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Thread: Ron Paul Roundup (11-15-07)

  1. #1

    Ron Paul Roundup (11-15-07)


    Ron Paul Roundup (11-15-07)
    by RS Davis



    Hello Freedomphiles! Today's Roundup is gonna be a good one. Let's start with The Boston Globe, which is calling Ron Paul...quirky:

    • RON PAUL has just reached the peak of geek chic.

      Having delivered a passionate paean to libertarianism at Oyster River High School, Paul has been presented with a pair of sporty two-tone sunglasses.

      "Put them on!" the students yell. The 72-year-old Republican presidential candidate obligingly dons the youthful shades - then stands there beaming as the assembly hall erupts in delight.

      Moments later, the kids flock around him, seeking autographs. Later that afternoon, Paul earns another enthusiastic reception from a capacity crowd at the University of New Hampshire.

      So what explains Paul's appeal?

      For starters, the rumpled septuagenarian is light-years distant from your typical pol, and young people are drawn to someone who is different, notes Tess Milliken, a senior at Oyster River High.

      And authentic. Or, as Nick Mennelle, a junior, puts it: "He's straight up."

      Plus, "He doesn't use big, complicated words," says Louis Maude, a junior.

      Like Stacy's Mom (of Fountains of Wayne fame), Paul has got it going on, and not just with the young.


    They go on to say that he won't stand a chance once people realize what he really stands for, but like everyone else, they underestimate his supporters and their level of understanding.

    Here's another piece that walks the line, revealing a blunt interpretation of a nuanced set of principles:

    • "Where the extreme left and the extreme right meet, you'll find Ron Paul," said Merle Black, an Emory University political scientist and co-author of the book "Divided America."

      "He strikes a chord with some segments of the population," especially with his quixotic, uncompromising style, Black said. "But there's a pretty low ceiling in terms of his actual vote."

      Paul, who earned a medical degree from Duke University and embraces the nickname "Dr. No," often casts the only House vote against proposals he sees as too meddlesome or unworthy of taxpayers' money.

      In recent months he was the only House member to oppose an expression of support for Northern Ireland's new power-sharing government, a condemnation of "the persecution of labor rights advocates in Iran" and a statement citing the importance of "providing a voice" for relatives of Americans who have vanished.


    The Kansas City Star is also writing about our man in a piece called Ron Paul Does it His Way:

    • "He's definitely an enigma," said Allen Cumbie, the head of the Democratic Party in Matagorda County, Texas. "I don't even think he tries to get legislation passed that benefits this district ... and yet he continues to be elected year after year. I don't really know how to explain it."

      Paul's bedrock supporters have a ready answer: He's authentic.

      They may not agree with or even understand all of Paul's views, which range from bringing back the gold standard to abolishing the Internal Revenue Service. But at a time when slick packaging and scandal have soured many people on politics, voters are attracted to Paul's grandfatherly, if uncompromising, honesty.

      "You always know where he stands," said Texas gun dealer Alan Jones, whose engraved .22-caliber rifles have become popular auction items at Paul fundraisers. "The thing you wish for is that there were more politicians in Washington that voted the way that they really think instead of doing it because of politics."

      A soft-spoken obstetrician who's delivered more than 4,000 babies, Paul has managed to strike a chord both with little old ladies _ his "Granny Warriors" - and dope-smoking libertarians. When he ran for president in 1988, High Times magazine ran a cover story titled, "Ron Paul: Pro-Pot Presidential candidate."


    I'm not sure about that "dope smoking libertarians" line. Is that meant to imply that all libertarians are hitting the bong? Hell, if all the pot smokers in America were libertarian, would we really be polling in the 2% range for the last few decades?

    Andrew Sullivan is commenting on the smear attacks:

    • The right has a new line of attack: some Muslim-Americans and Arab-Americans support him! Muslims supporting Republicans? The horror ... Look, it seems to me that Paul needs to do better at trying to distance himself from some others on the fringes, and his campaign is still a little not-prime-time in dealing with the usual suspects. But the general line of questioning - "Are you now and have you ever been an anti-Semite?" - is offensive. As Derb points out:
    • Has anyone else noticed that "Ron Paul" almost rhymes with "Goebbels," if you drop the "s"? And look—it has the same number of syllables!

