I guess I’ve known Ron Paul for a quarter of a century now, and I don’t remember how we met. My first memory of him is a quiet dinner on Capitol Hill, during the Reagan years. He told me with dry humor of being the only member of Congress to vote against some bill Reagan wanted passed. For Ron it was a matter of principle, and he was under heavy pressure to change his vote.
What amused him was that the Democrats didn’t mind his voting against it; all the pressure came from his fellow Republicans, professed conservatives, who were embarrassed that anyone should actually stand up for their avowed principles when it was unpopular to do so.
That was Ron Paul for you. Still is. The whole country is getting to know him now, and the Republicans still want to get rid of him. The party’s hacks, led by Newt Gingrich, have even tried in vain to destroy him in his own Texas district.
They’re right, in a way. He doesn’t belong in a party that has made conservative a synonym for destructive. George Will calls him a “useful anachronism” because he actually believes, as literally as circumstances permit, in the U.S. Constitution. In his unassuming way, without priggery or histrionics, he stands alone.
Read on: http://www.sobran.com/columns/2007/070612.shtml
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Will $2.4 million cash on hand at the end of the last quarter earn long-shot presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul enough credibility to warrant a spot in upcoming presidential debates? It should.
The ABC News Political Radar blog reported today that the nine-term congressman from Texas has $400,000 more cash on hand than his Republican rival Sen. John McCain of Arizona.
Upon reading that news, I had to wonder whether or not groups sponsoring future presidential debates would follow the sad precedent set by Iowans for Tax Relief and Iowa Christian Alliance — co-sponsors of a presidential candidates forum in Des Moines June 30 — and refuse to consider Ron Paul a “credible” candidate.
Any group with even a shred of decency and self-respect must now include Ron Paul in any presidential debate it sponsors — or exclude John McCain, too!
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