Can anyone explain to me the ongoing threads about Ron Paul? I don't get it.

[Stinky The Clown]

The man has a good position on the war, but on everything else, he seems to me to be as progressive as a flat earth type.

Speaking of flat .... he likes the flat tax.

Yeah, I get that he's being ganged up on by the media and the other GOPER candidates ... but why all the defense of him here?

Am I missing something? :shrug:

[BuyingThyme]

1. The war's a BIG deal. He's been right all along.

He's made some amazing floor speeches. He's been ahead of the vast majority of Dems. And now he's kicking some ass on some grubby old men.

[Stinky The Clown]

5. So's Hagel ...... but I don't see him worthy of support either ....

...... they're both **not** Dems for a reason.

For both ..... they're more like the broken clock being right twice a day than anything else.

[BuyingThyme]

8. I guess that depends on what you mean by support.

By the way, many broken clocks are never right.

[musette_sf]

11. i had made the broken clock analogy

while writing my other post in this thread, but deleted as being too bloody obvious. but you're right and it looks like that analogy needed to be made.

and see? since you posted, a few ppl have popped up and defended him some more.

[TwilightGardener]

16. LOL! You're right--I've probably seen Hagel's voting record

linked, referred to and researched more often than any politician's on this forum--I've seen it so often now I know it by heart--to show how conservative he is so we aren't misled (a good service, IMO). Why don't we see Paul's voting record? We get speeches and select positions, but he's far, far wackier and further away from progressive ideals than even Hagel. I guess the difference is: Hagel=threat, Paul=no threat.

[TwilightGardener]

2. You and me both, sister.

[bluestateguy]

3. He's against the "War on Drugs"

so he's not all bad on non-Iraq War issues.

[musette_sf]

4. well, it does help you learn

who the closet libertarians are on DU.....

and for a libertarian, he evidently thinks women don't qualify as citizens, since he doesn't think that the privacy rights of the Constitution apply to us. we're just fetus delivery systems with NO privacy rights.

[Ian David]

15. Libertarians are just Republicans who smoke pot. n/t

[GreenPartyVoter]

6. I am all for getting this war ended, but we still have to think about

all the other sisues that will need to be dealt with. I like him for being in the debates but I don't want him in the Oval Office.

[Warpy]

7. I keep pointing out how NUTS he is

but I think some of the folks here must be disgusted pubbies who left their own party. They are hoping there is a GOP candidate worth voting for during their lifetimes, just the way we on the left hope there's a decent candidate in ours.

If you like the economy and the general way this country is headed, then you'll love Ron Paul. He's committed to ending government regulation of industry, disbanding regulatory agencies, and generally upholding the libertarian pipe dream.

The problem with libertarians is that they have a blind spot big enough to fit all the ordinary citizens of this country into. They seemingly have no clue that regulatory agencies are there because industry is NOT self policing.

And that is what is wrong with Ron Paul.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

9. There are a lot of closet Libertarians on this board

I appreciate Paul's stance on the war, but I have no use for the economic aspects of the Libertarian philosophy, which is basically Republican, only more so.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

10. He's a thorn in the side of the Republicans

His politics are not to my liking, but I admit to finding it entertaining watching him prod Giuliani on 9/11.

[Swamp Rat]

12. He will split the GOP in two,

if we help him. ;)

[annabanana]

14. (ding). . . . . . . . n/t

[Swamp Rat]

19. I just love the fact that millions of republican voters have to hear him in the debates

Lots of Kool Aid was spilled the other night. :D If they don't shut him out of the rest of the debates, he might wake up enough moderate republican voters to split the GOP in two. Immediately following the debate, the neocon propaganda machine went to work to destroy Ron Paul, for example:

FOX NEWS:

JOHN GIBSON, HOST: The "Big Outrage": Presidential heavyweight Rudy Giuliani vs. Congressman Ron Paul. The duo's 9/11 contest got a little spicy at last night's GOP debate in South Carolina after Paul suggested that the U.S. actually had a hand in the terrorist attacks.

