WatchRon Paul is now polling at 6% in Florida. He has become completely insignificant in the race and doesn't even have the ability to influence the outcome any more.
It seems as if the Paulbot spammers, the ones who ruined his chances by discrediting the entire campaign with their lunatic behavior, have crawled back under their rock.
"Romney also led in a Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald/Bay News 9 survey of likely GOP voters conducted Jan. 24 through Jan. 26 – before the CNN debate – and released Saturday evening. Romney received 42% to 31% for Gingrich, 14% for Santorum and 6% for Paul."
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/29/florida-polls-show-romney-retaining-lead/?hpt=hp_t2
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Maybe the spammers were false-flag ops. . .
Campaigns do that for push-polling robocallers.
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Fat Bastard ate Little Ronny.
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I "remembered" that Paul did well in Nevada last year (just trying to see where he might get traction) but the numbers show he got trounced by.....Romney!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevada_Republican_caucuses,_2008
So, unless he picks a liberal as his 3rd party running mate (Nader? Hightower?) he's toast. And if he picks a liberal he'll get a lot of the "why the fuck not?" vote.
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Ron Paul supporters believe that, since everyone they know personally supports Ron Paul, and the websites they visit are fervently pro-Paul, he's clearly a serious candidate.
It's the same mentality that causes other political groups to think that they're the 'mainstream' and conflicting viewpoints are a minority. Think Reagan's "[silent] moral majority"
Ron Paul never had any serious chance of getting the GOP nomination, and he has less of a chance at winning the presidency.
Most democrats would never vote for him because they disagree about the role of government. They like progressive taxation, government intervention, and the social safety net. Most of them even like war.
He might have a better shot attracting Republicans, but not likely -- those guys love war, and are generally in favor of the social safety net too.
When it comes down to it, there isn't really that much of a difference in what the average american wants, and it isn't what Ron Paul is offering.
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Kevin says
I am a big Ron Paul fan. Sad but true ........
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It just proves that one cannot be serious without the big bucks from Goldman Sachs.
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I don't get it either. I figured with other people dropping out of the race that Ron Paul's % would go up (along with everyone else left).
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I watched all of the debates. Ron Paul never said anything positive about what he would DO. All he ever said is how wrong everyone is. He said how the Federal Reserve banks ruined the economy, etc. He was like a broken record because he never said why anyone should like him.
We know that the Federal reserve is hurting the value of the dollar by keeping interest rates very low.
But, to blame ALL of the USA's economic problems in the Fed is just ignorant.
To Paul's credit, he didn't support amnesty and green cards for illegal aliens ("grandmothers") and a moon base like Newt (the Penguin) did. Newt was simply ridiculous in the last debate.
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clambo says
Good point, and it's standard politics, right? Clinton and Obama, and Reagan were the optimistic candidates--analysts always say that the positive campaigns win, or at least have a leg up.
StillLooking says
I don't think that's it. Plenty get contributions from GS et al, and still lose. Paul's problem is Paul's ideology.
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jvolstad's website
Step on his toes!!!
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/everyone-step-toes-gingrich-security-harasses-ron-paul-165042767.html
I guess they want to make it 0%.
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Taint Boil says
That cartoon says it all.
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CL says
But what about those not getting the big money contributors? Very few of these guys win and for president it has never happened.
And Ron Paul is not out of this. He has no prayer in Florida because Romney has too much money, but he is going after delegates in other states. Let us hope he does well. He is the only guy in the race not bought and paid for by the Wall Street banks.
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The problem with Florida is that it is a winner-takes-all state. It should proportion the representatives according to the votes. But since it's all or nothing, Ron Paul isn't even wasting his time there.
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StillLooking says
Well, the right wing, including the Libertarians I thought, think that money is speech, and that those industries have a right to spend their money as they see fit, including supporting a candidate's message.
Do the libertarians support campaign finance reform? I don't think so, witness:
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=11176
"Currently, there are no limits on how much George Soros or Michael Bloomberg can spend of their own money on political speech. Why shouldn't a few thousand others be able to match them by joining forces through an entity such as a corporation that expresses their policy preferences?"
