Ron Paul is the man who wants to bring back isolationism and the gold standard (almost)--Republican platform planks from the 1930s. Ron Paul is the man who says that Osama Bin Laden has reasons for his anger and we should listen to them. Ron Paul, a man with two first names and no last name, finds himself at that far end of the right wing that meets up nicely with the far end of the left wing.
Here, by contrast, is the good news. Twice as many conventioneers didn't vote for Paul as did. They expressed themselves as follows, per CNN:
The announcement of Paul's win, a surprise victory unlikely to have a major impact on the 2012 presidential contest, drew a volley of loud boos from the CPAC audience.
And for those who voted for Paul, who are mad and won't take it any more, a few weeks of sustained exposure to Paul will certainly cool their ardor.
In the meantime, we can hear Democrats chuckling and rubbing their hands together. Tomorrow everyone on a Sunday talk show will receive an email instructing them on how to characterize conservatives as out-of-touch extremists who are consumed by hatred and negativity. And tomorrow there will be just enough truth in that for the characterization to stick.
3 comments:
Let's move to Canada, where they have a sane conservative as Prime Minister.
Means nothing?
"Reflecting the college atmosphere of the annual event, young people dominated the voting: 54 percent of participants were between the ages of 18 and 25."
I think it means quite a bit, actually. Lack of options affects all the political schools, what this clearly indicates is that the party's base (and future) is growing in libertarian directions.
I think it will be hard for SWNID to dismiss the libertarian wing of his party much longer. R's need those votes as much or more than they need the independents (mainly because so many independents have strong libertarian leanings in key policy areas).
So Paul believes in gold standard currency: Palin believes [sic] Africa is a country and Romney believes an Angel called Moroni revealed God's will for Joseph Smith to start collecting adolescent "wives."
D's won't be laughing at this, they'll quite worried that they're about to lose their new-found internet prowess to a Texan OB with, admittedly, two first names.
I don't seriously think Paul is the answer to all of the GOP's problems, but listening to what his supporters are trying to tell the party is absolutely crucial if they want to have a shot at Mr. Cool in 2012.
There is but one thing to listen to with Ron Paul: reducing federal spending. On this, we prefer to listen to Milton Friedman.
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