Ron Paul: Don't Let Them Gilchrest Me

Fearing defeat in his March 4 primary contest for his congressional seat in Texas, Ron Paul calls on those who gave so surprisingly and generously to his presidential run to give now to his congressional race.

My February reason cover feature on Ron Paul and his fans.

UPDATE: For details on why Paul thinks he needs his supporters' help and pronto, see this from Pajamas Media saying internal polls from both Paul and his opponent Chris Peden have Paul behind 11 points. 

Comments

sage | February 19, 2008, 2:06pm | #

I hope he wins, but I think I'm done with campaign contributions. Forever. I'll stick with voting and bitching on blogs and writing letters to the editor and my representatives, as futile as all that may be.

Lew Rockwell | February 19, 2008, 2:09pm | #

Reason never do anything but bash the only candidate for real freedom! I am cancelling my subscription and your magazine should be renamed something more appropriate!

tim | February 19, 2008, 2:16pm | #

I would, but it's not in my own self-interest. RP can get his cash from his constituents. Or maybe he could start a newsletter an sell them at the local Skrewdriver coverband show, Bolt Loose.

Nick | February 19, 2008, 2:19pm | #

I contributed for him to run for president, on any ticket, not for Congress, and I won't start now. It does me no good for him to be in Congress as one sound mind in a cesspool with 434 other jagoffs. If I were in his district, that would be something else. Like say, if he earmarked back to each member of my district the exact amount I paid in Federal Income Taxes, now that would be something.

Josh | February 19, 2008, 2:24pm | #

When he says "they," is he only talking about the neocons, or is he referencing other "animals"?

Tom | February 19, 2008, 2:34pm | #

Down here in Ron Paul's District a two-sided Ron Paul for Congress sign appeared recently in front of my neighborhood convenience store. As I was pumping gas one morning, I thought that the back side of the sign was looking a little shabby. I walked over and checked it out. It obviously was a recycled sign from a past campaign, with the weatherbeaten side hidden by a bush. Cheap shit.

Peden, an otherwise nice guy, appeals to the red meat Republicans with pitches for traditional values, the War on Terror, one man + one woman = one marriage once, etc. That works here in Friendswood, Peden's home base. Don't know how all that will play deeper down the district in Paul's home turf of Lake Jackson and beyond.

Paul has been uncanny in getting re-elected time and again against GOPs in the primaries and Dems in the general elections, and no one in either party establishment can quite figure out how and why. The guy does absolutely nothing that makes a COngressman attractive, such as bringing home some bacon. I've always figured that he collects a lot of Democrat votes, as they would prefer a quasi-Republican who at least votes occasionally against his party, to a lock-stepper like Peden and some of Paul's previous primary foes.

jj | February 19, 2008, 2:36pm | #

You guys are hilarious. You spend the day griping about how the country is going to hell in a handbasket. But when it comes to actually helping out by donating cash or some time, it's too much effort. You're my best bad argument for becoming a socialist. At least they stab you in the back with a smile.

jj | February 19, 2008, 2:39pm | #

I contributed for him to run for president, on any ticket, not for Congress, and I won't start now. It does me no good for him to be in Congress as one sound mind in a cesspool with 434 other jagoffs.

I'm guessing you've never watched him berating Greenspan and Bernanke, or berating the Republicrats on spending and taxes? You're right, the House is a dark, shitty hell-hole. Let's extinguish the last remaining candle. Yawn.

Adamness | February 19, 2008, 2:39pm | #

Fair-weather friends...

The Wine Commonsewer | February 19, 2008, 2:42pm | #

But when it comes to actually helping out by donating cash or some time, it's too much effort

Well, it isn't exactly like that, but I'm not giving any more money. I also don't care if RP uses what's left on his Congressional campaign. Don't know if that's legal, but he has my permission.

Colin | February 19, 2008, 2:44pm | #

When he says "they," is he only talking about the neocons, or is he referencing other "animals"?

Well, "neocon" is just a code word for "cosmopolitan Jew."

jj | February 19, 2008, 2:45pm | #

There's a limit to the amount that each of us can give. It's the seeming satisfaction at his demise that I find repugnant.

bluboo | February 19, 2008, 2:46pm | #

Colin: Hee haw. Ron Paul's a fucking racist. And I'm an Uncle Tom Jew for supporting him. I probably subconsciously hate my race. One thing I know for certain is that I hate your pathetic attempt at humor even more.

Hans Bader | February 19, 2008, 2:52pm | #

Don't disparage Ron Paul by comparing him to Wayne Gilchrest.

Gilchrest never saw a burdensome government regulation he didn't like.

Ron Paul, by contrast, has opposed unnecessary regulations, often almost alone, only to be vindicated by history.

(Take the example of the terribly costly Sarbanes-Oxley law, which enriched the very accounting firms it was supposed to reform, at the expense of the public. It was supposed to cost the economy only a few hundred million per year, but ended up costing the economy a whopping $35 billion in the first year in which its invasive "internal controls" provision was in effect).

Nick | February 19, 2008, 2:59pm | #

jj, I've seen him berate the Fed and while that's all well and good, it hasn't really changed the way they operate.

That said, I want him to retain his seat, I'm just not gonna pay to make it happen. I've got my own district to worry about.

Warren | February 19, 2008, 3:00pm | #

Yeah. Good Luck Ron. If you loose you will be missed. But I've given all I'm gonna.

John Cosmotarian jackson | February 19, 2008, 3:05pm | #

Hans Blick,

Ron Paul was the one who mentioned his friend Wayne Gilchrest. Some of the " paul tards" need to spend less time projecting their own opinions as Paul's.

