Ron Paul: Utah turnout wows candidate

Salt Lake Tribune ^ | 9/16/07 | Sheena McFarland

[George W. Bush]

Ron Paul: Utah turnout wows candidate

Before a crowd of 1,000, Republican hopeful speaks about foreign policy, war

By Sheena McFarland
The Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake Tribune

Article Last Updated:09/16/2007 02:38:49 AM MDT

More than 1,000 people gathered Saturday at the Union Pacific Depot in Salt Lake City to rally behind U.S. Rep. Ron Paul in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination.

    Paul, an obstetrician from Texas, was impressed with the turnout.

    "Wow. If they only knew you existed over in Washington, they'd change things over there," he said as he greeted the cheering crowd.

    Paul spoke fervently of his support of smaller government, including the abolition of agencies, such as the Internal Revenue Service, and of his support for strictly following the Constitution. He also spoke out against the war in Iraq and any pre-emptive military action.

    "Because of our careless attitude about foreign policy and how we go to war, we have allowed our government to build an American world empire," he said. "We are not an empire. We're a republic."

    Paul's stances on such topics are "clearly proven" in his voting record, which has earned him the nickname of "Dr. No" in the House of Representatives, said supporter Ronald Levine Saturday.

    "I tell people not to listen to what a candidate says before an election or what he does," he said. "I tell them to look at what he has consistently done for the past 20 years."

    That voting record is what drives his grass-roots supporters, said Mark Hudson of Syracuse.

    "He is the only candidate who attracts everyone from libertarians to constitutional conservatives to true conservatives," Hudson said.

    Paul visited Utah for the free rally and for a $1,000-a-plate brunch that drew fewer than 20 supporters and a $2,000-per-plate dinner. He is the eighth presidential candidate to visit Utah, the fourth Republican. Paul had raised about $13,000 in Utah as of the June 30 filing, according to the Federal Elections Commission.

    Though polls show Paul garnering an average of only 2 percent of potential voters, many of his supporters believe the polls don't accurately show how many people support him.

    "He's the only candidate I've seen homemade signs for," said Tom Salt, who is studying mechanical engineering at Brigham Young University.

    Salt sees many young people supporting Paul.

    "We look at his principles and we're too young to be cynical about his chances," Salt said.

    The mainstream media has not treated Paul fairly, said Jed Hardman of Springville, and neither have some of the other Republicans in the race, pointing to Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney "openly mocking" Paul after debates.

    "They're afraid because as soon as such a true conservative emerges, one who is anti-abortion and has conservative views on taxes, they're going to lose," he said.

    smcfarland@sltrib.com

[George W. Bush]

Fun account of a surprisingly large Utah rally. The brunch fundraiser didn't raise nearly as much as the L.A. and S.F. fundraisers this weekend, maybe we'll hear later how well the dinner fundraiser went.

[George W. Bush]

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Utah ping!

[Rush4U]

Anti Paul people are scared. Scared that their favorite RINO'S liberal records on everything from abortion to immigration to gun control will really get out, and their fake persona's that have about 30 percent of conservatives fooled, will be revealed.

[svcw]

Scared?
Its statements like that make RP supporters seem nuts (to put it bluntly). It appears there can be no conversation about his policies and why someone may or may not like him as a candidate for president.
I can not support a man who has such disregard for a stern/forceful forgein policy. I can not support a candidate that does not support Israel.
I can not support a candidate who blames US for 9/11.

[Tai_Chung]

Although his domestic policies may look very good, I cannot support someone that wants an isolationist foreign policy.

I support the war in Iraq and strongly believe that the troops should not come home after Iraq and Afghanistan. The war on terror continues and could take a generation or more.

I support Isarael and Taiwan.

I thought giving away the Panama Canal was foolish, especially since we build it, paid for it 3 times (France, Columbia, and Panama), and then paid rent on it.

I think building multinational Pacific military alliances with Japan, Australia, India, and Singapore is smart. I think building the same type of alliances with Eastern Europe is smart.

I would rather have the US as a world empire than China or Russia.

[George W. Bush]

A few large nicer photos from SLC.



As so often, you can't help but notice all the young people attracted to Ron Paul's message.

[NapkinUser]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1897298/posts

(Thread is good for a laugh, at least in my opinion)

[George W. Bush]

I would rather have the US as a world empire than China or Russia.

If you desire an American empire or for America to be a nation-building global policeman, then Ron Paul certainly is not your candidate. LOL.

Amazes me what people say on these threads.

[lormand]

"Anti Paul people are scared"

Paulistinians are wacked out. This statement typifies it.

[svcw]

That maybe true but does not answer why he blames the US for 9/11 and why he has such a negative position on strong nation defense. Both of which are my primary objections to him as president.

[lormand]

[svcw]

And I am always amazed why you can not defend his position on weak defense of this nation.

[NapkinUser]

"HAHAHAHAHA! 'Dead or alive' Bush said! HAHAHAHAHA! But seriously, don't vote for Ron Paul. He's a candidate that does more than talk. Vote for Giuliani or any democrat...please?"

[George W. Bush]

Sorry, Admin, I didn't even check for an existing thread. Probably one of them should be pulled.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1897298/posts

traviskicks and NapkinUser, you might consider posting some of these articles in the RLC Forum. Articles in major papers or mags or websites may be suited for FR's main sidebars (Extended, etc.) but we should consider putting most of our Ron Paul threads in the RLC Forum so that we have a ready list of articles there. Many days, we've had almost nothing posted in RLC Forum.

[lormand]

"As so often, you can't help but notice all the young people stinking hippies and liberals attracted to Ron Paul's message."

I fixed it for you.

[Ditter]

We (the anti-Pauls) are sitting out here laughing at you and you think we are scared? Don’t you see the humor in that?

Paul is NOT going to win the nomination. He is an embarrassment and you are making a laughing stock out of yourself with statements like that.

[Rush4U]

I never said I support Ron Paul for President, but he has been consistently conservative on many issues (unlike RudyMcRomny's recent extreme make over(s) ).

[Tai_Chung]

If we pulled our troops out of the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and elsewhere I have no doubt the United States would be at much greater risk of attack and the next war front would be on the US boarder. We would have no military allies because Ron Paul doesn’t believe in them. He would not even help England or Australia.

The foreign policy disaster would exceed even that of Jimmy Carter.

[NapkinUser]

Ron Paul foreign policy: U.S. out of UN.

Good enough for me.

[George W. Bush]

If we pulled our troops out of the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and elsewhere I have no doubt the United States would be at much greater risk of attack and the next war front would be on the US boarder. We would have no military allies because Ron Paul doesn’t believe in them. He would not even help England or Australia.

He does believe in allies. I don't know why Paul-haters have to make this stuff up. It's like a competition to see who can spew the biggest lies about him.

Anyway, the globalists on FR can hate him as much as they want. And if RP is our nominee, you can always vote for Hitlery. The Xlintons love that global empire and world policeman stuff.