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The rise of Ron Paul gives GOP pause for concern, can he really win?
By M&C US News Nov 13, 2007, 15:31 GMT
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Older Talkback
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Why do people continue to refer to Ron Paul as an isolationist? Since when did free trade, free travel, diplomacy and friendship become isolationist principles as opposed to our current foreign policy of war, sanctions, occupation, travel restrictions, constant public denunciations of foreign government, tarrifs, trade barriers and alienating most of the world.
I understand Ron Paul is only running to govern the US population and not the whole world, but that's what I the president's job was supposed to be anyways...
I agree, Robert. 'Isolationist' is not correct. 'Non-interventionist' is.
The difference between an isoationist and a non-interventionist - I love this description - is that the first is a hermit, the second is a gentleman.
I would say overall this is a great article about Paul. I noticed the isolationist in quotations, as well...
I hope people understand that he IS for free trade, not internationally managed trade that favors certain corporations. He wants to bring troops home because we spend so much money supporting a troop presence in 130 countries. Why do we have troops in S. Korea 50 years after the war? Will we have troops in Iraq for 50 years too?
This system must end and Ron Paul represents a return to sanity of government.
I just wonder how much of his program he'd actually be able to put through. Although our current president seems to think his powers are unlimited, Paul, as a strict Constitutionalist, understands they are not. Can he really get rid of the American Gestapo, AKA the IRS? Who in their right mind wouldn't love seeing those guys get their walking papers?
He could order the troops home from all over the world and pardon a lot of people in our federal prisons there on drug possession charges (the majority of them, I've been told). We could stop shipping millions (or is it billions) of American taxpayers dollars to other countries for their govts and the politically well connected to feed off of. And he could veto a lot of insane budgets, something Dubya has never wanted to do.
And all we gotta do is vote for the guy...
At least, please verify what a candidate has said before printing something, as the former commenter noticed. You also need to check your spelling, 'stypical'. Finally, how could new, old, young, Democrat, Republican supporters rally around Ron Paul if, as you put it, he wreaked of a 'lack of political gloss and phony sound bites'? No other candidate has had anywhere near the enthusiasm and wholehearted support as Ron Paul, bar none. And, as far as odds, I'm in the Hans Solo's camp, 'Don't tell me the odds.'
Why the constant claim that a constructionist presidential candidate supports legalizing prostitution? I am unaware of any FEDERAL law against prostitution. Solicitation laws are currently the purview of the states, so the issue has zero bearing on anyone's presidential run.
The Republican party political hacks will have to try whatever they can
to eliminate this man from the party. Anyone who is a free thinker, and conservative minded does not fit in with the current status quo of the republicans. The neocons have perverted the party into a monstrous creature advocating ideas that are inherently in conflict with traditional republican ideals about government. They have driven out large numbers of the conservative republican base, while they create huge
debts from out of control spending with no oversight or accountability.
They have manipulated national defense and the determination to go after the 9/11 terrorists into some imperialistic quest to bring 'freedom and democracy' to a country that had nothing to do with the 9/11 destruction.
They preach fear and paranoia, and brand as a traitor, or un-American, anyone who questions our present foreign policy, as defined by the neo-cons in control. It is time for the conservatve republicans to re-gain
control and influence of their political party.
This article is inaccurate. Ron Paul would not eliminate Medicare and Medicade. He would actually enusre that they're receiving the funding that the federal government has promised by cutting all the wasteful spending overseas.
Either these media people are dumb as rocks or the they think the American people are as dumb as rocks. Always misrepresenting Dr. Paul. The 'isolationist' and 'libertarian' points have been talked about in almost every TV interview, I know if you say something enough time people believe it but has it come to where you always have to repeat something that isnt true?
The media has become the axis of evil, reporting complete nonsense. WHat is the problem with supporting a man of high principle who follows the constitution. The constitution isnt out of date, its very much still in fashion. This is still the oath our elected officials take when they are elected. The media seems to think its a show piece and like GWBush said 'Get a God Damned piece of paper' The American people have had it, period. The Democrats promise the world but dont have a dime for any program, we have to pay for the War in Iraq, we got our eye on Iran now. These people are crazy, period.
