Save the GOP

Written by Alex on March 19th, 2008

No caption needed. H/T Redstate

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22 Comments so far ↓

Mar
19
3:25
PM

Mike
Sour grapes from Redstate because Ron Paul won’t support McCain? Come on Alex, large numbers of conservatives aren’t supporting McCain. If a guy is in favor of small government, or even the political rights provided by the 1st Amendment then it is a bit hard to throw your support behind such a man as McCain.

Enjoying Ron Paul’s failure as a presidential candidate is all fine and good since everyone knew he wouldn’t win the nomination in the first place. I would like to think however that most (not all, but most) of the principles he defended on the campaign trail are things to be celebrated, conservative ideas that rarely receive much mainstream airtime are now on the public’s lips.

Let’s hope Paul wins his election so he can continue to (mostly) promote the causes we all hold dear.
Mar
19
6:54
PM

Eliezer's DC
Ron Paul is a sick joke (so is anyone else who suggests 9/11 is America’s fault). In fact, Obama’s preacher appears almost sane compared to him. And I’m sure McCain needs/wants the support of either lunatic equally.

Its a shame that Ron Paul did not lose his congressional primary, but hopefully I won’t have to hear his voice or about him for at least another four years.
Mar
19
7:35
PM

Alex
http://senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=108&session=1&vote=00459
Mar
19
7:35
PM

Langley
I disagree with Ron Paul, but he’s not a “sick joke.” He has a lot of good things to say (and a few not-so-good things). Come on, let’s be rational here.
Mar
19
9:53
PM

Mike
Ron Paul is a sick joke for suggesting that the foreign policy decisions of the United States of America have repercussions? I have never heard or read Ron Paul use the word “fault”, instead I have seen him state that America’s policy of propping up dictators in the Middle East for the sake of stability has cost us dearly in terms of our reputation among the populace, helping to breed some (not all) of the hatred towards America. He has never said that Al-Qaida is not to blame for 9-11, but that doesn’t mean we ourselves are blameless in creating the situation in the Middle East.

Now you may or may not agree with that (I don’t fully agree myself), but since when is a reasonable debate about blowback out of bounds? Since when is it reasonable to compare a man who has a fairly traditional American isolationist viewpoint of world affairs to a racist black preacher who hates all white people?

Your rhetoric is bordering on unhinged, but then you are a beltway man what else would make sense to you. If you don’t want to hear any of Ron Paul’s ideas again hit the DC cocktail circuit, you are guaranteed to never overhear a serious discussion about American foreign policy.
Mar
19
9:56
PM

Mike
Alex I guess your point with that link was to show how McCain fought against Medicare part D?

Sorry, but you don’t get points for doing the right thing one day and then turning around and doing the wrong thing the next. I have seen no evidence that John McCain has squashed his dangerously authoritarian streak. I have little confidence that once elected he will listen to anyone but his own conscience which scares the hell out of me.
Mar
19
10:32
PM

Wiseburn
I’ll admit the Ron Paul blimp has long been out of money. But for anyone who thinks the R.P. r3VOLution is over, should take a look at the reports coming out state and county caucuses where the Revolutionaries are taking over or taking prominent positions in many state GOP parties.

No time know to find or make a list.

Steve
Mar
19
11:25
PM

Ben
You know what, thank you for posting that.
Ron Paul (though i admit he had some moderately likeable if not a little too extreme views) was the most ANNOYING person to ever run for president.

because:

1) my ability to search for videos on youtube was destroyed because his fanatical supporters have posted so many stupid, stupid videos about their now defunct candidate
2) 9/11 truthers are the base of ron pauls campaign. enough said.
3) anytime some poor news organization would run a poll saying “who won the debate” re: the GOP, ron paul would win over 80% of the vote. im not really sure what to ascertain from this, but one thing is that his supporters probably need new hobbies.
4) finally……his supporters remind me of obama supporters, basically people who need a) jobs b) new hobbies and c) significant others who ARE not a politican

i dunno, one time i read this Dean Barnett (weekly standard) column calling Ron Paul the “Don’t Tase Me Bro” candidate…. i thought that was pretty accurate.
Mar
20
8:12
AM

Karl Rove
It’s true. We conservatives have won a great victory. With John McCain as our leader, we will continue to expand the state, welcome illegal immigrants, create new entitlements, cringe before multiculturalism, and celebrate new Muslim states in Europe. We’ll probably lose to Obama too, but then leftists will stop calling us racists and Nazis and be nice to us.

The real threat are these crazy Ron Paulites who want to cut the federal government, stop the economic collapse, and secure our borders instead of Iraq’s. What stupid leftists.
Mar
20
8:27
AM

Mike
I think a vocal minority of Ron Paul supporters are clearly deranged. Unfortunately as a politician Ron Paul attracted a segment of the population which probably doomed his campaign from gaining traction with the sane majority of GOP voters.

I read that same article calling Ron Paul the “Don’t Tase me Bro” candidate. For all of the silliness surrounding that episode, I think most conservatives sympathized with the guy (even if he was a dick) for taking some police brutality right on the nose. Ron Paul captured a good segment of the conservative base that has lost all faith in the organs of American government to fulfill their obligations to defend the citizens personal liberty and natural rights.
Mar
20
9:05
AM

Eliezer's DC
By proclaiming in a whiny voice that you are the only true principled conservative does not make one so.

