Comments on: CE Week #11: “The Ron Paul Revolution”

By: Nathan Basham

Nathan Basham — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 08:08:22 +0000

Ron Paul? you’d think it was Sean Paul with all the attention he is gathering. However this seems to just be and fad and whats hot on the media trail right now. They are trying to make a nerdy rockstar out of a 72-year old man..Pretty interesting. Also it is pretty interesting to see that he raised only a little bit less than John McCain in the last quarter, but as other people have pointed out, none of that has really helped him in the polls. It seems he’s just getting a lot of money from those 5 percent of die-hard fans but not many people are jumping on board.

Another thing I noticed about this article is how it seems to be a little skewed. It talks about how all of the supporters for Ron Paul are college students, well if you go to a college campus to make a speech you will probably get a lot of college students showing up. In the end I just believe that he is too old school to gain the nomination of even a fair amount in the polls.

By: Emily Howard

Emily Howard — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 17:54:14 +0000

Ohhh Ron Paul, what an interesting character. I agree with Meagan that I don’t think he’s going to play much of a role in the upcoming election — wouldn’t it be funny if he did though. After reading this I took a moment to ponder why he might have the most watched youtube videos, or the most googled name and I think it’s because he’s so out of the ordinary. Clearly most of the populous, after watching his youtube videos or reading more than two articles about him realizes he’s a bit of an oddball. I think Ron Paul is gaining nerdy fans because he’s a nerdy guy, anyone who legitimately tries to use “wowee” still deserves a legion of nerd fans.

As the article pointed out he has raised a fair amount of money from private donors, however the polls showing him at a whopping 5% do not really bode well for his future. If anything I think Paul will continue to provide everyone with something to google and something to laugh about after he goes on Jay Leno and doesn’t know who Tom Cruise is (which I think is incredible, I wish I didn’t know who he is).

By: Meagan Desmond

Meagan Desmond — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 01:29:33 +0000

Response to Ethan:

I agree with you that although Ron Paul is an interesting character, I don’t think he will play a major role in the upcoming election. I don’t think he would make it past the primaries because his views are to far to the right (then again, the Republican convention doesn’t have superdelegates to stop him…). If he did run as an independent he would only succeed in perhaps subtracting republican votes. Which might not even make that big of an effect, Ron Paul supporters mainly belong to the young crowd, the typically apathetic voters, so he wouldn’t necessarily be stealing from any constituency. You also bring up a good point: there must be something magnetic about this guy if anarchists would vote for him. Then again, could you call yourself an anarchist if you vote? You couldn’t call yourself a good anarchist anyways.

By: Meagan Desmond

Meagan Desmond — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 01:00:46 +0000

I had no idea Ron Paul was that old and delivered babies for a living. Although I think some of his ideas are good, and that many young college students say they want less government, they really don’t. Less government means less programs that take care of us Americans. Or maybe they really are sick of government. Either way, Ron Paul is getting a shocking amount of attention, from a shocking crowd. I would have never put the two together: an older obstetrician on the far right and college students. It’s like the political odd couple (where Paul would be Jack Lemmon and his young followers would be Walter Mathau). I personally don’t think he will recieve the nomination, but you never know. If he doesn’t will he run again? It seems to me he almost has the funding (5.3 million) to as a successful independent (if independents are ever really successful). Also, I love Joel Stein, he writes one heck of a satire about Mel Gibson.

I absolutely LOVED the Odd Couple reference! – Kautzman

By: Ethan H.

Ethan H. — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 16:36:28 +0000

Ron Paul…this guy cracks me up. My favorite part of this article (apart from Ron not knowing what movies Tom Cruise has been in) was the part that stated that some of his supporters include anarchists. Well…I have one thing to say about that: If Ron Paul can get anarchists to vote for the President of the United States then there is certainly something that he can do that would change the very world we live in.

I just don’t think that Ron Paul is an extremely important player. I think that he he did indeed run as an independent that he would have a much larger impact on the election. As for being elected…no it doesn’t look very likely to me. Actually he doesn’t have a chance. His willingness to pursue an issue that he has opinions and ideas on (even if they are a bit eccentric) is something that he he most assuredly has going for him. But I think that he should use his ideas to support a Democratic candidate.

By: Derrick Skaug

Derrick Skaug — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 01:30:51 +0000

Discounting Ron Paul….not so easy.
The article says, Paul, a 72-year-old hard-core libertarian Republican Congressman who is against foreign intervention, subsidies and the federal income tax, is not only drawing impressive crowds (more than 2,000 at a postdebate rally at the University of Michigan last month) but also raising tons of cash. In the third quarter of 2007, Paul took in $5.3 million (just slightly less than GOP rival John McCain), mostly in small, individual donations. On Oct. 22, he aired his first TV ads, $1.1 million worth in New Hampshire.
I don’t understand how the article can call Ron Paul a joke meanwhile he nearly out raises John McCain.
“His supporters are the equivalent of crabgrass,” says GOP consultant Frank Luntz. “It’s not the grass you want, and it spreads faster than the real stuff. They just like him because he’s the most anti-Establishment of all the candidates, the most likely to look at the camera during the debates and say, ‘Hey, Washington, f____ you.’”
I completely disagree with Luntz. Ron Paul’s supporters seem pretty real if he can take in 5.3 million in 3 months. Those seem like the type of people I would want supporting my campaign.
The one place Paul hasn’t become a major player is where it counts: in the polls, where he hasn’t broken above 5% and has yet to pass Mike Huckabee. Paul realizes he’s not a favorite among the pro-war, pro-Bush Republicans. “
In voting polls yes he hasn’t been above 5%. But he received 28% in a Fox poll on who won the debate. Seems to me that this article, and the rest of the media seems to willing to mark Paul off.
Paul doesn’t expect that he will win the nomination, and he has no interest in running as an independent again. But he also doesn’t see himself endorsing one of the other Republicans in the general election. “Those people who support me wouldn’t believe it,”
I applaud Paul. I wish he would run as an independent for a couple of reasons. One, that it would help the Democrats. Mostly though, is because his message is too powerful to just be put on the backburner for another four years. He truly believes in what he says and that’s a first. I am glad he has the guts to say he wouldn’t endorse any of the Republicans since he has been calling them out the whole election. What I really wonder though is if he would support any Democrats?