The other day I was laughing at this statement by Michael Steele:
Yet today, the six men vying to run the Republican National Committee praised the grassroots enthusiasm Paul tapped into during his campaign—and discussed how they would like to capture that enthusiasm to expand the party’s appeal.
“Ron Paul certainly brought a whole new generation of voters and I think it’s important going forward that we recognize the strengths and the attributes of these individuals who are out there actively building the party and building a movement, a consensus if you will, on certain issues. We can’t look that in the eye and say ‘No, we don’t want that,’” said former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, adding that the RNC needs to find “creative ways” to work with candidates supported by Paul and his followers, and to work with Paul directly to that end.
Anyone who paid attention to anything the last year and a half would realize that the GOP base and Ron Paul and his supporters are fundamentally at odds with each other to the point that I simply don’t know how Paul has not been expelled from the GOP. Exhibit A:
Good luck swallowing up the Ron Paul supporters into that GOP big tent, Mr. Steele (and that isn’t even going into the stuff Orcinus dug up).
(via)
Cris
The RNC wants the enthusiasm of the Paul supporters without having to make any policy concessions to them. They’re hoping the Liberty faction will be the next Evangelicals.
John PM
Hell, with that speech, Paul should probably be expelled from the Democratic Party as well, given how both Democrats and Republicans are falling all over themselves to support Israel.
And may I say that Ron Paul has elegantly and susciently boiled down the problems with 30 years of US foreign policy into two-and-a-half-minutes, so of course this speech will not appear anywhere on TV.
Garrigus Carraig
I oppose Ron Paul on more than one issue, don’t doubt it. But hell he laid it out pretty damned well in two minutes. Can he really be the only one in Congress able to say this? Ugh. Can he get up & make this point every day, like Cato the Elder?
Zifnab
Ron Paul is about the only Republican on the House floor I still respect even when I don’t agree with him. He came to the House floor with a god’s honest war resolution on Iraq rather than that authorization of military force bullshit. He regularly proposes actual Constitutional Amendments for legislation he believes isn’t already constitutional. The man isn’t out to break the law just to get his way, and I love that about him.
Comrade Dread
Yes.
Because he’s one of maybe three politicians in Washington who have any convictions that he’s willing to stand by, rather than cravenly parrot the conventional wisdom to keep all of the neocons happy.
And no, the GOP is not the party of anyone who agrees with even a quarter of Paul’s policy positions.
bh
yeah the whole Ron Paul thing is weird. It’s doesn’t take long at Orcinus to see the very shady background of this character and many of his supporters. But then he says something spot on like that. Something very few outside of Kucinch and maybe Sanders ever say. Weird.
SGEW
Gah! Stop making me like Ron Paul!
Oh, Dr. Paul. You would be my favorite politician ever ever ever, and I would support you for any position whatsoever*, if only it wasn’t for that whole, you know, crazy stuff. Dammit.
When it comes to foreign policy comprehension, he’s always the smartest guy in the room**. Why, oh, why does he also have to be so . . . so . . . fucking batshit insane on everything else?
Sigh.
*Any position, wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more.
**Actually not so difficult when said room is filled with Republican Presidential candidates, or the House of Representatives on any given day.
Svensker
Can he really be the only one in Congress able to say this?
Nope. Dennis Kucinich said it the other day. 2 out of 435 ain’t bad…
Garrigus Carraig
I guess I’ll wait for Barbara Lee to round out the trifecta.
Shey
Ron Paul, you make so much sense sometimes. Its almost as if you thought about foreign policy that was developed as you were younger, said "this is what has worked, this is what hasn’t," and acted accordingly. I didn’t know that was possible in politics.
SGEW
Actually, now that I think about it . . .
So, the election’s over. So there really aren’t any immediate consequences. And Ron Paul is going to be, what, 109 years old in 2012, right? But he’s still probably going to piss everywhere he can inside the Republican’s "big tent" in the meantime, aye?
I think we should all become Ron Paul supporters for a while. Troll up the blogs.
Ron Paul! Ron Paul! Ron Paul!
Bring back the blimp!
. . .
Why not?
Cris
Ron Paul threads + Israel threads = dance all night
PeakVT
Gah! Stop making me like Ron Paul!
Seconded. That speech was awesome.
Chris Johnson
At the end of that video clip I cried out "Somebody fucking cheer! Goddamn it!"
The man’s done his homework. Imagine that.
The Populist
Since I mentioned Rep Paul in another thread, I’m glad this was posted. THIS is the kind of thing I 100% agree with him on.
sgwhiteinfla
Actually Dennis Kucinich put on an even better presentation and BOTH of them are factually correct.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X35OAb2wGo
EMPY
You would think a party of political opportunists would see what this man has done by just speaking the plain truth about these types of issues.
