Missed The GOP Debates? Nice Work!

Dan McCarthy has a great liveblog and analysis of the latest GOP Debates over at Wash U For Ron Paul. Unfortunately, I missed the debates too - although I think I might have puked at the support for corn ethanol subsidies.

Ron Paul, Today's Davy Crockett

Today Dr. Ron Paul has an article on Lewrockwell.com discussing GWB's veto of federal funding for stem cell research. His general point is this - pay for it yourself. While his argument is much more nuanced than that, the general idea is that the dichotomy of "subsidize it or ban" stem cell research doesn't help anyone, and hurts all tax payers. To paraphrase Davy Crockett, if the Congressman and Senators who want this legislation to pass simply took up a collection of a week's pay - that would go a long way towards furthering the research.



Ron Paul reminds me a lot of Davy Crockett, especially the story of how Rep. Crockett helped shoot down a bill authorizing Congress to pay a monetary gift to the widow of a naval officer. Here is the key quote.

Mr. Speaker--I have as much respect for the memory of the deceased, and as much sympathy for the sufferings of the living, if suffering there be, as any man in this House, but we must not permit our respect for the dead or our sympathy for a part of the living to lead us into an act of injustice to the balance of the living. I will not go into an argument to prove that Congress has not the power to appropriate this money as an act of charity. Every member upon this floor knows it. We have the right, as individuals, to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right so to appropriate a dollar of the public money. Some eloquent appeals have been made to us upon the ground that it is a debt due the deceased. Mr. Speaker, the deceased lived long after the close of the war; he was in office to the day of his death, and I have never heard that the government was in arrears to him. Every man in this House knows it is not a debt. We cannot, without the grossest corruption, appropriate this money as the payment of a debt. We have not the semblance of authority to appropriate it as charity. Mr. Speaker, I have said we have the right to give as much money of our own as we please. I am the poorest man on this floor. I cannot vote for this bill, but I will give one week's pay to the object, and if every member of Congress will do the same, it will amount to more than the bill asks.

While I sympathize with those who suffer, and have hope that embryonic stem cells can relieve that suffering, I must agree with Dr. Paul. Don't ban it, but let the private sector and the market pay for it.

Better The Devil You Don't Know...

The more primary voters are learning about the top tier of candidates, the less they like them. John McCain has always had an uphill battle with his McCain-Feingold finance reform bill enraging lobbyists, his snubbing of CPAC and other right-wing institutions enraging conservatives, and his backpedaling on his previous stance against torture enraging everyone else. Mitt Romney, the son of another failed GOP presidential candidate, is a liberal governor of the country's most liberal state running as the poster child for social conservatives. And he is a Mormon. Rudy Guiliani, the failed mayor of 9/11, is increasingly being portrayed by the facts as a fascist (by those who actually lived under his rule) and a greedy fool by everyone else. People like what they hear about Ron Paul, but until he builds up the fundraising prowess and human real life grassroots operations that even Pat Buchanan had in 1996, he will not be considered a serious candidate by anyone.

Which leaves Fred Thompson. Fred Thompson is beloved by many people, including hot blonde country singers and hot blonde GOP operatives. Here he is with one of the latter, whom he married recently.




Certainly there is something exciting about a Southern "law and order" man (yes, literally in every way) who is a card-carrying member of SAG just like President Reagan. His conservative bona fides, while not nearly as extensive as Reagan's, are good enough for Craig Fields of Gun Owners of America (well to the right of the NRA) to give him a reluctant thumbs-up. Primary voters agree, Thompson has gained 7pts in the Cook poll - putting him in a statistical deadheat with McCain and Giuliani. This in spite of the fact that Thompson has not declared, and Giuliani put out his "12 Commitments" hoping to make some poll gains this week.

In a world where perception is the rule, and keeping your nose covered is more important than keeping it clean - you cannot count out Fred Thompson. The man looks and sounds presidential - minus any skeletons in his closet, that might be enough for a nomination.

Ron Paul: No Regrets

I fear there isn't much hope for Ron Paul, having spent some time among the schemers deep in the GOP machinery. It's one thing to light a fire in the grassroots, but if you can't get College Republicans, Young Republicans, the State Committees, the big activist groups, and other party folks on board - you're basically a salmon trying to conquer Niagra. But anything is possible.

I am with Ron Paul, and I can think of no other reason than one that was perfectly articulated over at The Crossed Pond.

Win or lose, this is a candidate I’ll never regret supporting. What a smart, realistic man he is, and a complete gentleman besides.

Supporting Dr. Paul is worth it, even to be able to make that statement with a straight face in 2008. Lord knows I could never say that before.