Therefore, it follows that a lack of support by business for Paul is a rejection of his message, right?
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Gameover, I have a brain and eyes and ears. I watched that clown Paul ranting about the FED and gold in numerous debates. I also heard him say some interesting nuggets of wisdom:
1. The USA caused 9/11 , it's our fault. Here Paul is channeling Rev Wright.
2. An HPV Vaccine (anti cervical cancer, anti throat cancer) is "bad medicine" I guess because he has an MD he can rant that vaccines are bad?
3. That Iran is not being bellicose, it's all OUR fault because we have them surrounded.
4. That we should have good relations with Cuba. After all, they just are a dictatorship, they expropriated American property, and killed thousands of innocents, afterwards threatening to fry us with Russian missiles until Kruchev told them to cool it.
Paul is like a chimpanzee. 98% of his DNA is like ours. Unfortunately, that nasty 2% of insane ridiculous nonsense that comes out of his mouth means he cannot win any primary or anything else.
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StillLooking says
And yet he is for lowering the corporate tax rate to 15%. To paraphrase Mitt 'Banks are corporations too.'
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Dan8267 says
That cartoon is wrong and people who believe both parties are the same are the very people who screwed this country up so badly.
The Citizens United case demonstrates this perfectly.
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iwog says
Independents and third party supporters did not screw this country up so badly. Ralph Nadar isn't the cause of the financial collapse.
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iwog says
+1
Saying "they're all the same" is simply an excuse for being uninformed and ignorant.
Do you REALLY think Al Gore would have invaded Iraq? This was the defining American act for an entire decade.
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Nomograph says
No, but I think Obama would have as president despite being against the war when he was a senator. Obama seems to be influence by much the same special interests as Bush. An occasional good apple in the mix doesn't change that.
In either case, the cartoon's point is that the end result is the same. The American people get fucked by both parties. Sure, they may use different orifices, but we're getting raped either way.
America needs an alternative to the two party system and the crappy left-right false dichotomy.
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Dan8267 says
Ralph Nadar was neither the cause or the solution since he cannot get elected. Ditto for Ron Paul.
I take serious issue with those who claim both parties represent the same agenda in the USA. Certainly there are problems with both, however the differences amplified by the Supreme Court are very VERY real.
I find it hard to believe people continue to worry about banks and cronyism and Wall Street corruption when the Citizens United case has essentially returned control of the country to the old English Monarchy. One dollar one vote. Obama and the Democrats and the inevitable replacements for those jackoffs Scalia and Thomas will fix it. Allow Republicans to remain in power and you'll learn a whole new universe of screwing you weren't even aware of.
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Dan8267 says
You think Obama would have invaded Iraq in response to 9/11? Total BS.
Bush's invasion of Iraq was the defining American act of the last decade. Electing anyone else would have completely changed the course of US history. They are absolutely NOT "all the same."
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Nomograph says
I don't think Bush invaded Iraq in response to 9/11. Bush didn't think there was a connection between Saddam and 9/11. He just lied about that. Bush invaded Iraq because of economic interests. Obama hasn't distinguished himself from Bush in this regard or many others.
Look, no one is saying that every politician is exactly the same as every other politicians. We are saying that almost every politician fucks over Americans for their own selfish interest and that almost all of them are bought out. That's why we get screwed no matter who's in office.
But to say that the two political parties are entirely different is bullshit. They are at best two wings of the same party and over time they have become more like each other. They are both for big government, they only bicker over which department gets to be big and which one gets slashed. They are both against empowering people. They are both for indefinite confinement. They are both for using drone attacks that kill civilians. They are both in favor of assassinating U.S. citizens without trial.
And as for Obama vs. Bush, sorry but talk is cheap and what matters is actions. Obama has continued the Bush policies. Obama was Bush's third term. And we can go back and forth saying "na ah and ya hah", but let's just cut to the chase.
These are the facts that show Obama is just like Bush in the most important policies. Disagreements over tax levels and shit like that are insignificant compare to these similarities. And that's a very long list of similarities.
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Dan8267 says
Wait a minute Dan, I thought you believed that Bush invaded Iraq because he thought God told him to do it.
