Posted on 12/03/2007 8:05:44 PM PST by jdm
I have ALWAYS been against USA-PATRIOT... check out my posts back then... just as I have always been against ANY legislation granting more and more power to government... because once government GETS that power, it never, ever goes away. And never, ever does it solve the “problem” it was intended for... government is NOT IN THE BUSINESS of actually solving problems... because if it did, parts of it would have to go away when the problem ceased to exist. And they CAN’T just fire government “workers,” now can they? So NEVER will problems be actually solved, no matter WHAT they tell you.
Three hundred million guns in the hands of American Citizens says it cannot happen. ONLY OUR OWN government can do it... and only with the connivance of the “security at any price” wusses, just as I stated. Oh, yeah, the Islam-o-filthies can surely do damage... but they cannot impose a top-down dictatorship in this nation... not now or ever. If you think they CAN, you’re delusional. Or smoking the wrong stuff.
I know you won't be able to provide me evidence since it was 34 years ago, but you were against sneak and peek searches way back in 1973? You've been calling for their repeal since thn, or since you became aware of them? When the top dogs in a mafia family were perp walked on the news in the 80's you were yelling at the TV "Those guys were probably busted with the help of those tyrannical roving wiretaps and sneak and peek searches"? When they did a sneak and peek, wiretap and bugging operation on John Gotti without informing him, how many letters to the editor did you write suggesting he be freed?
I estimate that 95% of the folks who now shriek in horror over the Patriot Act never knew or cared when the same provisions were directed at the Mafia and major drug dealers. And I believe Andrew McCarthy has it 100% right here.
Whatever.
I do not agree with your assessment. All it will take is dropping our guard and lessening our pursuit of the WOT to enable another Radical Islamic attack. If the next attack is only slightly larger than 9/11, the tremendous impact on our institutions and infrastructure could result in ramifications that would in all likelihood bring about the top-down dictatorship you are against.
The photo of Dr. Paul and Steven Vincent is not a good one of either. It probably took place on 9/14 at either the reception at USC (afternoon) or the fund-raising dinner. It wasn’t taken at the fund-raising breakfast for Dr. Paul at the Ritz Carlton that morning because Steven wasn’t there but I was.
Steven Vincent has very creative ideas about how to promote Ron Paul. On Steve’s own, he started a talk-radio program to support Dr. Paul, sign wavings that have expanded beyond anyone’s wildest dreams, walks to promote Dr. Paul, and now the Tea Party on the Santa Monica pier on Dec. 16th.
Mr. Vincent isn’t the only one with ideas about how to promote Ron Paul. The 5th of November “money bomb” was the idea of Trevor Lyman, a 37-year-old man who had never voted for anyone before. Completely outside the official Ron Paul campaign, the “money bomb” brought in over $4.2 million dollars - from over 36,000 supporters - a record breaker! That record breaker gave Dr. Paul’s campaign about $10 million dollars worth of publicity.
Now there’s the Ron Paul blimp. The beauty of the Ron Paul campaign is that the grass roots people are allowed to show their creativity. Talk astro-turfing if you want but this is truly a grass-roots phenomenon! YouTube is a great place to see what the volunteers are doing to promote Ron Paul.
About the only time that the official Ron Paul campaign said anything about fund raising was on 11/28 or 11/29. It was mentioned (something to the effect) that it would be nice if, by 11/30, fund-raising could out-do Fred Thompson’s end-of-3rd-quarter fund-raising efforts. After that were Romney’s and Guiliani’s totals. By 11/30, Ron Paul supporters heeded the call and their donations surpassed all three of Rudy McRomney’s fund-raising totals for the three months of the 3rd quarter. In just two months of the 4th quarter, Ron Paul’s campaign more than doubled what it had done in the entire 3rd quarter.
To date, Ron Paul’s campaign is completely debt free. And, NO, Dr. Paul is not dropping out of the Presidential race and keeping the money - he is going to stay in the House of Representatives, if he is not elected POTUS.
It is interesting to me that, during the “debates,” Ron Paul isn’t asked any questions for the first 30-35 minutes and then the questions are the same old ones he has been asked at previous debates. In addition, the alleged front-runners are now picking up parts of Dr. Paul’s campaign, e.g., no tax increases, smaller government, no illegal immigration, no empire building, etc., as part of their campaign rhetoric. (When Dr. Paul was asked about the North American Union or the NAFTA Super Highway at the CNN/YouTube debate, Tancredo and Hunter could have concurred with Dr. Paul as they had signed the same bill!)
Another interesting thing about Dr. Paul is the support of young people. Ron Paul said that prior to his presidential run, parents used to come to his congressional office and bring their kids along. NOW, the kids are bringing their parents to Dr. Paul’s office!
James Rainey, writer for the Los Angeles Times, visited the Pasadena Ron Paul MeetUp Group on 11/14, where 80 people sat elbow to elbow on folding chairs. His article appeared in the Times last week, if I remember correctly. What he didn’t mention was that 1/3 of the people were between 18-35, 1/3 between 35-55, and the remaining 1/3 were 55 and over. More than half of the people had never worked on a campaign before, while a handful had worked for Buchanan, Bush, Peroutka, Gore, Clinton, Nader, and others. One couple had worked on the campaign for JFK.
Of all the Ron Paul supporters I have met, I can’t say that there is a “moonbat” amongst them. They are, for the most part, fairly well read, enthusiastic, resourceful, helpful, and want a full return to the U.S. Constitution.
As Kent Snyder (Dr. Paul’s chief of staff for years) said on 6/12, “This is the coming together of the old guard and the new.”
Stay tuned...
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