As Alana noted, Republicans are rightly concerned about Ron Paul playing a destructive role in the presidential campaign this fall. Efforts to keep him on the reservation are already beginning, and there is little doubt the significant number of delegates he may win for the party’s national convention in Tampa will have to be dealt with carefully lest they cause trouble and sabotage what will in all likelihood be Mitt Romney’s coronation.
But I think the GOP would be foolish to go too far in seeking to make nice with Paul. His followers are just as likely to vote for Barack Obama or simply stay home as they are to back Romney or any other mainstream Republican. That’s why giving Paul a prime time speech at the convention would be a disaster.
The analogy Charles Krauthammer made to Pat Buchanan’s culture war speech at the 1992 convention is quite instructive. Though his address has gone down in history as a devastating embarrassment for the elder President Bush and his party, its text was not as crazy as most people remember. In comparison to one of Ron Paul’s crackpot rants about the Federal Reserve and the destructive role America has played in the postwar world, the social conservative battle cry delivered by Buchanan in Houston looks fairly normal.
As Krauthammer noted, libertarianism’s role as a critique of big government has deeply influenced the modern Republican Party. But there is huge difference between the Tea Party and the extremism articulated by Paul. His conspiratorial view of the economic system sometimes seems to have more in common with the Occupy Wall Street movement than it does with the legacy of Ronald Reagan. His isolationism and willingness to rationalize the motives and actions of America’s Islamist enemies is not merely isolationist, it is an expression of the worst sort of radicalism that has no place in the Republican Party or any other political faction that seeks to win mainstream support or to govern.
That’s why the efforts of Romney and other Republicans to bring Paul’s supporters into a big GOP tent are bound to fail. That may create problems at the convention and provide fodder for liberal journalists looking for story lines that undermine Republican hopes for defeating Obama. But the silver lining to that cloud for Republicans is the fact that many of Paul’s backers were never going to vote Republican anyway. Romney will lose far more votes in the center by appeasing Paul than he will gain on the margins. The sooner he and the rest of the GOP realize this, the better.
Yeah who cares what the voters think, we here in the beltway know better.
Why don't we all just face it. This country has become to stupid to elect any one who would have a chance at fixing this mess, maybe like Ron Paul. See you all at the soup lines.
See you in a FEMA camp more likely. People need to wake up to reality. I just don't see how so many dire warning by our founding fathers against a central bank continue to go unheeded. Something just doesn't make sense to me. n n
Why vote for Romney? There is not one difference between them! So why not stay home or write Paul's name in? The reason the GOP is in this situation is because they try to push THERE candidates! Look at the choices? And the way the GOP treats Ron Paul is deplorable! Rush is the worst, and of course Beck, which is not so bad! My opinion is the GOP is finished! Obama will get another 4 years of his kind of change! More wars, high unemployment, and high inflation!
If you have to write a name in – PLEASE write in the name of a True Conservative, not a split personality that ARGUABLY MAY POSSIBLY BE conservative in financial matters – MAYBE. But is definitely – unarguably – Socialistic in all his Foreign Policy matters. n nEmpathizes with Iran – yet as a Congressman is fully aware of all the myriad details of the MV Iran Deyanat of August 2008 and her dirty cargo bomb, that caused the UN-Approved blockade that the Free Gaza Flotillas tried to break with his support – falsely claiming Israel was performing an act of war to block food and medicine – he knows to be a bald lie. nAnd still claims Iran is no threat to us. That is nothing short of either Criminal or insane – I think BOTH!
Presumbably he would know that in order to make libertarian headway he'd have to rise to the occasion. n nHe's probably better received by the electorate at large than by partisans. His newsletters, to the extent they echo his sentiments, have little life in them for such an old man. It's unlikely the media will drill him with excerpts because he's useful to them against republicans and the collateral damage of 'free markets.' n nI don't think giving him a spot will be a disaster. Allowing his followers to gain a good grip is a problem, that's true.
