Free Republic

Four years ago, Texas Rep. Ron Paul finished fifth in the New Hampshire presidential primary with just under 8 percent of the vote. On Tuesday, he got nearly 23 percent of the vote in the New Hampshire primary, finishing second to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in the Republican contest. That came a week after Paul's third-place finish in the Iowa caucuses. Paul has done better than any Republican presidential contender not named Romney, and his success is part of the buzz at the Republican National Committee's winter meeting in New Orleans, which runs through Saturday. Some are surprised by...

Sarah Palin said she wasn't surprised at Rick Santorum's success in Iowa, and warned that the GOP should not take Ron Paul's supporters lightly. Speaking on Fox News before Iowa's final numbers were in, she called Santorum "spot-on" with his policies toward Iran and praised his "social conservative" positions. Her strongest comments came for Paul, however, saying "the GOP had better not marginalize Ron Paul and his supporters after this" because "a lot of Americans are war-weary and we are broke" and Paul has reached that constituency well. She warned that the GOP "better work with them."

Newt Gingrich likely became the first candidate to say he would not vote for Ron Paul if the Texas Congressman were the nominee on Tuesday when he told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that “the choice of Ron Paul or Barack Obama would be a very bad choice for America.” Gingrich was critical of Ron Paul’s foreign policy and the recently surfaced newsletters printed under Paul’s name, which had racist remarks on them. Gingrich also said in Columbia, S.C. that Paul should explain “how he could have had a decade of newsletters that had his name on it that he apparently wasn’t...

The Tea Party’s limited-government, constitutional heart is in the right place. But it needs much better guidance about how the Constitution works in wartime. The defense-authorization bill currently under congressional consideration contains some unremarkable, largely redundant provisions about the treatment of enemy combatants. Naturally, the now-familiar alliance of leftists and libertarian extremists — self-proclaimed “constitutionalists” all — attacked with their signature “sky is falling” equanimity. On Wednesday, my column addressed some of the more hysterical arguments posited by Fox News analyst Andrew Napolitano. The real action, however, was taking place on the Senate floor, where Tea Party favorite Rand Paul...

Here’s one of the protesters Reason.tv spoke to at Occupy Wall Street in Los Angeles on October 12, 2011. She identifies herself as Patricia McAllister and as an employee of Los Angeles Unified School District. “I think that the Zionist Jews, who are running these big banks and our Federal Reserve, which is not run by the federal government… they need to be run out of this country,” she said.

U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) was one of only four House Republicans to break rank from the party and request earmarks despite a Republican Conference earmark moratorium. Paul sent 41 earmark requests totaling $157,093,544 for the 2011 Fiscal Year. His largest single request was $19,500,000 for a naval training ship at the Texas Maritime Academy in Galveston, followed by a $18,126,000 to provide maintenance on the Matagorda Ship Channel. For Fiscal Year 2010, Paul requested 54 total earmarks, adding up to $398,460,640 in pork that the former presidential candidate sought to bring home to his district. These requests were made...

I want to state at the outset that this essay is not intended to be an endorsement of Ron Paul. While I respect and admire many of his positions and his fidelity to the Constitution, I have strong misgivings about some of his stances on national security. If you could hear the debates between myself and my 20-year-old son, a passionate Ron Paul supporter, you would readily accept the sincerity of my disclaimer. That said, as the political season has heated up, I've been surprised at the tone of the discourse as it relates to Ron Paul. In fact, I...

Exposed: Ron Paul’s Foreign Policy Ignorance and Naivety Did it never occur to the congressman that al-Qaeda could be, um, lying when he regurgitates their talking points? September 15, 2011 by Raymond Ibrahim Among other qualities, a good presidential candidate must be knowledgeable and able to think outside the box; equally important, he must not be naive or gullible — certainly not swallow everything the enemy says hook, line, and sinker.During the recent Republican candidate debate, Congressman Ron Paul exhibited his ignorance and gullibility when the panel was asked: “Do you plan to decrease Defense spending, to balance spending, or...

I made the point the other day that Sarah Palin’s speech in Indianola, Iowa, went to the core of the Tea Party movement: "I don’t know what the future holds for Palin, whether she will be a candidate or just a powerful voice against crony capitalism. I also don’t know whether the two are compatible. I am not convinced that even the Republican electorate is ready for the message. That’s for another day. What I do know is that in attacking crony capitalism, Palin gave voice to those of us who refuse to buy into the Democratic narrative that the...

Interview of Ron Paul on Fox News Sunday. Paul did an excellent job.

