Free Republic

There are lots of reasons. But here’s one. Ron Paul isn’t serious about the most basic requisite of a national government, which is defense. Paul’s position just isn’t one reflective of serious leadership. The idea that the federal government doesn’t have an obligation to PREVENT a Timothy McVeigh or a Mohammed Atta or a Major Hasan from doing evil to innocent Americans is one which can’t be found in the head of anybody who understands what it means to be president.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Democrat-controlled Senate on Thursday rejected a Republican attempt to block a regulation intended to curb power plant pollution that blows downwind into other states. By a 56-41 vote, senators defeated a resolution by Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who said the step was needed to rein in what he called the Obama administration's overzealous job-killing approach to environmental protection. "We are simply asking that the clean air regulations already on the books stay in place and we do not make the regulations so onerous that they put utility plants out of business and we have an...

“You’ve got to give it to Ron Paul," Palin said. "Whether you agree with everything he says or not, at least he is one there in Congress trying to make our President stick to the law and understand that Congress does have a role to play in these foreign policy decisions that are made and Ron Paul, I think hit the nail on the head, when he came out and said Obama had better be careful when he interjects himself and our country in other nations’ business.”

This weekend, the California Republican Party had its 2011 Fall Convention at the JW Marriott Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. One presidential candidate, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, spoke at a dinner on Friday night, and Saturday morning's breakfast featured two more contenders: Michigan Rep. Thaddeus McCotter and Texas Rep. Ron Paul. Paul's fans were out in force both outside the hotel -- awaiting his arrival -- and inside the ticketed Lincoln Clubs Breakfast. He spoke last and was late, allowing McCotter to add a question-and-answer period to his prepared remarks (more on that later, check back). McCotter is also on...

Could Rand Paul and Ron Paul be Zionists?http://viewfrommasada.com/2011/02/17/ron-paul-rand-paul-zionists-of-the-year/Posted on February 17, 2011 by Matityahu Ben-YosefWhile the Middle East has always been a volatile region, the last month has seen events unfold in the region whose global impact we still may not appreciate. From the fall of governments in Lebanon, Tunisia, and Egypt, and with other Middle East regimes to soon share their fate, the balance of power in the Middle East is changing before our eyes.However, the most significant revolution taking place in the Middle East right now may not have anything to do with what’s unfolded in those countries...

The man who likely has done more than anyone to put the libertarian philosophy of freedom and small government on the political agenda probably will make another run for the presidency: U.S. Rep. Ron Paul. Paul is always upbeat, but lately he's had more reason to be, as he sees libertarian ideas bubbling up from the grass roots. "People outside of Washington are waking up," he told me, "and they're getting the attention of a few in Washington." Paul has been in Congress more than 20 years, and much of that time he's played a lonely role, often being the...

Senator Rand Paul, R-Ky., unveiled today his five-year path to a balanced budget, leaving several federal agencies behind. Among the items on the cutting room floor are the Departments of Education, Energy, Commerce and Housing and Urban Development. “There’s a lot of things in here that everybody could agree to, Republicans and Democrats, but nobody’s leading on the president’s side and on our side we felt we needed to put this forward to get the debate started, at the very least,” the freshman Senator explained at a Capitol Hill press conference this afternoon. The proposal also calls for the repeal...

Dick Morris Calls Ron Paul "Horrific", Hangs Up On Peter Schiff (Audio at YouTube)

Dick Cheney just popped up here at CPAC to introduce his old pal and Bush administration colleague Donald Rumsfeld. Fans of Ron Paul turned what should have been a friendly moment before an audience of fellow conservatives into a screaming match and protest action that resembled what a Cheney-Rumsfeld hug at the Netroots Nation convention might look like. Rumsfeld is being given CPAC's "Defender Of The Constitution" award, a concept that apparently rankled Paul supporters in the crowd. Many of them got up and walked out en masse at the mention of Rumsfeld, though some stayed behind in the conference...

On tonight's Geraldo Rivera show, he had on a couple of people purporting that 9/11 was an inside job because 'Fire Can't Melt Steel'. At least one was from 9/11 families (I do not know if it was one of the handful of anti-war 9/11 famil;ies or not). Has Roger Ailes gone crazy!