Anyone who votes for Romney expecting small government or budget cuts is a chump. n nLike clockwork, every four years Republican voters line up to listen to the same old collection of proven liars tell the same old proven lies they always tell about their plans to control the growth of government. This is because Republican voters are chumps. They swallowed the same nonsense from both Bushes and they appear poised to swallow it from Romney this time. n nI guess I shouldn't be surprised that so soon after the disaster that was the Bush administration, Republican voters are lining up to applaud the same hollow promises. I would have thought that W had demonstrated beyond all argument or dispute that the modern GOP stands for nothing but the vast expansion of state power and spending at every opportunity. But I guess there is no limit to the ability of GOP voters to disgrace themselves.
This concept of what a democratic party convention is has much more in common with Leninist democratic centralism or Italian fascism than with anything recognizable in the history of the American Republic. You don't like the guy's views, although he has between 10 and 25% of the party behind him, so you don't want to let him speak. n nThis has much more in common with Jewish authoritarianism–if you're not with the Rebbe, or Dr. Freud, or the Zionist program, you are not just a dissenter or a critic, but the Enemy, and unless you stay within the boundaries, get out. This is perfectly consistent with Tobin's outlook, which is authoritarian and ethnocentric to the extreme. n nDr Paul is, of course, far closer to right than any of the bomb Iran" starve the 99%, bail out the bankers, don't breathe a word against your betters in finance capital candidates running against him, especially when it comes to our disastrous interventionist foreign policy, and the crony capitalist bailouts. n nGod forbid, Tobin tells us, that there should be a principled debate about empire, the socialization of losses, the folly of mass immigration, or the Nanny State. Dr Paul is an imperfect vessel, but he has many important things to say. A party leadership that fears even to hear them is not a republican leadership, but a Politburo. Who needs that?
Get a grip. These posts have yet to reveal a glimmer of awareness as to what Zionism is as a historical movement, as opposed to German socialist paranoid fantasies of Zionist-Bolshevik Freudian decadence. Yeah yeah the Rebbe. No the problem here is discomfiture with the Jewish Other generally, and, one suspects, Hispanics and, yes, non-Caucasians. Back to the tribe, one out of every two Jews lives in Israel, so yes, Ron Paul's desire that Israel cease to exist shows a certain disdain for Israel, even, gosh, enmity. And yes, his support for Hitler in World War II and the Confederacy in the Civil War shows a certain disdain, ignorance, and idiosyncratic incomprehension of what the American Union is. LIke him, his "right wing" acolytes are trapped in a Star Wars loop running inside their noggins, shielded from the actual and diverse America that exists, preferring to splash around in the theological wading pool of a "Talmudic" logic-chopping doctrinaire dime star gnosticism in opposition to a fictive "empire" run by "the finance capitalists" . Look out the window, Paulies. This is the world. Wake up. It is diverse. There are immigrants. There is a "nanny state". The "masses" aren't being anything. They don't exist. The Paulie "movement" desire to march into a past that never existed to build a future that can never be is precisely the totalitarian impulse embodied in democratic centralism. Then again, Leninism at least had the benefit of being internally coherent: these outpourings against Jews and Freud and Zionism are more like the evil twin funhouse mirrors to the peans to new age utopianism Dr. Bonner's soap is wrapped in.
If it is the MAJORITY that don't care to hear him then it is anything BUT a "politburo" – it is THE VOICE OF WE THE PEOPLE. We say, we've had enough of the crazy old coot. He can speak all he wants to BUT WE DO NOT OWE HIM A PLATFORM OR A MICROPHONE – same as we threw out H. Ross Perot and also David Duke. n nWE HAVE A RIGHT to say the man does NOT speak to us or for us and we don't want to be a part of his garbage or appear to be associated with him in any way whatsoever. n nIf he wants to speak, THEN IN AMERICA, HE IS ENTITLED to be struck on the nose by those who heartily disagree with him! n nTHAT is what the SOAP BOX FREEDOM OF SPEECH is all about. n nHe cannot mandate an audience of UNWILLING LISTENERS!
