I pretty nice story came out on the AP wire, and has shown up on ABC. From that story:

Bush "did nothing but increase the size of government. The Republican Party needs to move back to its core principles," Knapp said. Many Paul supporters share Knapp's disdain for what he called a "neo-conservative clique" and hope Paul can spark a Goldwater-style insurgency.

I think that's exactly what we are looking at. Except Paul is really like Goldwater, but replace his foreign policy with that of Taft, Washington, and Jefferson (i.e. non-intervention). Also there was decent article in the Wall Street Journal, which is surprising considering the neo-conservative leanings of that paper. I like how they describe the Iowa Straw poll (following two supporters).

On Saturday, Messrs. Morey and Hansen pulled into a parking lot alongside Romney buses. As mostly older passengers marched off in line behind Romney aides holding "Follow Me" signs, the two men chuckled at the contrast with the free-thinking, free-lancing Paulites.

Note that one inaccuracy is that it says he has "favored" gay marriage. It would be more accurate to say he does not support a federal ban on gay marriage, and would leave the issue to the states.

Finally, there is some video of Dr Paul's visit to New Hampshire on CSPAN - part 1, 2, and 3. Pete, of Pete's gun shop is quite a hoot. At one point he says that one of his friends says of Giuliani - "I'm not going to to vote for that son of a b...., he is against everything I stand for". And he wasn't too kind to Romney either - made fun of him saying he has hunted all his life, yet never had a hunting license. At the end, he tells Dr Paul to go kick some a...

This old video just surfaced - an interview with Bill Moyer. They highlight his speech 6 months prior to the Iraq War:

"I rise to urge the congress to think twice before thrusting this nation into a war without merit, one fraught with danger of escalating into something no American will be pleased with."

Bill Moyer's points out: "You were almost prophetic in what you said, you were right."

How many other issues will we look back on years from now and realize that Ron Paul was right? He was warning about the housing bubble years ago, and now we are finding that he was right. He's a doctor who knows how to find the true cause of our ailments.

Labels: ron paul iraq war

Ron Paul has really be the only candidate out there that is honest/brave enough to talk about the impending bankruptcy of our country. His dire predictions have gone ignored by the rest of Congress it seems. Well, now the Comptroller of the U.S. is actually speaking out, and much of what he is saying is exactly what Ron Paul has been saying!

There's a pretty nice article from the Houston Chronicle that mentions our blow out straw poll in NH. Free Minds TV also came out with a great video from the Strafford picnic.

Here's a brilliant little run-through in reverse of American meddling in the Middle East, brought to you by Jon Stewart:

Thanks to three days of campaigning in NH, some good publicity was generated. For a summary of Dr Paul's trip, check out dailypaul. There was a couple of good articles in the Nashua telegraph (here and here). Foster's had a decent article that pointed out that "Texas Congressman Ron Paul received the loudest ovation." You may want to write some LTE's to your local papers giving your reaction to the weekend's events. Finally, our good friends at Video Tours of New Hampshire made the following video:

Labels: ron paul 2008 primary nh strafford

Two points that are going to make you smile:

1 - Dr. Paul will be at the UNH debate on September 5th.
2 - Tickets are now available.

Click here to purchase tickets (at $50 a pop) for both the debate and the pre-debate reception. That's right: no lottery, no nonsense. If you want to go in and cheer (politely, of course) for Dr. Paul, you can definitely do so.

This report is from Dave Mincin, the Strafford County Co-chair for Ron Paul:

What a fantastic day for Ron Paul supporters! We had a steady stream of folks stopping by the table to chat, pick up literature, signs, t-shirts, buttons, whatever. One couple drove up from Long Island, the Mrs went to high school with the Paul's back in Dormont, PA, and even attended their wedding.

We distributed over 100 signs, sold in excess 60 t-shirts, and what buttons we had went too. Late in the day we had to tell folks wanting signs to take one off the road on your way out. As I left I didn't see a Ron Paul sign standing.

I had a chance to talk to Phyllis Woods, the Strafford County Chair. She
was elated that we all came out to support their event, and our candidate. Sam Cataldo, organizer of the picnic, and a well known and respected Strafford County Republican said, "We invited all the presidential candidates, and their supporters." Later Sam said, "Thank you for helping make our Picnic a success."

My thinking is that thank you should go to all you folks who helped with the booth, and even more so you folks who came out to support Dr Paul.

Foster's had a decent article on the event, although it seems they must have left before the results of the straw vote came out.

Just a quick note because a quick check of the news doesn't turn up this little tidbit: Ron Paul won the Strafford County GOP Straw Poll yesterday with 73% of the vote. You can see the vote tally announcement, with Romney coming in a close second at 9%, here.

