The Mosh Pit of Candidates: Ron Paul Will Hold ‘Counter-Convention’ at Republican Convention
May 16th, 2008
By DR. CLARISSA PINKOLA ESTÉS, Assistant Editor, TMV Columnist
Ron Paul, one of the most interesting and unique of the men who ran for the Republican nomination, well… He’s not giving up.
He and his considerable group of supporters have already rented space for their assembly near the site of the Republican Convention in St Paul Minn.
Paul doesnt support John McCain; thinks McCain’s ideas are far different than his.
Says he has a lot of ‘numbers’ in terms of voters
Doesnt think he’ll be interested in campaigning with Bob Barr, who is running to gain the nomination on the Libertarian ticket.
Some people think Ron Paul– and Hillary Clinton– are demented for not dropping out of a race that some insist they cannot win, and that are in effect, over already.
However from the point of view of our country being is such serious straights, it’s just my two cents worth, but if I had to choose who to be in my lifeboat trying to not go down with the current ship of state, I don’t think I’d want sister and brother sailors who gave up because it seemed the odds were not good, or because they thought the lifeboat cost too much money to man, or because landfall had not yet been sighted…
I’d want the brothers and sisters who are stalwart, never give up kinds of people… considering not the odds only, but what great moment is at stake. “Never, never, never”… you know, like that other ‘demented’ guy Winston Churchill said.
This interesting article by Marcus Baram who writes for ABC news, on what has become what I’d call ‘a mosh pit’ of candidates …
Asked during an appearance on “The Daily Show” last week which of the two Democratic nominees he preferred to run against in the general election, McCain quipped, “Ron Paul.”
But Paul might get the last laugh during
McCain’s coronation at the party’s convention in early September.McCain’s nomination may be certain, but he finds himself pressured by different wings of the conservative movement — from the libertarians and the anti-war activists, to social conservatives and evangelical voters.
In recent primaries, as many as 25 percent of Republican voters chose a different candidate, with many pulling levers for Paul and former GOP candidate Mike Huckabee, who snagged 27 percent of the vote in the Pennsylvania primary.
A similar phenomenon also occurred in 2000, when 33 percent of Republicans voted against Bush in the Colorado primary though Bush was the presumed nominee by then.
Paul’s grass-roots movement of enthusiastic supporters is reportedly planning a minirebellion
at the convention to push its anti-war, anti-tax agenda.
In state conventions in Maine and Nevada, Paul’s forces battled McCain’s delegates to the brink. While they won’t have the muscle to challenged McCain in the national convention, they can be an annoying sideshow when the spotlight is supposed to be solely on the candidate.
Huckabee has endorsed McCain, but some of his evangelical supporters remain skeptical about McCain’s claim to be a social conservative.
Virginia conservative Michael Farris, the chancellor of Patrick Henry College, reportedly promoted an Obama presidency as a biblical punishment for Republican sins, which would allow the party to regroup and come back under the leadership of Huckabee in 2012. Farris denied that he ever suggested such a thing during an interview with ABCNEWS.com.
And former GOP Rep. Bob Barr, who won acclaim in conservative circles for leading the drive to impeach President Clinton, just announced his run for the presidency on the Libertarian Party ticket.
The party commands few votes, but Barr has the potential to draw away Republican voters and be a spoiler in battleground states as Ralph Nader was accused of doing to Democrats in the 2000 election.
This entry was posted on Friday, May 16th, 2008 at 3:38 pm and is filed under Conventions, ABC News, Bob Barr, Newsweek Blogitics, Ron Paul, 2008 Elections, Republicans, Hillary Clinton, Politics. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
