(Long Island, NY) Ron Paul has been getting what the kids would call mad traffic. His currency as a political candidate is getting stronger, and the attention he gets online would make Obama green with envy. But who is this Ron Paul? Everybody’s talking about him, but I must confess, I’d paid him absolutely no mind whatsoever until somebody asked me, “So what do you think of Ron Paul?”
I hate to brag here, folks, but I have successfully called every election since Jimmy Carter. Don’t ask me how I do it. I just see these people perform on TV, and at some point it seems obvious who is moving away from the pack and into the Oval Office. I can’t do the same thing with the primaries-that is a complete mystery to me, at least until the very end when it’s clear who is kicking ass and who isn’t.
Last election, for example, when Howard Dean’s “scream controversy” surfaced, I knew he was doomed. Around that time it was painfully obvious to me that John Kerry would never, ever be president of the local yacht
club,let alone the USA. Ditto for guys like Ross Perot, Bob Dole, and Jesse Jackson. None of these contenders ever had a chance.
Now comes Ron Paul. After a bit of research and digging, I come up with some very surprising finds. Paul is a registered Republican, running as a Libertarian (correction).
This is strike one against Paul on the Electo-Meter with yours truly. Libertarians are on the outside, and the American public tends to look at outsiders in the political game as being kooky, oddball. Why can’t they pick one of the acceptable sides? That’s not MY view, mind you, that’s just how I see the public reacting.
Ron Paul has an excellent set of views on balancing the budget, on non-interventionist foreign policy, and on taxes he is top notch. He wants to eliminate the income tax and move towards something a bit saner.
Strike two.
I don’t see Americans voting in the majority for someone who proposes such a radical alteration to “the way things are”. It just requires too much thinking time for the average American to get their head around. And let’s face it, folks, the average American does NOT want to think too much about the Presidential race. That new Playstation game is on the shelves, property taxes are going up again and we can’t sell the house because of the slump, and 50 Cent is telling everybody to go see some new movie where he will pull a baby out of a holster instead of a gun. Now here’s Ron Paul saying he wants to change…well, everything. At least that’s how it looks on the surface with that income tax thing. If Paul gets elected, are we gonna have to file with the IRS in 2009 or what?
See what I mean? Nobody will vote for this guy in great numbers because he brings too many questions that nobody has answers for. Joe Six-Pack doesn’t LIKE that. He wants simple, neat solutions for everything. Terrorists dropped the Twin Towers? Let’s bomb the hell out of something. Illegal aliens are flooding the country in numbers adding up to millions instead of thousands? Let’s build a big-ass fence.
Simple. As in, simple-minded.
Strike three against Ron Paul is an age-old issue. Paul is staunchly anti-abortion. He believes in states controlling the abortion issue for themselves. He wants to go backwards. We already have a system in place that says people have the right to decide for themselves, and it is my own personal belief that we should leave this well enough alone. Hear this, Ron Paul and anyone else: Turning back the clock equals political cyanide.
Abortion is a non-issue, folks. It is legal and if you don’t believe in abortion, don’t have one. But candidates continue to make this non-issue a big smokescreen in campaigns, as if the fate of our country depends on whether someone who terminates a pregnancy has to do it in some filthy back alley or a surgically sterile environment where the patient might live to tell somebody about it. Yeah, folks. Let’s turn back the clock and bring back the illegal, dangerous, and unregulated procedures that kill people. And while we’re at it, let’s bring back prohibition, seperate drinking fountains, and religious intolerance.
Ron Paul is popular, knows how to use viral marketing, and is a charismatic presence. But he is NOT going to be President. He’s got too many strikes against him, too many questions that need answering. I believe at this stage that Obama is likely to be the next president for a variety of reasons, not the least of which being that he has a very JFK-like presence. He has the same charisma, the same presence. It’s downright eerie at times. I can’t see Hillary Clinton beating him in a race for dog catcher, let alone the primaries. She’s too dragon lady-esque, especially side-by-side with Obama.
With regards to Ron Paul, I believe he’s the Ross Perot of this election–the spoiler, the underdog who will tip the scales towards somebody else. Just my own opinion here, time will tell whether my political radar is working this year or if I’m just getting high on the fumes from my laser printer.
Either way, if you would like to make up your own mind on what all the buzz is about with Ron Paul visit the 2008 presidential campaign web site at www.RonPaul2008.com
