Anyone else watching the GOP debate

[Titan6]

Paul could hardly do worse than a dozen others I could name.

 

[Cosmoline]

Point of information. How is it Romney, McCain and Guiliani can be the "front runners" when there hasn't been a single election? Doesn't it seem a little odd to you that the media have decided, apropos of nothing as far as I can see, that the GOP must choose between the three biggest RINOS?

I just can't shake the feeling that someone is shoving something down my gullet.

 

[SoCalShooter]

^ agreed. The media has apparently decided and that is very dangerous.

 

[Titan6]

My favorite question to Dr. Paul last night from the internet: ''Do you distrust the main stream media?''

 

[pcosmar]

Guiliani =Democrat with an "R"
McCain , Talking out of both sides of his face.
The rest= More of the same. Party Line.

Ron Paul is the only Choice I saw.

 

[ServiceSoon]

My favorite question to Dr. Paul last night from the internet: ''Do you distrust the main stream media?''

Which he replied, "I trust the internet more." Some people are thinking he is a nut because he didn't explain what he meant. Same story with the Iraqi war. He made it sound like he would roll up the carpet and leave tomorrow.

 

[lamazza]

Ron Paul is the only Choice I saw

I completely agree, but the only thing Dr. Paul is going to do is divide the republican vote. Dr. Paul will never get the nomination. As pathetic as they both are McCain or Ghouliani will get the nomination and the vote should then go to Romney. Isn't it pathetic how, suddenly, McCain is starting to try and talk conservative? Its a foreign language to him. Ghouliani has absolutely nothing to offer any republican voter-he should be embarassed that he thinks he is fooling us into believing that he is not a Democrat.

 

[xd9fan]

but the only thing Dr. Paul is going to do is divide the republican vote. Dr. Paul will never get the nomination.

Dr. Paul won't divide the GOP........Bush and the unlimited pro-Govt types did that to the party already........Ron coming in at 3rd place is proof that conservatives are fed up and looking at him. MCcain does not have the snowballs chance in &^%$. Ron talks the talk AND walks the walk.

IMHO the only way to save this party is types like Ron Paul........otherwise why have two pro-Govt parties??

 

[budney]

IMHO the only way to save this party is tpyes like Ron Paul........otherwise why have two pro-Govt parties??

Well said!

 

[Ratzinger_p38]

Dr. Paul won't divide the GOP........Bush and the unlimited pro-Govt types did that to the party already........Ron coming in at 3rd place is proof that conservatives are fed up and looking at him. MCcain does not have the snowballs chance in &^%$. Ron talks the talk AND walks the walk.

I think he would too. He's a Goldwater Republican (IE Libertarian, and still a member) and that doesnt fly well with most modern Republicans (interventionism is one big area of disagreement) - to your modern voter I suspect some of his positions would seem extreme (such as getting the US out of the UN, which I agree with).

 

[maasenstodt]

Dr. Paul will never get the nomination.

After his impressive showing last night, I'm more optimistic about his chances now than ever before. Enough so to have made a contribution this morning.

to your modern voter I suspect some of his positions would seem extreme (such as getting the US out of the UN, which I agree with).

At this point I tend to think that the extreme position is being carved out pretty well by the Bush administration. Getting out is increasingly a mainstream view.

We have another debate in less than two weeks. If Paul manages to draw in new interest at anywhere near the level he did in the last debate and if he can close the deal on more of those who have already taken a strong interest in him, I'd bet he'll take a lead over the rest of the "2nd tier" candidates and be making waves that the "1st tier" couldn't help but notice.

 

[Finch]

Let's not limit ourselves to only those who were "selected" to be in the discussion. Fred Thompson, in my opinion, shows tremendous potential and I hope that he does decide to run. After reading some of his writing, he has show that he holds the mindset of a man that I would like to see run this nation. For example, here is one of his writings that I find very pertinent to our cause.

Signs of Intelligence?
One of the things that's got to be going through a lot of peoples' minds now is how one man with two handguns, that he had to reload time and time again, could go from classroom to classroom on the Virginia Tech campus without being stopped. Much of the answer can be found in policies put in place by the university itself.

Virginia, like 39 other states, allows citizens with training and legal permits to carry concealed weapons. That means that Virginians regularly sit in movie theaters and eat in restaurants among armed citizens. They walk, joke and rub shoulders everyday with people who responsibly carry firearms -- and are far safer than they would be in San Francisco, Oakland, Detroit, Chicago, New York City, or Washington, D.C., where such permits are difficult or impossible to obtain.

The statistics are clear. Communities that recognize and grant Second Amendment rights to responsible adults have a significantly lower incidence of violent crime than those that do not. More to the point, incarcerated criminals tell criminologists that they consider local gun laws when they decide what sort of crime they will commit, and where they will do so.

Still, there are a lot of people who are just offended by the notion that people can carry guns around. They view everybody, or at least many of us, as potential murderers prevented only by the lack of a convenient weapon. Virginia Tech administrators overrode Virginia state law and threatened to expel or fire anybody who brings a weapon onto campus.

In recent years, however, armed Americans -- not on-duty police officers -- have successfully prevented a number of attempted mass murders. Evidence from Israel, where many teachers have weapons and have stopped serious terror attacks, has been documented. Supporting, though contrary, evidence from Great Britain, where strict gun controls have led to violent crime rates far higher than ours, is also common knowledge.

So Virginians asked their legislators to change the university's "concealed carry" policy to exempt people 21 years of age or older who have passed background checks and taken training classes. The university, however, lobbied against that bill, and a top administrator subsequently praised the legislature for blocking the measure.

