[TheBigIf]

You said:

“(to quote Ron Paul, “There are no group rights, there are only individual rights” - which he probably lifted from Ayn Rand “The smallest group is the individual”), “

After Ron Paul voted with the democrats to end DADT he is quoted as saying (I’m paraphrasing) that homosexual behavior should be treated equally to heterosexual behavior. His exact quote could be found online but the meaning is basically the same.

The pervert Ron Paul shows himself to be a liar. He doesn’t stand for individual rights but for special rights granted per a person’s BEHAVIOR. And a person’s perverted sexual beahvior even!

The Founders would have strongly opposed Paul and condemned him as a pervert.

[CzarChasm]

The exact quote does not mean what you want it to mean; emphasis mine, to make the point a little clearer:

Ron Paul: “I have received several calls and visits from constituents who, in spite of the heavy investment in their training, have been forced out of the military simply because they were discovered to be homosexual. To me, this seems like an awful waste. Personal behavior that is disruptive should be subject to military discipline regardless of whether the individual is heterosexual or homosexual. But to discharge an otherwise well-trained, professional, and highly skilled member of the military for these reasons is unfortunate and makes no financial sense.”

Frankly, I don't think gays belong in the military, and I don't think that women belong in the military - for completely different reasons that don't matter, because I don't run the military.

The problem I have with people's condemnation of Paul - and I'm not singling anyone out in particular here, as FReepers tend to be fairly rational creatures - is that they get upset at what other people said he said, instead of what he actually said.

The other day there were hundreds of oh-my-god-he's-an-evil-bastard-that-wants-you-to-die-in-a-tornado articles, none of which actually quoted what the man said ("There's no such thing as Federal money").

Now, before you dismiss all of this as the ravings of a Paulite, you should know that (a) I've always been a libertarian, and (b) I've only started to like Paul as a choice recently because [1] I stopped listening to what others said he said, and started reading what he actually said, and [2] the other GOP choices all look like more-of-the-same to me. Even Newt (sorry Newt, you'd make a great cabinet member though).

But I didn't intend to hijack the thread, I just thought the initial smearing by association was ridiculous. Have a great week!