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Ron Paul Re-Aligns Himself

Posted by JILL MILLER ZIMON in Politics.
Feb 9th, 2008 | Comments

From The Caucus:

In a message to supporters sent just before 11 p.m. Friday night, Representative Ron Paul, a long-shot G.O.P. candidate from Texas, basically conceded that he’s not going to win the party’s nomination.

That said, he’s scaling back his campaign — but not entirely.

He said:

With Romney gone, the chances of a brokered convention are nearly zero. But that does not affect my determination to fight on, in every caucus and primary remaining, and at the convention for our ideas, with just as many delegates as I can get. But with so many primaries and caucuses now over, we do not now need so big a national campaign staff, and so I am making it leaner and tighter.

Mr. Paul clearly stated that he will not run as a third-party candidate. Right now, his priorities are serving the residents in his Texas congressional district and winning re-election.

You can read the letter in its entirety here on Ballot Access News.

Were you a Ron Paul supporter? Do you think he did the right thing? What’s the value of his candidacy been, for whom?

And to whom will his supporters now pledge allegiance?

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PaulSilver

Mr Paul said in his message: "there will be no third party run. I do not denigrate third parties -- just the opposite, and I have long worked to remove the ballot-access restrictions on them"

This would be a worthwhile mission for his followers - to campaign for ballot access and open primaries that would give them and other independents more of a voice.

Jillmz

Do you think that they can make a dent? Not that saying no, they can't, would be a reason not to try.

PaulSilver

I don't see why their motivated army of libertarians can be as effective as other passionate groups. Often the effectiveness of a movement is seizing on an idea whose time has come as was the case with civil rights. It seems to me that a lot of folks who now want change and bipartisan progress would support efforts to increase the proportion of pragmatic, open minded representatives in government.

Jim_Satterfield

An army of Ron Paul supporters is a frightening thought. Paul, have you ever seen a Paulista swarm on a blog? You should go find one. They make Ann Coulter look sane and reasonable.

Jillmz

Well - Jim - I haven't see that, but I think I know what you mean - isn't that kind of the hallmark of any passionately focused single-issue group, though? Not that I like it, but, I do feel that it's kind of an expected mode of expressing support for different ideas.

DLS

Plenty of us with normal American libertarian leanings just hope McCain's promises to reduce spending and waste are kept this time, if he is elected.

That's about all Americans can hope for. And it's a slim hope given how the GOP as well as Dem contingent in Washington loves to spend money and buy votes.

Jillmz

Paul you wrote: "It seems to me that a lot of folks who now want change and bipartisan progress would support efforts to increase the proportion of pragmatic, open minded representatives in government."

Yes - I've been thinking about that as a general idea a lot lately - I think of it in terms of feeding the pipeline but we have to figure out the conditions that will help grow and nurture the types of politicians we want to elect and can trust. It's such a symbiotic thing, I think.

Jim_Satterfield

No, Jillmz, the Paulistas carry it way further than just being passionate in their beliefs. Conspiracy theories abound about why their guy isn't winning. And I do mean conspiracy theories.

From a commenter that's fairly typical when Ron Paul is criticized on Donklephant.

An independent bid, Justin? F-you ! This is our party, and we want it back. Why settle for Marx one side or Marx-lite on the other? Ron Paul Republicans will start in offices on the local level. Not going away.

That post or ones like it aren't that unusual and many are much worse. So no, I don't consider Paul supporters as people who are merely passionate about their ideals.

Jillmz

Jim, I think I was trying to be diplomatic. But what you seem to be saying between the lines is that maybe they're over the top? Or might be seen by some of us as over the top?

Jim_Satterfield

They are so far over the top they can see the moon behind them, Jill.

Here's an article from Newsweek about one of Ron Paul's "interesting" ideas and yes, many of his supporters believe in this one completely. Then there's his desire to withdraw the United States from the United Nations which he refers to as the American Sovereignty Restoration Act. Then there's his belief in the elimination of public education. Some of his followers deny this one exists while many of them agree with it. But here's the web site of the Alliance for the Separation of School and State. Notice the names on the right hand side. I won't provide more links since I'm not sure what the limit is now but it goes on and on. The article Ron Paul wrote in favor of the Branch Davidians is "interesting" reading. The Ron Paul movement consists largely of conspiracy theorists, gold bugs who consider the Federal Reserve to be of questionable legality and people who are certain that they and only they understand what the Constitution means.

Jillmz

Thank you - I would say those are all kind of problems for me. :)

On a different note - to whom do you think he'd tip his hat, for his supporters, or will they just not vote?

Jim_Satterfield

He won't tip his hat for any of the existing contenders and his supporters are swearing that they'll just write in his name. The ones that don't do that probably just won't vote come November. The only people voting for Ron Paul in a meaningful way come November will be those in his congressional district assuming he survives the primary challenge from another Republican that he's facing.

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