Posted on 02/22/2010 6:28:24 PM PST by presidio9
Over the weekend, Ron Paul won the CPAC straw poll for president. Many pundits immediately dismissed the win, for a lot of reasons. (The Atlantic did a roundup of all the "he's irrelevant" comments.) My take on Ron Paul is this: He says a lot of off-the-wall stuff, but his bottom line is that he's a limited-government libertarian. And he's not Mitt Romney, the establishment GOP choice. I think that's why he won.
Joe Scarborough likes to say that if you look at where Ross Perot did well in 1992, those are the same places that tea party candidates are doing well. That may be, but I think there's some overlap between Ron Paul supporters and the tea partiers, at least some of the younger ones. Ross Perot has a website, PerotCharts, that illustrates the government's fiscal responsibility; but Ron Paul supporters have an interactive site for those who want to meet up at campaign rallies (with over 100,000 people either already members or interested), and according to the timeline posted, it looks like many of them have joined in the last two years.
I came across a bit of a tea party manifesto, if you want to call it that, in Politics Daily on Sunday: "A Grassroots View of the Tea Party," written by Roy Nix, a golf pro in Florida. Here's how he describes the average tea partier:
"They don't dream of power, and they don't dream of telling their neighbors how to worship, how to spend their money, what kind of car to buy, what kind of food to eat and how to save the environment. They expect their neighbors to decide all of those things for their own families.
"They don't want big government, they don't want socialistic policies and they don't want to spend more money for things they don't need. They don't see Washington as Robin Hood, robbing the rich to help the poor, but as the Sheriff of Nottingham--taking their tax money and giving it to big business while we starve.
"They don't want to have to march in the streets, and they don't want to be 'activists' in politics because they have lives to live.
"They don't hate immigrants, but they don't like lawbreakers who come here illegally. They don't mind helping people, but they are out of money and want to help those closest to home first until their bills are paid off ...
"These lawmakers have forgotten what 'representative' means, and they end up in Washington doing what their party tells them to do, rather than what their constituents tell them to do ... And that's what's motivating so many who've joined the Tea Party movement."
Nix hits the nail on the head, in terms of the anti-Nanny State, limited government message of the tea partiers, and how all incumbents, not just Democrats, are at risk: "The Tea Party is sending a genuine grass-roots message to both Democrats and Republicans. And they'd better listen up and learn fast," he concludes. A New York Times/CBS poll from earlier this month supports this: Only 8 percent of respondents think that most incumbent members of Congress deserve to be re-elected; a whopping 81 percent said it's time to "give new people a chance." That's putting it nicely--I think if the election were held today, it would be a tidal wave against incumbents.
Also, that's a pretty repugnant shot, calling libertarians slavers when their whole existence is the antithesis of slavery.
The Libertarian Party is simply a construct that only holds together by not enforcing an opinion on several issues that would destroy it if it were forced to choose positions.
This slight-of-hand balancing act allows the LP to gain converts from both the political left and the political right. The rub is that when individual libertarians realize this, they run from the LP never to be suckered again. That is why the Libertarian Party has not grown to critical mass in forty years.
When Sarah Palin is elected and pulls a Ronald Reagan to destroy our domestic Communists, the LP will implode completely for lack of purpose.
All of this falderal really isn't worth thinking about.
Only 24% of attendees, of which a plurality was college age boys, voted. They vote before hearing attendees. It is a piss poor system that is coopted. The only suprise was the Paul gang beeing out the Romney scheme to coopt the vote.
The Tea party movement is made up, in good part, by Ron Paul supporters. Thank god they are carrying the rest of us in fighting to secure our liberty.
FYI:
Some Observations on Four Terms in Congress (Ron Paul 1984)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1944714/posts
Common knowledge.
I see you have nothing to convince me to support him.
Very telling.
Looks like my “straws” beat the hell out of the pro-Paul argument that you couldn’t even make.
I am so glad that I got to help stick a fork in his acolyte Debra Medina.
Opened my eyes wide enough that humbelgunner, Allegra and I called her out for being a truther before she stuck both feet into her mouth that fateful Tuesday.
Her lying her ass off while digging her political grave deeper didn't help either.
Here is a picture of a Medina rally I passed yesterday.
That be the source.