This is a good summary of Ron Paul’s “conservative” views:
http://www.chrispeden.org/compare.html

Ron Paul was an embarrasment to the conservative movement. The liberal media loved to pay attention to him to make conservatives look bad.
Mar
20
9:52
AM

Mike
Karl, your blog needs an About page. The image of a white knight with “Europa” on his shield striking down a swarthy enemy leaves much to the imagination.
Mar
20
10:43
AM

Mike
“By proclaiming in a whiny voice that you are the only true principled conservative does not make one so.”

You can hear me!?

Honestly did you even read what I wrote? I don’t claim to be the only conservative and Ron Paul’s views certainly don’t represent the one true strain of conservative thought. All I did was state that you are being completely unreasonable in comparing Paul to a racist preacher.

All Paul wanted was an open honest debate about foreign policy. I disagree with him about many of his views on the topic, but that doesn’t mean I have to devolve into cheap rhetoric to oppose him. You sound like you care more about what the liberal MSM thinks about conservatives than what “conservatives” actually do once they are in office. The MSM uses Ron Paul to the GOP look bad? The MSM uses everything to make the GOP look bad, but that doesn’t mean we should suspend serious policy discussions on the future of conservative thought.

Disagree with Paul all you want to, but when you have to try and squelch conservative debate by flinging around empty rhetoric then you look like a beltway hack running scared.
Mar
20
11:53
AM

Eliezer's DC
I was not reffering to you, but to Ron Paul.

Please name at least one example of what Paul accomplished “to promote the causes we all hold dear” OR what has he done while in office?

On the few issues, that Paul has the right idea (ex. smaller government), he hurts the cause by associating it with a wacko - himself (you can accuse me of name-calling all you want but that is exactly what he comes off as when he keeps talking about the gold standard this and the trilater commission that).

And Yes, perception matters. That is why Reagen succeeded.
Mar
20
12:31
PM

Sam
Eliezer’s DC - “Ron Paul was an embarrasment to the conservative movement. The liberal media loved to pay attention to him to make conservatives look bad.”

The media doesn’t need Ron Paul to make conservatives look bad. They’ve had George Bush for the last seven years.
Mar
20
1:28
PM

Grover Norquist
What are you talking about Sam? George W. Bush was a heroic “Rebel in Chief” as my good friend Fred Barnes describes. He has created a permanent Republican majority. The public supports more wars in Iraq, more illegal immigration at home, and more government programs financed by deficit spending. The conservative movement has never been stronger. Now sit down, shut up, and send money to McCain, or else you are a Defeatocrat.
Mar
20
2:57
PM

Gceres
Ron Paul is a kook. He was a kook when he was the libertarian candidate for President. He is a kook now. He will always be a kook. Supporters of Ron Paul are kooks. They have always been kooks. They will always be kooks.

Look…when I was in college in North Carolina years ago, I flirted with the Libertarian Party. I’m very libertarian minded on economics so thought it would be a good fit. Attended one meeting and do you know what they spent the whole time debating?….Whether or not the Police Department should be privatized…seriously…

The Libertarian Party and people like Ron Paul are not productive, not champions of freedom and do not advance conservatism…they are kooks that poison the name of conservatism, the cause of limited government and the cause of personal freedom.

Have been and always will be. They need to be rejected and isolated from the mainstream of the party.

I’ll also point out that the biggest backers of Ron Paul were the far-left 9/11 Truthers and the Far-Right White Supremists (check out David Duke’s website and it’s pro-Ron Paul slant).
Mar
20
3:10
PM

Gceres
How about these lovely headlines on David Duke’s website:

Ron Paul and His Courageous Vote Against the Resolution Condemning the Palestinians of Gaza!

David Duke Discusses What Ron Paul Must Do to Win!
Mar
21
1:51
PM

Shane H
Ron Paul is the only Republican I would have voted for in the general election. He’s the only one who listens to the people’s outrage about the foolish war in Iraq.
Mar
23
11:42
PM

Paul Snatchko
Last year, I attended a few events at the Ron Paul headquarters here in New York City. It was a large space that was always quite full of people and campaign activity.

Yeah, there were some kooks there. Yes, there were some 9-11 truthers there. Yes, there were some other assorted nuts around. Yes, these people were annoying.

But, there were also a decent number of smart, healthy-minded people there, too, who were just genuinely interested in supporting a small-government, libertarian-oriented Republican candidate.

These people helped Ron Paul raise the millions that he did — and they helped him get that 7 percent or so of the vote that he got in many of the state primaries and caucuses.

For many of these healthy, sane Ron Paul supporters, this was one of the first times they were ever involved in a political campaign.

So, to the folks who made nasty comments above, when you attack all Ron Paul supporters and try to say they are all alike, realize that you may be turning off some people who might otherwise be part of your own natural coalition of future small-government, fiscal conservatives.

John McCain and the Republican Party should try to reach out to the healthy, sane Ron Paul supporters and try to keep them engaged in the process.
Mar
24
1:25
PM

Gceres
I’ll repeat…Ron Paul is a kook…His supporters are even more obviously kooks….
Mar
24
7:34
PM

Mike
If Ron Paul is a kook then what this country needs is more kooks.

You sound like a Tory condemning Tom Paine for his radicalism.