For a little background... The Strafford County GOP is, to my knowledge, pretty much the most active and supported Republican county committee in New Hampshire; the picnic yesterday drew not just Ron Paul himself, but Tom Tancredo, Mike Huckabee, and a few stand-ins for those candidates who've decided that they're above Granite State face-to-face campaigning. I'm sure some folks around the state are grousing this morning that those damned Paul people went and packed the poll again—that we must have trucked people in, bought their tickets, and offered them untold riches and glory in exchange for their support. But aside from being untrue, that really misses the point.

Which is? That an arm of the battered, bruised, and crouching NH Republican Party got a boost yesterday from people who support Ron Paul and his platform. Multiply Dr. Paul's vote tally by the price of a ticket, and you see that we raised over $4,000 yesterday for the Strafford GOP—a lovely group of people, by the way, who are working hard to pull this state back from the brink of big government. The head of the state party, Fergus Cullen, was there watching, and I hope what he saw in the sea of Paul shirts and signs was opportunity. We're not invaders; we're standard-bearers, carrying the flag that used to keep this state red.

The kind folks at Video Tours of New England made a great video of Kelly's walk from Dover to Concord. I won't say more, because the video says it better than I ever could.

Hard as it is to believe, even though Ron Paul is on the road it would appear that an ounce of common sense managed to sneak across the Capitol Beltway this week, creeping past the welfare state watchtowers and vaulting over the homeland barbed wire fence to safety. This just in from the Aug. 14 edition of the Financial Times.

The US government is on a "burning platform" of unsustainable policies and practices with fiscal deficits, chronic healthcare underfunding, immigration and overseas military commitments threatening a crisis if action is not taken soon, the country's top government inspector has warned...

The fiscal imbalance [U.S. Comptroller General David Walker warned] meant the US was "on a path toward an explosion of debt".

This fellow's job, as I understand it, is to audit the federal government with an eye to Congress's constitutional responsibilities and accountability to the American people. For the longest time now, the American public has pretty much ignored the position, but Mr. Walker here seems intent on screaming "Iceburg!" from the crowsnest of the Titanic. If we can help the American people listen, their choice in both the primary and the general should be painfully clear.

As I read the title (and subtitle) of this article, I thought I was about to get into another long, wrong rant about how "ridiculous" it is that Ron is running for president...

To my surprise, however, is is a very well written article that takes him very seriously. It is long, but it's worth the read. Here are a few quotes:

...because of some of his more paranoid followers--who could be found at the Mountain View rally passing out scare-pamphlets about the impending union of the U.S. and Mexico, or wearing T-shirts that read, "9/11 was an inside job"--pundits have tended to dismiss Paul's candidacy as nothing more than a laughable footnote to the larger race. But as a reminder that candidates are not their fringe followers, and that pundits are not always the smartest people in the room, it's worth considering how some of the country's best and brightest technology minds responded to Paul's pitch at Google.

Elliot Schrage, Google's vice president for global communications and public affairs... asked how many employees in the Google auditorium--a youngish crowd, lots of different races--had relied on student loans to get through school. A huge number of hands shot up. Paul joked: "The philosophical question is, do I lose all your votes because I don't support student loans, or do I get your votes because I don't want you to pay social security?"

He then explained the deeper reasoning behind his opposition to a wildly popular program like federal student loans. "The moral question," he said, "is, why should people who don't get to go to college subsidize your education [with their taxes]? I mean, it's just not fair." That's pure Paul: seeing his political philosophy through to its logical conclusions, even if it might seem like career suicide. He starts with an unflinching premise--in this case, a severely limited view of the role of the federal government in evening out social inequities--and lets everything else proceed from there.

Voters also clearly gravitate toward his candor and consistency; just as people once respected Bush's stubbornness, even if they disagreed with him on some big issues, many now seem to like Paul's unwavering connection to his core beliefs, and his willingness to follow those beliefs wherever they lead, even if they lead him into disagreements with people who might otherwise want to vote for him.

It's a rare attribute in an era filled with adjustable politicians.

Anyway, here's the link to the article.

As Paul supporters, we've all faced charges that this campaign is really a bunch of libertarians trying to hijack the GOP. Dr. Paul certainly gets asked often enough if he's running for the right party's nomination, and I can't tell you how many times I've groaned at "conservative" reporters who insist on identifying Paul as "the sole libertarian" in the race, rather than including him in the GOP field.

Two stories yesterday, however, slapped me upside the head with the memory of who exactly hijacked what. First off, Bill Kristol, neocon extraordinaire and publisher of the Weekly Standard, was quoted waxing rhapsodic about Hillary Clinton.

"Hillary Clinton is becoming the responsible Democrat who could become commander in chief in a post-9/11 world."

That ought to turn a head or two, but it's completely blown out of the water by this National Review article by Michael Ledeen, neocon lieutenant, demanding intervention in Iran with an emphasis on...worker solidarity?

"We shall see whether Western workers' organizations are capable of once again demonstrating real solidarity with their Iranian brothers and sisters... If the West had the courage of its past convictions, every leader would denounce the terror in Iran, and every trade unionist would be shouting in front of Iranian embassies."

