August 2007 Monthly Archive

August 31, 2007

Peace, Injustice and Ron Paul

If Ron Paul had been president for the past 6 years, a million more Iraqis would be alive, and another 4 million would not be refugees. The world would be a safer place, and Americans would have lost fewer freedoms. But more Americans would lack decent health care. More American children would lack adequate education. More families in America would struggle in poverty. Immigrant families would face increased threats and abuse. Women would have lost rights.

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David Swanson - opednews.com | Friday, August 31, 2007 | Topic: Ron Paul

 

Ron Paul Gets Some Respect

There's just one thing missing from the Journal's article, and that's any significant coverage of the ideas that Ron Paul talks about. In more than one sense, I would submit that those ideas are more important than the success of his campaign. This, however, seems consistent with the fact that support for the campaign itself seems to be mirroring the personality-based support for the campaigns of men like Theodore Roosevelt in 1912 and Ross Perot in 1992, neither of which succeeded in winning and neither of which succeeded in creating any lasting movement.

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thelibertypapers.org | Friday, August 31, 2007 | Topic: Ron Paul

 

Fred Thompson: A Front-Runner or The Wes Clark of 2008?

Fred Thompson's path to the Republican nomination is daunting and difficult. It is also plainly obvious. The former Tennessee senator, who will formally join the crowded Republican field next week, has had a long and uneven preparatory spring and summer. Many Republicans, including (privately) at least one of his rivals, believe he has missed his moment.

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Dan Balz - Washington Post | Friday, August 31, 2007 | Topic: Today's Top News

 

USA Today: The Associated Press Discovers the 'Ron Paul Revolution'

While the Associated Press this morning takes a look at all the ways passion for Republican presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul is "unmatched among presidential candidates" even though " he measures no more than 2% in most national opinion polls," the campaign itself is winding up a contest where the prize is a "visit from Dr. Paul" (the Texas congressman is a physician).

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USA Today | Friday, August 31, 2007 | Topic: Ron Paul

 

AP: Ron Paul's Campaign Fuelled by Partisan Disillusionment

Passengers on a plane leaving New York could see three words in 4-foot (1.2-meter) block letters painted on a rooftop terrace in Manhattan's East Village neighborhood as they ascended: GOOGLE RON PAUL.

The entreaty to search the Internet for news of the Republican congressman from rural Texas who is running for president is one of the more visible signs of enthusiasm from a do-it-yourself base of Web fans. Their support does not show up in public opinion polls, but it is unmatched among presidential candidates in its passion.

On their own, the fans have developed a Ron Paul Revolution logo, marketing the idea through YouTube. Message boards and Web sites debate his virtues.

The Web fans for Paul's anti-establishment campaign for the 2008 election run away with online polls and blanket Web sites with caps-locked, exclamation-point endorsements of the contrarian Republican, even though he measures no more than 2 percent in most national opinion polls.

The supporters have an entrepreneurial drive and get their political news from Internet sources outside the mainstream media, especially blogs and news aggregators that rely on popular vote to determine news value.

That same spirit inspires them to canvass parade routes in 100-degree (38 Celsius) heat, argue campaign strategy in two-hour meetings or paint the roof of a Manhattan apartment building.

"To get your arms around everything and understand what is going on is really impossible to do," Paul spokesman Jesse Benton said of supporters roaming the Web.

Paul's message is gospel among his base, which Benton described as mostly old-school conservatives.

Supporters can recite his talking points at length.

"They forge their own intellectual world to find the obscure, unusual sources of information that lead them to obscure, unusual candidates like Ron Paul," said Brian Doherty, a columnist for the libertarian magazine Reason.

Avery Knapp is typical of the Paul Web supporter. A 28-year-old radiology resident, Knapp describes himself as a lifelong conservative who voted for President George W. Bush in 2000 before growing disillusioned with the Iraq war and federal spending.

Bush "did nothing but increase the size of government. The Republican Party needs to move back to its core principles," Knapp said. Many Paul supporters share Knapp's disdain for what he called a "neo-conservative clique."

At 46, Kevin Leslie has never bothered with politics. After watching an interview with Paul during his 1988 campaign as candidate for the Libertarian Party, Leslie told himself, "If this guy ever runs for president again, I'll back him."

Paul did, and Leslie was good to his word, starting a prominent Paul blog in February and traveling to the recent straw poll in Ames, Iowa, an informal measure of how the Republican candidates are faring.

Paul has attracted a contingent of previously apolitical and even left-leaning Americans like Leslie who support his call to pull all troops out of Iraq immediately and who like his reputation for opposing any legislation not linked to principles already expressed in the Constitution.

"I've already been surprised by how much traction his campaign has gotten," Doherty said. "He's a clever politician because these netroots types can call him a 'true conservative,' a 'constitutionalist' or whatever they call themselves, and he's sensitive to that."

Whatever their political background, the supporters all consider themselves part of a spray-paint and duct-tape "Ron Paul Revolution." Four banners with that unofficial logo hang from the fire escapes of the Manhattan building.

