Ron Paul Movement not ready to pass torch to Rand.

[realtonygoodwin]

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0812/80307.html



Ron Paul, 77, is retiring after 24 years in the House. Rand Paul, 49, did something his father never had in 2010 when he won statewide office after upsetting a GOP establishment favorite in the Republican primary. He’s begun raising his national profile, delivered the official Republican Saturday radio address this weekend, has become increasingly close with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and now plans to deliver a primetime address at the national convention.

[LibertyEagle]

Yeah, and keep in mind where Politico's heart is. They don't want anyone to pick up the torch. They know we are the most effective grassroots movement for a very long time.

[realtonygoodwin]

They have been writing decent articles about Ron this past week.

[evilfunnystuff]

We need to keep the torch, and use it to set brushfires of liberty, in the minds of men :-)

[TheGrinch]

They have been writing decent articles about Ron this past week.
Sun Tsu says strike when your enemy is weak, not strong. Same could be said for us about them in the future.

[Indy Vidual]

Stay tuned for more...

[Aratus]

only 202 votes for "other" and the GOP RNC is having a short supper recess after choosing a ticket

[Aratus]

rand talks tomorrow at about 7ish

[Bruno]

only 202 votes for "other" and the GOP RNC is having a short supper recess after choosing a ticket

My vote is November is for that "Other" guy.

[mz10]

Supporters of Rand, we need to all email Politico and tell them how wrong they are about this. Rand is the future of the movement and we can't let the media try to ruin his image.

[realtonygoodwin]

I support Rand. I may like him as a candidate even more than his father. However, even I would argue that the movement as a whole is certainly not lining up unanimously behind Rand. He is somewhat polarizing in the liberty movement.

[Tod]

Regarding Rand, we will just have to see what he DOES and realize that it is more important than what he says, although ideally they should coincide, as they do with his father.

[LibertyEagle]

I support Rand. I may like him as a candidate even more than his father. However, even I would argue that the movement as a whole is certainly not lining up unanimously behind Rand. He is somewhat polarizing in the liberty movement.

They're just going to have to go do whatever it is they want to do.

[Tod]

My vote is November is for that "Other" guy.

Me too. NOBP.

[NoOneButPaul]

As it stands right now, Rand is the best national figure we have.

He isn't perfect, but he's what we got.

[Brett85]

I support Rand. I may like him as a candidate even more than his father. However, even I would argue that the movement as a whole is certainly not lining up unanimously behind Rand. He is somewhat polarizing in the liberty movement.

Me too. I don't necessarily agree with Rand on the issues any more than I agree with Ron, but I just think Rand does a much better job of selling his ideas.

[torchbearer]

i'll support rand up to the point he falls bellow supporting 80% of the policies i care most about.

[phill4paul]

As it stands right now, Rand is the best national figure we have.

He isn't perfect, but he's what we got.

I don't deal in that paradigm. For some Obama or Romney represent the same belief.

[July]

Asked whether his son can carry his torch, the elder Paul said: “Time will tell. Nobody has a torch that they give to somebody else. I don’t have a torch. Everybody has to own their own way. He’ll do well."

Now that is a real answer! I would have to say I agree.

[Bastiat's The Law]

Yeah, and keep in mind where Politico's heart is. They don't want anyone to pick up the torch. They know we are the most effective grassroots movement for a very long time.
Exactly!

[Agorism]

As it stands right now, Rand is the best national figure we have.

He isn't perfect, but he's what we got.


I assume he'll be the "best" candidate around in 2016 so we may have to end up supporting him at that point.

But I don't see why we have to support him RIGHT NOW when he's trying to convince the nation to vote, most likely, 8 years of Romney and Paul Ryan if they manage to win.

We've been over this a million times. Romney's foreign policy team has 17 Bush roll over out of his 23 total. It's the same people who convinced Bush to invade Iraq, and Rand is trying to convince the nation to do that again.

Not hard to understand that he's on the wrong team at the convention.

[trey4sports]

I hate that Rand has to dumb himself down so much in order to win.

[mz10]

But I don't see why we have to support him RIGHT NOW when he's trying to convince the nation to vote, most likely, 8 years of Romney and Paul Ryan if they manage to win.

He's not really trying to convince us. He's half-heartedly pretending to try to convince us so they can't attack him in 4 years.

No one is going to change their minds because of what he's saying, and he knows it. That's why he can say all this stuff, because he knows it doesn't help Romney one bit.

[AuH20]

I hate that Rand has to dumb himself down so much in order to win.

He's not dumbing down but rather learning from Ron's mistakes. It's good to see that the son was taking notes all these years.

[TonyMontana]

I love Ron Paul but Rand sucks, been a good run you guys but no way I will ever get behind Rand. He reminds me of that weaseley character from Billy Madison.

[mz10]

been a good run you guys but no way I will ever get behind Rand.

This seems to be pretty much the attitude of the Rand-haters

"Welp too bad Ron lost, guess that's it guys, been a good run hasn't it?"

[specsaregood]

I have no doubt that Ron would be nothing but ecstatic if there was a bunch of people competing to see who got to pick up the torch. Hell, why does there only have to be one torch? The more the merrier I'm sure he would say.

[Aratus]

last time around in '08 he gave three people his approval
(bob barr was not at the press conference and lost out)

[Matt Collins]

Here is what I think of this headline...




















http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x93/sonicspikesalbum/fluff-bw.jpg

[Matt Collins]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMhecMQkU9M&feature=em-share_video_user

[Josalyn]

This seems to be pretty much the attitude of the Rand-haters

"Welp too bad Ron lost, guess that's it guys, been a good run hasn't it?"