Jonathan Tobin, Ron Paul is so much smarter than you. And much more successful. His supporters are not sheeple types like the typical 'Party first' GOP loser. Your smugness is almost as puke worthy as Chalie Krauthammer's daily GOP Establishment FOX smugfest. Like if he says it slower, it means more? n nHey commenter above, mutinyfromsterntobow, us Ron Paul followers have already gained a good grip, and we are growing. You can't keep a good idea down, my friend, no matter how hard you try. n nRon Paul supporters are young and full of energy. We will over run your type and take over the Republican party. You Romney people appear dead inside. Ever seen the passion at a Ron Paul rally? It's coming to your town. Hey, Radical Neocons beware. n nAny smarty ass replies to this are just more Establishment types who can't stand that they are on the way out the door. Bye Bye!
What are you doing here? Ron Paul supporters are young and stupid.
I repeat, Any smarty ass replies to this are just more Establishment types who can't stand that they are on the way out the door. Bye Bye!
The "Establishment" doesn't exist. It is a construct lodged in your noggin. You are repeating slogans peeling from the walls left by every dead-end millennialist movement of apocalyptic redemption from the Cathers to the French Revolution Committees of Reason to the National Socialists and the Bolsheviks and on and on. Ron Paul knows nothing from his public speeches about how American's actually secured a continental union from thirteen seaboard colonies or how international conflicts play themselves out. His desire, parroted by his pseudo-populist Children's Crusaders that the "Establishment" take its paper money, its Zionist Israel, its Empire, its finance capitalism and go "out the door", leaving room for a race of 18th century Adam Smith yeomen will never be.
No. See posts at bottom.
Oh I'm not an establishment type but the only thinig you Ron Paul supporters are full of is $hit. ! You support a neoliberal and a friggin loon. His age alone is a testament to the fact he will probably not live out a term.He seems to suffer from a form of dementia by not remembering anything. The only party you are taking over is the pot party in your moms basement where you live. The only grip you have is on yourselves. You want a true winner then wait for West to come on the scene and make his run in '16. There is a true conservative unlike Paul not knowing which patry he is in this week ! Now put your tin hat back on and roll another one. n
can’t you just see grumpy old man, with spittle on his face, typing his screed about “Jewish authoritarianism” (whatever that is)?
anyway:
Jonathan, I’d think I’d rather give Ron Paul a primetime speaking spot than even one concession in the platform (unless that concession is marijuana decriminalization, and I don’t see THAT happening).
let him rant at 9pm, let his supporters enjoy the fleeting moment, and let the rational people shrug and say “eh, he’s not the nominee, who cares,” and get this show on the road.
ROMNEY/RUBIO 2012
Tobin, Your not a Republican at all. The Ron Paul people are the actual conservative Republicans. Your just like to spend money and go to war. Like a Democrat. Someday we will root your type out of the GOP. Bye!
I am a proud middle-aged Ron Paul supporter. I can tell you the gentleman is right about one thing..many of us will stay home or vote Obama but we will not vote for Mittens, Gingrich, or the like. You see, there is simply no difference in Gingrich, Santorum, Mittens, Huntsman, etc. Dr. Paul is the only one with a record of voting against acts against our Constitution. He is the only one being honest about making REAL spending cuts. He is the only one willing to let the market correct itself. That will be painful for a bit, but I would rather take the pain than pass on something much worse to my children. BOTH parties are responsible for the mess this country is in. He is the only one talking about actually doing something about it. Why would we vote for anyone else? Some of us are NOT going to sell out our morals just to tow a party line. Liberty is a wonderful thing. I get that it scares most people because that means they actually have to be personally responsible, and that's hard to do for some. I am more afraid of my government than I am of Iran getting a nuke or some "terrorist" killing me.
