I have been using my 87-year old mother as sort of a litmus test as to when the general public may become seriously aware of Ron Paul.
She's aware that I am an adviser to the Ron Paul Super PAC and she watches a lot of television, including the debates, but she has never quite noticed Ron Paul.
I spoke to her yesterday and the first thing she told me was that she saw Ron Paul interviewed on television that morning. "He sounded good," she said, "especially about bringing the troops home."
We know Ron Paul has the young internet crowd, but when the 87 year old crowd is starting to notice, it's clear Ron Paul is beginning to get his message clear across America.
My Grandmother is 87 years old too and sharp on her politics. I was shocked when she told me she was a Ron Paul fan.
ReplyDeleteMy Mom and Dad are in their 80's and lifelong Democrats. They are big Ron Paul fans. They like to joke about him: "Yeah, that Ron Paul is such a nut. He wants to stop borrowing money to blow up other countries and end all these miserable wars! Imagine that!"
ReplyDeleteHaha, the above comment reminded me of Paul's answer to a silly question about electability in the 2008 campaign.
ReplyDeletewww.youtube.com/watch?v=tmoIetpgG6g
I'm glad to see that Paul's views are becoming appealing to a variety of people. Even if he doesn't win, it's great to see that his message is getting out; hopefully it will change the attitudes of a large number of people.
It's pretty much always been a fact that if the MSM would give the good Doc fair air time, he would be blowing up the charts.
ReplyDeleteAs it is, he's won 15 of 38 polls, and finished top 2 in the vast majority.
Then again, the Bill O's, Glenn Becks, Mark Levins, and other neocon hacks of the world just can't seem to accept his popularity.
Amazing coincidence, I had lunch today with one of the founders of the company I currently own...he's 76 and quite sharp but was somewhat of a Neocon so we did our best to be cordial to each other whenever politics was discussed previously.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't talked with him for about a month which is unusual as on other matters he serves as a bit of a mentor to me.
Anyway, he blurts out over lunch that he's decided he's voting for Ron Paul-even though he doesn't think he'll win. I was taken back a bit as there was no lead in to the conversation.
I tried to feign being unsurprised...and then for good measure he added "I convinced my brother in law too and he just donated $100 and we both plan on donating more and getting involved on a local level to promote his campaign and call for term limits."
I couldn't hold back my excitement, so I just said "Well I'm very proud of your decision and your capacity for change."
The message is getting through to the older generation....some of which grew up in the great depression and seem ripe for it.
Ron Paul "has the young internet crowd"? Lol, just another of the delusions that certain self-styled libertarian activists entertain. I wonder, do you know that there are non-libertarian web properties? Do you go to say Daily Kos or HuffPo?
ReplyDeleteRon Paul supporters are a passionate, well organized, growing minority of voters on the right. Ron Paul - as well as all other libertarians - have no chance of winning the Republican primary or a general election. I'm sick to death of folks who support him trying to pass off the idea that he's electable just because he's doing better than in the past. I happen to be a Gary Johnson fan, and am a huge supporter of liberty so I'm not coming at this from an outsider perspective.
And don't start spraying random and meaningless poll numbers at me. If you really look at all the data in context, it confirms what I'm saying and should convince any rational person that I'm correct. Those of you who don't want to believe that, what can I tell you? Get over it and grow up. Even in your own silly example you are using name recognition as a proxy for voting support, I mean it doesn't even pass the sniff test.
Ask her whether she would support the elimination of social security, medicare, medicaid and the EPA? Uh, just like most Americans, of course she doesn't. Wake up, just because libertarians are getting some notice doesn't mean we can win. Out of 515,000 elected officials in the entire U.S., some 800 are libertarians. Even if we get to say 5000, by some miracle, we'd be 1% of those folks.
Wake the eff up.
I have 2 democratic friends that are voting Paul if they get the chance. I'm trying to convince them to register repub. Also, 2 other friends I asked were also voting Paul. Texas has a good chance.
ReplyDeleteAnon 7:55,
ReplyDelete"Ron Paul 'has the young internet crowd'"
Um, no. He also has the military crowd, the fundraising crowd, the straw poll crowd, the anti-war crowd, the "boots on the ground" crowd, etc. But, then you go further...