SGEW
I always said that Kucinich and Paul would be great co-presidents. They’d both have their handy pocket constitutions (heavily highlighted and underlined, I imagine), a thorough understanding of American history and foreign policy, and, hopefully, just enough mutually contradicting crazy-making-goo-goo-ga-ga ideas to cancel each other out.
Kucinich/Paul ’12! Why not!?
Cris
Except that it’s also a party of corporate CEO types, and they’re acting accordingly: learning all the wrong lessons, attempting to mimic the trappings of success* without understanding the reasons for it.
*Yes, I recognize that "success" in reference to Ron Paul is a relative term.
That would be beautiful. I loved the Cobb/ Badnarik cross-party dream team of 2004, but Paul / Kucinich actually has name recognition (and the veneer of major party validation).
gopher2b
You should start posting some of his speeches during the campaign about about the economy collapsing because we pretend to buy stuff, and thus drive up the prices, with Monopoly money.
I don’t know that he always identifies the right solutions, but he’s the only one I know who correctly identifies the problems and their causes.
Elvis Elvisberg
You’re right, of course, that there are irreconcilable differences between the Paulites and movement conservatives.
That said, that’s at least a graceful, complimentary quote from Steele. Soft bigotry of low expectations for Republicans, and all, but at least he didn’t declare a jihad on Paul.
C
Works for the Dems!
C
I have to say that after all this capitulation, though I think he’s wrong to INSANE on some issues, I do honestly admire his spirit.
Maus
You fail to think about that political opportunists don’t WANT to get anything done. They want to be in power, stay in power, and rise in power.
You’re assuming that this means shit when it comes to their duties to the American people.
Charity
Like at the RNC when twelve thousand people had their own mini-Paul convention? The press were trying to whip up the Obama/Clinton "throwdown", and hardly anyone mentioned that 12,000 RNC’ers actually left the building!
The Other Steve
I believe Cynthia McKinney was fairly outspoken as well.
I’m not too keen on Ron Paul in regards to social and economic policy, but I think he’s right in this case.
Just Some Fuckhead
If Ron Paul is so fucking smart, why the hell is he a Republican?
Just Some Fuckhead
Oh wait, he’s prolly a creationist. Never mind.
MikeL
What’s funny is the redstate.com crowd have been called Ron Paul supports "Ronulans" and "nucking futs" for over a year now. And anyone expressing any kind of support for Ron Paul got the BLAM stick. I wonder how this will go down.
SGEW
@Just Some Fuckhead:
Abortion, Christian Dominionism, and anti-UN "black helicopters" sentiment. Also racism. But he’s not a creationist, as far as I know.
DougJ
I agree.
He may be a gold standard-loving anti-semite, but there really are issues where he’s the only one (in the public dialog) making sense. I can understand why he has so many enthusiastic supporters, even if I wouldn’t vote for him myself.
TheHatOnMyCat
I am really looking forward to the coming disintegration of the GOP coalitions.
Whether there is a real party somewhere on the other side of that breakup, I have no idea. Don’t care. Just want to see them in total chaos and disarray.
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMIX
Ron Paul didn’t even make a dent in the numbers, really.
Is the GOP so desperate that they would look to increase their numbers by adding in supporters who are diametrically opposed to some of their beliefs, just to lift their numbers a bit? If so, why not just unite with the Dems and start working together?
jrg
The GOP thinks the internet is a highly targeted marketing tool that they can use to get the message out exclusively to the base. They are wrong. The rest of us wind up finding out about the racist, moronic chain emails and dimwitted conspiracy theories.
They have reached white, rural, sub-90 I.Q market saturation. That’s becomes a problem when the rubes get on the CNN message boards claiming that everyone who can count to 20 or tie their own shoes is a liberal elitist and therefore a traitor.
Dissent is not treason, it’s a fundamental part of online discussion, and online forums (if not personal profiles) are generally open to be viewed by anyone. Until Republicans can wrap their heads around those simple fucking concepts, tech-savvy GOP candidates like Ron Paul are going to remain an edge case inside a dying political party.
TheHatOnMyCat
Well, there’s the My Brother syndrome: They think we are godless devils. They don’t want to join us.
As near as I can tell.
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMIX
I can’t say I disagree. I’ve been opposed to the GOP since I was nine years old. That’s actually an interesting statement considering everyone in my family was a Republican.
During the years of the Bush administration, a lot of Repubs just said "we won, get over it", so why are they acting so desperate to stay out of the wilderness now? Time in the wilderness is a good thing, according to the Bible the thumpers say they believe in so much. I would think they should be rejoicing.
TheHatOnMyCat
Circus, I don’t think these Bible thumpers are into the wilderness part, they are into the Jesus-as-celebrity part. Those "My God is an Awesome God" stickers are not about being in the wilderness, they are about being in the spotlight, I think.