Dr. Paul has and will continue to motivate discussion and debate on issues that have, up to now, been considered untouchable. Those that mock Dr. Paul's position on the gold standard, for example, simply don't understand the economics of money. And that's ok, because, it forces people to get informed as ridicule in perpetuity doesn't win the hearts and minds of people, ideas do. You might not agree with a gold standard, but Dr. Paul's message suggests reconsidering the role and the adverse affects loose monetary policy has on the economy in general, and the individual's purchasing power in particular. But, to remain dogmatic about the role of government in foreign policy by such statements as: "His isolationism and willingness to rationalize the motives and actions of America’s Islamist enemies is not merely isolationist, it is an expression of the worst sort of radicalism that has no place in the Republican Party or any other political faction that seeks to win mainstream support or to govern.", doesn't do much to advance either ideas, or humanity. It's threatening, defeating, and repulsive at best, and it oppresses and diminishes the spirit of cooperation, trade and commerce. n nOne thing is for sure. Regardless of whether Dr. Paul wins the Republican nomination or the Presidency, students will no longer be forced to regurgitate Paul Samuelson's first year treatise on micro economics, or the gospel of Keynes in grad school (neither of which illuminates any insights about reality or the economics of the human condition). An entire branch of economic discourse that has been hidden for 80 or so years will now become mainstream economic thought thanks to Dr. Paul's relentless and tireless commitment to exposing the truth. I look forward to the day when required reading will comprise titles like "Human Action", or, "Towards a Reconstruction of Utility and Welfare Economics." instead of courses that forever indoctrinate students on the merits of the socialist welfare state. In my opinion, this is the greatest contribution Dr. Paul has made; encouraging people to think for themselves. RP 2012!
"His isolationism and willingness to rationalize the motives and actions of America’s Islamist enemies is not merely isolationist, it is an expression of the worst sort of radicalism that has no place in the Republican Party or any other political faction that seeks to win mainstream support or to govern." Very well said. Give him to the Democrat party. Let him just go to H-LL. He is poison and so are his followers.
Wow. You have no idea about Ron Paul or his followers if you think his followers would vote for Barack Obama, who is the living antithesis to Paul's principles. This idiotic commentary is a prime example of the misinformation – much of it deliberate – that is being spread about Paul. He isn't radical, unless you think your Constitution is radical. Go do some research instead of pandering to the Republican party line. The Republicans are scared to death of Paul b/c he opposes their power grab just as vigorously as he opposes the Democrats' power grab. Anyone who can't see that there is no real ("real" as in, how they behave while in office) difference b/w the two current political parties isn't paying attention.
Message to Ron Paulies: Hitler declared war on the U.S. not the other way around. He was not simply misunderstood or goaded into action because of Wilson's Progressivism. He killed two million Polish Catholics out of racist contempt. Nobody except reactionary professional paranoiacs and conspiracy junkies believe that America had a choice to participate or not to participate in WWII after Pear Harbor or that FDR knew of Pearl Harbor in advance or that the Mossad was involved in WTC I or that the Civil War could have been avoided by voluntarily purchasing all of the Confederacy's slaves or that Lincoln was a tyrant and the Confederacy a peaceable kingdom pursing the inalienable rights of American states to secede to continue the right to own human chattel property. This is Ron Paul. This is you. As for Grumpy's spittle flecked (nice touch) rantings against Jewish finance capital Freudian Zionist empire, auto didacticism has its limits.