"Ron Paul supporters are a passionate, well organized, growing minority of voters on the right."
Yes, they are passionate and well-organized. But, you try to pigeonhole them on the "right". Now, it is often different in different contexts, but my understanding of the origin of left/right politics is that the left prefers change to the order, while the right prefers conservation of that order. Ron Paul seems to represent the only real change to the current order while also recognizing the systems of social organization that actually work; more importantly, he is consistent. Let's move on...
"And don't start spraying random and meaningless poll numbers at me. If you really look at all the data in context, it confirms what I'm saying and should convince any rational person that I'm correct."
You start off by saying nobody should post polls, which you call meaningless, but then you essentially self-describe yourself as the only one that can look at the data in "context". I don't know what to make of this but to say that it reeks of arrogance and ignorance with regard to individual choice.
"Even in your own silly example you are using name recognition as a proxy for voting support, I mean it doesn't even pass the sniff test."
What is the sniff test, is it some sort of super-reliable mechanism that only you know?
"silly example..using name recognition as a proxy for voting support".
What is the entire point of name recognition? Does not name recognition have relevance to actual support?
"just because libertarians are getting some notice doesn't mean we can win"
Who is this "we"?
"Wake the eff up."
I agree, but from judging from your above words, you're not exactly comfortable with "waking up". The fantastic thing is that many other people are comfortable with waking "the eff up".
Sorry to step on your toes as the 'Arbiter of Everyone's Reality', but you aren't the only person on the face of this Earth with an opinion.
My 80+ year old Democrat grandfather is voting for Ron Paul.
ReplyDeleteIn the republican field there are individuals who support continuing the wars, bankrupting the country by endless printing of money, eliminating individual citizens rights and greatly expanding the federal government bureaucracy and then there's Ron Paul. He doesn't want to do any of those things in fact, he wants to reverse them. Is it any wonder that the American people are starting to wake up and realize that Paul is Americas only hope?
ReplyDeleteI know this seems simplistic, and maybe it is, but please consider for a moment that if everyone who likes Ron Paul and says he is unelectable, would change it to "he is (or even could be) electable," he could be elected!
ReplyDeleteIf someone says to you, "he is unelectable," just reply with, "I believe he is."
Simplistic, but it can work.
I would not consider myself a "Libertarian" by many definitions of the term, however, I and many people I have talked to see Ron Paul as one who is keeping himself from the political poo that the others seem to wallow in. He seems one of the few voices that really shows a sincere interest in listening to the American people rather than a party or personal agenda and that seriously things about what is best for the individuals and families in America, and not just the "interests" of the American machine.
ReplyDeleteThose that laugh him off as the last pick on the stick ball team haven't realized he is the only one capable of hitting a home run in the muddy field we are now playing on. The circumstances have changed and we can no longer play by the old rules that have been used during the past decades.
I'm not sure what "definitions of the term" libertarian you might be referring too, but I do consider myself to be a libertarian. The Libertarian Party comes closer than any other political organization to embodying the principals that this country was founded on. Libertarianism is socially liberal and fiscally conservative, minimal government and maximal freedom and personal responsibility. Read the Constitution and Bill of Rights again.
ReplyDeleteOne of the problems that I see with Ron Paul is that he believes he can "talk to" or "be friends with" countries like Iran. I'm all for a much, much smaller military presence around the world, and I believe our military costs (and other costs) are/will crush us. BUT, countries like Iran are definitely a threat to us. They want to wipe us out and do not hide this fact. No matter what we do (e.g., withdraw troops) they will want to wipe us out. I have no confidence that Ron Paul can deal with these threats. Am I wrong?
ReplyDeleteRP is the only candidate not bought with the banksters money. He has my money and my vote.
ReplyDeleteI'm not letting any one tell me who to vote for. One of the few liberties we still have. Ron Paul 2012
ReplyDeleteRon Paul has had the same message for some 30 years. He’s a strict constitutionalist. But I fear he is ahead of his time. He’s more prophet than celebrity candidate. His consistency is admirable but he’s pushing water up hill.
