Statement of Ron Paul on H.R. 5104[Protect America Act of 2007][FISA]

House.gov ^ | 30 Jan 2008 | Ron Paul

[coramdeo]

I am in Virginia, primary in 2 weeks, and I’ve gotten calls twice in the last 3 days from his polling group (they identify themselves at the end as polling for the Paul campaign) - the questions are so vague and badly worded that they can’t possibly lead to any valid result. They are looking for yes/no answers to questions that any non-dolt would need at least a few sentences to answer intelligibly.

I don't really mind, both pollers have been pleasant young people, but it seemed really an odd use of the money he raised.

[darkwing104]

Does he know what he is saying? Nothing says patriotic like extending Constitutional rights to terrorists living outside of the United States...

[End Times Crusader]

If it prevents the next 9/11, I’m all for it.

[jmc813]

Shhhhh......Let the retard waste the money of his donors.

You were just bitching last week that Paul should drop out, Dwight N00b. What gives?

[jmc813]

That’s called “money laundering”! From Soros to Paul to liberal station owners.

Your tin foil is loose, Liz Clairborne.

[jmc813]

If it prevents the next 9/11, I’m all for it.

It must suck to go through life so scared. Live a bit. Life's too short to be freaked out by terrorists.

[airborne]

In this case, tin foil is your forte, not mine,

[Designer]

"If it prevents the next 9/11, I’m all for it."

And how will you know if it has?

(hint: our government will tell us)

[Designer]

FYI:

This adjustment would solve the problems outlined by the administration without violating the rights of US citizens.

[NoCountryForLiberals]

Pretty good chance those callers are volunteers. I know someone who is a precinct captain who is doing the same thing for free.

[NoCountryForLiberals]

They may all be mad hatters but you can’t deny they give to the campaign, they volunteer, they know how to work the various state primary and caucus systems, they practically own the freaking internet and they’ve widened the discussion. Would the other candidate have been talking about us borrowing from the Chinese if Paul was not in the race?

[Dead Corpse]

You keep using Voltaire’s quote. If you don’t like the Constitutions protections for US Citizens, work to repeal them. Don’t just pen legislation that side-steps or outright violates the Constitutions limits.

[mnehring]

I am talking about ‘perfect’ in Paul’s mind. I disagree with his very narrow view of the Constitution, he seems to ignore about half of it. He sure doesn’t like the equal protection clause or the 14th amendment.

[Dead Corpse]

If it was all about protecting us from Terrorists, we'd all be drilling with local authorities with personal arms. the most effective means of preventing "sudden jihad syndrome" and "sleeper cell attacks" are individual citizens with personal arms.

Anything else is either power grabs or political brinkmanship.

[NoCountryForLiberals]

Good Voltaire quote.

It is dangerous to be right in matters where established men are wrong.

[Dead Corpse]

So you approve of "penumbra's and emanations" that allow for limitless expansion of Federal power? How liberal of you...

If you don't like the Constitution, there is a process for changing it. It isn't perfect, but it does work.

Anything else destroys the basis for the document itself and reduces respect for the rule of law.

[mnehring]

So you approve of "penumbra's and emanations" that allow for limitless expansion of Federal power? How liberal of you... If you don't like the Constitution, there is a process for changing it. It isn't perfect, but it does work.

Didn't say any of that, I said I don't agree with Paul's view of it. He is not the messiah of the Constitution, in my view, he is akin to Fred Phelps preaching about the Christianity, just because he repeats it over and over, doesn't mean he truly follows it. You all act like Paul is the perfect translator of the Constitution and everything must be weighed against his interpertation. No offense, but this is cult like behavior.

[Dead Corpse]

I don't care if you take offense or not. Paul's ideas line up with mine not because they come from Paul, but because we've read the Constitution, the writings of the Founders, and came to the same conclusions.

You may not like it, but facts are stubborn things. The Constitution GIVES the FedGov only specifically enumerated powers. Anything beyond that is off limits. You may be just fine with them arbitrarily expanding those limits absent the Amendment process, but don't pretend you are any better than Kennedy et al when you do...

[mnehring]

I don't care if you take offense or not. Paul's ideas line up with mine not because they come from Paul, but because we've read the Constitution, the writings of the Founders, and came to the same conclusions. You may not like it, but facts are stubborn things. The Constitution GIVES the FedGov only specifically enumerated powers. Anything beyond that is off limits. You may be just fine with them arbitrarily expanding those limits absent the Amendment process, but don't pretend you are any better than Kennedy et al when you do...

Again, you are creating a false view of what I've said and believe. I believe in following the Constitution strictly, I don't believe Paul is. I believe Paul is cherry picking the Constitution to make his points. He starts with his idea first then finds in the Constitution what he thinks supports it and claiming (as you seem to be) that if someone doesn't believe in his cherry picking of the Constitution, they don't believe in the Constitution. That is BS.

[Dead Corpse]

I believe in following the Constitution strictly, I don't believe Paul is.

Is it illegal to wire tap a US Citizens phone line without a warrant? Yes, or no. Don't prevaricate or change the terms of the question to weasel the answer. A Yes or No is all that is required.

If Yes, then Paul is right.

If No, then you'd better be able to show EXACTLY where in the Constitution the FedGov was explicitly given this power. Be sure to provide the proper citations.