Is Ron Paul for real?

4625

4625

2
It takes money to win the white house. Ron Paul appears to now be a major player on the Republican side. I don't think he can win the nomination, but his message may help goad the Republican Party to return to it's true conservative position.

GOP Ron Paul - Five Million Dollar Man? - Free Market News Network

GOP Ron Paul - Five Million Dollar Man?

Thursday, June 07, 2007 - FreeMarketNews.com

Congressman Ron Paul?s donations have moved up - not by hundreds of thousands - but by millions as a result of his debate performances and groundswell of support on the Internet and in New Hampshire, observers close to the campaign say.

The move is especially impressive since as of March 31, 2007, he had perhaps $500,000 on hand (see candidate estimates below).

FMNN had previously reported ? after the GOP presidential debate in South Carolina - that candidate Ron Paul?s (R-Tex) donations, large and small, had nearly doubled.

Ron Paul Donations Said Double After SC Debate - Free Market News Network

Now observers close to the campaign are revealing ? with some astonishment ? that donations to the campaign in recent weeks have pushed the total up to perhaps $4 or $5 million.

?That?s a huge number at this stage,? says one observer. ?That starts to put him in a position where he can compete ? state by state, anyway ? with the major candidates.?

And this source added, ?Of course, it?s hard to tell because the numbers keep changing ? and thus nobody at the campaign has a firm count, at least not hour to hour. But the numbers are big. It?s definitely over three, probably over four, and if it hasn?t hit five yet, it will soon.?

At this rate, say observers, Ron Paul could have something like $10 million in his coffers inside of several months, and the total could keep growing ? so long as he continues to hit on themes that Americans support ? how to return the country to a true, small government, constitutional republic and how to end the war in Iraq.

To be sure such amounts are somewhat speculative. But to put the amount of money Ron Paul is said to have raised recently in perspective, here are the figures of cash on hand for GOP candidates as of March 31, 2007:

Election Center 2008: Money - Election & Politics News from CNN.com

Sam Brownback
cash-on-hand: $806,626

Jim Gilmore
cash-on-hand: $90,107

Rudy Giuliani
cash-on-hand: $11,949,735

Mike Huckabee
cash-on-hand: $373,918

Duncan Hunter
cash-on-hand: $272,552

John McCain
cash-on-hand: $5,180,799

Ron Paul
cash-on-hand: $524,919

Mitt Romney
cash-on-hand: $11,863,653

Tom Tancredo
cash-on-hand: $575,078

Tommy Thompson
cash-on-hand: $139,723

Source: CNN


Staff Reports - Free-Market News Network
 
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Jeffiner99

EOG Member
Re: Is Ron Paul for real?

Forgive me if this has already been posted here. But I love Ron Paul so much and I adore what he said about online gambling. Even if this is a repeat, it is always good to refresh ourselves on liberty and freedom. Here is what Ron Paul actually said (as opposed to any bs rhetoric from other Presidential hopefuls) when the UIGEA came up for a vote on the floor of the House. (The bill had a different name at that time).

(Note: Dr. Paul was one of 17 Republicans who voted against the bill. He is the only Republican who voted against it now serving
on the House Financial Services Committee.)

Congressional Record, House of Representatives, July 11, 2006



Ms. HOOLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Paul).

(Mr. PAUL asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this legislation. It is not easy to oppose this legislation because it is assumed
that proponents of the bill are on the side of the moral high ground. But there is a higher moral high ground in the sense that
protecting liberty is more important than passing a bill that regulates something on the Internet.

The Interstate Commerce Clause originally was intended to make sure there were no barriers between interstate trade. In this
case, we are putting barriers up.

I want to make the point that prohibition, as a general principle, is a bad principle because it doesn't work. It doesn't solve
the problem because it can't decrease the demand. As a matter of fact, the only thing it does is increase the price. And there are
some people who see prohibitions as an enticement, and that it actually increases the demand.

But once you make something illegal, whether it is alcohol or whether it is cigarettes or whether it is gambling on the Internet,
it doesn't disappear because of this increased demand. All that happens is, it is turned over to the criminal element. So you won't
get rid of it.

Sometimes people say that this prohibition that is proposed is designed to protect other interests because we certainly aren't
going to get rid of gambling, so we might get rid of one type of gambling, but actually enhance the other.

But one of the basic principles, a basic reason why I strongly oppose this is, I see this as a regulation of the Internet, which
is a very, very dangerous precedent to set.

To start with, I can see some things that are much more dangerous than gambling. I happen to personally strongly oppose gambling.
I think it is pretty stupid, to tell you the truth.

But what about political ideas? What about religious fanaticism? Are we going to get rid of those? I can think of 1,000 things
worse coming from those bad ideas. But who will come down here and say, Just think of the evil of these bad ideas and distorted
religions, and therefore we have to regulate the Internet?

* [Begin Insert]

H.R. 4411 , the Internet Gambling Prohibition and Enforcement Act, should be rejected by Congress since the Federal Government
has no constitutional authority to ban or even discourage any form of gambling.

In addition to being unconstitutional, H.R. 4411 is likely to prove ineffective at ending Internet gambling. Instead, this bill
will ensure that gambling is controlled by organized crime. History, from the failed experiment of prohibition to today's futile
``war on drugs,'' shows that the government cannot eliminate demand for something like Internet gambling simply by passing a law.
Instead, H.R. 4411 will force those who wish to gamble over the Internet to patronize suppliers willing to flaunt the ban. In many
cases, providers of services banned by the government will be members of criminal organizations. Even if organized crime does not
operate Internet gambling enterprises their competitors are likely to be controlled by organized crime. After all, since the owners
and patrons of Internet gambling cannot rely on the police and courts to enforce contracts and resolve other disputes, they will be
forced to rely on members of organized crime to perform those functions. Thus, the profits of Internet gambling will flow into
organized crime. Furthermore, outlawing an activity will raise the price vendors are able to charge consumers, thus increasing the
profits flowing to organized crime from Internet gambling. It is bitterly ironic that a bill masquerading as an attack on crime will
actually increase organized crime's ability to control and profit from Internet gambling.

In conclusion, H.R. 4411 violates the constitutional limits on Federal power. Furthermore, laws such as H.R. 4411 are ineffective
in eliminating the demand for vices such as Internet gambling; instead, they ensure that these enterprises will be controlled by
organized crime. Therefore I urge my colleagues to reject H.R. 4411 , the Internet Gambling Prohibition and Enforcement Act.

* [End Insert]
 
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Nimue77

EOG Senior Member
Re: Is Ron Paul for real?

I have been a big fan of Dr. Paul for a few years now. He has my vote in the Republican primary.
 
WildBill

WildBill

2
Re: Is Ron Paul for real?

With McCain's candidacy catching no fire and Rudy's obvious problems with the GOP rank and file anything is possible. I don't buy Romney being the choice, that is just way too much baggage to deal with. Mormons don't exactly have a good reputation with most people whether that is fair or not. Plus the fact that he's suddenly a staunch conservative? How in the hell do you become Governor of Massachusetts by being the candidate of the Religious Right? Simple answer is you don't, you just switch political orientation when it is convenient.
 
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