A very trusted friend tells me that when he attempted to vote in the Cobb GOP straw poll, Brian Laurens, a Romney supporter, tried to convince him not to vote for Fred Thompson. He said it was not isolated, but that a number of people had the same experience. Brian’s logic was apparently that Fred was going to win but “they” wanted to keep the margin of victory low.
Another friend tells me that the Ron Paul supporters were out in force blaming the Jews for 9/11 and claiming that the Bush Administration played a role.
Here are the overall results, even with Romneybot pressure:
73 Fred
43 Ron Paul
38 mitt
33 huckabee
29 newt
26 Rudy
2 Tancredo
2 McCain
{ 1 trackback }
{ 62 comments }
← Previous Comments
FWIW, Congressman Paul’s reference to blowback, a term coined by the CIA, is what you are taking issue with. Anyone who thinks we were not attacked due to US policy on policing the world is deluding themselves. We have troops, that is: military occupiers, in 130 countries??? Bin Laden has been quoted as saying attacks were as a result of our military on Saudi holy ground. The sooner America wakes up to the fact that we have no business acting as the world’s police man, nor do we advance the cause of liberty at the point of a gun, the sooner we can start living in peace with the rest of the world. You should redraw your lines based on factual history instead of what the MSM tells you. If our actions overseas is an excuse, then what are we doing there and why is our National Guard ( remember them? They who guard OUR NATION) deployed offshore?? You are merely parroting the neocon line.
CC,
I pretty much agree with your overall assessment of both the War, Bush White House, and Congressman Paul.
I’ll add that while the war may have been for the right reason, hindsight shows that the Bush team threw overboard his economic team who told him how much it would cost, and Colin Powell, who told him “if you break it, you own it.”
Inside Man,
It’s not that Ron Paul doesn’t have principles, it’s that he’s totally and completely unelectable.
When asked in a general election how he would reform social security, my guess is that he would say social security is not provided for in the consitution, and therefore should be eliminated. Same for most Federal agencies.
When average joe six-pack voter hears this, do you really think they’re going to have philisophical debates about whether he’s right, or just vote for anyone else who doesn’t appear completely out of the mainstream?
I don’t care to have a debate about whether or not he’s right about the consititution, and I’ll cede that on most points, he is. That doesn’t make him in step with the average voters or make him in any way able to win a national election.
Bull Moose;
How is the marathon going?
Your marathoner is pulling up lame (torn ACL I believe), running out of gas, trailing more and more, his shoes are falling apart, and no one has hit the 13.1 mile mark yet.
Amazing how apt your marathon comparison is.
This is a NATION WIDE poll not just the South.
2008 Republican Presidential Primary
Thompson 27% Giuliani 24% in Race for GOP Nomination
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/2008_republican_presidential_primary
Election 2008: Clinton, Thompson Tied
Clinton (D) 46% Romney (R) 42%
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_2008_clinton_thompson_tied
Debbie – that poll is somewhat dated – two newest polls show Giuliani back at double digit lead including Fox.
Thompson has had a honeymoon. Probably ending. He has now got to slog through things like everyone else.
I think Thompson is a great candidate and may well be the nominee (which I do not object to at all) but it is time to see his campaign more objectively, particularly in light of what he brings (or does not bring) in border states and outside the South.
Dated? That poll was released July 3, 2007
How is that dated?
3 days is an eternity in politics, Debbie.
“3 days is an eternity in politics”
The Term Limits Association’s 2007 Slogan unveiled right here on Peach Pundit.
Clint,
I agree with you. Thompson may be the best thing since sliced bread, but can anyone seriously tell me why he has such a following without laying out one bit of policy? For all I know he could be another Reagan (except for the fact there would be no possibility of tort reform for the next 8 years and he supported the greatest rollback of first amendment speech in McCain-Feingold). I must admit, as a conservative, I am not happy with the “top three” choices in the GOP field, but I am not convinced that Thompson is the answer.
Icarus,
With all due respect, I am now forced to ask: what DO you believe in? Are there any principles you would you not trade away to get a Republican in office? I think that is how we got in our current predicament, by voting for pseudo-conservatives with no principles, who then voted for every conceivable spending bill that crossed their desk.
Based on what your saying, it sounds to me that the ’small government’ plank in the GOP platform is purely for window dressing at this point. Are there any gov’t programs that we CAN tell Joe Six-Pack we’d like to eliminate?
Specifically to your question, Rep. Paul recognizes that we have sadly succeeded in creating a dependent class of citizens. While he is not a supporter of Social Security in its current form, he would most assuredly grandfather people out gradually by allowing younger citizens to opt out of the program over time. He would certainly not suddenly stop the checks on Inauguration Day.
CF72,
I’m going to venture that what I believe in and what you believe in are relatively similar. I believe in smaller government, a federal government whose primary purpose is national defense, and a free-market capitalist based economic system.
My point in the above is not that Mr. Paul is wrong on most of his issues, (though I totally agree with CC above about his blaming us for 9/11), it’s that he’s totally out of touch with the American voter.
I’ll put it this way. Given today’s electoral climate, if you had the choice to nominate Barry Goldwater or Gerald Ford, who would you pick? I’m guessing you would say Goldwater, as he most closely articulated modern conservative (and libertarian) ideals. Ford was a pragmatic centrist who, while Reagan’s intra-party nemesis, didn’t exactly turn our country over to the hippies when he was president.
Republican’s are going to have to earn every vote they get in this election. While most Republicans will recognize the need for Social Security reform, they also realize statements like “he is not a supporter of Social Security in its current form” are vote killers.
If Mr. Paul were our nominee, I’m sure he would articulate libertarian policies on limited government with the most clarity of any candidate since Goldwater. I’m also sure he would scare the hell out of every centrist voter in this country, get about 30% of the popular vote, and cost us at least 10 more Senate seats, 50+ house seats, and ensure that a fillabuster proof congress filled with liberals would change the laws and courts of this country to ensure that no conservative majority could be elected again for generations.
As for the specific question about what I would do to keep a Republican in office, I’m much more concerned with keeping a liberal democrat out of the office than keeping a Republican in it.
Ron Paul is a Vietnam vet who advocates strong border security along with a foreign policy that is non-interventionist. He is a ten-term congressman who keeps getting elected by bigger margins, and is a staunch pro-life advocate who would nominate judges in step with the sanctity of life legislation he has introduced.
Fred Thompson complained of the long hours in the Senate and did not seek re-election as Tennessee Senator because he couldn’t take “fourteen hours of voting”. He was – and still is – a lazy politician-turned-actor ( the opposite of a Reaganesque actor-turned-politician ) who “didn’t leave any footprints in the Senate”.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower in his farewell address in 1961 warned the nation of the military-industrial complex – he wished to coin the phrase “military-industrial – Congressional complex” – which is what we have NOW with corporations getting a chunk of that $2,000,000,000 -billion – per week in Iraq.
The more the citizens know of Congressman Paul, they won’t consider the collection of unemployed ex-mayors, ex-senators, ex-governors who can’t get re-elected, yet want to pretend they could get elected President of these United States.
← Previous Comments
Comments on this entry are closed.