(snip)

MICHELLE MALKIN, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: "It is and it doesn't belong here. And I'm glad that this moment provided great TV for FOX News — it was a very instructive exchange — but Ron Paul really has no business being on stage as a legitimate representative of Republicans,"

(snip)

MALKIN: "You know, I try not to spend too much time in these cesspools, but it is worth taking a visit to places like, you know, these WTC7 sites and Students and Scholars for Truth, and I note that Ron Paul has basically allied himself with these people. He appears with Students for Truth on campus and he's appeared on radio shows like 9/11 conspiracy nut Alex Jones. And I would hope that that would disqualify him the next time around for appearing on stage with other Republicans."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,273343,00.html

______________

National Review:

Giuliani Up, McCain Up, Romney Down, and Ron Paul Out — Way Out
A strange turn at the South Carolina GOP debate.

By Byron York

Columbia, South Carolina — For a man who had just grabbed the spotlight in a nationally televised presidential debate, Ron Paul seemed a little, well, defensive. A few minutes after the debate ended here at the University of South Carolina, Paul, a Republican congressman from Texas, ventured into the Spin Room to talk to reporters, only to find that they wanted to know whether he really blamed the United States for the September 11 terrorist attacks.

(snip)

“Who did that?” Paul snapped. “Who blamed America?” “Well, your critics felt that you did.” “No, I blamed bad policy over 50 years that leads to anti-Americanism,” Paul said. “That’s little bit different from saying ‘blame America.’ Don’t put those words in my mouth.” “But the policies were bad American policies?" “We’ve had an interventionist foreign policy for 50 years that has come back to haunt us,” Paul continued. “So that’s not ‘Blame America’ — that’s demagoguing, distorting issues…That’s deceitful to say those kinds of things.” To many people, however, it did appear that Paul blamed the U.S. for the attacks. A few feet away from where Paul was meeting reporters, Washington lawyer Ted Olson, at the debate to support his friend Rudy Giuliani, was taken aback at what he heard from Paul. “I find it personally offensive and very disturbing,” said Olson, whose wife Barbara died on September 11, “that an American, especially an American member of Congress, can say those things about what happened to cause 9/11.”

(snip)

So in the end, the candidate who made a big move, who came out of nowhere to win new name recognition was…Ron Paul. But it’s probably not the sort of name recognition Republican presidential candidates want. “Wow,” said one adviser to a rival campaign after listening to Paul’s blame-America lecture. “I haven’t heard anything like that this side of Rosie O’Donnell.”

(snip)

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MDBkMzQ2MTJmOTFmZWM4NjJhYjg3MTY1MzRhMGU0Y2Y=

[TwilightGardener]

22. No, he won't--if Hagel, a prominent mainstream Senator, can't, why would Paul?

He's a Rep, and considered fringe. He doesn't have that kind of following within the GOP--that's why he went Libertarian before.

[Swamp Rat]

23. "within the GOP" ... you cannot account for the members of this group,

nor do you know what they think (neither do I).

"He's a Rep, and considered fringe." - That is what I hear on FOX News. I'd rather show Ron Paul support instead of helping the RNC agenda of ousting Ron Paul, like they have tried to do for decades.

[TwilightGardener]

25. How 'bout supporting Dems, which is the mission of this site?

[Swamp Rat]

26. Are you suggesting I do not understand the "mission" of DU?

Please explain the "mission of this site" so I won't be kicked off. :D

[TwilightGardener]

27. When you speak of supporting Ron Paul and protecting him from

the RNC, one has to wonder. This isn't really the place for that--there are other websites where you can achieve that goal.

[Swamp Rat]

28. Ah, thanks for suggesting I leave DU.

What ever would I do without the DU Behavior Police?

[TwilightGardener]

29. Oh, for God's sake, I didn't suggest that you quit AS A MEMBER

of DU--just saying that if you want to drum up support (your word) for a GOPer, you might find more appropriate places elsewhere to do that--DU shouldn't be considered fertile ground for a GOP candidate. For Dem stuff, or for discussing how much you admire the guy, or discussing his good points, or whatever--DU is a fine place for that, although the Paul worship is getting a little nuts. If I started agitating for folks to support Giuliani because I liked his abortion stance, and wanted people here to sign petitions to encourage the GOPers to pay attention to him, I would think there would be some outcry (and pulled posts) here. But if I admit I like Rudy and wouldn't mind him as GOP nominee, that's pretty harmless--a big difference--do you see? GOP praise is one thing, GOP activism is "the devil's work", LOL!

[Swamp Rat]

31. "the Paul worship is getting a little nuts."

