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Someone remind me again why Ron Paul’s not a conservative? . . . He has libertarian qualities, sure, and that’s what he’s usually classed as, but isn’t his attitude on foreign intervention the same or similar to Washington’s?

Please explain what you mean by "similar to Washington's". The first president, or the people in charge in the nation's capital ATTOW?

I'm trying to figure out what's so hard to understand about Paul's stance on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan—he's utterly against them and wants them defunded. On top of that, he's extra weak on Iran, not supporting the resolution in support of the protests against the Mullahs (he was the sole "Nay" vote), opposing sanctions, and using scare tactics by claiming that Bush was going to attack Iran at any moment. He's weaker than even some of the DNC doves on the ~~global war on terror~~ "overseas contingency operation".

That's aside from his stance on Israel—he wants to withdraw support from the only democracy in the Middle East; he's in lock-step with the sicko dictators in the UN, and the two-faced European Union. He openly opposed the US supporting the Gaza blockade, in spite of how many lives it was saving, including Palestinian lives.

And he’s very much pro-life, with his personal experience as an obstetrician and gynecologist to back it up

As things look to me, he's pro-choice state by state; he only opposes federal funding for abortion. He also opposes a federal ban on abortion. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways, yes?

If that doesn't clear things up for you, then perhaps you're not such an enemy of the "cryptocommunist Democratic Party" as you claim to be.

Thanks for the link. I’m reading through it now.

By Washington, I should have been clearer that I meant George Washington, though I thought following it with this: “Any differing policy after that is by definition also not conservative.” I meant to say here that Washington’s policies, generally Federalist, or proto-Federalist as he was against political parties, were generally not those of Jefferson, and in his farewell address warned of passionate attachments to foreign nations. I’ve been instructed he meant especially France there, but it extends to all others, Britain, Russia, etc. And Israel is a foreign country, even if not in existence then, so passionate attachments to it would have also been contrary to Washington’s warning and his policy, and also wouldn’t qualify as conservative, in reference to him.

So Ron Paul’s wanting to withdraw American financial support from Israel, something I’m told Israel both doesn’t need and increasingly questions taking, has to be seen in light of that and of his wanting to withdraw American financial support of foreign countries across the board.

I’ll look for that specific resolution against the mullahs he voted against - it sounds like it’s in keeping with this Washingtonian policy, but it’s concerning if he was the only ‘nay’ vote and if it was hypocritical.

Rand Paul, his son, was for going into Afghanistan but not going into Iraq - except that once in we have to win. I agree with that. I had thought Ron Paul’s view was similar. Operations in Iraq are winding down (an Army Major I know told me it’s ‘over’). It would be irresponsible to de-fund, and thus leave, before things were secure, so if he didn’t say something like that as well it’s a concern. What do you mean around ‘supporting the Gaza blockade’? That seems to me to be Israel’s endeavor, not America’s.

You can leave off snarky comments, also. They’re generally not well-received, and I’m no exception. It also won’t help that you’ve named yourself after a type of troll. I don’t have a strong opinion about Ron Paul because I haven’t run across the same things that have apparently provoked such a strong reaction in you, nor been so impressed by the kind of things he says that lead some people to be such strong followers of his. Right now though, for me personally, the count of those opposed to him acting obnoxiously is higher than those for him doing so. That doesn’t say everything, but it does make a person wonder when asking genuine questions.