Bradley in DC
07-10-2007, 04:05 PM
Texan Ron Paul plans presidential run paired with re-election to U.S. House
Paul foresees troops coming home, government shrinking, civil liberties being restored.
By W. Gardner Selby
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
VICTORIA — When U.S. Rep. Ron Paul paused to honor veterans with a medal ceremony in Southeast Texas, constituents instantly applauded mentions of his latest grandchild and his 50th wedding anniversary.
They were politely quiet, though, when he spoke against undeclared wars abroad and expanded spying at home.More than 19,000 people in 399 cities have organized 'meet-up groups' around the presidential candidacy of U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, center. He chatted with fans after speaking to about 300 supporters during a campaign rally Saturday in Las Vegas.
What's this?
"This is a great country, and we don't want to lose it," he said. "That's why we have to keep our eye on the real issue, and that's the preservation of liberty."
Paul, a specialist in obstetrics/gynecology who no longer practices medicine, said his personal way of being Earth-friendly is to grow tomatoes organically. But Paul, who will turn 72 in August, has no intention of puttering into obscurity. In addition to seeking an 11th House term next year, he's chasing the Republican nomination for president.
Characterized by critics as a nuisance candidate with wacky (or at least hard-to-grasp) ideas, Paul is touted by supporters as a straight-talking wise man poised for big breaks such as a strong showing in next month's straw poll of Iowa Republicans.
Paul, who is little known, has not polled well nationally. He registered no support in a July 6-8 USA Today/Gallup telephone poll of 394 Republican and GOP-leaning voters, trailing Rudy Giuliani and 10 others. The poll had a margin of error of 5 percentage points.
A June 25-28 Rasmussen Reports poll showed Paul among six trailing candidates, together drawing 4 percent. The telephone poll of 624 likely GOP voters had a margin of error of 4 percentage points. Paul takes encouragement from enthusiastic turnouts — more than 700 people at an Austin fundraiser in May, 1,000 at a July 1 talk in Iowa — and interest on the Web. Since May, his site has been visited more than those of the other GOP candidates, according to Alexa.com, a subsidiary of Amazon.com that provides information on Web traffic to other companies.
And fundraising is up. Candidates are not required to report details until mid-July, but Paul's campaign says he ended June with $2.4 million cash in hand, up from $500,000 at the end of March. That balance topped the $2 million held by Arizona Sen. John McCain, but it was far behind the balances of Giuliani, the former New York mayor, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who ended June with $18 million and $12 million, respectively.
Through March, Paul ranked sixth in contributions among the GOP hopefuls with $639,000. McCain raised $13 million in the year's first quarter, Giuliani fielded $16.6 million, and Romney topped the Republicans with $23 million raised.
Individuals accounted for nearly all of the money Paul raised from January through March. One in six donors identified himself or herself as a retiree, and Texas residents outnumbered contributors from any other state, according to PoliticalMoneyLine.
Paul said he expects to gain ground if front-runners disparage him as Giuliani did when Paul suggested during a May debate that the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks had roots in the United States' meddling in the Middle East.
Paul later recommended several works to Giuliani. He says voters should read "The Law," a 19th-century pamphlet by French economist Frederic Bastiat, who distrusted government and championed free markets. "The people are starved for straight answers," Paul said. "They're tired of the promises made by big government that never come through."
[EDIT: The Law link here (http://bastiat.org/en/the_law.html)]
His wife, Carol, isn't sure voters will heed him. "I know what he has to offer the country. I don't know if they will be smart enough to accept it," she said.
Shifting affiliations
Paul, reared in Pittsburgh, settled in Lake Jackson near Houston after being stationed in San Antonio as a flight surgeon in the U.S. Air Force. He won his first House seat in 1976 as a Ronald Reagan Republican but didn't seek re-election in 1984. Instead, he ran for the U.S. Senate, losing to Phil Gramm in the primary. His House seat went to Tom DeLay.
In early 1987, Paul excoriated the GOP, saying, "I want to totally disassociate myself from the policies that have given us unprecedented deficits, massive monetary inflation, indiscriminate military spending, an irrational and unconstitutional foreign policy, zooming foreign aid, the exaltation of international banking and the attack on our personal liberties and privacy."
