Posted on 11/06/2007 4:44:35 PM PST by Redcloak
Guy Fawkes, a 17th-century English mercenary and terrorist who tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament, is an unlikely figurehead for a US Republican presidential candidate.
But Ron Paul is neither a run-of-the-mill Republican nor a typical presidential aspirant.
His supporters announced yesterday that they had smashed Republican fundraising records by hauling in a total of $4.3 million (£2 million) for his campaign from more than 37,000 donors over the previous 24 hours.
And they did it online, through the website ThisNovember5th.com, where Mr Paul’s speeches have been mashed up with clips of the film V for Vendetta, in which a sinister – but ultimately heroic – terrorist modelled on Fawkes destroys a fascist government in Britain. “Remember, remember, the fifth of November” is moved from British nursery rhyme to a campaign slogan in America.
Mr Paul, a 72-year-old ten-term Texas congressman, has been dismissed widely as a “kook” in the 2008 race. He advocates “Austrian economics”, a return to the gold standard and an end to the Iraq war.
He also wants the withdrawal of all American troops from abroad and the abolition of most government departments, including Energy, Education and Homeland Security.
Some of his supporters believe that 9/11 was an inside job by the American Government, others are white supremacists. Much to his own surprise, Mr Paul has become a cult figure among libertarians and students who pack rallies wearing “Ron Paul Revolution” T-shirts.
Like Howard Dean four years ago, it is the internet and a host of unofficial websites that are propelling him forward: Mr Paul’s name is the most searched of any candidate, his YouTube videos are the most watched and he regularly wins online polls after Republican presidential debates.
Unlike Mr Dean, who came close to winning the 2004 Democratic nomination, Mr Paul stands no chance of becoming the Republicans’ 2008 nominee. In national opinion polls he barely registers, and even in New Hamp-shire – the “live free or die” state – he gets an average of only 3.6 per cent support, according to RealClearPolitics.com, which tracks such surveys.
But his phenomenal fundraising achievements mean that Mr Paul has more than mere nuisance value in this White House race. In the third quarter of this year he raised $5.3 million, an amount similar to that generated by the former front-runner John McCain. He has set a goal of raising a further $12 million by the end of the year.
Yesterday Mr Paul attributed the record-breaking achievement to a “powerful message” and the frustration of people “who do not like the war and do not like the economy”.
Asked whether it was appropriate to use the image of Fawkes and November 5 in this way, he said that it was “just a gimmick”. He added that he had never spoken to organisers of the website. “We advocate a nonviolent – but revolutionary – approach.”
His spokesman issued a further clarification, saying that Mr Paul did not support blowing up parliaments or assassinating kings.
“He wants to demolish things like the Department of Education, but we can do that very peacefully.”
Oh, great. We could go straight from conservative conservatism to kooky conservatism. Please tell me how you can seriously say you would vote for Paul after he says things like the nutsy President of Iran is acting reasonably and understandably. His statements about Pakistan yesterday were troubling as well.
I'm not trying to be mean or sarcastic ... I really want to know how you can lean on his conservative credentials when he is saying such dangerous things. His attitude on foreign policy could get us all killed.
Fair enough. May I say President Ron?
No, I'm sorry, I am the one who's Revolting!
Don’t worry about it. Your FR problem has been solved.
LOL! We need to come up with a snappy term for posters (I won’t say FReepers) who self-immolate whilst supporting their decidedly non-conservative candidates.
Amen.
The day is celebrated in England as an anti-terrorist day-Fawkes was caught before he could complete his mission.
It seems to me that the point is missed on the connection between Nov. 5 and Guy Fawkes and Ron Paul.
I believe the intended connection is with the character in V for Vendetta, who is rising up against a fascist, futuristic Britain (I only saw the movie once, so my memory is a bit fuzzy). As far as I know, *that's* where the connection is -- not with the historical Guy Fawkes (which the character in the movie is actually hearkening back to).
LOL!!!! Thanks for the laugh.
That should have said from compassionate conservatism to kooky conservatism. Anyway, good job of not answering the questions.
Nevermind, as you know the question wasn’t posed to you, I was waiting for an answer from you on another thread.
I don’t think he’s very bright. I think the libertarian movement is using him as their standard bearer, flawed though he may be, and that’s the reason he seems to be getting some traction. That’s fine, I have a lot of sympathy with libertarians, but the guy himself turns me off.
Representatives for the Ron Paul campaign said they have discovered more than a dozen mysterious $5 contributions in the past three days.
Wow! $60. We have a major problem on our hands. Time to tighten up the tin foil, my friend.
Sounds like testing the waters. You make several small transactions to test if the cards go through before you put big charges on the cards. It does show that there have been at least attempts by identity thieves to steal credit cards to contribute to his campaign. I wonder how many have not been discovered or disclosed?
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