Foot soldiers for the Ron Paul revolution (LAT)

LA Times ^ | 12/1/07 | James Rainey

[traviskicks]

The freewheeling tactics of his supporters have made the GOP candidate an Internet sensation and an unlikely phenomenon.

The late-fall night fairly crackled with energy -- from a persistent Santa Ana wind, the high-tension power lines overhead and, especially, from the crowd packed inside the living room of a ranch house at the west end of the San Gabriel Valley.

Eighty people sat elbow to elbow on tight rows of folding chairs, chattering with enthusiasm and ideas. They would produce wall calendars and a concert. They would reenact the Boston Tea Party on the Santa Monica Pier. They would write to every independent voter in Iowa.

The foot soldiers of the Ron Paul Revolution, Pasadena Division, were only getting started.

Founded nine months ago by one of the first followers of the Texas congressman and Republican presidential candidate, the Pasadena "meetup" spawned more than 1,200 similar groups that claim nearly 77,000 members nationwide.

These fervent supporters and their freewheeling tactics have helped turn Paul into, first, an Internet sensation and, now, this political season's most unlikely phenomenon.

A 45-year-old artist and adventurer is bicycling from Santa Monica to the Jefferson Memorial in Washington to raise awareness about Paul. A Nevada brothel owner recently promised to take up a collection from her customers. One Colorado backer quickly raised more than $350,000 online this week, with a plan to launch a Ron Paul blimp.

"It's bigger than one. It's bigger than a group," Juliet Annerino, a Silver Lake fitness trainer and singer, said at the recent gathering of the Pasadena group. "We are making history right now. Right here."

Paulites tend to be tech-savvy, tired of traditional politics and suspicious of their government and the mainstream media.

[mosquitobite]

I like how we’re the ones called leftists or Democrats because we support Dr Paul and are chastized for saying that we won’t support anyone but Dr Paul. Then someone here actually says they’d vote for Hillary over Dr Paul. And WE’RE the ones called traitors. I wouldn’t vote for a single dem if my life depended on it. But you’re not going to get me to vote party over principle. EVER!

[B4Ranch]

The Democratic and Republican Parties have become merely opposite wings of the same bird, and it’s the American people who are getting the bird as our elected officials serve their corporate masters and the special interest groups that dominate both parties.

Lou Dobbs

[End Times Crusader]

I hate to admit it but I agree. Anybody but Ron Paul.

[radioman]

Most of them have never backed republicans

I have been a Republican since 1960. Every Paul supporter I know is a Republican. We're called small "l" libertarians and we founded the Conservative Movement when the NEOCONs were still Democrats.

[radioman]

Conservatives fight for their country

We have no country without the Constitution and if you don't fight for the only candidate who protects and defends the Constitution you're fighting for the wrong side.

[End Times Crusader]

Imagine Ron Paul's supporters at every major port tossing whole crates of tea into the water. That'd wake up a few more folks to the reality

I would love for that to happen just to see the idiots carted off to jail.

[marsh_of_mists]

If Ron Paul did get the Republican nomination, I would probably have to vote for Hillary

I hate to admit it but I agree. Anybody but Ron Paul.

Okay guys, that's your opinion. But I want you to tell all your fellow Paul haters never again to smear Paul supporters as the ones who'd be willing to jump to Hillary over another Republican.

[End Times Crusader]

We’ll have no country when the terrorists start nuking our cities which will happen if a surrendermonkey like Paul is elected president.

[rob777]

"If Ron Paul did get the Republican nomination, I would probably have to vote for Hillary, just to keep RP from doing the cut and run in Iraq, and REALLY SCREWING THE USA GOOD."


I am not supporting Ron Paul this cycle because I do not believe that he takes the threat of Islamic terrorism seriously enough. That being said, I find the above comment to be a sad reflection on the state of conservatism here. The multitude of issues that Hillary opposes conservatism on makes my few disagreements with Ron Paul pale in signifigance.

[marsh_of_mists]

Are you saying that this never-ending, nation-building, military adventure in Iraq is preventing terrorists from “nuking our cities”?

If Paul had been president on 9/11, he might actually have gotten the guys who did it.

[GraniteStateConservative]

Dean spent every penny he raised as soon as he received it from a donor. Ron Paul has been thrifty. It’s a huge difference between the two regarding Paul’s future if you’re trying to extrapolate.

[radioman]

We’ll have no country when the terrorists start nuking our cities which will happen if a surrendermonkey like Paul is elected president.

It will happen when Pakistan falls...and Pakistan will fall because we failed to complete the mission in Afghanistan before running off on a new adventure. Ron Paul didn't get us in the mess we're in.

[End Times Crusader]

We fight them over there so we don't have to fight them over here. How many terrorist attacks have been carried out in the U.S. by al Qaeda since 9/11?

If Paul had been president, we never would have invaded Iraq and it would now be a major base for bin laden. Instead we have nearly wiped out al qaeda in Iraq out.
Paul would have relied on privateers to go after bin laden and Afghanistan would still belong to al Qaeda and the Taliban.
I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say that one or more of our major cities would have been nuked by now if things had been left in the hands of a president Paul.

[End Times Crusader]

There are already plans to secure Pak’s nukes if the worst does come to pass.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

The comparison to Dean is disingenuous. Dean still ran a top-down organization that gave marching orders to the grassroots, even paying for their expenses. Plus Dean had favorable MSM coverage in addition to using the Internet. Keep in mind that in 2003 the Internet didn't have YouTube, the blogs, MySpace, etc. just chat rooms & coordinating with other members through email.

Paul's support is spontaneous, his supporters are paying for their own materials on their own time, and he's receiving little media coverage, & the coverage he does receive is usually negative.

[radioman]

There are already plans to secure Pak’s nukes if the worst does come to pass.

LMAO!!!

[marsh_of_mists]

We fight them over there so we don't have to fight them over here.

Well, that's Bush's reason for staying in after he could no longer talk about WMDs or Saddam. Maybe we should just start colonizing the Middle East, if we have to be there forever, to keep them there.

How many terrorist attacks have been carried out in the U.S. by al Qaeda since 9/11?

None, and certainly all because of Bush's is wisdom to dither around in Iraq. And yet Iraq didn't stop terrorist attacks in Spain or Britain. Nor did has it helped prevent great loss of American life, a weakening of our economy, and our national defense.

Paul would have relied on privateers to go after bin laden

Paul would have used the tool specifically authorized in the Constitution to go after threats like Bin Laden and without sending the whole military overseas to do it. But we used the Bush plan instead, and Bin Laden was never caught, al Qaeda's in out in the mountains of our "ally" Pakistan, and we've been spending the past 6 years wasting our money and defense resources trying to hold two third-world countries together.

[billbears]

I would love for that to happen just to see the idiots carted off to jail.

Oh my you would have made an excellent Tory.

[Tears of a Clown]

I wish you guys would speak up more often instead of letting your troother and anti-war liberal allies have all the fun.

Also, I’m curious: what do you think of these people? Do you just view them as “useful idiots” that can help revive libertarianism through ron paul, or what?

[Tears of a Clown]

Yeah, man. I bet you would’ve tried to stop Guy Fawkes from blowing up parliament too, huh? /sarc :)