US Pacific Command’s Adm William Fallon says the group wasn’t conducting anti-sub operations, but the fact remains that the submarine did slip past the group’s security screen undetected and popped up within firing range of the Kitty Hawk.

Exploding the “That Wasn’t A Missile” Myth By Gargantua What appeared to be a missile rose from below the horizon, streaking into the sky off of California leaving a condensation trail identical to the kind that have been filmed being left by a ground-or-sea-to-air launch of a Minuteman missile or ICBM. First, the Government was inexplicably mum on the topic. Next came a series of sometimes contradictory explanations. Now, days after the event, the finally agreed-upon explanation hits every news station all at once. “It’s the con-trail of a jet returning from across the Pacific.” There are two glaring problems...

"I think they're way too independent. They just shouldn't have this power," Paul, a longtime Fed critic, said in an interview with Reuters. "Up until recently it has been modest but now it's totally out of control."

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen.-elect Rand Paul says GOP lawmakers must be open to cutting military spending as Congress tries to reduce government spending. The tea party favorite from Kentucky says compromise with Democrats over where to cut spending must include the military as well as social programs. Paul says all government spending must be “on the table.” Paul tells ABC’s “This Week” that he supports a constitutional amendment calling for a balanced budget.

I am opposed to the building of the "mosque" two blocks from Ground Zero. I want it built on Ground Zero. Why? Because I believe in an America that protects those who are the victims of hate and prejudice. I believe in an America that says you have the right to worship whatever God you have, wherever you want to worship. And I believe in an America that says to the world that we are a loving and generous people and if a bunch of murderers steal your religion from you and use it as their excuse to kill 3,000...

There appears to be a rift in the House of Paul. Republican Rep. Ron Paul has split with his son Rand over the mosque near Ground Zero, formally known as the Cordoba House. The senior Paul, in a statement released Friday, ripped into opponents of the religious and cultural center. In the statement Paul compares lawmakers to the infamous Emperor Nero, "It looks to me like the politicians are 'fiddling while the economy burns,'" and goes on to blame the neo-conservative movement for fueling the controversy, "They never miss a chance to use hatred toward Muslims to rally support for...

A new financial report filed Sunday evening showed Sarah Palin’s political action committee has taken its fundraising to a higher level – and suggests that she has begun building a more sophisticated political operation in place of a bare-bones organization powered mostly by her rock star status and scrappy on-line presence. The report, filed with the Federal Election Commission, shows that Palin’s political action committee raised more money in the second quarter of this year – $866,000 – than it had in any previous three-month stretch since Palin formed the group in January 2009. The committee, Sarah PAC, also spent...

As Congress considers appropriating hundreds of billions of dollars in funding for the Department of Defense, a bipartisan group of legislators today announced an initiative to urge the President’s deficit reduction commission to reduce military spending as part of government efforts to address the budget deficit. At a press conference today, Representatives Barney Frank (D-MA), Ron Paul (R-TX), and Walter Jones (R-NC), along with Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), released a copy of their joint letter to the President’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, and outlined their plans for forcing serious consideration of spending that has long been considered...

The administration's terrible healthcare reform bill is now law, but the debate over how-- and whether-- the federal government should be involved in providing healthcare services is not over. It is not too late for America to correct its course and stop the march toward a government run, "single payer" healthcare system. Polls show that a large majority of Americans don't want Obamacare. Congress should seize the opportunity to repeal the very worst aspect of this new legislation, namely the mandate that forces every American either to purchase health insurance or face an IRS penalty. This mandate represents nothing more...

This one was one that you just couldn't let go - that libertarian champion and former Republican presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul, Texas, doesn't have a basic understanding of economics. That was the claim made by CNBC senior analyst and commentator Ron Insana on the June 14 broadcast of "Closing Bell." At issue was a June 14 Washington Post article by Robert O'Hara and Dan Keating that suggested there was a conflict of interest in Paul's investments and his policy stances, as in he is a proponent of the gold standard and other uses for the precious medal. "Rep. Ron...