Ron Paul, a patriot, who has honorably served his country, defends both the constitution and civil liberties, and is for peace and prosperity. Dr. Paul has the wisdom, foresight, honesty and integrity to be president. n nDr. Paul believes spending and deficits are destroying this country. Dr. Paul's budget plan would save $1 trillion in the first year. Besides the spending cuts, there are other issues of importance to voters. For conservatives, Dr. Paul scores an A+ on all of them: Second Amendment protection, pro-life record, right-to-work, pro-business, anti-tax, states' rights, you name it. n nDr. Paul also believes America should have the strongest national defense on earth — which he believes begins with not trying to constantly police the earth. Right now, our government puts our best and bravest in harm's way on a regular basis for questionable reasons and with no discernible notion of victory. This is not supporting the troops. It's abusing them. Dr. Paul wants an end to this absurd, costly policy. n nThe voters have declared Dr. Paul the alternative to the liberal, flip flopping Mitt Romney. The other candidates are simply irrelevant. In the New Hampshire Primary, Dr. Paul received more votes than all the supposed Anti-Romney (Santorum, Gingrich, and Perry) candidates combined. n nThe question for Republican voters is not whether they can afford to vote for Dr. Paul – it's whether they can afford not to. n nAmerica Needs Ron Paul.
I think that Ron Paul is a leader of a minority of libertarians rather than the leader of a broad-based party that is going to defeat Obama. Some people don't belong in a mainstream party like the Republicans but rather in an issue group that pushes particular issues rather than tries to win over the majority. In the US you are either a Republican or Democrat and both are close to the center of the political spectrum or slightly to the left. That is the outcome of a two party system with a first past the post electoral system. Americans should adopt the Australian system of a preferential system which enables minor parties to have a say in who is ultimately elected. Australia's Senate has proportional representation which enables all sorts of minorities to have some sort of representation. We have radical green senators and there are some on the other side with a very Christian outlook. We also have many issue groups. For the moment the US has a two party system and people have to work within that framework and some people don't belong in a two party system but rather on the fringes as issue groups.
Which part of "Romney can't win the nomination without the Independent vote the Paul represents" is causing an issue for you? I agree with the author in that Romney has absolutely nothing to offer in handshake political promises that would sway many of Paul's supporters. That Romney must have them is beyond question. That is the GOPs catch-22 and the reason they have their panties in a twist. They can't do this without Paul's Posse, but with so many third party options this year, there is zero leverage on this people. The GOP is choosing Obama over Paul.
No – PAUL is choosing Obama over America. Paul isn't a better choice than Obama. But Paul loves to divide Conservatives. How he gets by with it, with his love of our enemies, I don't know. But voting for Paul is not a good thing for America. It only promotes the Dim's Marxist Agenda. nSo how is voting for Paul a Conservative thing to do? n Only as a "Conservative" MARXIST, alone. I cite the MV Iran Deyanat, August 2008, and Paul's comments about the Free Gaza Flotilla.
We have running through these posts, from Grumps and the Children's brigade the insistence that their own emotionally charged shorthand Procrustean bastardization of real life economic and historical realities is a gnostic true "inner" reality that will brush aside the cob-webbed corruption of the "Establishment," the Zionist finance capitalists, and the remainder of the personalized conspiratorial forces they see sapping the life blood of an Adam Smith republic into the maws of the Empire. The whole line of thought that the "Republicans are scared to death of Paul" illustrates just how perverse Paul's candidacy in *the Republican Party* is in the first place. One reason for the "Party of Lincoln" to oppose Paul is, not only did he oppose fighting Hitler since this was part of the FDR Zionist finance conspiracy to stop a pretty decent feller, but Paul opposes Lincoln's basic insight that slaves are not normal property and that human chattel is morally and Constitutionally wrong. So Paul opposes Lincoln's war to retain the south and prevent the split up of the Union and affirms the right of the southern states to de facto reimpose slavery through the "private property rights" enshrined in state tyrannical enforcement of Jim Crow. n nPaul shreds every clause of the Constitution that conflicts with his non-Constitutional objectives, starting with the 14th Amendment.
Mitt Romney and Ron Paul are the worst possible choices for president, except for the current occupant of the White House.
