Conffederate
Confederate

February 21, 2010

Conspiratorial Crank Wins CPAC Presidential Straw Poll

Never underestimate the power of crazy people to warp the outcome of small group events.

Posted by Confederate Yankee at February 21, 2010 08:12 AM
Comments

This is why so many people doubt conservatives.

Posted by: Neo at February 21, 2010 09:08 AM

Amen!

Posted by: Slveryder at February 21, 2010 10:06 AM

Take it with a grain of salt. The conservatives are just thumbing their noses at the elitist lefties by throwing Ron Paul in their faces. I'm chuckling. It's a brilliant strategy.

At this point, it'll take one helluva swing to the right to end up somewhere in the middle. Hence the Ron Paul/Sarah Palin supporters. It's not a bad plan to build in "negotiating room", IMO.

Posted by: lady red at February 21, 2010 10:27 AM

Are you really surprised, given that CPAC was co-sponsored by the John Birch Society?

Posted by: Gunpowder Chronicle at February 21, 2010 10:44 AM

Not that I agree with all of Ron Paul's positions, but ... what the heck is so bad about a guy who is an unabashed Constitutionalist? Is respect for our Constitution at such a low that we must denigrate those who stand up for it?

Posted by: Virginian at February 21, 2010 11:10 AM

Virginian:
Other than being a lying loon who would cripple the economy with his policies?

Posted by: JP at February 21, 2010 01:38 PM

JP:
"Lying loon"? What has he lied about? And exactly how would a free market economy cripple us? Oh yeah, the highly regulated economy we have now is really humming along, isn't it? (We've never actually had a free market economy, you know; the govt. has always seen fit to regulate and legislate and interfere.) At least Paul believes in not spending more than you have. That alone, if put into practice in this country, would do America a world of good. Instead we have a president, and a Congress, that insist on spending money they don't have, and won't ever have, and putting us more in debt to China - which now owns more than half of the national debt. And you call PAUL the loon? What the Democrats are doing right now is the looniest thing imaginable.

Posted by: Virginian at February 21, 2010 01:57 PM

I'm kinda wondering how Paul is any worse than, say, a leftist like Romney or a Christian Socialist like Huckabee.

Given a choice between a slightly nutty conservative/libertarian and a bunch of non-conservatives/libertarians, I'll vote for the nut. It's important.

Posted by: Dr. Horrible at February 21, 2010 03:56 PM

Well said, Dr. H.

The media like to say Paul was never a "serious" presidential candidate, but in fact he finished third behind McCain and Huckabee. With the Tea Party movement, his candidacy is re-energized.

All things being equal, a far-right conservative is not going to take away liberties and damage the nation the way a far-left liberal will. I am talking sins of omission rather than comission - the latter of which have far more potential to subvert the Constitution and cripple our nation beyond repair. As we are seeing now.

Posted by: Virginian at February 21, 2010 05:42 PM

If any of you had bothered to read the report on the DETAILS you would have learned that out of more than 10,000 attendees at CPAC 4,800 voted and about one third of those voted for crazy paul. Not exactly a ringing endorsement.

Posted by: inspectorudy at February 21, 2010 11:17 PM

Virginian,
Ron Paul finished fourth, far behind Romney, in third place because he dropped out 1 month before Huckabee, with 35 total delegates, 1.6% of the total GOP vote. Paul was never close to being a serious contender for president. He's crazy and everyone, except for college students, you, and Dr. Horrible, recognized that.

Posted by: MAModerate at February 22, 2010 06:44 PM

I used to make fun of the guy. Still do whenever he talks foreign policy, because he's way off on that whole sphere.

Still, at the end of the day I want the federal government to shrunk down in a huge way. It will never happen, because the Left won the war and now the only argument in politics is how to divide the spoils of the tax system. The mainstream of the GOP doesn't want the government shrunk anymore then the Democrats do, IMO. They basically want things to stay about as they are now: a "safety net" which now includes things like cell phones and college education which consumes 20% of the wealth of this country, and a national security establishment which consumes another 10%. Oh, and the debt. Don't forget that. The Dems want more so they can swaddle us all in the loving embrace of the nanny state from cradle to grave...for our own good of course.

So the Democrats want to take half my money, and the Republicans want to take a quarter of it. The GOP wants to spend my money on cool things like fighter jets and aircraft carriers, and the Democrats want to prop up their welfare state, bring more of their supporters into the gravy train of government employment.

I know which one I choose between the two, but it's not the one I really want. We live in a democracy now. It was supposed to be a republic, but it isn't anymore. So Paul has no chance of winning. If you allow people to vote themselves the treasury, they will.

Can you name another politician who's going to restore the republic? Sarah Palin won't, Mitt Rommney won't. Those who owe their prestige and wealth to the system will not tear it down. They can't. They have too much tied up in the system to let it go.

So yeah. Ron Paul all the way. I can't win, because the system the Founders created is gone, gone forever. The mob rules, its fleeting passions are in control. This year it's the swaggering flight suited Texan, now the elegant and cerebral Chicagoan, maybe next the winking lady from Alaska. All of them are the same at their core: they confiscate wealth that is not theirs and spend it as they see fit. I don't want to trot out Godwin's Law, but I'm going to: Hitler having a third of Stalin's death toll doesn't make him better.

Elitist? No. Elitists seek to consolidate power. They want you watching state run media, going to state run schools and hospitals and banks. I want to be left alone, I want a government that keeps the peace, keeps watch in the night for threats, and leaves everything else to the private sector. I want a single ambassador for each nation, and he or she can damn well live in a rented apartment not a mansion/fortress. I want a Department of War, not a Department of Defense. I want a Border Security Force, a single large intelligence agency, and an FBI with powers of investigation only. No more of these damn yellow lettered windbreakers. The alphabet soup must stop. 4 Cabinet departments is all you need.

Oh, and Paul is right about the Fed too. When you give government the power of the currency, you give them everything. Right now economic policy for both parties is inflate the bubble and hope the other party is in power when it bursts.

The sad and terrible thing is that the one man in Congress who believes that Congress is limited to the powers specifically granted to it under the Constitution is considered to be a nut. Washington would be sorely disappointed.

Posted by: Britt at February 24, 2010 03:24 AM

Frankly I disagree with you here. Over the past year, even though I probably thought the same as you then, but have learned to agree more with Ron Paul than ever before.

I am tired of people like McCain,Huckabee,Palin, and Romney who are nothing more that Keynesian war hawks.

We need to return to the gold and silver as money,and mind our own business.

Posted by: Micheal at February 24, 2010 06:59 AM