Free Republic

Why is the American media so intent on ignoring congressman Ron Paul and his prickly libertarian views? Paul is running for president in the Republican primaries, and it's plain that the handmaidens of the political establishment — Democrats as well as Republicans — are freezing him out. He came within a few votes of winning last week's Iowa straw poll, just 152 votes short among almost 17,000 cast. But rather than shower this intriguing candidate and his views with attention, the news media willfully forgot about him. The question is, why? Perhaps the answer could be found during the recent...

<p>Ron Paul got a great birthday present Saturday, as the 76-year-old defeated 11 other Republicans in Saturday's New Hampshire Young Republicans Straw Poll.</p> <p>Paul, a congressman from Texas, won a commanding 45 percent of the vote and bested runner-up Mitt Romney by 35 percent votes despite not actually attending the event, which was held in New Castle and also included a lobster bake.</p>

Tomgram: Chalmers Johnson on the fall of the republic We were to be the New Rome. As right-wing columnist Charles Krauthammer (emphasis always on the "hammer") wrote in Time magazine near the ides of March, 2001 ("The Bush Doctrine, In American foreign policy, a new motto: Don't ask. Tell"), "America is no mere international citizen. It is the dominant power in the world, more dominant than any since Rome. Accordingly, America is in a position to reshape norms, alter expectations, and create new realities. How? By unapologetic and implacable demonstrations of will." And that was before the terrorists of September...