Want to know about Dr. Paul campaign, follow the money. Its from the people, every cent. No big PAC money, no special interest other then to represent the people.
I will be voting principle myself this election, enough compromising and listening to these divisive two party tactics to split the people up. I'm tired of this ass and dumbo show I'm voting for Dr. Paul and I cant wait to do it.
Missing word creates confusion, the following sentence should read
'He wants to see gun control and censorship of pornography ENDED, AND marijuana and prostitution decriminalized.'
Lest people are confused:)
He didn't accept medicare because he would do it for free!
I think this article over-generalizes Dr. Paul's positions a bit. He is not quite as eccentric as this article portrays him to be.
It's very important not to say 'Ron Paul would do this, Ron Paul would do that' with regard to agencies and functions the federal government has usurped from the states and the People. He always says that most of these issues are the responsibility of Congress.
The most he could do is veto any that would cause him to violate his oath of office if he did not.
The problem with candidates and voters is that they talk as if the President has more authority than he really does, as if they have a magic wand.
Some voters even think they can change the weather by voting.
As the IRS is an entity established under the Executive branch, Ron Paul can end it with the stroke of a pen.
Isolationist?? I am sick an tired of reading and hearing missinformed media people. Non-interventionist is the term. Will these people ever get it right?
Carlos C.
Miami, FL
no he cannot win
he is too honest
More misinformation. This article if full of half truths to instill fear, uncertainty and doubt. Calling Ron Paul an isolationist is an obvious example.
How about saying 'Paul would eliminate Medicare or Medicaid'?
This is just to scare people who are on Medicare and Medicaid. Ron Paul has repeatedly said he would NOT cut anyone out of their benefits but he would give people the OPTION to opt out of it should they want to.
Your brief personal history of Ron Paul captures the essence of what first attracted me to his candidacy. After my horrendous voting error in 2000 (Bush/Chenny), I learned; I now focus not on what they say, but what they have done with their lives...the fruits of their time here on earth.
The popularity of Dr Paul's platform of a return to Liberty and Responsibility and the enthusiasm this message has created have given me new hope. That hope is that the desire for Liberty this campaign has awakened in so many, will grow and, with hard work and sacrifice, return America to her original promise.
Finally, I admire Ron Paul's strength and endurance through all these years, a lone voice of reason consistently ridiculed by his piers. I believe these would be Emperors are discovering they have no clothes!
(Thanks for this informative, unbiased article!)
Isolationist?
Hello CUBA MORONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And a few more!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ron Paul would remove the restrictions and sanctions against all nations.
WHO's the GD isolationists? Stop your media terrorism!!!
Conscience free humans!!
www.teaparty07.com - Ron Paul for President, let's make it happen.
Ron Paul is an idiot and his popularity is solely the result of people who feed off of just what he claims to avoid; sound bytes. The notion that we could simply eliminate the IRS, the Federal Reserve, NAFTA and our membership to the UN is crazy and gives no credit to the complexity of the good and bad those groups create. Those actions would do more to hurt the economy than the Iraq War ever has. In the long run their benefits and costs may become even enough to consider, but removal of these institutions could never occur over night and discussion of their removal needs to be weighed very carefully and not used to shock voters into listening to your campaign.
The end of the war on drugs sounds like a great way to cut costs, and it is a very expendable item on our national budget. But the removal of funding to this endeavor will put hard working police out in the streets. And the same issue arises when talking about bringing all of our troops home; their relief from duty means less costs but is also accompanied by a major shortage in jobs and eventually money flowing into the economy.
Ron Paul makes claim to controlling costs yet he wants to secure the border; this is an incredibly costly thing to do and to maintain. Stripping corporations and companies of their cheap labor makes us feel like we are winning one for the home team, but their sudden increase in cost will be passed on to us the consumers.