Anything described in this article is the main reason why the Ron Paul support is growing. The GOP knew exactly this would happen and it is somewhat calculated on their part. If they didn't want him to run they would have found reasons for it. Fact is the more you fight the movement the stronger they fight back and convert people based on the evidence you leave behind. nLast time I have checked this was a democracy and this party couldn't be further apart than it already is. The Republican party has an identity problem, there is Romney who changes his ideals every 4 years, there is Gingrich who would be crushed by Obama based on his record of corruption. There is Santorum who's values work on a smaller scale but in a general election he cannot compete in a modern America and there is Perry who committed political suicide by trying to count things in three. There is also Ron Paul who stands for values where the Republican party used to be and he is tea party patient zero but his ideals doesn't work with you folks because he doesn't want to run into another war, because he doesn't talk in best case scenario phrases like Mitt Romney and because he will challenge too many people. He is however the only one who believes in what he does. He will not stand in front of the camera and tells you what you want to hear like Romney or Gingrich, he will not sell seats in his administration like Romney and he will not fold because the pressure is on. He is preaching the same values for 30 years and he does it because he believes in it while he was doing an honest job based on his principles. If that doesn't deserve respect what does? nYou will not stop the Ron Paul movement and in fact it will grow way larger as you want it to be, he will win states and as soon the other 3 drop their candidacy you will see how close he is to Romneys figures. What should interest you is that Ron Paul is by 68% the second choice of the other candidates which could easily put him on the same level with Romney when the focus is on both of them. Mitt Romney and Ron Paul are the only ones who beat Obama in the recent polls and since Ron Paul will get a lot more independent and Democrat votes he might just win the next general election poll next week. Tom Davis just gave Ron Paul the endorsement which is a big deal according to Santorum who was hoping to receive the endorsement. nThe train is on motion and even when people on this site think he is the worst choice of all, in the end of the day America has to cast their vote and if that result cannot be accepted then you need to apply yourself to a country without democracy! The Party however, has done nothing to be nice to Ron Paul, for that matter he will not drop out and why would he? he is in 2nd place! The more your mess with him the greater will be the response and the possibility to run as independent just to assure that those who chastised him will not get their way. I know this is unbelievable for someone with a narrow mind but it would be exactly what you would do yourself if you were in his position
Alex I have been all over the Internet trying to tell people this. They have bad mouthed RP and his supporters until now they are looking for blood and make no mistake they will get it in the general election if RP does not get the nomination. Now if a guy does not have much support then sure you can bad mouth him and his supporters and get way with it, but no in this case. No candidate can win without the RP supporters and trust me they are not going to get it. See what the bad mouth gets you.
I'm a person who worked on the Goldwater campaign in 1964 and Ron Paul's today and they are quite similar and not in just opposing a candidate named Romney. Ron is getting 50% of the youth vote and it shows in returns from college campuses. Disrespect us by not getting into serious intellectual discussion of the issues or by ignoring Ron Paul and we will make sure that the Republicans will not win for a very long time.
I remember when the GOP tried to absorb the H. Ross Perot followers – then realized they could NOT HIDE Perot's Clinton connections from the General Public, much less the GOP Voting Base, any longer. n nJust so is Ron Paul. I have nothing in common with Ron Paul voters and have no intentions of joining forces with them for common goals they approve of. n nHis comments about empathizing with Iran, and accusing Israel of Acts of War – blockading Medicines and Food – when he knows the truth about the MV Iran Deyanat, and the true reason the UN originally approved the blockade… n nI have nothing in common with such creatures.
It is articles like this that will get the Republicans their rear ends handed to them come the general election. Calling Paul supporters names will not help either. Just do a search on "Romney can not win without the Ron Paul supporters" and get a dose of reality. No Republican can win against Obama with just the support of the Republicans and believe it or not they are going to loose a lot of Republican votes, like mine for instance. Yes I am sick and tired of being ridiculed because I support RP. If Ron Paul does not get the nomination then I vote for Obama and I can not stand Obama. But I can not stand to be ridiculed even more. Romney will get no Independent votes and will loose a lot of Republican votes. So keep up the bad mouthing of the Paul supporters and find out what it gets you.
Up date-Robme, Getrich will promise the RP supporters anything to collect their votes. In the end you will find that they did not tell the truth.