Senator Rand Paul has done an outstanding job as a freshman US Senator. He has stood his ground; he has not waivered and in every interview I have thus far seen, he has done an OUTSTANDING job articulating his remonstrance of why he could not support –any- of the bills put forward in the House or Senate. We have a few historical precedents in this nation of sons of previous Presidents succeeding their former Presidential fathers and many such examples in the House and Senate. I think that Rand Paul has clearly demonstrated... (continued)

Presidential Candidate Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) was in League City today speaking to the North Galveston County Chamber of Commerce. Paul spoke before a packed house in LaBrisa’s large banquet room and then fielded questions from the audience in a town-hall style format. Paul began his speech talking about America’s out of control debt and that we hit the debt ceiling yesterday which drew a smattering of boos from the conservative crowd. He vowed that we would not vote to raise the debt ceiling and compared the situation America is in to a doctor prescribing more drugs for a patient...

Mark Levin "Ron Paul Supporters Biggest A-Holes" [Youtube, 32 second audio]

Ron Paul raked in roughly $3 million during the first quarter through his various political organizations, POLITICO has learned. Though not all of that money can be transferred to a potential presidential campaign, the big haul demonstrates Paul’s continuing force as a grassroots-powered online fundraiser. The Texas congressman raised $1 million through his federal PAC and $2 million through Campaign for Liberty, a 501C(4) which cannot transfer funds directly to political organizations. Paul’s fundraising documents, to be filed later Thursday with the FEC, will also show he has $1.7 million on hand in his congressional campaign account. “Dr. Paul's fundraising...

U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) was one of only four House Republicans to break rank from the party and request earmarks despite a Republican Conference earmark moratorium. Paul sent 41 earmark requests totaling $157,093,544 for the 2011 Fiscal Year. His largest single request was $19,500,000 for a naval training ship at the Texas Maritime Academy in Galveston, followed by a $18,126,000 to provide maintenance on the Matagorda Ship Channel. For Fiscal Year 2010, Paul requested 54 total earmarks, adding up to $398,460,640 in pork that the former presidential candidate sought to bring home to his district. These requests were made...

Odds are you haven’t heard of the monetary policy subcommittee. Officially known as the House Subcommittee for Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology, it’s a subdivision of the House Financial Services Committee that has mostly occupied itself with pressing questions of issuing commemorative coins and whether or not to eliminate the penny. Getty Images Ron Paul (R-Texas) That’s about to change. Ron Paul, the Republican Congressman from Texas, is the ranking member of the monetary policy subcommittee, and when the next Congress takes over he’ll likely be the chairman of the subcommittee. And Congressman Paul has some big plans. “I will...

....Nullification was used throughout American history on behalf of free speech and free trade, and against unconstitutional searches and seizures, military conscription, and the fugitive slave acts. Pyke doesn't mention this. No one ever does. We must stick to the narrative: the states are stupid and backward, the federal government is a progressive force, and anyone skeptical of this version of events belongs on a watch list.....

Recently, I was considering becoming a member of the Libertarian Party. I admit I knew little about the party, except that they are for smaller government. I visited their website, and this is what I found... This, regarding immigration. The party's views of gay unions and abortion are as follows; "Sexual orientation, preference, gender, or gender identity should have no impact on the government's treatment of individuals, such as in current marriage, child custody, adoption, immigration or military service laws. Government does not have the authority to define, license or restrict personal relationships. Consenting adults should be free to choose...

TO truly consider the merits of Proposition 19, you must check your morals at the door. Because the heart of the Nov. 2 ballot measure is not about whether marijuana is no worse than alcohol or whether the law should allow for small amounts of personal pot. The real question of this initiative is whether California wants to take on the federal government and allow any and every city in the state to make up its own rules about selling, manufacturing and transporting an illegal substance. And the Daily News thinks the answer to the question is an emphatic "no."...

The Kentucky Senate race between Republican and Tea Party favorite Rand Paul and Democrat Jack Conway has tightened considerably, according to a SurveyUSA poll conducted Sept. 21-23 for the Louisville Courier/WHAS11. Paul now leads Conway by a statistically-insignificant 49 percent to 47 percent with 4 percent undecided. The margin of error is 4 points. Previous polls had mostly shown Paul ahead of Conway, including one conducted Sept. 7 by Rasmussen Reports that put Paul ahead by 54 percent to 39 percent. A previous SurveyUSA poll conducted had Paul ahead by 55 percent to 40 percent. This is the first time...