Ron Paul: The Red-Headed Step Child of the GOP
Jason Rink
Issue date: 1/23/08 Section: Commentary
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The date was chosen in remembrance of the Boston Tea Party, and the event was spearheaded by Trevor Lyman. Lyman, a music promoter turned grassroots fund-raiser, was the mastermind of both Tea Party '07 and the November 5th "money bomb."
The event was made a success by Paul's formidable army of supporters, with 59,170 donors contributing an average of a $102 apiece. This is the largest amount of funds ever raised in one day by a candidate in political history. The previous record holder? John Kerry, on the day he was chosen as the Democratic nominee in 2004. He raised $5.7 million.
Now, with just under $20 million raised since October, Ron Paul is poised to be the top fund-raiser in either party for the fourth quarter of 2007. Given all of this good news, the Republican Party should be ecstatic right now. After all, the Republican's candidates have been struggling to raise money all year. Hillary Clinton raised more than twice the amount Giuliani raised last quarter. Republicans lost Congressional seats in 2006, and President Bush is one of the most unpopular Presidents in United States history. Everyone knows that the GOP is going to have difficulty winning the 2008 Election. They must certainly be shouting news of Congressman Paul's fund-raising feat from the rooftops!
With the exception of a few interviews, there has been an incredible lack of media coverage. In fact, both the media and the Republican Party have gone out of their way to ignore and push Ron Paul to the margins. Why is this?
Some say it's because he is a Libertarian, and not really a bona fied Republican. It is true that, Paul's platform is Libertarian at its core: promoting personal liberty, sound money, and a sane, noninterventionist foreign policy. He certainly does not fit in with the current crop of neo-conservative war-hawks that currently define themselves as Republicans.
The irony is that Ron Paul lines up with traditional Republican Party values more than any other Presidential candidate. It's the Republican Party, not Ron Paul, who has changed their stripes.
Isn't the GOP genuinely interested in expanding their support base? Congressman Paul is also gaining popularity across the aisle to the point that many lifelong Democrats are changing their party affiliation to so they can back Paul in the Primaries. One would assume that the GOP would be more than interested in stealing voters from the other side.
Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 44
Nick
posted 1/24/08 @ 4:09 PM NA
Great article Jason!
Rosco1776
posted 1/24/08 @ 4:17 PM NA
Excellent!! Thank you for a great article, not like the usual smear campaigns! :-) I am 50 and not a college student but the Dr. has cured my apathy! Without the internet we would have never found Ron Paul!
Ron Paul 2008!
JohnL
posted 1/24/08 @ 4:21 PM NA
Excellent article- Congressman Paul is clearly a front-runner in this race, and most of the mainstream media has yet to accept this. Thank you for providing some good coverage of what is really going on with his campaign. (Continued…)
Chad_Underdonk
posted 1/24/08 @ 4:24 PM NA
Sadly they will pretend there was no fourth quarter fund raising. They will mention that their anointed ones are broke, but the fact that Dr. Paul has not only money reserves, but a base that is willing to donate to see his message get through will never be mentioned. (Continued…)
David
posted 1/24/08 @ 4:29 PM NA
I think Johns Adams said it best: "All the perplexities, confusion and distress in America arise, not from defects of the Constitution or Confederation; not from any want of honor or virtue, as much as downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit and circulation. (Continued…)
Nannette
posted 1/24/08 @ 4:48 PM NA
This article is spot-on! I urge you to send it to every major newspaper in the country as a letter to the editor. EVERYONE needs to read this.
Thank you Jason Rink!
chadlonius
posted 1/24/08 @ 4:51 PM NA
If it weren't for the internet and Ron Paul, I never would have known the main stream media bias.But now, i can see it in almost everything political. (Continued…)
Guesswhoto6
posted 1/24/08 @ 5:01 PM NA
Some opinions are that Ron Paul will need another $150M in his coffers to get elected. Well, how convenient, that Mr Bush provided an economic stimulus package to bribe everybody. (Continued…)
John Hoover
posted 1/24/08 @ 5:03 PM NA
Don't forget that Ron Paul just had another great fund raising day this week. He was able to raise 1.85 million in 24 hours at an average of $78.00 per donation!
While this isn't as large as the earlier money bombs it is still well above what the other Republican candidates are raising. (Continued…)
Gene
posted 1/24/08 @ 5:06 PM NA
Paul exclusion mostly lies with his rejection of the Israeli Lobby running Congress and more wars for Israel.
The GOP is dead, the Democrats will be collapse the economy with government programs. (Continued…)
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