What are your thoughts (knowing full well that you know more about this than I do …..)?
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMIX
How about they are just charlatans? They don’t really HAVE any such beliefs if they can’t distribute the punishments and merits out fairly?
TheHatOnMyCat
Could be. Of course, not all Repubs are religious dupes. Some of them are just "conservatives" (whatever that means) and some of them are confused Libertarians. Some of the are just pissed off over civil rights 40 years later.
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMIX
1. Anyone who can say they think Bush was a great president and fears for what Obama will do cannot call himself a "conservative". (Remember how we shook our heads at the cognitive dissonance we saw in that bumper sticker that said something to the effect that "The Disaster Begins 1/20/09"? )
2. Some of them are pissed off over civil rights that occurred some 140 years ago too.
jrg
TheHatOnMyCat: The right wing runs the gamut bound on one side by destructive authoritarians (as CIRCVS suggests), and on the other side by well meaning, but misguided people who believe that continually speaking for God is an indication of morality, spiritual erudition, and sound judgment.
Maus
If they understood this they probably wouldn’t be Republicans. If they acted on this they wouldn’t be in the GOP.
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMIX
Truly an astounding concept, don’tcha think?
How often do you feel happy when someone else tries to speak for you? I think if a God actually existed, it would piss him off to no end when his supposed believers do this.
Sure, I could say "I think he means…" but I would never presuppose that I know someone else’s thoughts (especially a God) better than he knows them himself.
I don’t even order someone else’s meal without their approval first.
mey
I would support a Paul/Kucinich, Kucinich/Paul, even over an Obama/? ticket… well, maybe not Obama/Feingold. Loves me some Feingold.
jrg
You’d feel more comfortable ordering for someone if you ate a little bit of their flesh every Sunday. If you are what you eat, and Jesus ate nothing but twinkies, then you ate Jesus, could you become diabetic?
SGEW
No. But you might wind up shooting the mayor of San Francisco.
wilfred the shoe thrower
These are the people who voted against the resolution, incidentally:
Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)
Gwen Moore (D-WI)
Ron Paul (R-TX)
Nick Rahall (D-WV)
Maxine Waters (D-CA)
kommrade reproductive vigor
Fxd.
flyerhawk
While I agree with his general point he, as usual, goes much too far on the points.
The world isn’t going to be a better place simply if we decide to take our ball and go home.
Voted for him in the primaries
Im generally refrencing half of you guys. This was my first presidential election, second oppurtunity, and I found this great interview that a college student had given Dr. Paul in his dorm room. I was not the only one relating to this unusual platform, given that Paul won a more than significant plurality at my school among college Republicans.
Admitting that by the time the general election came I had wished I had registered as Democrat to vote for Kucinich or Gravel (maybe), It was certainly Paul that brought me into politics.
After reading much of Pauls literature, watching, reading, and listening to every piece of media possible about this man, I have not found one piece of evidence that he is a bible thumping (though a believer, not loud about it and certainly not pushy), bigoted, nor a racist. As some of you know and one of you mentioned, some are just confused libertarians, not that Paul is, he merely takes title as Republican to be able to have the party platform.. where is he going to turn to, obviosly not the dems.
Here is my request, as I have heard these accusations about Dr. Paul, not one person has shown me an article or citation of Pauls to support these claims of bigotry, racism, and "bible thumping." One friend of mine admitted she had recieved some information in a chain email.
Is there a chance that the constitutional democracts, and pissed off conservatives will unite to form a decent party of the people, for the people. Compromises will have to be made from both parties. I need my guns, peace, social justice/social security, and repeal or sever reform of the controlled substance act. Does this chance depend on if Obama shafts the people as Bush did?
RP/DK2012 or DK/RP 2012 – I dont care which one.
Hell,throw in Cynthia McKiney too.
And please dont bother disputing economic or social policies – I completely understand these positions and other peoples’ having differing opinions, unless the dispute will actually cause a rift in this coalition forming.
Im glad to see that you all agree with him here.
paraphrasing from a verified quote I remember:
"As it appears right now, the American economic system will not be able to maintain itself for more than a decade without imploding into complete collapse" – R.P. 1998
A well put together book, and where I remember this quote from, R.P.’s vast collection of speeches, house resolutons, and essays, A Foreign Policy of Freedom. As insane as some of his policies are, I seriously doubt we would be in this economic situation if Paul was in charge instead of reagan (bush), bush, clinton (bush), bush. Ill give this new guy a chance, but you guys got to stay vigilant… As my favorite democrat (all last seven proper nouns intentionaly lower case) once said, "The price of liberty is eternal vigilance."
Another fun fact, Ron Paul was quickly willing (and sadly at that) to declare that the bush administration and neocons in congress are commiting economic terrorism.
For the love of god or yourself, whichever, please dont vote for Jeb! Hese torn our schools to part down here.