It is obvious WHY Wayne was "right" and why he was defeated. It is that #1 thing- you are either with us or against us. And Wayne JUST LIKE Ron Paul was on the "wrong" side of the war debate for the "real Republicans."

Republican now means essentially " pro-war, hate gays." And little else. Therefore if you don't trample the Constitution in support of bloodlust against Muslims ( and in many places, gays or others)- then you can't be in the "real Republican" club.

jj | February 19, 2008, 3:06pm | #

Nick: If you are involved in working toward freedom in your own district, more power to ya!

stephen the goldberger | February 19, 2008, 3:10pm | #

He can't possibly need more than $884,000 from internet donations. If that can't get it done, he was destined to lose. I really hope the pro-war republicans don't vote for a competing nominee, but I can't believe that any more money would prevent that from happening.

Sean | February 19, 2008, 3:24pm | #

I have tasted the 'scrote of Liberty, and I can promise you- its got the must of Ron Paul!

Jay D | February 19, 2008, 3:26pm | #

The reason given for not running 3rd party was his house seat. If he were to lose, would he reassess?

Nick | February 19, 2008, 3:26pm | #

jj, I'm fortunate to live in a libertarian-like town (only one in the state without a property tax), but the surrounding areas and district as a whole needs much work. It's Republicanesque, but elected a Democrat in 06, partially because of the war I think, but mostly because of a scandal involving the incumbant Republican (who is a Grade A slimeball). The Dem is beatable, but aside from the Paulites no one even knows what a libertarian is. We'll keep trying.

Sam with the showing scalp flat-top | February 19, 2008, 3:26pm | #

"Cassandra did not get half the kicking around she deserved."
~Robert Heinlein

I'm a Paulistinian from the get go, but it's time for Ron Paul to hang up the Cassandra shtick....I hope he loses the GOP endorsement for his Texas seat.

I think that John (100 years) McCain is set to be the GOP's nominee for the presidential race makes it painfully evident that Paul does not belong caucusing with (what's left of) the GOP.

Click 'n' Learn | February 19, 2008, 3:41pm | #

As I've posted here to little effect many times in the past, RP still stands a chance at at least having some impact on the presidential race, but his supporters have to do something beside their current tack of blimps and calendars.

Specifically, that involves reducing the popularity of the other candidates (R and D) by videotaping their responses to real questions and uploading it to Youtube.

Here's one for McCain. If you press him on that issue, the video will get a very large number of views and it will greatly reduce his popularity.

Try to understand that in the light of this: 22,000+ views in a week, and it's only about a volunteer, not a candidate themselves. The version from GlennBeck has gotten over twice that number: youtube.com/watch?v=AQDAtUkfGsM

Once again: those two examples are just of something a candidate's volunteer did.

Imagine what kind of view count you'd get if you really made a candidate themselves look bad by asking them a difficult question. You might also wonder why Reason hasn't suggested doing this.

NoStar | February 19, 2008, 4:25pm | #

If Ron Paul loses his congressional seat in the primary, he will have just enough time to come to central Washington, establish residency (He's welcome to use a bedroom in my house) and run for congress against Richard "Doc" Hastings.

Given that Paul won my county with 28% of the caucus delegates while Huck and Muck got 18% each, Dr. Paul could easily win a congressional race here. Our local RP meetup group has 46 members and the county is covered in his signs. I'm sure we would work just as hard for his congressional race should he take on Hastings.

creech | February 19, 2008, 4:31pm | #

Nick, you in Sestak's district in Pa.?

Nick | February 19, 2008, 4:43pm | #

creech,

Kirsten Gillibrand-(D) in Upstate NY, formerly John Sweeney-(R). She's not horrible, but we've had good libertarian candidates around here with little or no support. If any of the R's that run my town challenged her, I'd support them. Better yet, I'd love our town supervisor to run for governor.

John C. Randolph | February 19, 2008, 4:48pm | #

"The guy does absolutely nothing that makes a COngressman attractive, such as bringing home some bacon. "

Somehow, he manages to get by on telling the truth.

-jcr

John | February 19, 2008, 6:39pm | #

The conspiracy theorist in me thinks Paul just ran for president to assemble a massive donor list to use for his congressional race. I realize that this make little sense because the presidential race means that Paul has spend little time in the district.

And Wayne Gilchrest was no libertarian hero.

TJIT | February 19, 2008, 9:21pm | #

Could we please kill the meme that his position on the iraq war is what got gilchrest defeated.

I can't recall seeing his position on the war mentioned in any of the anti gilchrest information I received.

What got him defeated was his big government, statist friendly voting record.

the ad tells voters just how liberal Wayne Gilchrest’s record is. Over his eighteen years in Congress, Gilchrest has only gotten more liberal over time. Just this year, Gilchrest voted to raise taxes by billions, voting for the overbloated farm bill and the energy bill, both of which contained billion-dollar tax increases. Gilchrest also voted for hundreds of pork projects, including Alaska’s notorious “Bridge to Nowhere,” and voted to raise his own pay seven times. Finally, Gilchrest beat his own liberal record this past year, voting with Nancy Pelosi more often than any other Republican in Congress, according to Congressional Quarterly.

Janet | February 19, 2008, 11:09pm | #

What makes Ron Paul attractive is his message which is an American message. It is why I donate to his presidential campaign and will to the very end and to his congressional campaign and to the campaigns of those he feels promotes the freedom agenda. The more true statesmen in politics, as opposed to party hacks, the better. It is not about Ron Paul, it is about liberty.