As the 1988 Libertarian Party choice for president, he called for ultimately wiping out the CIA and FBI, eliminating the federal income tax, ending federal regulation of banking and currency, shuttering other agencies and ending the war on illegal drugs — positions he hasn't dropped. He drew less than 1 percent of the vote.
Paul's public career seemed to be over until he resurrected himself by winning the Republican nod for a second House seat in 1996, upsetting Democrat-turned-Republican Rep. Greg Laughlin in a runoff despite Laughlin toting endorsements from former President George Bush and George W. Bush, then Texas' governor.
Paul called rejoining the GOP a practicality. "The Democrats and Republicans have made it virtually impossible for people to compete in a democratic sense outside the two-party system. . . . To participate, you have to be realistic," he said.
Racial remarks
Paul seems inspired by regional groups founded around his candidacy. More than 19,000 people have organized "meet-up groups" in 399 cities, with the 400-plus-member Austin group Paul's largest.
On a Friday night at the University of Texas, Paul Davis, who manages a martial arts school, told fellow meet-up volunteers, "It's so fortunate to be behind someone as pure as Ron Paul." Leaders also spoke of contacting Iowa voters by telephone and door to door.
Critics credit Paul with fanning interest but say voters might balk at his racially tinged past writings. As cataloged by the Daily Kos, a pro-Democratic Web site, Paul once said in a self-published newsletter that 95 percent of black males in Washington are semi-criminal or entirely criminal. Of gang crime, Paul wrote, "If you have ever been robbed by a black teen-aged male, you know how unbelievably fleet-footed they can be."
Paul separately criticized Barbara Jordan, then a former U.S. House member, saying: "Everything from her imitation British accent, to her supposed expertise in law, to her distinguished career in public service, is made up. If there were ever a modern case of the empress without clothes, this is it. She is the archetypical half-educated victimologist, yet her race and sex protect her from criticism."
Paul, while attributing the newsletter comments to a ghostwriter, has apologized. He also has been quoted calling Jordan a delightful lady. Spokesman Jesse Benton said Monday: "People have always tried to smear him on this. It's real old news."
Dual campaigns
Like other Texans who have leaped for national office — Lyndon B. Johnson and Lloyd Bentsen — Paul plans to run for president while seeking re-election.
Constituents joining Paul for the medal ceremony last week in Victoria praised him without committing to his national bid.
"Pretty good congressman," said Patrick McEnroe, who fought in World War II. "He knows how to say no to those pork projects." (Paul has conceded, however, that he's like other House members requesting earmarks for district projects; he said he'd not be doing his job if he refused to.)
Kenny Loesch, whose father fielded medals, said, "I like his no-holds-barred approach to going about things." But Loesch said he supports President Bush's commitment to Iraq and generally views Paul as more radical than himself.
Unusual positions
Paul's message sets him apart. It always has.
Laughlin, now a Washington lawyer, said of Paul: "He'd be fiscally very conservative. We'd have very little international involvement. He would be different than anyone we've seen in my lifetime."
Paul intrigues some by his advocacy of civil liberties, including opposition to the Patriot Act. He told the veterans: "Especially after 9/11, we in the Congress have been too careless; we have been undermining our civil liberties. . . . The danger is not only from those who come to commit terrorist attacks but also our careless attitude about protecting our liberties here at home."
He encourages other supporters by remaining adamantly anti-abortion. He also favors abolishing the Federal Reserve and restoring gold to back currency.
He says the Constitution has been disregarded partly through undeclared wars in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. As president, Paul would bring troops home from around the planet, from Japan to South Korea to the Middle East and Europe. His view: It costs too much to stay.
"Empires always die because they extend themselves too far," he said. "I prefer bringing them home in an orderly fashion before we're faced with chaos."
Paul favors getting tough on illegal immigration. He would assign returning troops to border security. He said nobody knows how to address illegal immigrants already living here.
"Nobody can conceivably round them up. But I certainly wouldn't give them citizenship," Paul said.
He claims no master strategy.
