Ron Paul: Spoiler Or Savior?
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, New Hampshire, Ron PaulAP has an interesting article today about Paul’s effect on New Hampshire:
Fergus Cullen, the New Hampshire Republican party chairman who is neutral in the race, said Paul’s campaign has sent more campaign mail to households than any other organization has. Radio advertising is heavy, although paid television advertising has been relatively modest so far.Current polls in New Hampshire show Paul in single digits. But Cullen said, “I believe there is more support than public opinion polls are picking up. I believe that he is appealing to anti-establishment Republicans and independents, and there are a lot of them.”
Independents account for about 42 percent of the electorate in the state, and outnumber both Republicans and Democrats. Cullen predicted the Texan would poll more than 10 percent — a significant threshold because it would guarantee him at least one delegate to the GOP nominating convention next summer.
But folks, will he REALLY be a spoiler or is he pulling more people into the Republican fray? How about neither…
He said he doubts Paul will hurt any candidate more than another. “I believe most of Ron Paul’s supporters would probably not participate in the primary” without him in the race, he said.
He’s an independent candidate with an independent message. He will neither spoil the GOP primaries or save them. He could be a bit disruptive for a candidate, but that’s about it. Because the majority of people who are voting for Paul wouldn’t vote for any of the GOP candidates.
Meanwhile, Paul suggests that Huckabee’s religious x-mas message could be seen by some as a harbinger of fascism.
Err…
UPDATE:
A commenter points out that Paul clarified the statement:
Our thanks to “Brucevdk” for sending us a link to this video. It shows Republican presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul talking about what he meant Tuesday when he said on Fox & Friends that GOP contender Mike Huckabee’s “Merry Christmas” TV ad make him think of a quote often attributed to writer Sinclair Lewis that “when fascism comes to this country, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross.” (Check our post on what Paul said if you want to see the more than 500 comments it has generated.)If you fast-forward in the clip Brucevdk alerted us to, to about 1:07:10, you’ll see and hear Paul say that he didn’t mean to single out Huckabee, but that he does believe the nation is headed toward “fascism” or “corporatism:”
“Well unfortunately it was an unfortunate comment made at the wrong time, because I have no interest in addressing my opponents by name, or whatever they do, or their ads.
I believe him, but that was certainly a tough gaffe to make. And he’s still not backing down from the actual statement itself, just that it was directed at somebody.
Long story short, it will be a lot easier to paint Paul as anti-religious.
This entry was posted on Friday, December 21st, 2007 and is filed under 2008 Election, New Hampshire, Ron Paul. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
December 21st, 2007 at 11:29 am
Er.. no actually, you are sounding like fox dude. Go see that interview.. and see it in context..
December 21st, 2007 at 11:49 am
Some people seem to think Ron Paul could be the Savior of the white race.
December 21st, 2007 at 12:42 pm
Justin, fact check!
Paul released a follow up statement today on his comment on the Huck ad.
http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/2007/12/paul-says-he-di.html
December 21st, 2007 at 12:55 pm
Though I’m apparently a rabid Paul hater and enemy of democracy, I’ll give him a pass on the Huckabee thing. He’s clearly making a general point about wrapping oneself in the flag or hiding behind a cross, not calling Huckabee a fascist.
If Paul does poll 10%, does that jumpstart his campaign or simply confirm his small base of support within the Republican primary system? Considering that he’s probably going to do better in libertarian New Hampshire than he will elsewhere?
December 21st, 2007 at 7:12 pm
Justin, where do you think these people are going to go if Paul gets crapped on by the GOP establishment? If Paul’s views aren’t incorporated into the GOP or if he’s not allowed to speak at the convention, do you honestly believe these hard-working souls are going to vote for the status-quo?
Ron Paul is SAVING the GOP’s ass. All of the independents, fiscal conservatives, libertarians, old-right conservatives….if Paul wasn’t running, you think they’d continue holding their noses for the GOP nominee?
December 21st, 2007 at 8:09 pm
I don’t believe it would be correct to label Ron Paul “anti-religious” even if every word in his statement were true. It’s pretty clear that Ron Paul is no more “anti-religious” than he is pro-religion.” I think Ron Paul is pro-choice, as in, people choose what faith if any they choose to follow. Not the state or the government.
However, it is blatantly obvious that Evangelical Christianity has ensconced itself within the highest levels of our government despite the Establishment Clause in our constitution prohibiting such, but it has happened nonetheless and special interests now dress themselves up in Evangelical clothing to garner the support of the Evangelical base in order to gain access to favorable legislation.
Good ol’ Huck is only doing what the rest of the crooked career politician do, praise Jesus during election time and get blow jobs in airport bathrooms or take lobbyists money (bribe) after they’ve secured their congressional seat.
You could say these politicians are religious because religion does a political career good, whereas having no faith is without question a career killer.
Besides, Ron Paul is pro-life, I am pro-choice and I don’t believe Ron Paul is neither religious zealot or anti-religion. He is for the constitution that states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion….” together with the Free Exercise Clause, (”…or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”)
December 21st, 2007 at 8:20 pm
If this was just about the ad, I would agree Ron Paul overreacted. However, Huckabee has presented himself as the “Christian” candidate, and his surge in the polls is exactly because of that, despite questions about Huckabee’s ethical record. (If you think his surge is due to something else, please tell me.) Ron Paul was talking about how politicians can get away with anything as long as they call themselves Christians or patriots.
The idea that our consciences can be overruled by a leader who claims to speak for God and country is the same philosophy fascist dictators used to gain control. My conscience is between me and God, and I respect divine power too much to trust a politician when he claims to represent God’s will. Christians should judge a candidate’s ethical record and decide whether the candidate is exhibiting the “fruits of the Spirit.” (Galations 5:22-23)
I believe Ron Paul shows these fruits, and I invite you to examine his record.
I don’t want to take up too much space here, but I have written more on Huckabee’s questionable ethics on my blog at leightonweese.squarespace.com
December 22nd, 2007 at 12:56 am
Paul anti-religious? He’s actually a Huckabee-lite (which is still better than being Huckabee. Paul’s writings clearly show not only is he religious but that he doesn’t believe in separation of church and state and that he believes that the founding fathers intended to create a Christian country:
http://liberalvaluesblog.com/?p=2358
Paul, like Huckabee, also does not believe in evolution:
http://liberalvaluesblog.com/?p=2571
December 22nd, 2007 at 8:54 am
Where will the Ron Paul people go after he loses the primaries rests entirely on the Libertarian Party and who they nominate.
Wayne Root is coming on strong. He was on Fox News last Saturday, and just yesterday he secured the enthusiastic endorsement of the LP’s First Presidential candidate from 1972 Dr. John Hospers. The latter is HUGELY IMPORTANT! in LP circles. Plus, Root has been making an appeal to Ron Paul supporters in the last few days.
If Root is the nominee, given his money and celebrity, you can bank on a great many Paulists switching over to the Libertarian Party.
But if it’s a 2nd tier Nominee like the insider favorites George Phillies or Steve Kubby, watch for a deflated Paul contingent staying within the GOP, especially if the GOP nominates a Fiscal Con like Fred Thompson, Mitt Romney or libertarian-leaning Rudy Giuliani.
If it’s Huckabee on the GOP side, and Kubby or Phillies on the LP side, the Paul people, and most libertarians including Rudy libertarians like me, will just stay home.