Paul's Progress
David Weigel | December 3, 2007, 4:35pm
The ever-readable Matt Labash, whose nigh-Faustian literary skills were enough to make
John Cox interesting,
takes on the Ron Paul musical REVOLution in the current
Weekly Standard. Paul's inspired "atrocious music," but Labash isn't too hard on them...
Perhaps the most talented Paul songwriter I've encountered is the Pittsburgh folkie named Daryl Fleming, of Daryl Fleming and the Public Domain. He sings with a pleasing tomcat rasp, and when reaching for the bigger notes, sounds like he should be twinning harmonies with The Band's Levon Helm. Fleming feels that limited government is underrepresented in rock and folk music. He's a far cry from dancing pizzas and seems a bit self-conscious about the company he's keeping. "I am not guilty by association," he emails of the grab bag of other Paul supporters. "The 9-11 Truthers, white supremacists, and assorted kooks (perhaps some of the other songwriters?) who support Ron Paul do not invalidate his message. Faulting RP (or me) for some of his non-sanctioned supporters is like blaming Jodie Foster for the shooting of Ronald Reagan."
Over the weekend Paul
won the Virginia GOP straw poll with 38 percent of the vote, even after Sen. George Allen made a personal appeal for
Fred Thompson.
Republican officials dismissed the poll's outcome, noting that Paul has been concentrating on winning straw polls all over the country.
"He brought people in here. What is more critical to look at is who finished second and third. That is a more true indicator of the feelings of the Republican Party of Virginia," said Tucker Watkins of Randolph in Charlotte County, a former 5th District GOP chairman.
And that
Des Moines Register poll that shows Mike Huckabee surging into first place in Iowa shows Paul rising from 4 percent to 7 percent, tied with John McCain.
DF Robichaux | December 3, 2007, 6:51pm | #
The polls are wrong and have been in primarys forever in contested races. Ron Paul will win the Republican nomination because:
Huckabee will take Iowa because of the christianist vote then hit a brick wall in NH, Nevada, Wyoming, Michigan and South Carolina. He is back down to middle of the pack after that.
Guiliani will not get off of the ground in the early states and will be buried in the south.
Romeny beaten by Huckabee in Iowa, flip-flops his momentum in the following primaries.
McCain's only chance is New Hampshire and he will not get it done. He does not rise a third time.
Thompson never left the ground and is just digging deeper.
That means that Paul will:
Place in the top 3 in Iowa.
1st in N.H- open primary and libertarian hotbed
1st in Nevada- open primary and libertarian hotbed
Top 2 in Michigan - open primary with antiwar Demo’s coming over after self-disqualification.
Top 3 in South Carolina.
Ron Paul after the first round will have more top 3 finishes than anyone else and will not have to look back. The intial primary states except for Iowa are made to order for a Goldwater Republican who's time has come.
http://www.lifebelowi10.blogspot.com/
Mad Max | December 4, 2007, 1:24am | #
Eric D/R,
I’m sorry that some of the H&R comments have gotten so vitriolic as to make you look reasonable by comparison. You’re acting like you’re trying to engage people in conversation, and I appreciate that.
However, it will take more than talking down Dr. Paul, and dropping the names of the many libertarians/conservatives who are hedging their bets by supporting other candidates, to get me to give up on the good Doctor. He’s the only candidate I can vote for without needing a shower afterwards.
“No, on the contrary Romney is quite fiscally conservative. He was supported enthusiastically by the Republican Liberty Caucus in his run for US Senate against Ted Kennedy in 1992 and his subsequent run for Governor. What's cool about Romney is that he's a Northeasterner. And the Republican Party desperately needs that.”
OK, Romney is more fiscally conservative than Ted Kennedy. I give him that. But then again, 100 boatloads of drunken sailors with unlimited charge accounts taking a month’s shore leave at the priciest brothel in Marseilles are more fiscally conservative than Ted Kennedy. The bar is pretty low. [insert Ted Kennedy bar joke here]
Edward,
You’re certainly giving a lot of attention to talking down a candidate who you say has no chance of winning.
I certainly appreciate your constant reminders about Dr. Paul’s social conservatism. “OMG, he supports the Pledge of Allegiance! And God! And Mom! And apple pie!” As a Right-Wing Fundamentalist Chrisofascist (™), I find all this very reassuring.
But be assured that Dr. Paul’s Rainbow Coalition has room for everyone – Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Jains, atheists, agnostics, [insert name of unpopular sports team] fans, you name it.