"They couldn't reel us in if they wanted to. Most everything has become an unofficial-official part of the campaign," said Dave Gallagher, whose cadre of Paul supporters came up with the Ron Paul Revolution logo.

Gallagher claims to have started the first group for Paul supporters on Meetup.com, a Web site geared toward the kind of networking that helped presidential candidate Howard Dean's supporters organize in 2004.

In the six months since, more than 30,000 people have joined Meetup groups in more than 700 places across the country. Paul's Meetup presence surpassed Dean's in just two months, said Andres Glusman, vice president of Meetup.com.

"Because people have the power to self-organize here, it's obvious that he's hitting a chord that is resonating with people in a way the media is not acknowledging," Glusman said.

This weekend, Paul will be the major Republican candidate to attend a Texas Republican straw poll in Fort Worth. Straw polls typically are won by the candidate who does the best job turning out dedicated supporters. All the top tier candidates in the race — and a few lower-rung candidates as well — are bypassing the event.

When Paul supporters get together, they often find themselves thrown into the intricacies of running an insurgent campaign, attorney Steven Heath said after a Meetup session in Dallas.

"These guys in Meetup, hardly any of them have any political experience," Heath said. "These people are newbies. They're about to get plugged in, and they'll be plugged in with Paul's ideas."

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Associated Press | Friday, August 31, 2007 | Topic: Ron Paul

 

Wall Street Journal: Paul Grabs Attention of Alienated Voters

Computer engineer Jonathan Morey says, "I have never voted for a Republican, ever." Nathan Hansen, a lawyer, says, "I've been a Republican all my life." Yet a political meeting in St. Paul, Minn., brought the 31-year-old friends together for the first time -- in support of presidential candidate Ron Paul.

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Wall Street Journal | Friday, August 31, 2007 | Topic: Ron Paul

 

Hillary Clinton Campaign Donor Surrenders on Theft Charge

Embattled Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu turned himself in to authorities on Friday on a 16-year-old grand theft charge, according to a San Mateo County, California, Superior Court spokeswoman. Hsu was being held on $2 million bond at the Maguire Correctional Facility in Redwood City, the San Mateo County seat.

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CNN | Friday, August 31, 2007 | Topic: Today's Top News

 

Top Democratic Fundraiser Faces Probe for Possible Campaign-Finance Violations

The U.S. Justice Department is investigating possible campaign-finance violations by top Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu, according to people familiar with the probe. On Friday, Mr. Hsu surrendered to California officials on an unrelated grand-theft charge dating to the early 1990s.

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Wall Street Journal | Friday, August 31, 2007 | Topic: Today's Top News

 

A New Frontburner Issue in Iowa: Same-Sex Marriage

Iowa will in all likelihood remain the state that opens the process of nominating the Democratic and Republican candidates for president in 2008. As such, it is a "must visit" and "must impress" state for contenders in both parties. Iowa is now something else, however. With the decision of a county judge to strike down Iowa's law banning same-sex marriages, the state becomes a front-line battleground in America's ongoing political wrestling match over gay and lesbian rights.

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The Nation | Friday, August 31, 2007 | Topic: Breaking Story Highlights

 

Republican Warner to Retire from Senate

Republican Sen. John Warner of Virginia, an influential voice in Congress on military policy, said on Friday he would not seek re-election next year -- a decision that complicates party hopes of recapturing Senate control.

Warner, 80, an ex-husband of actress Elizabeth Taylor who has been in the Senate for 30 years, said he would not run for a sixth six-year term.

"Everything has gone well and I want to express my profound appreciation today for all that so many have done for me," he said during an appearance at the University of Virginia.

Warner's retirement will make Virginia a crucial battleground in the fight for Senate control in the 2008 elections, turning a relatively safe seat into one Republicans will have to fight hard to retain.

Republicans will be working in 2008 to overcome a slender one-seat margin of control for Democrats, who hold a 51-49 majority.

Popular former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, who left office last year, is a potential Democratic contender, and Rep. Tom Davis is a possible Republican candidate in what would be one of the premier Senate races in the country.

President George W. Bush praised John Warner's dedication and commitment. "The Senate will lose one of its most independent and widely respected voices," said Bush.

Warner, a former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, openly criticized Bush's handling of the Iraq war and called on him last week to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq.

The decision put Warner in the center of a growing debate in Congress over the conflict. Warner has spent months trying to develop an approach to U.S. policy in Iraq supported by Republicans and Democrats.

Warner has clashed with fellow Republicans in the Senate, voting in some cases for government funding of abortions and supporting some gun control measures. In 1994, he refused to support the conservative Republican candidate for Senate from Virginia, Oliver North.

Warner was challenged for re-election in 1996 by Mark Warner, who is not related, and narrowly defeated him by 52 percent to 47 percent.

The conservative Southern state has become more Democratic since then, and James Webb won election to the U.S. Senate last year in an upset of incumbent Republican Sen. George Allen.

Warner, who enlisted in the Navy during World War Two at the age of 17, also served in the Marine Corps in Korea. He was secretary of the Navy from 1972 to 1974 in President Richard Nixon's administration.

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Reuters | Friday, August 31, 2007 | Topic: Today's Top News