LLS
Maybe not in on the actual planning but in support of it, no way Who ever originated this statement pulled this number straight from their ass. Either that or they have statements from "999.999 million" individual muzzies, which I doubt.
Only a fool thinks that the muslims are not out to destroy everyone who doesn't stick their ass in the air a half a dozen times a day. Just read their own toilet paper dispenser written by a psychotic pedophile to learn their goals.
LOL...
Love it.
You made negative remarks about a fellow Republican. Justify them or be part of another electoral disaster.
You can’t make any positive remarks about Ron Paul and he is no Republican and damn sure not a Conservative.
That is why at best he will get 1&% of the vote. If stopping a Paul Presidency is part of a disaster then bring it on.
“It was Paul who organized the first modern Tea Party event, holding one on Dec. 17, 2007, to coincide with the 234th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. Conservative groups have since co-opted the movement, but most political experts point to Paul’s campaign as the genesis for the idea.”
This guy says he started the whole thing by registering in Sep. of 2004.
Domain ID:D104838905-LROR
Domain Name:TEAPARTY.ORG
Created On:02-Sep-2004 18:54:10 UTC
Last Updated On:05-Apr-2009 00:31:29 UTC
Expiration Date:02-Sep-2011 18:54:10 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:Network Solutions LLC (R63-LROR)
Status:CLIENT TRANSFER PROHIBITED
Registrant ID:37852062-NSIV
Registrant Name:Dale Robertson
Registrant Street1:ATTN insert domain name here
Registrant Street2:care of Network Solutions
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:Drums
Registrant State/Province:PA
Registrant Postal Code:18222
Registrant Country:US
Registrant Phone:+1.5707088780
Registrant Phone Ext.:
Registrant FAX:
Registrant FAX Ext.:
Registrant Email:
Admin ID:37852062-NSIV
Admin Name:Dale Robertson
Admin Street1:ATTN insert domain name here
Admin Street2:care of Network Solutions
Admin Street3:
Admin City:Drums
Admin State/Province:PA
Admin Postal Code:18222
Admin Country:US
Admin Phone:+1.5707088780
Admin Phone Ext.:
Admin FAX:
Admin FAX Ext.:
Admin Email:
Tech ID:37852062-NSIV
Tech Name:Dale Robertson
Tech Street1:ATTN insert domain name here
Tech Street2:care of Network Solutions
Tech Street3:
Tech City:Drums
Tech State/Province:PA
Tech Postal Code:18222
Tech Country:US
Tech Phone:+1.5707088780
Tech Phone Ext.:
Tech FAX:
Tech FAX Ext.:
“Ron Paul is a Fing moron and any of you imbeciles that support him are as well.
He wont get 1 percent of the electorate in the election.
This election is too important to vote for a clown and people know it.”
Obviously you are confused. This was a straw poll (meaningless) and Ron Paul has not announced a decision to run. If he does decide to, you can vote for Romney or some other liberal in the primary, so chill out. Most morons or imbiciles would have a hard time becoming a MD. Maybe you
should hold off on the name calling.
“This guy says he started the whole thing by registering in Sep. of 2004.”
I notice he has a link on his website to Debra Medina’s e-mail.
The ones I know do believe it. And you can save any comments about “broad condemnation.” I’m not interested in hearing them.
I said he claims to be first.
I wasn’t aware that some Paul supporters were anti-war, but it makes sense. Paul wants all of our troops withdrawn from anywhere in the world so that they can protect our borders. He is obviously nuts if he thinks that this policy would benefit America. Every lunatic Muslim jihadist would view it as a further sign of weakness and would be encouraged to attack us.
Paul thinks that America is hated in the Middle-East only because we want to take their oil and we are bombing their citizens. He totally ignores the reality of the millions of Wahabi Muslims who are raised from birth to beieve that it is their religious duty to kill all infidels. That means anyone who does not believe their maniacal version of Islam. The only alternative to accepting Islam for an infidel according to Wahabists is to accept huge taxes and a less than second class position in their society.
These monsters have killed more Muslims than they have infidels. Talk about my way or the highway.
I was on a conference call with Ron Paul a while ago. I asked him about that. His response was to tell me about a recent study made by someone I never heard of proving that the jihadists were having more and more trouble recruiting suicide bombers.
It was an asinine statement and non-responsive. Based on what he said I concluded that Ron Paul is either dishonest or nutty. Either way, I would never vote for him.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.