      I see no reason why the campaign should not return any money given by neo-Nazis who are subsequently identified as such. But Jonah is right that this whole thing tells us more about Paul's amateurism in rapid-response than anything else. It's also a function of some neocons' unfortunate tendency to cry anti-Semitism if anyone disagrees with them on foreign policy. Meanwhile, Wonkette offers a bipartisan "anti-Paultard" olive branch to RedState. Heh.


    Love that guy. Glenn Beck, who I used to enjoy on the radio, has smeared not Ron Paul, but as seems to be the new line of attack, he has smeared us. He basically called all of us supporters terrorists. DailyPaul has a response:

    • Dear Sirs,

      CNN and Glenn Beck recently aired an inflammatory and misleading piece comparing Ron Paul supporters to terrorists. Mr. Beck's irresponsible association has already led to impassioned responses from the large, peaceful and growing Ron Paul community, including a call to boycott CNN's sponsors, and an eloquent response from a former US Marine.

      I was heartened by the Marine's response. I fully support and encourage the boycott efforts. With this letter, I am also urging everyone within the Ron Paul community to write directly to CNN, requesting that your network and Glenn Beck issue a retraction, clarification and an apologyto Ron Paul and the peaceful Ron Paul community for your wrongful and damaging characterization.

      On November 5th, nearly 40,000 hard working Americans donated an average of $98 to Ron Paul's campaign for president, resulting in one of the biggest one-day online political fundraising events ever. We did it because we are tired of mainstream networks such as yours ignoring us. We did it with the intention of making a news splash so large that you could no longer pretend we do not exist. Our efforts succeeded beyond our wildest expectations, but Mr. Beck's recent piece has revealed your true colors.

      You did something shameful. You chose to portray 40,000 upstanding Americans as terrorists. I find it tragically ironic that Glenn Beck chose a segment called, "A Nation Divided" to compare the peaceful actions of fellow American citizens to terrorists. Mr. Beck's actions only contribute to the division in this country. Calling this large group of peaceful Americans terrorists is an absolute disgrace, especially in a post-911 America when the Military Commissions Act allows the president, at his sole discretion, to name any American an "enemy combatant." Your network and Glenn Beck may think it is funny to play fast and loose with this kind of language, but I take this very, very seriously. Nothing could be more divisive than to call fellow law-abiding Americans "terrorists." Is this how far your network has sunk in its desperate grab for ratings? Shame on you. Shame on you and your editors, for selling out the foundations of our country so readily and so cheaply.

      In his piece Mr. Beck erroneously stated that Dr. Paul's November 5th fundraising was done "to commemorate Guy Fawkes." What is your source for this statement? This statement is factually incorrect, and I hereby request that you produce your source, or retract it. With this single incorrect fact, Beck goes on to spin an entire piece that only amplifies and distorts his disinformation. Later in the piece, CNN's guest, David Horowitz, speaking of Ron Paul, says: "I think it is very significant that he chose Guy Fawkes as an image." This so clearly misinformed that it would be laughable if not for its seriousness. Is it your network's standing policy to allow such woefully misinformed guests on all of your "news" shows? How can you expect informed citizens to believe any of your future program guests if you allow such egregious errors go unchecked and uncorrected? Ron Paul and his official campaign had nothing to do with the organization of this day, so it is impossible that Ron Paul was the one to "choose Guy Fawkes as an image." Please do not assume that all Americans are complete idiots, nor that we will stand by passively as you broadcast such lies.

      Your poorly researched, factually incorrect, sensationalist opinion is exactly what is dividing America and driving citizens from networks such as yours to the unimpeachable honesty and integrity exemplified by Dr. Ron Paul and his peaceful campaign for president. I hereby request that you issue a retraction, clarification and apology to Dr. Paul and his grassroots supporters. Without it, your network will continue its accelerating slide towards the realm of complete irrelevance in the minds of informed Americans.

      Sincerely,
      Michael Nystrom
      Editor


    If you'd like to craft your own response to Glenn Beck's slanderous mischaracterization, click here. Feel free to reprint your responses in the comment section of this Roundup.

    Over at reason, David Weigel has stumbled upon a hilarious thing from John McPain's website:

    • Sort of related, John McCain's web site has a new "game" where you answer leading questions about how terrific John McCain is. Here's what happens if you claim Ron Paul's a stronger candidate:



    Now let's move on to the big dogs, the magazine that put PJ O'Rourke on the map. It's Rolling Stone, and they have a nice interview with Dr Paul, focusing primarily on foreign policy. Here's what he had to say about the Iranian "threat:"

    • What do you make of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and current U.S. posturing toward Iran?