"All I know is I have to do my best," he said. "I have the advantage of low expectations by the public."
wgselby@statesman.com; 445-3644
Paul foresees troops coming home, government shrinking, civil liberties being restored.
By W. Gardner Selby
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
VICTORIA — When U.S. Rep. Ron Paul paused to honor veterans with a medal ceremony in Southeast Texas, constituents instantly applauded mentions of his latest grandchild and his 50th wedding anniversary.
They were politely quiet, though, when he spoke against undeclared wars abroad and expanded spying at home.More than 19,000 people in 399 cities have organized 'meet-up groups' around the presidential candidacy of U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, center. He chatted with fans after speaking to about 300 supporters during a campaign rally Saturday in Las Vegas.
What's this?
"This is a great country, and we don't want to lose it," he said. "That's why we have to keep our eye on the real issue, and that's the preservation of liberty."
Paul, a specialist in obstetrics/gynecology who no longer practices medicine, said his personal way of being Earth-friendly is to grow tomatoes organically. But Paul, who will turn 72 in August, has no intention of puttering into obscurity. In addition to seeking an 11th House term next year, he's chasing the Republican nomination for president.
Characterized by critics as a nuisance candidate with wacky (or at least hard-to-grasp) ideas, Paul is touted by supporters as a straight-talking wise man poised for big breaks such as a strong showing in next month's straw poll of Iowa Republicans.
Paul, who is little known, has not polled well nationally. He registered no support in a July 6-8 USA Today/Gallup telephone poll of 394 Republican and GOP-leaning voters, trailing Rudy Giuliani and 10 others. The poll had a margin of error of 5 percentage points.
A June 25-28 Rasmussen Reports poll showed Paul among six trailing candidates, together drawing 4 percent. The telephone poll of 624 likely GOP voters had a margin of error of 4 percentage points. Paul takes encouragement from enthusiastic turnouts — more than 700 people at an Austin fundraiser in May, 1,000 at a July 1 talk in Iowa — and interest on the Web. Since May, his site has been visited more than those of the other GOP candidates, according to Alexa.com, a subsidiary of Amazon.com that provides information on Web traffic to other companies.
And fundraising is up. Candidates are not required to report details until mid-July, but Paul's campaign says he ended June with $2.4 million cash in hand, up from $500,000 at the end of March. That balance topped the $2 million held by Arizona Sen. John McCain, but it was far behind the balances of Giuliani, the former New York mayor, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who ended June with $18 million and $12 million, respectively.
Through March, Paul ranked sixth in contributions among the GOP hopefuls with $639,000. McCain raised $13 million in the year's first quarter, Giuliani fielded $16.6 million, and Romney topped the Republicans with $23 million raised.
Individuals accounted for nearly all of the money Paul raised from January through March. One in six donors identified himself or herself as a retiree, and Texas residents outnumbered contributors from any other state, according to PoliticalMoneyLine.
Paul said he expects to gain ground if front-runners disparage him as Giuliani did when Paul suggested during a May debate that the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks had roots in the United States' meddling in the Middle East.
Paul later recommended several works to Giuliani. He says voters should read "The Law," a 19th-century pamphlet by French economist Frederic Bastiat, who distrusted government and championed free markets. "The people are starved for straight answers," Paul said. "They're tired of the promises made by big government that never come through."
[EDIT: The Law link here (http://bastiat.org/en/the_law.html)]
His wife, Carol, isn't sure voters will heed him. "I know what he has to offer the country. I don't know if they will be smart enough to accept it," she said.
Shifting affiliations
Paul, reared in Pittsburgh, settled in Lake Jackson near Houston after being stationed in San Antonio as a flight surgeon in the U.S. Air Force. He won his first House seat in 1976 as a Ronald Reagan Republican but didn't seek re-election in 1984. Instead, he ran for the U.S. Senate, losing to Phil Gramm in the primary. His House seat went to Tom DeLay.
In early 1987, Paul excoriated the GOP, saying, "I want to totally disassociate myself from the policies that have given us unprecedented deficits, massive monetary inflation, indiscriminate military spending, an irrational and unconstitutional foreign policy, zooming foreign aid, the exaltation of international banking and the attack on our personal liberties and privacy."