No intelligent voter will vote for Ron Paul, he is honest yes, but he is very unrealistic. No reason to even go into the abortion thing; if men got pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament.
Trust Matters
The corporate media in this....country is far more than complicit in the erasure of all personal freedom. Even before Sinclair's outrageous accounts there were the yellow journalists peddling one or another 'crisis du jour', for instance, alcohol. And what more dangerous drug is there in life than one that proposes to do ALL your thinking for you, as does that obnoxious contraption tv..the 'slime on yer video-- oozing along on yer livin' room floor' At what point duz the American people awake to the methods of control exploited by the louts we've allowed to take office, against our better judgement. It seems that now when we actually have the opportunity to reclaim a few of our freedoms, we're somehow frightened by the concept. Can it be that now we've succesfully been reduced to 'sheeple'? A vote for Dr. Paul requires only the courage of understanding that A. Freedom ain't free, but tyranny is far more expensive and B. A vote for any one of the coroprate clones or AIPAC lapdogs getting the media support guarantees that things will continue to degenerate into the worst possible scenario. How bad can it get? Now that the illegal legislation has been made 'law', so that our government no longer is restrained by law of any kind, let your imagination run, their's does.
Misrepresentations of Dr. Paul's stances will continue. Dissinformation is the essential tool of the real war in our time; the Information War. As long as people rely on others in the media and elsewhere to shape their opinions for them, our country will continue to slide toward tyranny.
Just remember to refer people to Dr. Paul's public record, which is easily found at his website or publically available congressional websites. His record speaks for itself.
Those who insist on being spoon-fed 'facts' filtered through mass media are lost causes and a waste of time. Talk to those who will listen or otherwise move on. We know that Dr. Paul's popularity is much greater than the media is reporting. He represents a great awakening across this country and beyond.
Thanks for an informative article about Dr. Paul. I was looking for the snide remarkes and sarcastic comments that are usually hidden in articles about him, but couldn't find them! Thanks again for an unbiased article about a true patriot. Thomas Jefferson would be proud...
The extreme inconsistencies in the statements made by the commentator previous my previous post are illustrative of the social brain death suffered by members of this society-that are even allowed to VOTE. They state first that A. ending the drug prohibition will cause unemployment among 'hardworking' policemen, that B. ending the war in Iraq would cause job 'shortages', and C. that we 'need' illegals to keep labor costs down.....did I miss some salient point of logic there...or was there one in their statement? I find your lack of faith (in the ideals of FREEDOM) alarming.
an he really win?
Yes YES YES YES
He is winning!!!!!!
GO RON PAUL!!!!!!!!!!
think business:
I really hope you are joking with your post. Maintaining/Expanding a police state as justification for giving people jobs!? Are you kidding me? Sending hundreds of thousands of troops to blow up buildings and bridges only to rebuild them 4 years later half way across the world is somehow good for our economy!? War does not create economic benefits! Google the 'broken window philosophy'. Educate yourself man! You are on the internet so i would assume you know how to use it!
About the Isolationist. Our current administration are Isolationists. They cut countries off with santions blocking trade. Blocking supplies.
Ron Paul is for true free trade and good relations of respecting human rights and sovern nations. He is true hope for America and the world America is effecting.
Our country is on a crash course to bankruptcy and the media is not keeping people informed. They have an agenda. Google CFR. Go to CFR's own website and look at what their agenda is. Then look at who are members. Clinton, Bush, Chaney, Obama, Guliani, Mt Romney. you name it. They are all on the same team. To disolve the sovernty of America and our Constitution.
Please do more research on this. If your not outraged, your not paying enough attention. America is at a critical turning point. We need Ron Paul in office.
A Ron Paul victory in the presidential election is a real possibility as a large majority of readers' comments posted at all of the media web sites which I have perused are highly favorable toward his candidacy.