The logic behind this attitude baffles me, but I suspect it has to do with a basic difference in worldviews. Some people think that power should exist only at the top, and everybody else should rely on "the authorities" for protection.

Despite such attitudes, average Americans have always made up the front line against crime. Through programs like Neighborhood Watch and Amber Alert, we are stopping and catching criminals daily. Normal people tackled "shoe bomber" Richard Reid as he was trying to blow up an airliner. It was a truck driver who found the D.C. snipers. Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that civilians use firearms to prevent at least a half million crimes annually.

When people capable of performing acts of heroism are discouraged or denied the opportunity, our society is all the poorer. And from the selfless examples of the passengers on Flight 93 on 9/11 to Virginia Tech professor Liviu Librescu, a Holocaust survivor who sacrificed himself to save his students earlier this week, we know what extraordinary acts of heroism ordinary citizens are capable of.

Many other universities have been swayed by an anti-gun, anti-self defense ideology. I respect their right to hold those views, but I challenge their decision to deny Americans the right to protect themselves on their campuses -- and then proudly advertise that fact to any and all.

Whenever I've seen one of those "Gun-free Zone" signs, especially outside of a school filled with our youngest and most vulnerable citizens, I've always wondered exactly who these signs are directed at. Obviously, they don't mean much to the sort of man who murdered 32 people just a few days ago.

http://abcradio.com/article.asp?id=389928&SPID=15663

Maybe it's time we look for leadership from people other than career politicians.

 

[Titan6]

Fred = Patriot Act

Patriot Act = Revoked BOR

Revoked BOR = Police State

You can keep Fred. Were he a ''true'' conservative he would work to get rid of the Patriot Act.

 

[ravnew]

IMHO, the one thing that we need to agree upon is showing a united front. I don't believe that anyone will find a candidate that they 100% agree with. I like both Fred T and Ron P, of the two my first choice would be Fred. However, if showing a united front meant voting for Ron I would do so without hesitation. Again, IMHO, the worst thing that could happen is that we end up divided, by doing so we will waste what voting power we have.

 

[xd9fan]

sidenote

yeah the patriot act is one of the most badly-named pieces of crap ever voted into law.

This law does use logic from the brady-types.

Can we just go after the bad guys without violating the rights of the law-abiding! (and not grow the power of Govt...as well)

 

[Nil]

After watching the entire thing and thinking about what occurred, all I can say is I'm glad I'm not a Republican. The choice one would have to make would be painful or, if choosing Paul, ineffectual.

 

[xd9fan]

After watching the entire thing and thinking about what occurred, all I can say is I'm glad I'm not a Republican. The choice one would have to make would be painful or, if choosing Paul, ineffectual.

Thats true....(I would never vote for Democrats) but at least their true colors are there for everyone to see.

 

[PressCheck]

IMHO Romney won the "debate", but that means nothing at this point.

Run Fred, Run.

 

[pcosmar]

The next one is coming soon.
Ron Paul Invited to South Carolina Debate

Congressman Ron Paul has been invited to participate in the First-in-the-South Republican Party Presidential Candidates Debate sponsored by the South Carolina Republican Party. The debate will be held on Tuesday, May 15th and will be televised by FOX News.

http://www.scgop.com/News/Read.aspx?ID=4703

 

[JohnL2]

Damn I missed it.
But from the comments here it sounds like the Repubs are lost in the woods. No one to rally around.
No doubt many good men up there but it seems no one has the aura of Ronald Reagan. A truly great speaker who exudes passion and has a wit to them that is less common these days amongst Republicans. I think that is one of the key missing elements.
Maybe the Republicans more fun loving cousins the Libertarians can finally come up with something.
But I seriously doubt.

 

[lamazza]

You all make good points and I think Ron Paul is the best man for the job, but..Most of the people on this board are informed voters UNLIKE the majority of our countrymen who view Paul as an extremist.

 

[Titan6]

Wow, if they see Paul as extremist I can't imagine how they see the rest of the field since he has a higher approval rating than all of them in the last MSNBC poll.

 

[ARperson]

They do not even have any clue of what true freedom is. Most believe that since they can drive around and shop at any mall they wish, they are free.

Meanwhile, when something "bad" happens they look around and question why the government "allows" that to happen.

Couldn't agree more. I am a member on a completely different non-gun-related BB and except for the self-stated conservatives, the vast majority of the posters think the government's sole job is to bail people out of the crises they created for themselves. Sickening, really.

 

[Dan from MI]

Weak format. Weak debate. Not everyone got the same questions. Next time they do this, they need to can Chris Mathews.

That said, I think Huckabee "won" the debate. He looked like he knew the topic, wasn't too slick about it, and he sounded a lot more fiscally conservative than I thought he would (Fairtax).

 

[STAGE 2]

The question is, is he electable? Based on his performance last night, I think we all know the answer to that.

Truer words have never been spoken.

Its a simple numbers game folks. If conservatives bicker and split among Paul, Thompson and maybe one other that means that Guliani or McCain will get the nomination. For those that don't like Thompson for his support of the patriot act, I ask you will guliani be a better choice?

Things may change, but as of right now Thompson is the only true conservative with enough recognition and face time to have a chance in the general election. Paul may be your pie in the sky, but hes not going anywhere. You can blame it on uneducated voters, the "system", the media, or that fact that its going to rain on tuesday, but the fact remains he's dead in the water. If he makes all of the debates I will be truly surprised.