The Nation: Is the Ron Paul Revolution Just Beginning?
Posted June 4th, 2008 by Michael Nystrom
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A semi-decent article but with lots of underhanded slights, including the second to last paragraph, which is designed to kill any possible positive feelings generated in the hearts of the liberal leaning readers of The Nation for Dr. Paul. Lots of hyperlinks in the full article.
By Susannah Vila | The Nation | June 3, 2008
Remember the strained and bemused expressions on the GOP presidential contenders' faces whenever Ron Paul spoke up during a debate? While Paul excoriated American empire, a split-screen would show the frontrunners dismissing the Texas Congressman as if he were a crazy uncle. A band of "Paulite" Congressional candidates and their netroots supporters want to permanently inject the same antiwar, small-government message their hero frequently added to the GOP debate.
Even as Paul's still ongoing campaign is largely ignored, he and his followers remain a grassroots phenomenon. Paul blogs and forums receive traffic numbers competitive with popular conservative hubs like Red State and PowerLine; his popularity on YouTube rivals that of Barack Obama; and his book, The Revolution, hovers just below Fareed Zakaria and Barbara Walters on the New York Times bestseller list. Despite the fact that Paul's bid for the presidency is more quixotic now than ever, a record amount of people voted for him in Idaho's under-the-radar May 27 Republican primary; in Pennsylvania, Oregon and the four primaries in between, he drew 270,000 votes. After volunteering for his campaign, roughly forty candidates for the House and two for the Senate are running on Paul's "liberty" platform. While GOP Congressional leaders worry about their fall prospects, these candidates are harnessing netroots-style activism in their quest to become an important constituency within the party.
The various campaigns are not yet as connected as Paul organizers would like, but what ties most of them together is a similar message. Paul-backed Congressional candidates in Michigan, Louisiana, Tennessee and New York all give the same response when asked why the GOP is faring badly in special elections and why their prospects for the fall have earned dim forecasts: because they are sticking with the Bush agenda rather than adopting Paul's limited government, anti-empire message. "Expansion of big government programs has lost us credibility," says Amit Singh, one of the thirty "liberty" candidates campaigning to run on the Republican ticket--as opposed to eleven Independents, seven Libertarians, and two Democrats. "We can't promote our values onto other types of people, they should decide for themselves," he adds.
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"We've only just begun to fight!"
lets do it!
lets face it napalm John bomb Iran McCain is one scandal away from oblivion...time to rally the troops around an independent run Paul/Ventura gives us Dream Ticket and millions of people will be exposed to the message of Liberty.
email/call HQ and spread the word
RP08 to restore the Constitution
Conservatives vote for Obama?
Her article on why Conservatives, real Conservatives who see the the damaged done by 16 years of Clinton-Bush Foreign Policy, may just vote for Obama is very interesting.
http://www.thenation.com/...
In Peace & Liberty,
Treg
Obama is a globalist mouthpiece
He's about as far from conservative as Mercury is from Pluto. Any true conservative wouldn't vote for him if he was the ONLY candidate running.
The racism and economic
The racism and economic criticisms were totally uncalled for...
On top of it, the claims that we're underestimating our obstacles is a joke. Nobody here is expecting it to be easy or a walk in.... We all expect to succeed, and we will, because we're not just going to give up. When you truly believe in something you never just stop working for it... Eventually somethings got to give, and it won't be us.
They're right though about more people wanting government solutions... I grew up believing that was the only way... THAT's THE PROBLEM!!! People don't know there's an alternative and it's better. They just need to be shown the message/philosophy.
For the Racism comment alone, its wise we all vote OBAMA
"unequivocal racism in both Paul's past and on the movement's periphery"
If we vote as block, for "out in 16 months" Obama and "Against 100 years of War" McCain,.....We will have WASHED that "racism stain" from our R3VOLution T- shirts.
In Peace & Liberty,
Treg
How many authors are there? Added at Editing?
I have seen a few similar pieces like this one which seem to be either the work of a severely bipolar Jekyll/Hyde personality or more likely, the venomous attack paragraph is added later on. Sometimes the editing is very obvious in that there is a such a change of tone and style that it is way too clear that someone has intervened and damaged the article. It is kind of like censorship in reverse in that something is added, strychnine with the hamburger.
What the "bleep" is this?
From the article: "Paul's brand of Libertarianism also bears some ugly elements: unequivocal racism in both Paul's past and on the movement's periphery."
Same old, same old...you repeat a lie often enough and people will believe it. Ugh!
good summation, michael ~
~
In all fairness, The Nation has been one of the few leftists blogs that have been decent to the revolution.
"yes...good...yes..." I cheerily thought as I read this article's positive discussion points...and then BAM!
~ they kill Bambi's mother in the end.
The lefts only fondness for Dr. Paul is his anti-war position...
... once you get past that, his positions are largely anathema to them. . This article is another regrettable example of this. The line about "his unequivocal racism" is more of the Nation's unequivocal journalistic-hackery. This is at least the second time that they have leveled this unsubstantiated charge towards Dr. Paul. If memory serves, they made this assertion some four months ago as well, with a regurgitation of the infamous newsletter of some years back.
A smaller military is the only form of smaller government that they support. I suspect that Dr. Paul is viewed as a "useful idiot" for the Nation and much of the left.
interesting article, and
interesting article, and may, unfortunately be true..