So far, Republicans have been taking either a dismissive approach to Ron Paul or a disdainful approach. What we're still waiting for is for one of the major candidates to figure out that Paul is not a fluke, that his supporters are enthusiastic and hard-working and passionate, and that the issues he raises are ones of great concern to millions of Americans.
No major candidate seems to have any interest in coopting Paul's message in the way that, say, Fred Thompson coopted Tancredo's tough stance on immigration or that multiple candidates have managed to squeeze out Brownback's appeal to evangelicals -- this is truly remarkable.
You'd think that someone would be interested in attracting all of those voters, workers, and all of that money.
Hm.
7 comments:
Ron Paul uses November 5th Pop-Culture V for Vendetta to Collect Money.
The republican GOP candidate with the most online Buzz gets very little attention from the mainstream media.
Listen to the radio Show
http://www.hotconflict.com/blog/2007/11/ron-paul-uses-n.html
V for Vendetta was an intellectually confused, pretentious, and over-wrought gore-fest.
Perhaps the organizer of this fund-raising day was taken with that film, but I give Ron Paul more credit than that.
ron paul = crazy
that's why none of the top tier candidates have picked up his policies.
Ron Paul has already said he didn't see the movie. Personally, I would have been happier if the Nov 11 moneybomb effort had achieved critical mass first, since that's really a more appropriate day. But I don't think the Nov 5 date is awful.
Ron Paul is not crazy. There is very little that he advocates that has not been a mainstream part of the conservative/Republican message at some point in the last 50-60 years.
Outdated -- maybe.
Crazy? Only if Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan, Russell Kirk, and other conservative lights were crazy back in 1960.
Calling Ron Paul and his supporters crazy is like asking to lose the election. It is like waving a red flag in front of them and daring them to run third party in the fall of 2008.
Any sensible party figures out a way to include every potentially friendly faction in the general election. Many in the GOP seem determined rather to antagonize Ron Paul and his supporters.
I disagree with that "strategy."
maybe i misspoke when i said that ron paul is crazy. what i meant is that his supporters are crazy. or more to the point, they are anarchists who have somehow latched onto paul. here is a great quote by prolific gop pollster frank luntz.
"His supporters are the equivalent of crabgrass," says G.O.P. consultant Frank Luntz. "It's not the grass you want, and it spreads faster than the real stuff. They just like him because he's the most anti-Establishment of all the candidates, the most likely to look at the camera during the debates and say, 'Hey, Washington, f--- you.'"
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1678661-2,00.html
MTgirl -- now that I can agree with. There is a lunatic fringe that has latched onto Ron Paul. Seems like I heard that it got so bad at Red State that all Ron Paul posts and comments were banned.
From what I can tell, Paul himself is fiery, but a gentleman. I think that there is definitely a segment of his supporters who are projecting their formless anger onto him.
There are quite a few sensible supporters of Ron Paul -- I suspect they outnumber the kooks, but I have no way of knowing how one would prove that.
The people who are sabotaging online polls and spamming blogs in the name of Ron Paul are not going to vote GOP in the fall no matter what.
But as close as our elections are these days, I want Ron Paul to endorse the eventual GOP nominee and I want his sensible libertarian-minded supporters to vote GOP.
I certainly don't want to drive people out of the GOP who feel strongly about having dramatically lower taxes, dramatically lower government spending and regulation, etc.
Comments like those of Frank Luntz aren't helpful, because every sensible supporter of Ron Paul is going to read that sort of thing and conclude that the GOP doesn't want them.
Frank Luntz is going to make a lot of money being an election pundit and pollster no matter who wins what election. So I take his hyperbolic statement for what it is.
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