From Alan Bock
The headline on this story (thanks for the link, Jack) reads “Paul leaves open door to third-party bid,” but I’m not sure if the content justifies it. Ron was on CNN with John King Monday morning (video and transcript included on the link), and when asked about the possibility of a third-party bid he said:
“ it’s not practical. republicans deserve to have a conservative to vote for. right now the conservative base does not the support john mccain because he’s identified more with liberal democrats. why should they be disenfranchised? the odds are slim but they have a right to vote for someone that stands for traditional republican principles. this is something the republicans used to brag about and preach. they deserve a chance to vote for that. ”
That may not be entirely ruling out a third-party or independent bid, but it’s not leaving much of a crack in the door. He also said it was unlikely he would endorse John McCain, which could present problems to certain party-first Republicans.
When I was in New Hampshire and had a chance to talk with a fairly broad cross-sectioon of Paul volunteers from around the country, many talked about going back and seeking influence in their local GOP, running for various offices and eventually running for Congress. There should be some potential there. Ron won quite a few local straw votes consisting of Republican activists, so there’s sentiment for him and his ideas at the grassroots level. I have no inside information (yet), but the campaign organization and donor lists could be the springboard for a membership PAC that could donate to like-minded candidates in primaries, a national organization that could run nuts-and-bolts political training sessions as well as holding conferences on ideas and issues, or a half-dozen other possibilities. The top-level campaign operatives I talked to don’t want the enthusiasm and support he generated to dissipate once this election cycle is over.
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with 70% of the american people wanting an end to our involvement in the war in iraq, with the economy tanking and a vast majority of citizens against any amnesty for illegals are we really suppose to believe that mccain is the republican nominee for president? think again, fraud and corruption don’t just occur in other countries. it is happening right here at home. i don’t know what is more disturbing, the willingness of the people to believe everything that they are told or the fact that maybe they just don’t even care enough about america. mccain is pro war. have people become so apathetic that they are willing to vote for someone who will send their children off to die in a never ending war and spend billions of dollars that we do not have to do it? our economy is taking a huge hit and mccain himself admits he knows nothing about economics. mccain along with kennedy was behind the whole amnesty push for illegals this past summer. this has been the most obvious fraudulent election year. the media isn’t even trying very hard to hide it. americans should be ashamed of what we are putting up with. we scoff at third world countries for their bogus elections when it certainly seems to be happening right here in our own country. obama and clinton want to expand the war and yet people are so into voting for someone because of their gender or race they aren’t even paying attention to the issues that matter. if they were they might be able to see the disingenuous actions that along with mccain’s are pretty obvious.
I don’t think you’ll see anything close to the enthusiasm that has been shown for Ron Paul during the John McCain’s general election campaign. McCain stands directly opposed to most of Paul’s ideals. In fact on many of Paul’s biggest issues (foreign policy & civil liberties) Barack Obama will actually be closer to him than McCain will. I do not see his supporters voting for McCain or helping the McCain campaign. I don’t see a lot of them supporting Obama either, but I think there will be some Paul supporters that end up supporting Obama.
Ron Paul turned me from an apathetic “democratish?” voter to a card carrying conservative republican. I guess I’ve never come across a real republican before, since both parties are just two sides of the same corporate coin.Me a republican? Hell freezing over should alleviate some of the global warming.
I can only speak for myself, but as for me, I will not vote for McCain under any circumstance. I’ve held my nose and voted Republican for 32 years, but this election cycle and that candidate breaks all bargains. The utter disrespect - and outright contempt - shown for both Ron Paul and his supporters (like me) coming from the very top of the GOP…and from the MSM Networks in cahoots with both parties to limit our options in terms of both candidates and issues…tells me that Paul - and only Paul - is dead-right. I now return every solicitation for funds from the GOP with the note - “When Ron Paul is the GOP nominee, you may count on my full support. Until then, to hell with the GOP.” And still they waste postage - go figure. Maybe the party faithful really are as stupid as I have come to think they are.
Both the Party and McCain disdain genuine conservatives, but always come hat-in-hand in late October begging for our support and our vote. Maybe Mad Mac is so liberal that he can attract so many cross-over votes he figures he doesn’t need us…I’d say he disses us at his elective peril.
This former-Republican has had enough of the GOP’s where-else-can-they-go politics. I will write-in Ron Paul on my ballot in November, and will empty the checkbook should he go third-party. He may not have a prayer of winning given the intellectual vacuum in the country…but after watching the party machine try to destroy a good and decent conservative, I’ll be damned if I’ll ever vote GOP again.
Well hopefully the Libertarians will nominate Wayne Root at the May convention. That way Republican’s will have a real choice in November.
Another point that people should not forget. The Democratic candidate will carry California by almost 2 million votes. There is no reason to vote for “the lessor of two evils” because the lessor of two evils does not have a snowball’s chance in Hell of getting a single electoral college vote from the Golden State.
I think Ron was shifting the topic to the GOP convention, where Republicans (as distinct from voters in general) do indeed deserve alternatives.
Think about it. It’s a long time until September, and with the economy already heading south, along with the dollar, the victims of government excess will be better motivated to pay attention by then. And with Ron being probably the only (semi-)prominent politician in the country who has for decades been warning, again and again, “Hey, this legislation will bring about serious stress on the economy/dollar,” there’s a powerful and compelling distinction to be drawn between him and McInsane going into the convention.
The best strategy is to press these mottoes: “McCain = GOP suicide,” and “Paul = survival, both for the GOP and the US.” Ron Paul is the guy who has been warning us for decades against the ruinous policies that have brought us to this unhappy pass, and he has demonstrated all along that he understands why the policies would be ruinous and which alternative policies would be healthful.
Ron is in the position to say, “I told you so … IN SPADES!” But all he’s really saying is, “Here’s how we can get our butts out of the fire.”
Remember, when the economy tanks, the current administration is almost always blamed. That means Bush and, to a lesser degree, his successor, will be in the hot seat.
But it makes a HUGE difference whether Bush’s successor is McCain or Paul. McCain, endorsed by Bush, and pledged to continuing most Bush policies, WILL get a ton of blame. But Paul, who has been opposing virtually everything Bush has done, will hardly be a candidate for blame; to the contrary, he’ll be more the candidate for reform than either Obama or Hillary.
Remember all those delegates “won” by Romney and Huckabee? Many aren’t even committed at all to vote for McCain, despite requests by R&H for them to do so. Heck, even some delegates allegedly committed to McCain aren’t really BOUND to vote for him at the convention! Those delegates have been counted by the MSM as “gold” for McCain. Oops! So, come the first ballot at the convention, McCain WON’T necessarily have enough delegates to win.
It gets worse for Johnny on the second and subsequent ballots, as delegates committed to vote for him on the first and/or second ballot are freed up. Suddenly Johnny’s prospects are rapidly diminishing!
So a very strong message by Ron Paul at the convention, primed by current events and the ongoing Ron Paul Revolution’s unprecedented energy and commitment, could very well turn a McCain coronation into a Paul landslide. (There are parliamentary options I won’t go into here, but don’t think this is the only scenario under which Paul might win the GOP nomination!)
Of course, my advice to freedom lovers is to do everything possible to make one of the above scenarios come to pass….
The only real conservatives and libertarians that exist are Ron Paul, other candidates who share his philosophy, and their supporters.
The neocon leadership of the GOP and their supporters are masquerading as real conservatives, and doing a poor job of it. Ron Paul did a great job of unmasking them to a significant degree. Now, the candidates that follow in his footsteps will have to finish the job.
The GOP leadership obviously prefers to lose with McCain as their nominee, rather than to win with Paul. They will get their wish.