The 'money bomb' dropped into Paul’s campaign coffers on November 5 shows that the internet's impact on elections will be as significantly revolutionary as the printing press was on Christianity. The mass media and party machines will be less relevant as individual voters will have amplified influence on the electorate through the internet. The printing press made the Bible accessible to the masses and the result was the Protestant Reformation. Through the internet, the electorate's own voice will usurp those of the mass media and party headquarters.
A surprise election avalanche is imminent. We the People are going to regain our control of the American Republic from the professional politicians through the Fellowship of the Web, and Ron Paul is our Gandalf. For confirmation of this forecast, pay attention to what happens on December 16, the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party.
Jefferson lives!
The system as we know it is ending as the US dollar falls into the abyss. There's no way the US can afford to continue to support it's empire. The US is already bankrupt, it's creditors just don't know it yet. Although, the Chinese are catching on.
What will the new system look like? Will we devolve into a destitute police state like Russia? Their economy collapsed. Does anyone think that the USA is immune from economic calamity?
The problem is the economy can appear to turn VERY QUICKLY. Especially when the Fed and the banks have been cooking and hiding their numbers for so long that we don't even know how bad things are - we do know they're bad though. Just look at inflation - inflation is all around us but the Fed says 'inflation is very low, the economy is growing, we support a strong dollar'. Come on! Who believes this rubbish?!!
We need a Ron Paul now. He won't have the power to fix everything BUT he will have the ability to set the USA back on course for the fastest recovery possible. Without a Ron Paul, the USA will fall into a new dark age - I think we're already there but I'm a pessimist.
Ron Paul has made many speeches on the campaign trail. Please cite even one speech where he says he would get rid of medicare and medicaid. There is a HUGE disparity between his ideology and the powers he would have as president. He is not a wannabe dictator. He cannot end social programs. All he would be able to do, as a constitutional president, is veto the bills spewed forth out of congress.
Unfortunately it took segregationist Governor Wallace to reveal the truth that 'there's not a dime's worth of difference between' Republicans and Democrats. The Democrats willingly went along with the War in Iraq, suspension of Habeas Corpus, detaining protesters, banning books like 'America Deceived' from Amazon, stealing private lands (Kelo decision), warrant-less wiretapping and refusing to investigate 9/11 properly. They are both guilty of treason.
Support Dr. Ron Paul and save this great nation.
To Robert, the advocates of peace in America have been smeared with the term 'isolationist' since the 1930's. Dr. Paul as one of the foremost advocate of peace in America today has been called many names, and isolationist is one of them. In the nineteenth century, the English proponents of peace were smeared as 'Little Englanders' because their opponents were firm believers in the virtues of Empire. As Dr. Paul has noted in his speeches, our American foreign policy of the last hundred years has embraced the idea of Empire as well, and that is why the American government has over seven hundred military bases scattered throughout the world today. It is true that Dr. Paul's policy of peace and neutrality would close those foreign bases and bring all of those soldiers home to America.
Very good article.
And well written.
People like RON PAUL because RON PAUL IS NOT FOR SALE TO THE LOBBYIST'S
GROUPS AND SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS!!!!!!! He is consistant with his answers.
He refuses a concgressional pension - because it is an abuse of power!!!!
ASK HITLERY OR OBAMA to do that........GO RON PAUL.....
Ron Paul chances in the Republican Presidential Primary is improving every day. John Zogby admitted on the Sean Hannity radio program that Mr. Paul may reach over 20% in New Hampshire by election day. Of course, I would love to see that same kind of momentum in Iowa, Nevada, Michigan, and South Carolina.
We've been here before. Remember how the country-club Republicans fought tooth and nail against Ronald Reagan?
Remember how the Democrats ridiculed Jimmy Carter? How about Harry Truman?
It's still possible for a good candidate to run right over the party apparatchiks.
uh this is wrong :
He wants to see gun control and censorship of pornography, marijuana and prostitution decriminalized. '
He does NOT want gun control or censorship.
