While most eyes were fixed on St. Paul and the McCain-Palin festival, a not very quiet throng of Ron Paul supporting Republicans, Libertarians and independents of similar bent gathered across the river in Minneapolis for the Ron Paul convention. A sold out house awaited the diminutive Texas Republican, where more than ten thousand tickets were sold in advance for $17.76 and another thousand were issued at the door.
“Freedom brings people together,” Paul said before a sold-out crowd at Tuesday’s Rally for the Republic.
Paul, who said he entered the presidential race reluctantly, told the roaring audience, “I lost my skepticism. I hope you lost your apathy.”
“I did not want to run people’s lives. I did not want to run the economy and I did not want to run the world. I didn’t have the authority to do it, and I didn’t have the Constitution behind me to do it,” said Paul, who has served in the House of Representatives for more than 30 years.
The crowd, predictably, went wild during a prolonged standing ovation as red, white and blue tickertape fell down from the ceiling. They were apparently equally charged up when Jesse Ventura showed up and gave a similar speech. The theme was a common one for Libertarians. The two party system has abandoned any pretense of wanting to shrink the size of the Federal Government and get spending under control. “Stay out of our wallets, out of our bedrooms, and end this military adventurism around the globe.”
As it turns out, Ron Paul had a choice to make last night. He could have chosen to attend the GOP convention with the rest of his party. It seems, however, he didn’t care for the conditions which the RNC wanted to place on a seated member of their congressional delegation to even get in the door.
Earlier Tuesday, Paul said he was told he could go to the Republican convention floor, but only under very restricted conditions.
The Republican National Committee told Paul he would have to pick up his pass at the gate and couldn’t have any guests.
“Republican congressmen should have a pass to the floor, but they said, ‘Your pass will be at the gate, and we’ll pick it up when you leave, and you can’t take anybody with you,’ ” he said on CNN’s “American Morning.”
There’s an interesting side story for the convention you probably won’t read about anywhere else.
There is one question left unasked for me, though. Ron Paul is no longer running for president. Jesse Ventura isn’t either. But the themes they hit on which so charged the crowd should sound familiar to any enthusiasts paying attention. Why didn’t they take advantage of this huge event to have Bob Barr speak? Certainly he is the closest person left standing who is actually on the ballot across most of the nation who seeks they same goals “the revolution” is looking to put in place.
Photo by Jeremy Freeman of CNN
email the author: [email protected]