ReplyDeleteNo matter that he understands the country’s drift away from the Constitution. Who cares? Too few of us do. Most folks want safety and security at the price of individual liberty. And they want Mr. Whiskers to provide them.
Paul is advocating deflation, purging “toxic assets” from the system. Most folks want the illusion that inflation provides. They want “the religion of inevitable progress”.
Ron could be a 21st century version of Warren Harding. The only question is, are enough voters ready?
Well-said Joseph Fetz!
ReplyDeleteIf Ron Paul becomes the President and change at least something that will be an accomplishment. Presidents are not dictators, and Congress/Senate have to approve new policies. And I am affraid they will not do that.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I will vote for him. To me, all others are just clowns who want to satisfy their egos.
To those who say Ron Paul's ideas are unworkable: They're not. America will bring her troops home whether or not the population at large wants to, when the US goes bankrupt. Or rather, when all the other pathetic political leaders around the world wake up to the fact of US bankruptcy. Then the dollar will cease to be accepted as money, and when the troops can't spend it overseas, or Uncle Sam can't pay them, they'll be home, armed and pissed...
ReplyDeleteRon Paul is the only candidate who's not in this for himself. PERIOD!
ReplyDeleteHe's the only one who has a clue to the problems and solutions.
All the rest are parasites, prima donna's, or power hungry!
Dr.Paul is the only one telling the truth.
W/O him & those like him we and the $ are DOOMED! ------- 71 Yrs.
Joseph Fetz
ReplyDeleteI couldn't say it better my self
I am SOOOOOOO sick of Ron Paul groupies. The man has two good ideas. TWO, count them.
ReplyDeleteOne. The Fed should simply cancel U.S. debt that the Fed currently holds. Forgive it. Bingo, no more interest payments.
Two, stop funding the United Nations.
Everything else that comes out of that man's mouth is frightening nonsense, particularly as relates to foreign policy and the Islamic threat. He DOES NOT get it!
You want a winner, vote for Newt Gingrich! THAT man has a head on his shoulders, and has the historical knowledge and common sense to lead the Free World.
Ron Paul, on the other hand, is a nut job. Total and complete nut job, except, as I said, for the his two good ideas ---- like a stopped clock, right twice a day.
Re: Iran and Ron Paul-
ReplyDeleteIran can't hurt us. They hate us (for good reason- we've f%*<ed around with their country for nearly 100 years) but their ability to project military force halfway across the world is virtually nil. If we agreed to leave them alone, withdraw ALL troops, quit giving Israel billions in military aid (thus forcing Israel to quit acting like a bully) and agree to quit interfering in their internal squabbles they just might decide to call it a truce. If they attacked, we could crush them in a heartbeat.
Ron Paul would do all of those things, thus neutralizing the "Iran threat". Romney/Cain/Perry/0bama will just keep doing the same shit we are doing, thus making the chance of an Iranian retaliation more likely.
I am voting Ron Paul, my sister who voted for Obama is now voting Ron Paul, my cousin who voted for Obama is now voting Ron Paul, my childhood friend and his entire family who are hardcore republicans are voting Ron Paul...And these are some of the people I showed Ron Paul videos to.
ReplyDeleteThe word is starting to spread very fast.
He's been talking about inflation, yet no one else is raising this issue that is about to blow to our faces.
When high inflation starts kicking in early next year, guess who will lead the debates? RP ;)
Anonymous@2:31 AM,
ReplyDeleteRe: Ron Paul's two good ideas.
Just an observation, but that's two more than you listed for Newt Gingrich.
Correction: My post is in reference to Anon@2:13 AM.
ReplyDelete"The man has two good ideas. TWO, count them."
ReplyDeleteWhen you can count beyond two just let me know. Amusing.
Up here in CanadaI feel a bit safer from the issues you are about to face. So many questions come to mind about the "systems"that provide for your social strucutre: municipalities, states, federal bodies,special organizations, the lsit goes on and on, and who is to pay for these "fine" organizations and with what. The dollar is a failing currency that is unwanted around the globe as it continues to drop in real value and thus lose purchasing power, while moere money is printed (IOU's, big ones) to be repaid with what more IOU's? Who down there believes in this faiiry tale?