If Ron Paul's becomes overwhelmingly popular among the people, other members in congress and the senate will be forced to take his positions. The crowd that he draws are the type that make demands. As Thomas Jefferson said 'every generation needs a revolution.' Tyranny creeps in when we let it...
If you took every trait which is bad about government, politics, washington, the Republicans and the Democrats and made one looonng list of them, and then made another column of the opposite trait to each of these bad traits, I believe you would have a trait list of Ron Paul
Ron Paul is the antithesis of all that is bad among these groups -- and that's a lot of bad to be the antidote to by any measure.
Ron Paul is also the human embodiment of American's cumulative anger at an oppressive, arrogant and downright stupid government, not to mention our country's surprising downward spiral into becoming a police state.
Our government is out of control at both the Federal and state levels.
Our government has a higher percentage of our citizens behind bars than in any other nation in the world. The land of the free? Is it?
Hardly. America has become the land of the oppressed.
And Ron Paul is the only man with the honesty, the guts, the vision and the polite tenacity to lead this country back from the abyss which the Washinton greed-merchants have shoved us towards.
As a Republican, and one who is not a youngster at all, I am putting a stake in the ground here. Ron Paul deserves the vote of every American who believes in the true values of this country. And every American who is sick of being ripped off by the scamsters in Washington and in state government, the latter who grovel for the manipulative handouts of Washington.
I trust Ron Paul. He is completely egoless. He cares more about America and Americans, and less about himself, than any candidate I can remember in my lifetime.
RON PAUL FOR PRESIDENT - HOPE FOR AMERICA
'The Freedom Message Brings us Together'
The best candidate - hands down. Vote for the man and not the party.
As a long time Hispanic US resident and avid democrat...his platform has propel me to become a US citizen and to cross party lines. It’s about time someone has the 'cojones' to step up to the plate without venting the habitual political rhetoric “bullcaca”. He’s got my vote…¡Vamos Ron!
Ron Paul has the only plan to pay for Medicare and Medicaid. He offers the opportunity to opt out of it as well. He never said anything about eliminating them during his presidency.
Please get your facts straight before writing a 'news' piece. Thanks!
Dr. Paul will defend the Bill of Rights against the fascists, defend the dollar against the bi-partisan inflationist thieves, eliminate the initiative-killing death tax, and decriminalize cannabis. These are exactly what America needs now.
Dr. Paul cured my hopelessness...Come a time when the blind man take your hand and says 'don't you see?'
Every time I read these Ron Paul posts, they sound like they are written by libnazis.
Mr. Pauls record is laudable. Far more so thanall three of the democratic candidaes.
That does not mean I'd vote for him in a primary, and I'd rather see real conservatives, be open about exactly what this guy stands for. He IS a professed non-interventionist, and I have real reservations about that, and some of his outdated economic policies.
Nonetheless, I would never switch parties if the right had this guy running.
The thing we need to do is compare him to Hillary. One thing is for certain, it's unlikely there is a Mr. Hsu in Paul's future.
actually i have heard him say he would abolish the IRS and that we should do away with dept. of Education....i have heard him specifically say he would not do away with medicare or medicaid.
SP- why should we compare Ron Paul to Hillary, unless we thought that he was really going to be on the Republican ticket, like some people assume
HC will be. It is a bit early for that assumption. Why don't we let the democrats sort that one out, and select who they think will be best for them, and it may not be Hillary either.
Let's compare Ron Paul with the rest of the republican contenders, and conclude which one embodies the best of that party's ideals.Are the republicans even conservative anymore? It does not seem to be that way.
Candidates from both parties are hard-pressed to represent America in a truly non-partisan fashion as they should if they are good leaders.
