Ron Paul not so crushed in Iowa?

This blog entry titled, "Ron Paul Crushed in Iowa," makes one point but the comments section has a few interesting points of its own. First, the main point ofthe original blog entry:

No surprise, of course, but some vindication for our own Michael Learmonth, who caught hell's full fury earlier for observing the obvious--that Iowa would be the beginning of the end for the president of the web.

And some of the comments:

"Crushed? Double Digits is alot better than anyone expected him to do just a few weeks ago. What about Rudy, is his campaign over now?"

"...he more than exceeded my limited expectations..."

"...it was almost a three way tie for 3rd."

"Wyoming on 01/05/2008 may be a good showing for Rep. Ron Paul (although probably little media coverage). New Hampshire, with it's libertarian leanings, may be really big for Paul. Also, I suspect that Nevada on the 19th will be good for Paul especially if N.H. is big on the 8th."

"...Lastly, Paul's fund raising has been increasing at an exponential rate and far surpasses Huckabee."

"10 percent is not crushed. 10 percent with no mainstream media coverage is impressive."

And so on. Some of the commenters seemed a bit "testy" or upset at the notion that Ron Paul should be portrayed as any sort of loser.

Yes, if 10% of the judges at a beauty pageant said I was drop-dead gorgeous, that still wouldn't get me the Miss America crown. I'd be merely dropped dead from shock, lol.

A three-way tie for third place is still third place. It ain't winnin.'

Ron Paul Doesn’t "Accept" Evolution

This is an interesting opinion put forth on an Alternet blog by Manila Ryce who is (obviously) not a Ron Paul supporter.

This line is kind of funny: "I guess Paul decided to keep Huckabee company amongst the presidential candidates who think the Flintstones was a documentary."

The blogger goes on to mention some of the paradoxes that make up the paradox that is Ron Paul... voting for the border fence while claiming to be a libertarian, for example. I don't really know enough about the Libertarian Party to understand that. I'm pretty sure that Libertarians are against any sane gun laws and they are for the legalization of marijuana but that's really all I know about them.

This one makes a little more sense: the paradox of voting against the impeachment of Dick Cheney while claiming to love the Constitution. Dick Cheney is only Public Enemy Against the American People Number Two by virtue of the fact that he is Vice-President and not sitting in the Number One spot.

I don't understand the blogger here: "He's against the occupation of Iraq, yet claims to be from Texas." Hello?

The blogger states, "Understanding Paul is like trying to nail jello to a tree..." which is another very clever turn of phrase but couldn't the same be said of almost every politician?

"Despite eyebrow-raising revelations that continue to surface, such as Paul not believing in the separation between church and state or the donations he accepts from white supremacist groups, nothing is stronger than the love a Paul fanboy has for his golden idol." Yes, I have seen this devotion in action. And why does Ron Paul not seem to mind being associated with Nazis?

The blogger finishes by making the point that Ron Paul's background in and avocation for matters scientific seems to be woefully inadequate and the American people ought to consider electing someone with "at least an elementary school understanding of what constitutes scientific fact this time around, and not someone who thinks "both sides" are equally credible [re: evolution]." I agree with that.

We've had enough of morons and I'm not necessarily speaking of intellectual capacity (although, that may play into it). If you don't respect the Constitution, you're a moron. And you shouldn't be President of the United States.

Anyway, here's a link to the blog post.

Highlights from the CNN/YouTube GOP Debate

This is actually quite a good little collection of quips and sound bites and worth listening to if you want to get some measure of who the candidates are. I think the most genuine and honorable of the GOP candidates, as they appear on this video, are Huckabee and Ron Paul. I think Mitt Romney has the looks and style and grace of a Presidential candidate but when he turns sideways, so to speak, there's little substance there. Fred Thompson, while seemingly genuine, does not make a great impression for himself as "President material" and Rudy Guiliani comes off as the uber-slick politico and I think our country is sick unto death of the uber-slick ones.

77% of Americans say America is on the wrong track

NOTE: Poll of 2,230 adults; 1,049 Democrats; 827 Republicans; taken Nov. 2-12, 2007; margin of error ± 2.1 percent for all adults; ± 3.0 percent for Democrats and ± 3.4 percent for Republicans.

There is a widespread unease—shared by 77 percent—that the country has meandered off in the wrong direction. Nearly all Democrats and more than six in 10 Republicans think the country has taken the wrong course. And although almost half express interest and hope in the upcoming elections, a third voice frustration—particularly Republicans.

The AP-Yahoo! News survey will track voters' perspectives during the run-up to next year's election, interviewing more than 2,000 people repeatedly about their lives and views about the country, candidates and issues. The polling, conducted by Knowledge Networks, will let the AP and Yahoo! track how and why opinions form and change during the campaign.

SOURCE

I do understand how the spinmeisters will go to work on this one, spinning as fast and furious away from the truth as they can get or twisting actual bad news into a hooray for their side. Of either side, actually. You all do it. A curse on all your houses.

America Always Knew They Were Lying

Pssst... feel free to copy and use graphics but PLEASE DO NOT DIRECT LINK TO THEM HERE. Download them to your own computer. Thanks.

The Ron Paul Experiment

This is actually very funny. This blogger was told if he wrote Ron Paul's name a bunch of times and made a few funny remarks about Mr. Paul, he would get flooded with comments from Ron Paul supporters: The good, wise folks at Blog P.I. tell me that if I write a nasty blog post about Ron Paul, I might get lots of comments. So let’s take that theory out for a test drive. First, let’s get their attention: Ron Paul Ron Paul Ron Paul Ron Paul Ron Paul. And, for good measure, Ron Pall. Second, let’s say this: Ron Paul is not a real Republican. Third, let’s wonder this: Is Ron Paul crazy? Fourth, let’s make fun of the gold standard: Oh wait, I can’t do that. I used to work for Jack Kemp. SEE MORE OF THE EXPERIMENT HERE (91 comments so far... )