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View Full Version : Ron Paul Draws Huge Lincoln Day Crowd in Knoxville 4/12/2013




sailingaway
04-12-2013, 07:11 PM
http://media.knoxnews.com/media/img/photos/2012/03/03/media_2418941ddbc14f768e2ced8edbd006e1_t160.jpg

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2013/apr/12/ron-paul-draws-huge-lincoln-day-crowd-in/


Ron Paul, former Texas congressman and presidential contender, brought his message of balanced federal budgets and non-interventionism in foreign policy to the Knox County Republican faithful Friday night for one of the largest crowds ever to attend a Lincoln Day dinner in Knoxville.

Paul, a personal friend of U.S. Rep. John J. Duncan Jr., R-Knoxville, is forming an Institute for Peace and Prosperity to work on what he called “frustration” with foreign policies because Democrats and Republicans “pretend” during elections they have different policies but really don’t, he said. He said he expects the institute to attract Democrats, Republicans and libertarians, which is what he really is, along with constitutionalists and others.

He made the comments at a news conference prior to the dinner at Rothchild’s Catering and Conference Center in West Knoxville. He was introduced by Duncan, who will be a member of the Institute’s board of advisers.

Paul said young people are key to the success of presenting different voices on political issues and particularly within the Republican Party. Since choosing not to seek another term in Congress last year, he has been spending a lot of time on college campuses giving talks.

Paul , a physician, said he is pessimistic in the short run on foreign policy and the economy but optimistic in the long run because he sees people losing complacency and becoming active in trying to make changes.

Duncan told Paul the Friday night crowd was the largest Lincoln Day dinner in Knox County in attendance for a non-election year and the second largest ever. Duncan said the largest was in 1994 when then-U.S. Rep. Newt Gingrich of Georgia spoke. That year, Republicans swept Congress.

Knox County Republican Chair Ruthie Kulhman said 750 people were expected at the dinner.

more at the link.

I wonder if Duncan told Ron that Gingrich's crowd when he was speaker was larger than Ron's, before or after Ron said Republicans pretend to be different from Democrats but really aren't..... well, I guess that was privately in interview, but it sure plays loud in the copy.

I'm betting the reporter is a Democrat....

And Ron has much bigger crowds at colleges...

sailingaway
04-12-2013, 08:58 PM
No one is back yet with pictures?

Matt Collins
04-13-2013, 05:57 AM
I estimate about 800 people came to see Ron Paul speak at the Knoxville Republican Party dinner last night; the room was at full capacity! About half the room were non Ron Paul supporters. There is no doubt in my mind that we blew them away with our enthusiasm for the ideals that Ron espouses especially considering most of them had never heard anything like that before

Matt Collins
04-13-2013, 05:57 AM
No one is back yet with pictures?

There are a few pics here:

https://www.facebook.com/events/357883804325422/?fref=ts

sailingaway
04-13-2013, 07:47 AM
Thank you!!

If people turned up at the end without advance notice, maybe Ron DID beat the Gingrich in '94 numbers..... I wouldn't so much mind Ron not having the highest ever numbers, since this was not an election year, and that was a GOP wave year, but, SRSLY, Gingrich?

Mind you, the one place he could get numbers was in the south, and Lincoln Day dinner, for the Speaker, should have been Gingrich's balliwick..

itshappening
04-13-2013, 08:46 AM
Jimmy Duncan is the last remaining GOP member in Congress who voted against the Iraq war in 2003

He is therefore a national treasure and an important symbol.

sailingaway
04-13-2013, 12:27 PM
Yeah. I'm hoping a few of our new guys would vote the same way, at this point, though.

Shane Harris
04-13-2013, 01:35 PM
The first semester I leave UT (to study abroad in Krakow) and Ron Paul visits for the first time. FML

And I've been waiting for him to visit since my first semester in 2009.

Matt Collins
04-14-2013, 02:05 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7VAMaFjIq2g