Tell me, for example, what republicans would be supporting the War in Iraq, if we had a democrat president, who after a major attack like 9/11 let the real enemy get away, and spent over six years avoiding pursuing the real enemy and actually looking the other way. The republicans would
support a democrat president who decided to go after the wrong enemy, and dig a hole in the desert in a mid-east country that was not involved in 9/11? Conservative republicans would let a democrat dump precious lives and vast resources into the pit, and pretend that it was the right thing to do, while singing a song about freedom and democracy? If you can tell me that republicans would have supported a democrat who had done that, without using fear, intimidation and lies for making the case, then it would have been genuine and nonpartisan in the nature of support. Otherwise it is what it appears to be-partisan nonsense, and not in the real interest of our country. That's what we need to do-give up politics as usual, for the sake of our nation. Tell me you can do it.
Let's hope R PAUL wins the whitehouse his isolationist stance will make the world a safer place, just imagine a world without the USA going around bombing everything that moves, we will all think we have found our nirvana. Here's to R PAUL, go for it. give the rest of the world a break.
Isolationist may be a bit strong but his non intervensionist ideals will be good for the world; the USA has every right to take action against an aggressor that wants to invade America, but what country in it's right mind would contemplate that idiocy. 9-11 came out of Saudi Arabia, that's where retribution should have taken place not Iraq. if R PAUL understands these things then it is good for the world and the USA.
Robert,
People who use that term isolationist in regard to Ron Paul just don't know their a**** from their elbows.
To the M&C Editors,I was alarmed at the number of grammatical errors in this article. I'm not a regular visitor to your site, so I don't know if this is the norm, but I can't take your political coverage serously if your articles have not been reviewed for adherence to basic comma-usage rules.
are you kidding me? There are no comma errors in the article..you must be a disgruntled Romney supporter.....
So if Ron Paul wins technicaly the South will get what it fought for during our war of independence. States Rights !!!
All you people whom think he is opposed to alot of things is dead wrong he feels that it shouldnt be the federal governments responcibility in legislating laws or forcing states to adopt laws they dont want to. Think if a state does not want to pass a law the federal government takes away funding. I am tired of having to pay huge sums of my money just because I work 12 hours a day and 84 hours a week for stuff like medical care for someone whom doesnt work. I'm having problems supporting my own family so why should i help yours?
It is finally refreshing to see someone whom does what he feels is right not what his constituants want.
Also its refreshing to see a man whom is honest and hard working get ahead in life .... If that is not the spirit of America what is ?
Gravel kucinich paul nader perot carter [conyers?rangel?] united for truth elicit fear smear blacklist.
The people know too much,
democracy rising democracy now.
Rage against the machine.
Honesty compassion intelligence guts.
No more extortion blackmail bribery division.
Divided we fall.
'think business', who points out Ron Paul is an idiot, fortunately knows how to make intelligent remarks himself:
'The end of the war on drugs sounds like a great way to cut costs, and it is a very expendable item on our national budget. But the removal of funding to this endeavor will put hard working police out in the streets. And the same issue arises when talking about bringing all of our troops home; their relief from duty means less costs but is also accompanied by a major shortage in jobs and eventually money flowing into the economy.'
Ending the War on Drugs will put police out of work.
Bringing the troops home will make them unemployed.
He sure sold me! And I've come up with even better ideas. I only wish I'd known how to 'think business' like this earlier:
1. Push drugs. This will provide even more employment opportunities for aspiring police officers.
2. Invade Canada and Mexico. Employ more troops.
3. Outlaw smoke detectors and give bounties to arsonists. Fires create jobs for firefighters, and the construction industry.
4. Spread disease. The health care industry may already be booming, but this will truly make it the envy of the world.
5. Molest children. This will create opportunities for police, counselors, and social workers.
6. Rape women. Benefits police, women's shelters, psychologists, suicide hotlines, etc.
Golly, there's simply no end to how much good you can do, if you only set your mind to it. If these don't get 'money flowing into the economy', I don't know what will.
Why can't Ron Paul comprehend that?
Most of you who criticize this article are just fantatics. Its a good article. The issue about isolationism is true, thats what his opponents use to attack Ron Paul. Stop thinking that everywhere there is some media conspiracy going on. Its not taking place here.
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