer isn't difficult; his support was never very large to begin with. It was magnified by a presence on the Internet (or the "Internets" if you prefer) and it would never push through into the real world of voting. This was never really anything more than an online revolution that could never come close to cracking the mainstream of political thought.
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For a dark horse candidate, he made all that he could out of his Libertarian philosophies. He brought forward a whole bunch of young folks that didn't really understand the political process and they are now excited and involved. Of course, Iowa and New Hampshire slapped many of them across the face and Michigan and New Hampshire will do the same. Come February 5 even the staunchest Paul political supporter will have to realize that it isn't going to happen.
The problem that many didn't really understand is that Paul wasn't preaching anything new. This was the same Libertarian Party line that had been regurgitated over and over in one form of another for election after election. I'm not certain why so many thought it might be "magical" this campaign season.
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There is a reason that the Libertarian Party exists in relative obscurity. Though many of us hold several of the ideas of the party dear to our hearts and believe them fully, once the movement of the fringe takes hold it is too much to bear for most people.
Many scoffed at the "mainstream" and believed they didn't need them as their man Ron Paul would rise above and dominate. They didn't believe the polls that showed little support and the true believers don't even believe the votes that have been cast at the ballot box. I'm not certain if Paul and his supporters will go away quietly, but one thing is certain, they won't win this election or even come close enough to move the political debate.
Ping
The RAT money is drying up.
The jokster on the FOC debate?
Why waste bandwidth on him?
Makes no sense. He’s comic relief.
More importabntly, does anyone care?...:)
Personally I think too many different factions within the Paul camp decided they didn’t like each other’s company.
I care.
The sooner he’s gone the better.
“a self created delusion....”
Could be. Several fairly intelligent people took time off work this afternoon to go listen to him speak. I would have if possible. I never felt he was a Libertarian, more of an old style Republican.
This was an internet deception anyways. Ron Paul is done.
A succinct and accurate summary.
They spoke similar jests in 1964 when Barry Goldwater from Arizona ran against Lyndon B. I remember only 8 million Americans were brave enough to put X beside his name. Now many years later people said he really did have some answers for some real dilemas for America, but nobody paid him any mind. Ron Paul, in 30 years will get his accolades. No one is brave enough to really get tough and provide REAL solutions. So Americans will get THE SAME, the same, the same, lo mismo..just more and worse of what they always wanted...spend..spend...tax...tax. Ron Paul wanted to curb this epidemic.
So the question is:
Who will Ron Paul endorse when he quits ?
Will it help or hurt whoever that is ?
From the second paragraph:
>>...never...never... real ...never really ...never...<<
Weird writing.
He’s being abandoned by his democratic supporters in favor of John McCain.
It's a conspiracy.
Those who knew that Ron Paul would never succeed should have stood back and applauded his efforts for bringing to the fore some of the key issues that even the Republicans are avoiding.
Instead lots of whack jobs feared that he might actually have a chance and went into massive carpet bombing attacks on him and his ideas.
And this auther is particularly annoying: those of us who aren't dyed-in-the-wool republicans are urged by republicans to work within the party to advance our ideas rather than start third parties and split the conservative/libertarian vote. But this author just wants to talk about how unsuccessful the libertarian party has been, and imply that all libertarianism will always be trounced and everyone who doesn't agree with the republicans should stay in the party AND shut up about their true beliefs.
That's a great strategy for continued republican success! /sarcasm
The venom set in.
Ron Paul went to the same place Clinton’s dot.com “irrational exuberance” bubble did - back to Never-Never Land.
True. I’ve heard the anti-war mantra outta of him so much it’s losing it’s comedic value....
There are Libertarians that support the war...they call themselves Neolibertarians. Interesting history there. The divide goes back to the Vietnam war debate.
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