Ron Paul Rises

[test123]

While the numbers for other candidates go up and down, Ron Pauls numbers are climbing steadily.

According to Public Policy Polling’s most recent survey of likely Iowa caucus-goers, the current numbers are:

Gingrich 22%
Paul 21%
Romney 16%
Bachmann 11%
Perry 9%
Santorum 8%
Huntsman 5%
Johnson 1%

U mAD?


Brief Overview of Congressman Paul’s Record:

• He has never voted to raise taxes.
• He has never voted for an unbalanced budget.
• He has never voted for a federal restriction on gun ownership.
• He has never voted to raise congressional pay.
• He has never taken a government-paid junket.
• He has never voted to increase the power of the executive branch.
• He voted against the Patriot Act.
• He voted against regulating the Internet.
• He voted against the Iraq war.
• He does not participate in the lucrative congressional pension program.
• He returns a portion of his annual congressional office budget to the U.S. treasury every year.

http://freedom-pictures.com/images/ron-paul-batman.jpg

[Churchill]

People gonna troll you because he loves jesus

[Avinor]

Can you honestly say the GOP would ever select him as their nominee? No? Then why on earth does he keep running as a Republican?

Answer: he wants attention for his brand of libertarianism. Which is far more honorable than running for a well paid job on Fox news, but its silly to complain that he's not being taken seriously if he's not a serious candidate. Besides, you know you enjoy the image of the poor, repressed-but-actually-right-about-everything group of heroes that would save the country if only its foolish citizens gave them the chance. Its so romantic.

[Gredival]

Answer: he wants attention for his brand of libertarianism. Which is far more honorable than running for a well paid job on Fox news, but its silly to complain that he's not being taken seriously if he's not a serious candidate.

Alternatively he's serious, but the two-party system forces him to pick one primary to run in. That inevitably means his brand of libertarianism repels as much as it attracts, preventing him from getting the nomination.

That's not to say that a third party candidacy is the answer. The two-party system exists because it's simply inefficient/incredibly hard for a third party to survive in our system as compared to say, the UK's.

And that's not to say Paul doesn't have some downright idiotic ideas, even if he's principled enough not to throw meat to the conservative base on every single issue.

[Atreides]

He might be able to pull off a last-minute primary win by catching the wave at just the right moment, but Paul's problem in a general election is the same as Romney or any other candidate-- they have their loyal band of followers but they don't create anywhere enough enthusiasm to drive republicans (and especially independents) to the polls in numbers necessary to defeat an incumbent president, even one with poll numbers as bad as Obama.

And a 3rd party run by Ron Paul would just take 20% of the vote from whoever the Republican nominee is, giving the election to Obama.

[test123]

The NBC-Marist survey, conducted between November 27-29, shows Paul ties with Obama, 42-42. Current front runner Newt Gingrich loses to the president 47-37; Mitt Romney, who until recently was leading most polls, is also defeated, 46-39.

The survey shows that Paul has support outside of the GOP, which any Republican will need to score a victory in November next year. The political perspectives of those polled was almost evenly distributed, with 36-percent claiming Democrat, 35-percent Independent, and 28-percent Republican party affiliation.

Ron Paul leads Obama 42 to 35 percent among independent voters and attracts 15 percent of Iowa’s Democrats. Paul also leads Obama by 14 percentage points among voters under 45 years of age.

Additionally, 70-percent did not support or consider themselves to be members of the Tea Party, where Paul finds his strongest following.


Pay attention to 8:45, very important but never talked about.

He makes sense to me!

[Ragnus]

I really do feel like the guy is only moderate by law of averages. His views are either completely left wing or right wing with really nothing in the middle.

Then again I wouldn't be too broken up if he edges out Gingrich. A Ron Paul America seems like a fun place in theory.

Looks like someone is thinking a Ron Paul victory isn't too out of the question.

http://www.cartoonistgroup.com/store/add.php?iid=74150

[Greatguardian]

Honestly, we've had this conversation a dozen times before. Paul's political views are all kinds of fucked-up crazy. But, he's straight up and doesn't take people's shit, and that's all people want from a politician right now. Someone who isn't going to talk in double-speak and vote/say whatever it takes to get elected again rather than giving a damn about what their constituents want.

If his policies were less fucking crazy, he'd have my vote in a heartbeat.

