Ron Paul Revolution

I think Ron Paul is a refreshing change from the typical which-way-is-the-wind-blowing-today? type of politician we usually get, but Kevin Drum puts the Ron Paul mania back in perspective:

But look: can we stop pretending to be political infants, even if we happen to be bored this week? It's cheap and easy to take extreme, uncompromising positions when you have no actual chance of ever putting them into practice, so Paul's extreme, uncompromising positions really don't mean a thing. They don't reflect either well or badly on him. They're meaningless, and I wish grown adults who know better would stop pretending otherwise. Ditto for his "record breaking" fundraising day, which is just a function of (a) the growth of the internet as a political money machine and (b) the curious but well-known fact that technophiles are disproportionately libertarian.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2007_11/012452.php

I'm a University of Florida student, and Ron Paul's exploitation of the Andrew Meyer ("Don't Tase me, bro!") film has lost him a lot of credibility in my eyes.

The video clip that got onto YouTube makes a great soundbite, sure, but the University of Florida is NOT a police state. The clip doesn't show Meyer's disruptive and abusive actions-- cutting in front of other students, shouting down Senator Kerry when he was answering a question-- that led the officer to ask him to sit down. The YouTube clip begins after Meyer had already refused, and convinced Kerry to answer *his* questions instead of those students who were in line in front of him.

The State of Florida has conducted an independent review of the incident, exonerated and reinstated the police officers involved. Meyer has apologized quite thoroughly for disrupting the forum and casting negative light on our university. Check out his statements at MeyerCase.com ; and the full independent review at president.ufl.edu/incident

If the Ron Paul campaign is using these clips to promote their agenda, they're engaging in the same spin-doctoring that everybody else is, and are acting just as deceitful as the rest.

In keeping with my "glass half empty" disposition, I'll start with the clearly negative:
1. From what I know of the University of Florida incident, I agree with James.
2. The dissing of Giuliani's marital history was a false note, the dredging up of polygamists in Romney's family tree exceedingly cheesy (that will be true of almost any family that has been Mormon for several generations).

Now the relatively positive:
1. I found nothing cheesy about the end, even though guns are not a hot button issue with me. Symbols like returning part of his office budget each year are not, IMHO, silly but, well, symbolic.
2. The anti-war message is powerful. The refusal of the rest of the GOP field to deviate one iota from Dubya's chiliastic imperialism (read his second inaugural) is depressing.

If the Ron Paul campaign is using these clips to promote their agenda, they're engaging in the same spin-doctoring that everybody else is, and are acting just as deceitful as the rest.

You're right -- Taze-Bro Guy was no innocent victim of the police state. But please keep in mind that this video was not produced or even endorsed by the Paul campaign. It was created by a follower.

You're right -- Taze-Bro Guy was no innocent victim of the police state. But please keep in mind that this video was not produced or even endorsed by the Paul campaign. It was created by a follower.

Thats good to know because that part was very uninspiring.

That video inspired the heck out of me ... where do I send my check?

Rod, it's only because of people like you who are willing to break with the flow that things are ever going to get better in American politics. So thanks.

Something fundraising-wise that neither Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama (let alone the other Republicans) have done ... geez, you have to at least pay attention.

If Huckabee continues to struggle in his own fundraising, you have to put Paul in the top 5 with F. Thompson, Giuliani, McCain and Romney. And Paul clearly has the firmest grassroots support, which counts for something in a GOP primary. So you never know.