      He's a loudmouth, and he hurts their cause. But we help his cause when we gang up against him. When we pass sanctions against him, the dissidents in Iran who would like to get rid of him rally around him for nationalistic reasons.

      We get hysterical over a guy who doesn't have a single weapon, and nobody's proven that he's ever violated the arms-nonproliferation treaty. Matter of fact, the International Atomic Energy Agency is going to have an agreement with him by the end of the year. That's why you have all of this warmongering going on: It is to try to find an excuse to start bombing him before they prove that he doesn't have a chance of having a weapon. That's exactly what we did with Iraq. I'm scared to death they're getting ready to do that with Iran.


      The Bush administration says Iran is supporting the Iraqi insurgency. How much can we trust that assessment?

      About as much as what we heard about Iraq before the war. What was true about that? Very, very little, if anything. They're capable of telling us anything if they want to go to war. And that's what they want.


    Ha! That reminds me of an argument I had with a neocon radio guy the other day. He said, "Look, we are in Iraq because of the War on Terror. We are creating a democratic stronghold in the Middle East, from which we can better prosecute the War on Terror."

    "How's that workin out for you?" I replied. Conversation over.

    The LewRockwell.com blogs are talking about Ron Paul's poll numbers and Brad seems to be channeling me:

    • Brad Funkhouser comments: "Paul is at 8% as a Libertarian nominee and running 5-6% in the GOP race .... One big reason he samples so poorly in the GOP race is due to the fact that a majority of supporters are not Republicans ....These folks will never be picked by a poll that is narrowly focused on GOP registered or` likely voters'..... He is being grossly `underpolled' ..That will evidence itself as real votes are counted."


    USADaily is reporting about Dr Paul's poll numbers, as well:

    • Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul is forcing polls to adjust and quickly. A poll released Tuesday by CBS and NY Times shows Paul at 8% in New Hampshire ahead of Fred Thompson and tied with McCain in Iowa.

      This follows polls released by the Boston Globe in association with the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, and the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion that also showed Ron Paul passing Fred Thompson in New Hampshire.

      "The polls confirm what we already know: Congressman Paul is catching on in the early primary states," said Paul campaign spokesman Jesse Benton. "His unifying message of freedom, peace, and prosperity is resonating strongly with voters in Iowa and New Hampshire, and we're rapidly gaining support nationwide."


    And finally, MTV is writing about the huge student movement for Ron Paul:

    • As of Monday, Jeff Frazee, national youth coordinator for the campaign, said there are 348 Students for Ron Paul chapters across the U.S., a number he said is far and away more than all of the other GOP campaigns put together. It's all part of an unconventional strategy to decentralize the campaign, allowing student volunteers to take leadership roles and help run their own local organizations, with very little direction or demands from campaign headquarters.

      "A lot of what he says resonates with students, like him talking about allowing them to opt out of Social Security," Frazee said. "How many of them look at their first paychecks and see the hundreds coming out of it each week for Social Security? The students also see the war spilling into Iran and the possibility of a draft."

      This hands-off approach to harnessing intense people power on the Internet has quickly become the hallmark of the Paul campaign. A Technorati search brings up more than 1,000 Ron Paul blogs, and a Facebook page called Ronpaulforpresident2008 claims more than 42,000 members — and according to Frazee, it's growing at a clip of 1,000 new members a week. Learning the lessons of the Dean campaign, Frazee said efforts like the "money bomb," coordinated by a handful of volunteers through ThisNovember5th.com and RonPaulLibrary.org, help get the word out better than traditional TV ads. Best of all, they don't cost the lean, mean campaign a dime.

      After studying abroad in London for four months, Hubbard said he got a bleak image of how "warmongering" America is viewed in Europe. That inspired him to join a Paul Meetup group on campus this year and to volunteer to be a student coordinator for Southern California. Working with three other volunteers, he attracted 1,000 people to a September 12 on-campus rally by posting fliers, hitting up local publications and reaching out to alumni and current students online and on campus. He also helped set up a post-rally $500-a-plate meet-and-greet and a follow-up forum for student supporters of any presidential candidate.


    Go to the blog to see a Ron Paul Girl video.



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  4. #3
    Glenn Beck is getting at least a few letters from Ron Paul folks. I'm one of them.

  5. #4
    Thank you for posting these highlights



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