Tell us, why should we back Rand? Just because he happens to be Ron's son? That's not good enough. I personally like and respect Rand Paul (fellow Kentuckian here) and I happen to really enjoy his speeches (especially when he made the "does this look like a free man" comment about the TSA), I also appreciate some (not all) of his political stances on some issues. However, I also like Obama and respect him in a way and stand with him on some issues, but that doesn't mean I should support him as a president. I need to feel morally aligned with a politician's political views before I could ever see myself backing them to run my country. But please, by all means, briefly tell us why Rand is as good (or second best) to Ron.

And forgive me, if your comment wasn't trying to say "back Rand" then all apologies from me, to you. :)

But, if the torch is gonna be "passed" down to anyone, it should be Gary Johnson. He's someone that comes VERY close to Ron Paul AND Ron (if I'm not mistaken) even asked if Gary would support him in his '08 run. THAT to me says that in terms of who deserves to have the torch passed down to them, means it should be Gary. And THAT is why I am voting Gary Johnson this year. He is the only candidate (other then Ron) that stands for freedom.

[Matt Collins]

Tell us, why should we back Rand? Just because he happens to be Ron's son? That's not good enough. His voting record.

[Josalyn]

I could say the same thing about Gary Johnson, though.

[AuH20]

I could say the same thing about Gary Johnson, though.

But Gary doesn't have Rand's charisma and speaking ability. I'll still vote for him if he's on the NY ballot, but he's not the guy.

[realtonygoodwin]

Why back Rand? Because he is the most pro-liberty Senator, currently, in recent memory, and possibly for several decades. Because he has a record of taking on the Establishment and winning. Because he has the ear of Mitch McConnell, who will be Senate Majority leader if the GOP can get the Senate back. Because he can pull more than 10% of the Republican party into his "tent." Because he can explain things in a way that makes sense to regular Republicans.

Tell me - what Senator or Governor or Cabinet Secretary in office within the last decade has been more pro-liberty than Rand Paul?

[Josalyn]

But Gary doesn't have Rand's charisma and speaking ability. I'll still vote for him if he's on the NY ballot, but he's not the guy.
I do agree there. He doesn't have the speaking capability like Rand or Ron. But I judge someone off of their politics, not how well they can make me like them in a speech. Because, both Romney and Obama can make me laugh or enjoy their speeches, that doesn't mean I'll vote for them, though.


Why back Rand? Because he is the most pro-liberty Senator, currently, in recent memory, and possibly for several decades. Because he has a record of taking on the Establishment and winning. Because he has the ear of Mitch McConnell, who will be Senate Majority leader if the GOP can get the Senate back. Because he can pull more than 10% of the Republican party into his "tent." Because he can explain things in a way that makes sense to regular Republicans.
First off, thank you for the reasons and thank you for remaining respectful about it.

I don't really care if he has the ear of Mitch(I don't like him at all), he might have won against the establishment before but he still doesn't have the views that I, as a Libertarian, am looking for. However, you do have a point about him bringing in 10% of the republican party and being able to say things so that republicans can understand, those are important if you want a good republican as president and IF you're dealing with the GOP/RNC. However, I do not want to associate myself to the GOP anymore because of the recent stunts the RNC pulled, so none of your reasons (while still legitimate reasons if you happen to be a Republican) attract me to Rand. Rand is a wonderful man, and from what I can tell, he has more honesty and integrity in him then the majority of politicians (despite my anger towards him supporting Romney, I still think he's a kind-hearted person). But that still doesn't mean I'll give him my vote.


Tell me - what Senator or Governor or Cabinet Secretary in office within the last decade has been more pro-liberty than Rand Paul?
Gary Johnson.

[realtonygoodwin]

You are welsome.

See, the difference, I believe, between us is that you are a Libertarian, whereas I am a libertarian.

The point about the 10% is that his dad could only get about 10% of the GOP, whereas Rand would get much more than that. I don't care if a Republican, or a Democrat, or a Libertarian, or a Pollywog are President - I care what they do in that position. If you look at sheer numbers, the GOP is way bigger than the LP. I understand you not wanting to associate with the GOP, but the fact is they make up about 30% of the electorate. The LP makes up less than 1%.

Right now, the only way to win a Presidential election is within one of the two major parties.

[Josalyn]

You are welsome.

See, the difference, I believe, between us is that you are a Libertarian, whereas I am a libertarian.

The point about the 10% is that his dad could only get about 10% of the GOP, whereas Rand would get much more than that. I don't care if a Republican, or a Democrat, or a Libertarian, or a Pollywog are President - I care what they do in that position. If you look at sheer numbers, the GOP is way bigger than the LP. I understand you not wanting to associate with the GOP, but the fact is they make up about 30% of the electorate. The LP makes up less than 1%.

Right now, the only way to win a Presidential election is within one of the two major parties.
Like you, I solely care about what the person in the Presidents spot will do, I definitely am on the same level as you there. And of course the GOP is much bigger than the LP but it's my personal belief that we need to change that. I'm tired of conforming to the parties THEY choose for us to pick from. I think that if we can, which I know we can, we could make the libertarian party just as big (if not bigger) and as well known and influential as the liberal or conservative parties. There's a lot of democrats, republicans, and independents out there that would join a libertarian party if they could just start hearing about us more. I know it. Because I used to be an Independent until my sister showed me Ron Paul.

So, rather then voting for the chosen party again (in this instance, a republican or democrat) I'd rather spend my vote and time and efforts on trying to promote the libertarian party and their ideals, that way (one day, hopefully in the near future) we could be 20 or even 30% of the voting crowd and giving the liberals and conservatives a run for their money.