CPAC Surprise: Ron Paul Wins 2010 CPAC Straw Poll

http://www.gather.com/ ^ | February 20, 2010 | Laurel Elise Ava

[Maelstorm]

Texas Representative Ron Paul won the 2010 CPAC straw poll tonight, beating out both Mitt Romney & Sarah Palin, and raking in 31% of the vote. Paul, a Libertarian who is perhaps best known for his aggressive stance against the Federal Reserve, has a dedicated group of followers which have again affirmed their influence within the Republican party.

What this means for a 2012 bid for presidency is uncertain, however; Paul’s supporters were a vocal and visible group when he ran for President in 2008, but in the end, Paul walked away with only a small percentage of the actual votes. According the Huffington Post, Paul was the most anticipated speaker at the three-day convention, and his followers flooded the auditorium to hear him speak; yet when the results of the straw poll were announced, the crowd booed loudly.

Perhaps this shows just how much Paul’s old-school approach to Republicanism fractures the GOP. Ron Paul is an unorthodox figure in the political scene; his libertarian manifesto, The Revolution, is a New York Times bestseller; he rallies against neoconservatives and liberals alike while preaching states rights, free-market economics, and small government.

[Deagle]

Well, I guess that makes them Socialists, not homosexuals...

[wildandcrazyrussian]

Here in WV, there was massive disillusionment about the deal worked out between the Ron Paul and McCain supporters to throw their votes to Huckabee so as to deprive Romney of a clear victory. In retrospect, the state party seems unlikely ever to try that "first state convention in the country" thing ever again. On the first vote, Romney received 40% of the 1500 and others were way behind. In a normal method, he would have picked up the rest of the votes to win it, as expected by the state party.

The reason for the convention was to set it up so that for once WV could have a voice in national politics, since the May primary is set by the 78%-Democrat legislature and is always too late to count for anything. But the way it worked out backfired, since essentially the deal between 126 McCain supporters and 200 Paul supporters with Huckabee had nothing at all to do with what 300,000 GOP voters might have wanted if asked.

[DakotaRed]

Not at all. You complain about the party’s are immoral, which I do not disagree with.

Yet, you excuse their action of taking over as not illegal, just immoral.

How do you condemn immorality, but accept a Democratic process you also claim to be immoral?

Was it perhaps just a poor choice of words?

[Deagle]

Yep, politics sucks! Still better than say Cuba or Russia or others that would just remove the opponents by force. Unfortunately, nothing illegal, just immoral and a give-a-damn for the people... Bring it to the public, and then there will be change.

[DakotaRed]

Thanks, but I have read those too.

[Deagle]

Our country was founded as a Republic based on Democracy. If you do not like that then you are a radical.

Actually, I think that almost all of our politicians are immoral! There are very few that I would consider otherwise. The fact that you do not YET realize this is either that you are too young and naive or some other reason that I will not mention. It is something that will grow on you as you grow older.

Politics is like a Used Car Salesman (only worse). They usually start out reasonable and then become corrupted by the money. In the case of politics, throw in power and you have the ultimate high.

You will learn as you age - Politics are about picking the least corrupt and least dishonest of the choices offered. We have no statesmen today and right now, none appear to be available for the future.

I know I sound a bit pessimistic, but old experience and age tend to do that...

[DakotaRed]

At 61, I don’t feel all that young.

But, thank you for the condescension.

And still, you will not explain how you condemn the party’s as immoral, yet you excuse a tactic you claim is also immoral but Democratic.

Until you can explain that, there is no need for further discussion.

That is my own “old experience and age.”

[Deagle]

Well, pardon me fellow aged patriot!

Well, both parties are immoral because neither the party nor the participants seem to care about America. If they did, they would do something about the coming economic catastrophe. That neither seems concerned to me is not only immoral but unforgivable. We are headed for Armageddon and neither party seems to care enough to attempt to change course. Now maybe to you that is not immoral, but to me it is not only immoral but contributing to the collapse of America as we know it.

Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, are all draining our country dry... What is the political response - head under sand. Take that along with the unfunded pensions of government, and we not only have a complete collapse, but actually causative problems for all nations (stupid enough to invest in us). That is the ultimate immoral stance.

The result will be not only our own collapse but all those that invest in our markets. Now, I can understand why you may not think that is immoral - but the loss of billions and inflecting poverty on many because of our own stupidity seems immoral to me.

[ari-freedom]

7 - DEFENDING OUR CONSTITUTION - Opposing any anti-gay federal marriage amendment.

wow almost everything in that agenda is gay-centric

[Paige]

Then we’ll see Hussein Obama win again...Ron Paul will be like McCain, The chosen candidate by the ACORN types because he would be the weakest candidate.

[Deagle]

Heh, maybe with him as President, we would have enough money to fight another way if needed. We sure don’t have that capability now...

[ovrtaxt]

While I agree with much of Paul's small government ideas he still doesn't seem to understand the reality of national security and the role of the US in the world.

I think he does, a lot more than I used to give him credit for.

The US government (formerly known as We The People) has been commandeered by Wall Street. The global banking system, controlled by the Fed (who owns the Fed, by the way?) and the BIS (another totally secret organization above any law) control the world through their fake fiat money system.

If we don't work to dismantle that structure, it will be dismantled by force- by China, India, Russia, etc etc etc. It's not mathematically sustainable-- it will collapse under the weight of the $QUADRILLION in unresolved OTC derivatives.

The tea party types that so many Freepers want to bash here, know this. We want the Fed taken down one way or another. The sooner we do this, the less suffering we'll have to undergo in the long run- and the sooner we'll restore a Constitutional Republic.

The longer this thing drags out, the more likely we'll devolve into a police state- then we can kiss what's left of America goodbye.

[ovrtaxt]

I can’t agree with you more Deagle.

[RoadTest]

It would be VERY important in a Ron Paul ticket to have a vice-Presidential candidate we really like, because, historically, those who have gone up against Central Banks haven’t lived out their years.

[ElPatriota]

[Deagle]

“I’m over 50 years old”

Then you ought to know better!

[homegroan]

LOL! As my late-dad would say, “thank you Captain Obvious”!

I love this place-thanx for the laugh...

[CRBDeuce]

Well said...and I agree with your conclusion. And while it was nice to see Beck outing the progressives, Steyn this week was busy outing Australian multiculturalists and may as well have been speaking at CPAC on the subject of 'PC' (in addition to progressives) being the root cause of our downfall. In Steynonline he points out: " how the illusions of multicultural tolerance have been hijacked by the avowedly unicultural and intolerant". And that would make a great litmus test here in the US as well. Adding PC to progressive just compounds the unintended consequences of Bad Government (if it were just 'Big', the inefficiencies could be 'covered up' by the productivity of the Private Sector). Of course this administration is Blind and Deaf to the tsunami of unintended consequences it unleashed (so far unsuccessfully) in just one year. Gingrich engineered a comeback to the last progressive leftist...Paul can't come close to that success. On that score, Both Beck's Coolidge references and cutting the government back 50% in 1920 were priceless, since that's what is needed. Can't see Paul or Mitt in that equation at all.

[stevie_d_64]

Duncan Hunter, Fred Thompson, Jeb Hensarling, Bobby Jindal, John Culberson...

[Theodore R.]

2010 — the year CPAC; fortunately for conservatives, most Americans have never heard of CPAC.