[Matchett-PI]

"Ron Paul is no Reagan and Reagan was not a war president but he did understand the need to make sure everyone knew we carried a big gun."

For SURE! bttt

"....One cannot simply blindly apply first principles to every situation, for this ends in a dogmatic and false absolutism.

"This is, for example, what creeps people out about Ron Paul.

"He says plenty of things -- derived from first principles embodied in the Constitution -- that make perfect sense. However, he always goes too far, in that half of what he says results from a blind application of first principles, irrespective of empirical reality.

"The same moral confusion afflicts leftists who wouldn't waterboard a known terrorist with information about an imminent attack, owing to an unthinking allegiance to the principle of "non-torture" -- which any normal person shares, up to a point, the point of suicidal insanity. ..."

HERE

[cripplecreek]

"He says plenty of things -- derived from first principles embodied in the Constitution -- that make perfect sense. However, he always goes too far, in that half of what he says results from a blind application of first principles, irrespective of empirical reality.

Exactly true but this is where the GOP is making a big mistake in undertaking this slash and burn campaign against Paul. There's enough truth in what he says that it irritates people when the GOP simply states that he's wrong. Its only helping him.

Personally I think GOP candidates would be a lot more effective if they would acknowledge that the American people don't want perpetual war everywhere while showing where Ron Paul is so obviously wrong.

If I were emperor, I'd pull troops out of just about everywhere while surrounding Israel with a defensive ring of steel. I would also concentrate more on the western hemisphere with a modern version of the Monroe Doctrine.