ReplyDeleteYes it is going to be painful to address the excesses and losses that will be realized in dealing with the issues but this is our generation sbust, let's not pass it on to the next generation and give them no hope.
Ron Paul is espousing actions that have ends to them. they are a realistic proposal to an unrealistic world, a world that is not sustainable the way it is structured.
Your system promotes greed at the expense of others, within your country and outside your country. It demands unsustainable growth that strips the future away to fatten the coffers for today not tomorrow for our children but just for the sake of doing it, hoarding, not sharing.
It seems even the world beater companies are only domiciled in the US as they look for growth to come form other developing countries who really don't care about the US but do wnat a better lifestyle based on what ha sbeen shown to them by the Western word, a world that right now is unable to pay the bills and should have been declared bankrupt long ago if not for our great debtor governments abiltiy to print money t bail out the very instituitions that have created the problem in partnership with old style politicians.
Occupy Wall Street is an awakening force of the recognition of the failure of the system and the fialure of the players to change the game.
I say give Ron Paul the ball, give him a chance, he makes sense, painful sense at times but sense with a ending that is a new beginning. This type of politician is rare aprpeciate him, reward him with giving him the right to lead this once great nation back to greatness.
I would vote for Ron Paul or ANY candidate who
ReplyDeletewould promise to and keep the promise to do away
with TSA and eliminate the current airport security which is a 1984 scam on America. Allow your government to take away your freedom to protect you from an invisible enemy.
I would like to see any of the Repubs get in over
ReplyDeleteObummass but, I see a nation of idiots, people
who want something for nothing. I'm fearful there are more of them than there is of us.Most
of these nerds fall for O's lies. If they would look at his record maybe it would help. are you better off today than before?? I doubt it.
I wasn't trying to list all Newt's good ideas.
ReplyDeleteBut since you asked, he smashed every ball out of the park at the GOP debate the other night. You can hear Gingrich highlights here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHiKlYVu_2c
He was also superb against Chris Wallace and his panel of brainy sharks. Stood up to every question, and admitted bluntly when he'd made mistakes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHiKlYVu_2c
I've listened to him for several years, and like pretty much everything he has to say. And THAT is from someone who hated Newt when he was Speaker of the House. (I'm 58.) He's no-nonsense, fiscally responsible, knows history and foreign affairs---and has enough humility afraid to admit when he's made a mistake.
Ron Paul? If he were the GOP nominee---I'd vote for him over ZeroBumma, but only while holding my nose.And no, I did NOT vote for ZeroBumma the first time. I had enough sense to realize BEFORE he got into office that he'd be worse than Bush, worse than Carter, worse than any other president in history. And he is!
Still, Ron Paul is not smart enough to run this country, though I don't care to argue with his groupies.
Regarding Iran, yes, they CAN hurt us, and they plan to. They have 140 ships freely plying the oceans, with no one inspecting their cargoes. Sanctions do NOT WORK. Iran is close having nukes. They've got missiles and tested them several times, recently. They have access to bases in Baja Mexico and Venezuela. They plan to launch an EMP attack on our atmosphere. An EMP attack would instantly destroy our electrical grid. We'll have no transport, no communications, food and medical shortages, water pumping problems, unworkable energy pipelines, and so no energy except what individuals personally store in advance. Several 3 and 4-star generals retired tell me 2/3 of the U.S. population would die of starvation or disease within 12 months. Not a threat? Even the Obama White House (dumb as they are) know about this threat, and have circulated "emergency plans" to every municipality in the nation. Iran is a deadly threat---NOW---and could easily hit before the next election.
@Anonymous 1:15 AM,
ReplyDeleteIs Ron Paul and the ideas he espouses true intellectual barriers for you or are you operating on your prejudices and biases?
@ the Anonymous Newt Gingrich supporter:
ReplyDeleteHere is a link to a brief, but telling, comparison of Newt and Ron's principles.