“The best excuse most can come up with for a continued US presence is that we're already there; In other word, "Yeah, we were wrong, but now that we're there, we have to finish the job" (a rational that makes about as much sense as "mistaking" a stranger for your wife, but refusing to pull out 'til you're "finished")”
There’s a joke worth stealing. Thank you in advance.
Vote Quimby | December 4, 2007, 1:37am | #
8 Point Agenda by Latyrx. Plus it gives hip-hop fans a libertarian point of view. Try and listen to the song if possible to get the real effect. It's fan-freaking-tastic.
We believe in maximum effect
[And absolutely] every single facet of the gem
[Including] {but [not limited to the]
{Pursuit of truth [which has been] {unduly
[Smoothed over] {made soothing [to those]
Who have been doing the polluting in fact
{We wrote some raps
[Now I have here in my chest an outline]
{A list, [a platform], {manifesto, [a mandate
From intro] {to outro, it's absolutely rock solid
From the {bottom to the top and the [top to the bottom]
{Here's a outlook, and how it reads, [number one,]
{We don't believe in other people thieving the ideas
That our cerebrums cultivate and create, but if you're stealing them
[Now that's a calculated mistake]
{A combination infinite involving digitized code.. you can't break, point two:
[We believe in unconditional control
Not under supervision of another operator] {so
[What that means is our beliefs our boundaries shall all be balanced properly
Without restriction, limitation or revoke, Point three:]
{We don't believe in you controlling we [That's point three]
{I'm not obligated to listen to shit that you're telling me
That's the type of thing that could lead to a felony, I don't give a fuck
You yellin' at me at the top of your lungs, you do it
Otherwise it isn't gonna get done, I hold the reins to my tongue
{And decide when to close and open the door, the point four:
[Point four, you been warned, so before we move on
Just from point four on, just so you don't distort
The order make us go back and forth, once more
Let's repeat what we've recorded thus far, now point one:]
{We don't believe in other people thieving the ideas
That our cerebrums cultivate and create, make no mistake, point two:
[We believe in unconditional control of our beliefs and our opinions
Our souls, our growth, and our dominions, point three:]
{We don't believe in you controlling we
I'm not obligated to do or say or listen to a god damn thing, a point four
[Point four], {point four, [point four],
{point four, [point four], {point four, [now point four]:
We believe in all of the above just for the reasons given
Up, livin' it up, livin' not.. givin' up - setting
Government and loving it, so we self-sufficient
Not trippin' off of that subliminal stuff
We not submitting coming with it rough and tough
We gonna suppliment your knowledge with.. a substance
We not gonna let an opportunity get left out
We not.. gonna let some indecision stop what we about
We not.. gonna show no mercy over flowing the drought
DDP | December 4, 2007, 7:23am | #
Deroy Murdock? Libertarian? Are you fucking joking?
"This is all the more reason for President Bush to reinstate waterboarding, proudly and publicly, so America can get the information we need to prevent Muslim-fanatic mass murder and win the Global War on Terror.
Appropriately enough, waterboarding is not used on American citizens suspected of tax evasion, sexual harassment, or bank robbery. Waterboarding is used on foreign Islamic-extremist terrorists, captured abroad, who would love nothing more than to blast innocent men, women, and children into small, bloody pieces. Some of them already have done so.
Waterboarding has worked quickly, causing at least one well-known subject to break down and identify at least six other high-profile, highly bloodthirsty associates before they could commit further mass murder beyond the 3,192 people they already killed and the 7,715 they already wounded.
Though clearly uncomfortable, waterboarding loosens lips without causing permanent physical injuries (and unlikely even temporary ones). If terrorists suffer long-term nightmares about waterboarding, better that than more Americans crying themselves to sleep after their loved ones have been shredded by bombs or baked in skyscrapers.
In short, there is nothing “repugnant” about waterboarding."
-Deroy Murdock
Any person within their wits that writes the above text is not, by the loosest definitions, a libertarian. Torture (or "enhanced interrogation", in Oceanic terms) violates one of the basic doctrines of libertarianism.
I know you want to stay safe little Dondero, and that you will sell your soul to the smallest man offering that safety. But please don't obfuscate our philosophy with your cowardice.
There is more to libertarianism than low taxes.
PS- "I'm now declaring for Giuliani, unless some more libertarian candidate like Dennis Miller, Ron Paul, Gary Johnson or Wayne Root jumps in the race." - Eric Dondero
So, Ron Paul is "more libertarian", by your own admission?
