Paul Takes Jefferson County Straw Poll (The Ron Paul Revolutiion Continues)

lhttp://blog.al.com/spotnews/2007/10/paul_takes_jefferson_count ^ | October 13, 2007 | Patrick Hickerson

[Captain Kirk]

U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, won the Jefferson County Republican Party's straw poll for president, held Saturday at the Birmingham Zoo.

Paul took 115 votes of 199 for about 57 percent of total ballots cast.

[incredulous joe]

You know the big money is going to start rolling in now.

[Captain Kirk]

I’ve never seen so many sore losers in one place.

[big'ol_freeper]

Anybody who supports Ron Paul seriously needs to think about seeking mental help. The guy is a loony and if a person can’t see it, they have lost all touch with reality.

[LdSentinal]

Is the Ron Turd “revolution being televised”?

[Petronski]

I’ve never seen so many sore losers in one place.

So stop hanging out with Paulbearers.

[deport]

For $35 you get the works and a ballot.....

The Jefferson County Republican Party will sponsor the 2007 Presidential Preference Straw Poll on Saturday October 13, 2007 from 11am to 1pm. This years event will take place at the Birmingham Zoo Lodge and feature everything from Live Entertainment, Activities for Children of all ages as well as Lunch provided by Full Moon Bar-B-Q.

[StAthanasiustheGreat]

Of all the Republican Nominees, the one I guarantee I cannot vote for is Ron Paul. I’ve got issues with McCain and Guiliani and would really take a lot to vote for them, but I under no circumstances could vote for Mr. Ron Paul.

[Clara Lou]

I’ve never seen so many sore losers in one place.
No. What you're seeing is so many people doubled over in laughter.

[rdl6989]

I don’t expect Ron Paul to even make it to the New Hampshire primary.

[StAthanasiustheGreat]

I hope you are right.

[TXnMA]

Was Paul present? In one of the simian cages? ‘-)

[ElkGroveDan]

poll for president, held Saturday at the Birmingham Zoo

The monkey and wombats caucused with Ron Paul. The eels and slugs liked what they saw in Romney

[packrat35]

Anybody who supports Ron Paul seriously needs to think about seeking mental help. The guy is a loony and if a person can’t see it, they have lost all touch with reality.

Bears repeating. Anyone supporting Paul after his statements the past 2 weeks deserve all the derision they get. I use it to judge freeper intelligence.

[TXnMA]

"I’ve never seen so many sore losers in one place."

I wasn't aware we had anyone competing with Algor for the Norwegian PeaCe Prize...

[gwilhelm56]

you’re right about NH Primary... with all these ALLEGED LANDSLIDES, why is it that in all the Scientific polls, Ron Pauls closest competitor is ... The MARGIN OF ERROR!?

[ironweed]

None of this Ron Paul Revolution would be cluttering nationwide blogs if we had a real representative republic.

If numerous political parties (and points of view) were represented in Congress on a proportional basis, the peacenik lefties could hold 3-5% of Congressional seats, peacenik righties could hold 3-5% of Congressional seats, and the rest of the seats could be fought over by the D’s and R’s.

It’s a sign we should heed that a self-described “poor messenger” like Ron Paul has inspired such fierce devotion while other GOP candidates maintain tepid support—hundreds of thousands of Americans feel their government is terribly failing them and the two major parties don’t give a damn. An average speaker who doesn’t promise all the answers is good enough for so many people hungry for a real change in Washington.

With multiple political parties represented in Congress, these radicals for capitalism might be placated—and online polls would cease to be jammed.

Seems like a fair compromise to work toward together... unless we WANT to marginalize the political views of our fellow Americans.

[jmyrlefuller]

The difference between Ron Paul supporters and Duncan Hunter supporters:

Hunter supporters know where their candidate stands.

Paul supporters are like Mr. Big-- blow themselves up through shadow maneuvers to make themselves looks huge.

Please note this graphic. The Thompson supporters are indicated by Bullwinkle, Hunter supporters by Rocky, Paul's fan base by the little speck, and the flashlight is the Internet, text-message, and roving-VW-Microbus-traveling-across-the-country-to-vote-in-small-straw polls.

[Route66]

I will hand it to the Paul supporters for organizing and supporting their candidate. They apparently have been organizing this turnout and those for other straw polls for a long time. They coordinate on line and offer to pool transportation and get people to sign up to pay other people’s tickets when they are required. They spread the word through their network. This is more of a Dem kind of organization structure than a typical Republican one, but then most of the Paul support hinges on his antiwar stance which has drawn the left to his campaign. Heaven knows, none of the front running Dems has taken the kind of antiwar stance Ron Paul has and the antiwar crowd knows how to turn out people for "demonstrations" which is in essence what they are doing here.

We all know that 115 warm bodies voting in a straw poll does not necessarily translate into the same percentage of real voters and real votes at the time of the real election. That’s why most voters have come to ignore and not participate in straw polls anymore. Still, this tactic of utilizing the mostly abandoned straw polls has managed to get Ron Paul supporters some of the attention they seek. Those of us who support other candidates might consider doing a little more of this ourselves.

[ironweed]

Agreed.

I don’t know how much of the Ron Paul fan base is “anti-war” or “pro-capitalism” or “anti-Fed” or “anti-NAFTA/WTO/U.N.” or “pro-Constitution”.

Many of these issues overlap with various voting blocs. Some of Ron Paul base are holdovers from the Buchanite wing of the GOP (Pat warned of empire-building in a 1999 book and condemned it in a 2004 book). Others are libertarian purists of the Ayn Rand/Ludwig von Mises persuasion. Still others are musty old John Birch Society conspiracy cranks.

The anti-war group is hardest to read, insofar as the GOP is so wedded to the “world safe for democracy” idea, that most Americans are dubious of any Republican claiming to oppose that vision.

Inasmuch as Ron Paul’s small government agenda is so at odds with almost everything the radical left espouses (save for foreign policy), I have a hard time believing lefty hard-liners are flocking en masse to RP just to monkeywrench the GOP... But I tend to want to be optimistic...

Regardless, while Ron Paul won’t get the GOP nomination, it will be interesting to see in a couple decades if this seeds a movement, or if it is a one-time phenomenon.

[crazyshrink]