If I were you, I'd be embarrased....
http://www.hithimagain.com/2011/11/13/newt-gingrichs-voting-record-cant-compare-to-ron-pauls/
I'm happy to report that my 80 year old grandmother voted for Paul in 2008. More impressive is the fact that my neocon, Baptist mother joined her, as did my progressive, social worker aunt (who literally marched on the White House lawn with NOW). Paul has an appeal that eradicates party lines. Now if only he could be heard...
ReplyDeleteIT IS NOW JANUARY 14th--a few months ago I thought Ron Paul was a kook and unelectable too--- I and many others around me are taking a hard look at WHY 'establishment' Repubs and the Demonrats are all pounding on Paul! I am leaning more and more in his corner~ we are not going to FIX anything in this country keeping the STATUS QUO and Romney IS just that!
DeleteTHE ANONYMOUS POSTER IS ONE OF MANY OF HER KIND WHOM PROWL THE INTERNET LOOKING TO PLACE DOUBT IN THE MINDS OF ANYONE WHO IS A SUPPORTER OF MR. PAUL.
ReplyDeleteNICE TRY BUT IT WON'T WORK "ANONYMOUS" - YOUR LITTLE MIND TRICKS WON'T WORK HERE.
GO SOMEWHERE ELSE AND TRY TO PEDDLE YOU BULLSH*T - EVERYONE HERE KNOW'S WHAT YOUR UP TO AND WE WON'T BUDGE FROM OUR POSITION....GET READY TO HAVE RON PAUL AS YOUR NEXT PRESIDENT - LIKE IT OR LUMP IT.
I also know a 75 year old Air Force veteran who was a neo-con to some degree. Just told me last week he decided he's going to vote for Ron Paul. I was shocked.
ReplyDeleteI never thought I would ever hold "Libertarian" views. In my technic world I always vied Libertarians as second to Communists. As a life long ignorant, registered Democrat who eventually chocked on all the Obama administrations BS, I realize that the Democratic party has no moderate ground, .... for anything! To me they seem to be a bunch of Muslim freaks! Recently I found out that my true friends in PA (I'm from Florida .... where Bush did dirty work to get elected) are registered Independents ..... why do we have to affiliate with a Party???? Ron Paul for President in 2012 and 2016! I already donated to his cause and will consider giving more! Newt might make a great VP!
ReplyDeleteGo Ron Paul!! Ron Paul is by far the best choice for President! America he solid!! He knows how things work . What a True Champion. Most know that America is in trouble! Nobody except Ron Paul can bring America back from zero ( which we will go if Ron Paul is not elected President) but he can brings us to Hero. America don't miss the mark by not electing Ron Paul. If America plants another person in the White House that is not Ron Paul America will soon learn it's lesson. Third world living taking place in America like never before along with terrorist attacks. We need a True Leader to guide us through a tough time and bring us from zero to hero.
ReplyDeleteRon's 2 great ideas.
ReplyDelete1. Control the FED........lethal
2. Control the Military Industrial complex.....lethal.
Vote him in anyway....and if he comes to harm, then occupy Wall Street will become Occupy Washington, to reclaim the Republic.
Wars around the world, war against Drugs, Terror, Islam, China all fall away compared to recapturing the Republic.
America is the home of the "corporatocracy", with no loyalty to any country or people. Americans unquestioningly provide it security and manpower in its ruthless manupilations at world domination, all the while debasing and violating Americans individual freedoms.
Ron Paul is the only politician in America who has a clear vision and understanding of this reality.
If not Ron Paul, then who can save the United States? If he does not win, get ready for a police state, no rights of any kind, with the elites controlling everything. Our wonderful (the only non-socialist country left in the world)USA will cease to exist. This presidential election is the most important one we have ever had, as it will determine whether we continue to be a people who embrace God, free speech, and the pursuit of liberty and happiness. Think about it. It is truly our ONLY chance to elect someone (Ron Paul)to save our country. The "power hungry elites" are terrified of him as they know he will stop their illegal destruction of America. Give him your vote and then observe our country's greatness returning. It's all on your shoulders! Don't drop the ball!
ReplyDelete