Ron Paul Is Right.... Again

Rudy Giuliani tried to make Ron Paul sound insane last night by suggesting that 9/11 was a pre-meditated attack against the innocent United States. Unfortunately for everyone, Paul is right. People seem to forget the axiom - "terrorism is a poor man's war, and war is a rich man's terrorism." With our constant bombings of Iraq in the 90's during the Clinton administration, our near absolute support and favoritism towards Israel, and the propping up of weak, yet brutal monarchies in the Middle East, we have many enemies. Also there is the Ledeen doctrine, "every ten years America needs to beat up some crappy little country to show we mean business." America didn't deserve 9/11, but it would take a lot of ignorance and chutzpah to say we weren't asking for it. We can't keep kicking up shit in every flea-bourn corner of the world and not expect to track any home.

The worst of it is that not only that the war in Iraq is not helping, our efforts to frustrate Iran has led us to support radical Sunni Muslims, and the real crazies like the Muslim Brotherhood - who are actually in league with Osama Bin Laden himself.

So not only did we help inspire the 19 to attack us on 9/11, we are supporting their friends so they can help us against Iran. Oh, this makes so much sense.

Rep. Ron Paul - Straighten Up or You Are Outta Here!

Pajamas Media has a lot of nerve. It is one thing not to take a candidate seriously. Judging viability for a candidacy months before the first presidential debate is dubious, but everyone else thinks its ok. Punishing a candidate like a schoolmarm because of some over enthusiastic nuts is horribly insulting. PJM has taken to treating Rep. Ron Paul like he really is a redheaded stepchild. Here's the news.

We regret that Congressman Paul, a good and decent American with loyal motives and deeply held convictions, seems to have garnered among his supporters a small group for whom unethical conduct appears to be permissible if it gets him elected. We are certain he would disapprove of it.

Still, this behavior must stop immediately, as well as the rude and abusive messages we are receiving from these supporters. If they do not, Pajamas Media will have no choice but to remove Mr. Paul permanently from our poll.

In other words... tell your little friends to be good, or else.

PJM claims that they are being harrassed by Ron Paul supporters, and that there is blatant cheating in the Paul camp. The story about 200+ votes from one IP sounds dubious - the pod on the main page here closes voting immediately, and I don't see a way around that unless they mean a server IP, rather than a client one (which should technically still count).

Honestly, this pisses me off - but Ron Paul needs all the publicity and notice he can get, good or bad.

Why I Can Never Be a Democrat

After the mess NATO helped exacerbate in Serbia and Bosnia, I was refreshed to hear George W. Bush pledge not to advocate nation building during his campaign back in 1999-2000.  Nation building used to be a perjorative back in the 80s and 90s - which is why Afghanistan didn't get a lot of help from us after the Soviets left, and why Bush 41 left Saddam in power in Iraq.  I was appalled when Clinton's bombing of Iraq combined with sanctions left 500,000 poor Iraqi children dead.  Even more so when our first female Secretary of State, Madeline Albright, justified the deaths as necessary.  Add to this Clinton's reach for legislative power through the executive order - and back then it seemed that any Republican would do. 

 

Boy, things certainly improved - didn't they?

 

Iraq is in shambles, we now rattle our saber towards Iran, and torture is legal while habeas corpus is not.  If Jack Bauer was real, he would be proud.

 

Many pundits think that the Democrats will win the day today - and they might.  These guys think otherwise.  In any case, I am not voting today - since I can't vote for Rep. Ron Paul in Texas or Lt. Gov. Michael Steele in Maryland, the only two guys I actually want to win.  I am certainly not voting for the Republicans again, but I could never be a Democrat.

 

While the GOP is home of the white suburban/rural evangelical Christian with whom I can share an uneasy peace - Democrats are a different story all together.  Taken individually, I can agree with them on certain issues - after all who didn't love Rep. Jim Trafficant from Ohio.  Even Bill Clinton implemented some good policies, after the Geniffer Flowers/Paula Jones scandal taught him his base would stay with him no matter what he did against their wishes. 

 

As a whole, however, Democrats tend to support policies that strengthen government to the detriment of ordinary people.  Which is against my thinking at its core.  Democrats also largely consider abortion on demand as an article of faith - whereas I am against it, and prefer that legislation for or against be handled at a state level.  Lastly I believe in every free man's right to bear arms - and that no man is truly free if he is prohibited from doing so.  Many Democrats would be happy to disarm the whole law-abiding citizenry.  Just as recent as last year, city and state government in Louisiana tried to confiscate the arms of citizens trying to defend themselves against the looters that the whole world witnessed doing their dirty work on TV. 

 

Instead, I will vote for/against the miscellaneous amendments and ballot issues of my home state - and I will only support a candidate if he is good on guns, and has a reputation for keeping his word.  Hopefully I won't have to move to the 14th District of Texas to make that happen.