Straw Man. I have not seen a single DUer "worship Ron Paul."

Please re-read my 1st post.

I believe it would be beneficial to support Ron Paul during the repuke primaries in his attack against the rest of the pro-war candidates (this does not mean we want to elect him, no does it mean he even has a chance in hell of winning). The point is, his anti-war position will DESTROY the GOP, as they are already divided on this issue.

Nevertheless, I think you and I would likely agree on ousting the GOP from the White House. :hi:

[TwilightGardener]

32. Agreed on that!

:toast:

[Frank Cannon]

36. I saw a Ron Paul 2008 bumper sticker on a car yesterday.

It's the FIRST 2008 Republican campaign sticker I've seen.

I don't think Paul's fellow Republicans are going to get rid of him so easily. People are just plain fed up with this war and Bush's bullshit.

[AlCzervik]

13. Ron Paul's new country would be well armed with no services at all, house on fire-

suit up and put it out yourself. No thanks to Ron Paul.

[Marie26]

17. People are desperate for some honesty

And Ron Paul seems very honest, intelligent and well-informed... until he goes off on a tangent about we should go abolish the income tax. I kind of like him too - he's like a wacky uncle.

[WilliamPitt]

18. Ah...

You can cheer a person's political view regarding the war without endorsing them. You can be grateful for how he is shaking up the GOP without supporting him. I am certain Paul will not get one single vote from any DUer.

So my advice would be to relax. It isn't a crime to praise a Republican, not even here.

[TwilightGardener]

24. I have nothing against praising R's, or watching Paul force the GOP

to confront some uncomfortable truths. But there are those that ask us to send money to the guy, and have said they'd vote for him. If he was taken seriously as a challenge to Dems, that wouldn't fly here--but I still feel weirdly compelled to try to dampen the obvious enthusiasm for him. He actually DOES have a (small) fan base in places like Redstate and Freeperville--let them extol his virtues.

[ComerPerro]

20. for some, the position on the war is enough. They couldn't care about social issues

[Javaman]

21. Ron Paul in my opinion is the right wing nader. and I'm okay with that

as long has he siphons off the repuke vote more power to him. LOL

other than that, me being from texas and being a progressive, ron paul is a complete nut job. he's a total libertarian, which is a repuke who smokes pot. lol So big deal he wants to get out of the war, who the fuck doesn't? just because he's a repuke and says that does not mean he has a clue, he just knows how to play the media. Here's a hint about him, he's a media whore.

So people that are enamored by him are either not listening to the Democratic Candidates or are closet repukes that are trolling here out of some sort of self loathing issue and just can't quite let go of their child like cling to the repuke mommy party.

[lies and propaganda]

30. ive been pulling my hair out

over this constant handjob for him.

Maybe hes has a few of the right ideas about the war and the ME, but it ends there.

Hes a hardcore libertarian so we Dems would just loooooove to throw away everyon of our social programs and anything remortely beneficial for the masses. Libertarian land is first come, first serve, fuck off.

grrr. ive been baffled by this for a few weeks now...

[markiegreg]

33. As far as I know

Paul is the only Presidential candidate to sign the American Freedom Agenda 10 point pledge:

-- End the use of military commissions to prosecute crimes.
-- Prohibit the use of secret evidence or evidence obtained by torture.
-- Prohibit the detention of American citizens as enemy combatants without proof.
-- Restore habeas corpus for alleged alien combatants.
-- End National Security Agency warrentless wiretapping.
-- Empower Congress to challenge presidential signing statements.
-- Bar executive use of the state secret privilege to deny justice.
-- Prohibit the President from collaborating with foreign governments to kidnap, detain of torture persons abroad.
-- Amend the Espionage Act to permit journalists to report on classified national security matters without threat of persecution.
-- Prohibit of the labeling of groups or individuals in the U.S. as global terrorists based on secret evidence.

I wish dems would pledge the same.

[mmonk]

34. I think it's important that he presented truth at a celebration

of lies called the republican debate. Republican supporters still live in the propaganda bubble. That someone had the guts to try and pierce that bubble should be looked on as a good thing.

[MrSlayer]

35. Because he is one of the few people to be honest about certain things.

Republican or not, Paul speaks the truth on more than one issue and he does it in ways that even our own candidates won't do. Overall, he's right more than he's wrong.