As the 1988 Libertarian Party choice for president, he called for ultimately wiping out the CIA and FBI, eliminating the federal income tax, ending federal regulation of banking and currency, shuttering other agencies and ending the war on illegal drugs — positions he hasn't dropped. He drew less than 1 percent of the vote.
Paul's public career seemed to be over until he resurrected himself by winning the Republican nod for a second House seat in 1996, upsetting Democrat-turned-Republican Rep. Greg Laughlin in a runoff despite Laughlin toting endorsements from former President George Bush and George W. Bush, then Texas' governor.
Paul called rejoining the GOP a practicality. "The Democrats and Republicans have made it virtually impossible for people to compete in a democratic sense outside the two-party system. . . . To participate, you have to be realistic," he said.
Racial remarks
Paul seems inspired by regional groups founded around his candidacy. More than 19,000 people have organized "meet-up groups" in 399 cities, with the 400-plus-member Austin group Paul's largest.
On a Friday night at the University of Texas, Paul Davis, who manages a martial arts school, told fellow meet-up volunteers, "It's so fortunate to be behind someone as pure as Ron Paul." Leaders also spoke of contacting Iowa voters by telephone and door to door.
Critics credit Paul with fanning interest but say voters might balk at his racially tinged past writings. As cataloged by the Daily Kos, a pro-Democratic Web site, Paul once said in a self-published newsletter that 95 percent of black males in Washington are semi-criminal or entirely criminal. Of gang crime, Paul wrote, "If you have ever been robbed by a black teen-aged male, you know how unbelievably fleet-footed they can be."
Paul separately criticized Barbara Jordan, then a former U.S. House member, saying: "Everything from her imitation British accent, to her supposed expertise in law, to her distinguished career in public service, is made up. If there were ever a modern case of the empress without clothes, this is it. She is the archetypical half-educated victimologist, yet her race and sex protect her from criticism."
Paul, while attributing the newsletter comments to a ghostwriter, has apologized. He also has been quoted calling Jordan a delightful lady. Spokesman Jesse Benton said Monday: "People have always tried to smear him on this. It's real old news."
Dual campaigns
Like other Texans who have leaped for national office — Lyndon B. Johnson and Lloyd Bentsen — Paul plans to run for president while seeking re-election.
Constituents joining Paul for the medal ceremony last week in Victoria praised him without committing to his national bid.
"Pretty good congressman," said Patrick McEnroe, who fought in World War II. "He knows how to say no to those pork projects." (Paul has conceded, however, that he's like other House members requesting earmarks for district projects; he said he'd not be doing his job if he refused to.)
Kenny Loesch, whose father fielded medals, said, "I like his no-holds-barred approach to going about things." But Loesch said he supports President Bush's commitment to Iraq and generally views Paul as more radical than himself.
Unusual positions
Paul's message sets him apart. It always has.
Laughlin, now a Washington lawyer, said of Paul: "He'd be fiscally very conservative. We'd have very little international involvement. He would be different than anyone we've seen in my lifetime."
Paul intrigues some by his advocacy of civil liberties, including opposition to the Patriot Act. He told the veterans: "Especially after 9/11, we in the Congress have been too careless; we have been undermining our civil liberties. . . . The danger is not only from those who come to commit terrorist attacks but also our careless attitude about protecting our liberties here at home."
He encourages other supporters by remaining adamantly anti-abortion. He also favors abolishing the Federal Reserve and restoring gold to back currency.
He says the Constitution has been disregarded partly through undeclared wars in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. As president, Paul would bring troops home from around the planet, from Japan to South Korea to the Middle East and Europe. His view: It costs too much to stay.
"Empires always die because they extend themselves too far," he said. "I prefer bringing them home in an orderly fashion before we're faced with chaos."
Paul favors getting tough on illegal immigration. He would assign returning troops to border security. He said nobody knows how to address illegal immigrants already living here.
"Nobody can conceivably round them up. But I certainly wouldn't give them citizenship," Paul said.
He claims no master strategy.
"All I know is I have to do my best," he said. "I have the advantage of low expectations by the public."
wgselby@statesman.com; 445-3644