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Dan8267 says
Dan, we agree! We should have a beer together.
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wthrfrk80 says
There is no contradiction here. The religious often believe that god tells them to kill infidels and steal their natural resources: gold, oil, land, women, etc. Funny how that works.
It's also interesting that the rich faithful never hear their imaginary god telling them to give up all their riches and serve the poor.
God did not create man in his image. Man created god in his image.
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wthrfrk80 says
There's probably a lot of things we agree on and a lot of things we disagree on. I'm not one of those people who is unfriendly to people simply because of political disagreements, unless it's a human rights issue like torture. Actually, I only act mean towards trolls, but they deserve it.
About 1/3rd of my friends are Christian conservatives. They're batshit crazy when it comes to politics, but at least their not pro-torture. About 1/4 of my friends are gun nuts and the another 1/4 to 1/3 are anti-gun. Half of my friends are pro-life and the other half pro-choice. I don't see why people have to choose friends based on politics.
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Dan8267 says
Only because they are deliberately ignoring their idolatry, just like they overlook all their other failings. No man is a villain in his own eyes.
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Vicente says
So true.
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Paul being an MD doesn't make his absurd idea that the HPV vaccine is "bad medicine"true. I guess that Paul would say that the Polio vaccine was also bad medicine if Rick Perry had supported it. Paul is an MD who quit to become a politician, it's kind of like a nurse quitting to become a whore.
Whether the USA surrounds Iran this is not what is stimulating Iran to be belligerent. Iran has always hated their Arab neighbors. Saddam was the Arab muscle against Iran for years.
Either way, 9/11 wasn't our fault, and Iran wanting to destroy Israel is not our fault either.
Paul also proposed legalizing all drugs, especially heroin. He also supports legalizing prostitution.
Now, whether you agree or not, Paul is a hopelessly naive fool to SAY this when at least 1/2 of the voters are women and many of them are mothers. These mothers are especially sensitive to the idea of their kids being hooked on heroin if it's legal, and of course having to become prostitutes to support their habits, but Paul will make prostitution legal too so it all will work out fine in Paul's fantasyland of bullshit.
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clambo says
There are countries that have legalized drugs and/or prostitution. There are no more drug addicts or people going to prostitutes than in America. The people who will do these types of activities will do them whether they are illegal or not. You do remember Elliot Spitzer don't you? The war on drugs has been the greatest waste of money, time, and peoples lives in the history of the planet.
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Legalizing drugs and prostitution aren't the big problems with Ron Paul.
Ron Paul believes in a benevolent aristocracy. History demonstrates that this is utter hogwash. Ron Paul would turn us into Mexico if given a chance.
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I think at this point, unless Newt drops out of the race quickly and his anti-Romney votes go to Paul, Ron Paul's chances of winning the primary are over. And I don't think Newt's going to drop out soon. He wants to be president too badly. Typical egotistical asshole.
However, on the slim chance that Newt does drop out, there's only a few likely outcomes:
1. The anti-Romney votes rallies behind Ron Paul and it's a close primary. Either could still win.
2. The anti-Romney voters rallies behind Santorum and Romney wins.
3. The anti-Romney voters give up and stay home. Romney wins.
As for the general election, I still think Paul has a better chance than Romney at beating Obama since independents, third-party supporters, and moderate democrats would vote for Paul but not Romney. Also, the anti-Romney vote might stay home on election day if Romney is nominated. Those Bible thumpers really do hate the whole magic underwear thing, don't they?
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Dan8267 says
It wasn't always easy to claim this. The Democrats had a healthy liberal base back in the day, especially post-Watergate. But after losing every re-election battle since FDR, they begrudgingly supported Clinton, who showed the left that the "middle-way" was a way to end the re-election failure cycle (which, frankly, was Clinton's best contribution...reelection)
His capitulation with the right makes both parties SEEM to be closer than they are. In the Democratic column, there are still plenty of folks who never bought into that DLC triangulation crap. And if we hadn't, this current era would have been our deliverance; a time to show that the rightwing economic worldview is dangerous and destructive.
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iwog says
Wait wait. Turn us into Mexico? Aren't we already Mexico? And I'm not talking about immigration issues.