Okay, now hang on. The "Paul's a libertarian RINO" folks are upset because the real GOP is pro-war, pro-deficit spending, pro-Hillary, and pro-union? Republicans believe in No Child Left Behind? Socialized medicine? Managed trade? Amnesty?

This may be the first time I've felt grateful to neoconservatives: thank you for making your actual affiliation so obvious. We'll take the GOP back now.

Last weekend, one of our meetup members, Kelly Halldorson, walked 38 miles holding a Ron Paul sign to spread the Doctor's message of liberty. With her walk she was able to garner more newsprint press in NH than the campaign has gotten all season! She was featured in the Union Leader, Foster's, Foster's, the Portsmouth Herald, and Dover Community News. She also got some national press with Reason Magazine, and Free Market News. She is even inspiring people across the country to do a Walk for Paul! Kelly is truly an inspiration, to us all, just as is Dr Paul's message of freedom.

Her own accounting of the event:

This past Saturday I stepped out onto my front porch at 5:00 am. I was greeted by a independent videographer and a photographer from Foster's Daily Democrat. The videographer was there to document the walk, he followed me throughout the day and I'll be sure to post his finished video here. The photographer from Foster's was there to take pictures for a follow-up piece they were doing. This is the one thing, in regards to my walk, I really didn't think through. I had my picture taken over and over. If you know me you know I despise being photographed. Oh well, I tried to take it in stride.

I finally left my house at 5:30am. This first leg of the journey took just under two hours. I didn't have a sign, (someone had stolen it from my lawn a week prior) just my iPod and backpack full of CD's and literature. I made it to the Barrington Irving station at just after 7:00am. I was greeted by the same Foster's photographer, Jeff and my grandparents. I wasn't due into that stop until between 7:30-8:30am but I didn't want to wait around so started on my way shortly after getting there but as I was leaving a few supporters showed up and a Foster's reporter. So, I turned around and did a short interview, took a few pictures, borrowed a sign and then was on my way for real. I felt fantastic. No pain. Not the least bit tired. I had 7 miles down...only 31 left to go.

Read More

I am something less than an amateur when it comes to economics; for years now, I've optimistically opened the Wall Street Journal or Financial Times only to find my eyes glazing over in bored confusion by the middle of the first paragraph. But over the last couple of weeks, I've developed a bit of an obsession with this murky realm, and I've gained just enough knowledge and confidence to be appalled by this editorial in the New York Times today.

Rightly fearing inflation—AND economic stagnation—the Times's editors call for:

rolling back excessive tax cuts and engaging in government-led health care reform to rein in looming crushing costs...[and promoting] higher domestic savings.

Dear lord. Let me get this straight. The debt-fueled economy is (possibly) on the brink of a major correction (to put it nicely). The Fed's two options are to print more money (issuing more debt) or raise the rates, tightening credit. And the fix, according to the Old Gray Lady, is to take more capital (real or imagined) away from the free market because...government management didn't create the problem in the first place? I'm all for saving, but at this point it's kind of like loading your gun—with blanks, by the way—when the bear has already ripped your throat out.

Add these to the mix, then:

China Threatens to Trigger US Dollar Crash and

Monetary Statistics (way over my head, to be honest)

The picture that emerges won't surprise Ron Paul supporters. I don't have 1/10th of the knowledge necessary to predict anything—but I imagine that Dr. Paul's "I told you so" alarm is blaring somewhere in Iowa right now. Baseless currency, fabricated credit, $1.3 trillion sitting in China's coffers, a $450 billion oil war (that's only increased prices), consumer/investor/citizen malaise, inflation combined with rising prices... It ain't pretty. But it is an opportunity. Once again, Dr. Paul can raise his hand politely and say, "I know why this is happening." And with things going as badly as they might, folks might finally be prepared to listen to Cassandra.

Many of you all probably know this already, but LewRockwell.com has taken the extraordinary step of voluntarily giving up its tax-exempt status in order to write favorably about Ron Paul. (You can read Burton Blumert's account of the decision here.)

In the quest to put Dr. Paul in the White House, there are dozens—if not hundreds—of projects worthy of support and funding, and we all have our preferences. All I can ask is that if you support Lew Rockwell, if you believe his site is valuable, both for its primary purpose and for its support of Dr. Paul, please take a minute and donate to keep them afloat. They're out a lot of money with this decision, but they've taken the risk because abandoning Ron Paul is unacceptable. I agree.

Short video of the rally outside the Iowa debate.

Count the Romney supporters as the video plays...

I found this video on youtube this morning. It's really pretty good.

Also, don't forget to watch the debate tomorrow morning on ABC!

We've got several important events this weekend that we are looking for people to help out, check out the meetup schedule. Kelly did a great job getting a front page article in the Union Leader for her Walk for Paul. There will be press along her route on Saturday, so come show support by holding up signs at the different locations. Also we have the second literature drop in Portsmouth. These lit drops are targeted and likely to be more effective than sign waves, so a good turnout would be much appreciated.