[shepardG]

Thing is though, his entire ideal of limiting gov. Involvement and leaving most decisions up to the states, would, in theory, limit his influence on the policies he has that are crazy.
In theory...

[Soa]

The NBC-Marist survey, conducted between November 27-29, shows Paul ties with Obama, 42-42. Current front runner Newt Gingrich loses to the president 47-37; Mitt Romney, who until recently was leading most polls, is also defeated, 46-39.

The survey shows that Paul has support outside of the GOP, which any Republican will need to score a victory in November next year. The political perspectives of those polled was almost evenly distributed, with 36-percent claiming Democrat, 35-percent Independent, and 28-percent Republican party affiliation.

Ron Paul leads Obama 42 to 35 percent among independent voters and attracts 15 percent of Iowa’s Democrats. Paul also leads Obama by 14 percentage points among voters under 45 years of age.

Additionally, 70-percent did not support or consider themselves to be members of the Tea Party, where Paul finds his strongest following.

The problem with polling like this is that it completely ignores the fact that elections are won in the Electoral College, not by popular vote. The truth of the matter is that approximately 230 of those votes are considered safe Democrat, while only about 125 are considered safe Republican. That means all Obama has to do is win 2-3 of the 12 swing states to win the election, which is very very doable for him.

I tried to explain this to some of my hardcore Conservative family members and it flew completely over their heads.

[Byrthnoth]

If there was a Tea Party politician that took the various official "Tea Party" opinions and carried them through to their logical endpoints, that person would be a clone of Ron Paul.

The fact that his world view is logically coherent (unlike the Tea Party, Democrats, or Republicans) is what makes him appeal to people. The problem is that his positions, opinions, and viewpoints are only infrequently supported by reality.

[Talint]

I'd rather vote for Rick Perry* than Ron Paul.


*Note: Not actually voting for Rick Perry.

[test123]

Explain how his positions conflict with reality?

I think he is offering the best solutions because he deducts them from inherent truths. The only way he would be conflicting with reality is when reality is hypocritical, i.e reality is in constant conflict with itself and there are no right answers.

Thats why Ron Paul is a genius, it is impossible for him to be a hypocrite as his framework of though is never self-conflicting.

[Kerberoz]

Anyone who can win the Republican primary cannot win the general election, and vice versa.

Also, I have to ask Paultards: did you forget 2008? And did you invent any magical steel alloys?

[archibaldcrane]

Explain how his positions conflict with reality?

He thinks that leaving tons of stuff up to the states is a good idea.

In reality it is not.

There.

[Rhinox]

He's a creationist. Sorry cant take a candidate serious if he argues against science.

[archibaldcrane]

Explain how his positions conflict with reality?

He's a creationist.

also that

[Gwynplaine]

I can see why people may find Ron Paul appealing given all the other politicians, I really can. But I have too many issues with him as a person that worry me to ever want to see his ideas put into practice.

For one thing he is really a latent Christian theocrat, although he simply doesn't want the federal government enslaving you. He wants the state government to do it if people decide it's okay. He thinks personhood begins at conception and that abortion is immoral, AND he is a doctor who has FULL knowledge of the horrible effects personhood and the banning of abortion would have on women. His foreign policy is even worse than Obama's and is suicidally bent on blaming the U.S. He believes that sanctions constitute force and that if we just leave Iran alone they will stop hatin'.

Overall I simply don't think his viewpoints stem from having a solid idea of what he is for. I think he is merely against things as a floating dogmatic truth. Happily at least he has no chance to win.

Gary Johnson unfortunately has no chance to win either, but he is far superior to Ron Paul. Gary Johnson is pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage.

[ronin sparthos]

I want this guy to become the nominee just to see Mitt Romney wreck his campaign office in a rage after being the frontrunner since '08 and for the shit-eating grin to be wiped off that arrogant blowhard Newt Gingrich's face.

I'm fairly confident even if Ron Paul got elected that half the shit he wanted to do would never see the light of day. Pull the US military out from overseas? lolno.

[test123]

Ron Paul says that his personal beliefs are never to be imposed on somebody else, and he would reject someone elses beliefs onto him. I think belief and truths can overlap, but not completly, Ron Paul presents the truths including that which overlaps with his beliefs, but he does not argue beliefs where truths are not present.