Friday, May 18, 2007

A little bit of Paul momentum

I caught a little of Rush Limbaugh the other day, and he was smacking down Ron Paul for his comments about the motives of the 9/11 attackers, while being careful to say Paul is a "fringe" presidential candidate and he was concerned that commenting about the congressman would elevate his status.

What is interesting is that the congressman from Texas is concerning the defenders of the status quo in any way. Truly fringe candidates can be ignored and they'll go away.

It seems that Paul has gained enough from his appearances at this month's TV debates that prominent folks feel a need to smack him back down.

Here's their problem, methinks: Ron Paul represents a point of view that a great many people share, a point of view that is thoroughly absent among the others running for president. Ron Paul is the only candidate who actually believes the government is too big and too intrusive, and to my knowledge he has no plans to expand federal government powers in any way, which makes him unique not only among presidential candidates but among members of Congress.

That's why people are suddenly feeling a need to smack him down or exclude him from the conversation: He represents a substantial constituency, perhaps not a majority but certainly one to be reckoned with. The other pretenders would like to attract the limited-government constituency, but as long as Ron Paul is in the room they are exposed as the pretenders they are.

Go, Ron, Go.

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2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

...but as long as Ron Paul is in the room they are exposed as the pretenders they are.

Absolutely. Outside of Ron Paul,the only thing left to the Republican Party is a modicum of old rhetoric that's wheeled out every election and used to rope in that limited government/freedom constituency.

It's really pathetic that mainstream Republican candidates pay homage to Reagan, even though Reagan didn't live up to his promises of a smaller government. He had the rhetoric and the delivery of it down pat and was likable enough, but that was it.

Now, it's essentially a ritualized lip service, nothing more. But, Ron Paul means it, and some are scared of his convictions.

-Ray Harmon

8:51 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Paul does not hold an anarchist position on immigration, and has indicated he would beef up border security and enforce the immigration laws. In that sense, he would "expand" federal power.

From my perspective, it's not a criticism, it's just the way it is.

7:26 PM  

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