CE Week #2: “Ron Paul clicks with Spokane crowd”
Packed room cheers at call for end to war
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Jim Camden
Staff writer
February 1, 2008
U.S. Rep. Ron Paul may be having limited success in presidential contests in recent weeks, but his campaign message of more freedom, less government and an immediate end to the war in Iraq was a huge hit with a Spokane crowd Thursday evening.
An estimated 900 people who packed a ballroom at the downtown Doubletree Hotel shouted approval when he warned that government spending was weakening the country and creating “a nanny state.” They cheered raucously when he called for bringing troops home.
“There’s no need to be fighting all these wars,” he said. “What we need to do is bring the troops home as soon as possible.”
To those who might argue that would result in chaos in Iraq, he countered: “What’s over there now?”
People who say the war must continue are the same ones who were wrong in saying that Saddam Hussein had ties to al-Qaida and weapons of mass destruction, and that Iraqi oil would pay for the war, Paul added.
While this may sound like standard criticism of the Bush administration from a Democratic presidential candidate, Paul is seeking the Republican nomination.
As part of that effort, Paul and his campaign urged supporters in the room to attend the Washington state precinct caucuses Feb. 9, the start of the selection of delegates in Washington state.
There’s also a Republican presidential primary on Feb. 19, and the party will use both to award delegates.
But members of the Paul campaign were focused on the caucuses Thursday in an effort to repeat the success of another unlikely Republican candidate in 1988.
In that year, supporters of the Rev. Pat Robertson stunned GOP regulars by turning out at caucuses in large numbers across the state, electing delegates to their county conventions and sticking with the process through the state convention.
The Texas congressman’s speech Thursday was a mix of peace and populism, fiscal conservatism and limited government.
The crowd, some of whom had driven into the city on bad roads and waded across downtown intersections that more resembled slushy ponds, appreciated his message.
“Freedom is popular,” he told the cheering crowd. “It brings people together.”
He returned frequently to foreign policy and the war in Iraq, at one point contending the nation needs to learn a lesson from the 1960s and ’70s and its experience in the Vietnam War.
Americans elected a president in 1968 because they wanted to end the war, but the war continued for years until America eventually lost.
“We lost and we had to come home, and it was an utter tragedy,” Paul said.
But the consequences were not as predicted, all the dominoes didn’t fall and the world didn’t slip into communism, he said. Today the United States trades with Vietnam, and China not only is a major trading partner but it holds much of our debt.
The United States should heed the words of the Founding Fathers, avoid foreign wars and seek only trading alliances, he said.
Since Sept. 11, 2001, Americans have had their freedoms curtailed, with enhanced airport security, warrantless searches and laws allowing people to be jailed as enemy combatants, Paul said.
There’s a debate in Washington, D.C., whether a practice known as waterboarding is torture, he said. Anyone who thinks it isn’t should volunteer to try it, he suggested.
The country should abolish the income tax, return to money that is backed by gold and silver, and eliminate the Federal Reserve Board, Paul said.
Although the economy is hurting, it should not bail out the mortgage industry in the current housing crisis.
Instead, it should let the economy work itself out, which might cause difficult times for some people for a year or so, but would result in a stronger country in the end, Paul said.
Bringing U.S. troops home from all foreign stations would boost the economy, he said, because it would result in them, and the country, spending money in America that is being spent overseas.
“We want peace and we want prosperity and we don’t want perpetual war,” he said.
Ron Paul! First of all I’m quite upset I didn’t get to attend this event and meet the man behind these crazy ideas. Ron Paul has no chance of winning the presidency but he is affecting some of the ideas of his fellow candidates. I was watching the Today show this morning and Mike Huckabee commented that he planned on eliminating the IRS, something Ron Paul has long talked about doing himself. Perhaps I wasn’t paying attention before but I couldn’t remember him mentioning that as one of his campaign platforms. As with elections in the past with third party candidates (such as Ralph Nader) the Ron Paul campaign is working on getting their ideas across to the major candidates and having them adopt the ideas as some of their platforms. While Ron Paul is raising a TON of money for his campaign and gaining support from old and young alike I think his ideas are far too “right” to let him receive enough support to come anywhere near winning any states. I think he’s going to be lucky to be on a ticket with another candidate (since Dennis Kucinich who had chosen him as his runningmate dropped out). If anything Ron Paul will pull votes away from other candidates in the primaries with proportional delegate distribution as did Nader and others in the past. If he can keep up his campaign contribution circus until the general election it will be interesting to see the effect he has on Republican votes in conservative and crazy states.
If Spokane ever decided to break away from the union and become its own country, Ron Paul would lead our bloody revolution and be our king… or something. But dear lord, what is it about Ron Paul that drives us Spokanites crazy? I mean is he liberal enough for the democrats and conservative enough for the republicans? Is it because Paul has been one of the few candidates that is one-hundred percent committed to pulling our troops out of Iraq and ending the war? Is it because he caters to the fact that we as Americans know that there is something wrong with this country? Or maybe we just like the fact that there is and elf running for office. Who knows it might be all of those reasons. Paul’s views are certainly wild, like eliminating the income tax and the Federal Reserve board, only in this day of divided government could a candidate get away with those statements, because at any other time in our history he would have been burned as a communist. Luckily if the recent caucuses are any signal, most Americans can see that Ron might be a little too ahead of his time… most Americans not living in Spokane that is. For the upcoming Washington caucus I have a feeling that Paul will do well, he won’t win it by any means, but with just the support of Spokane alone I think he will turn some heads.
Wow! Ron Paul has some pretty amazing ideas that he wants put into action. Some of these things he is saying though are just crazy! Apparently Mr. Paul was in town this past Thursday; bless him for toughing the snow, to talk to us Spokanites about his ideas to bring home all of our troops right away and end this war right now. Well, I know I would like our troops to come home sometime, but I’ve gotten over the fact that our troops will be in Iraq for at least another 10 to 15 years to come. It’s amazing what we can get ourselves into without thinking much about it before hand. I do have to say though that I don’t necessarily “agree” with his ideas on our Income Tax and getting rid of the Federal Reserve Board. You know, I personally made some $9,000 or so this previous 2007 working year. I don’t mind that people know, big whoop. And I paid, oh, somewhere around $700 to federal taxes. I was fine with it, especially since I’m getting some of it back. I want to know how Ron Paul thinks he will make up all of this money that the Government receives for the Federal Income Tax. Last time I checked the 16th amendment which was amended in 1913 permitted Congress to levy an income tax. I think it takes a little while to amend an amendment, or so I was told. Who knows? Maybe Paul plans to fork out a little dough himself to keep our Government from hitting that $10,000,000,000,000 debt. Yes, that is ten trillion. I guess we will wait and see what Ron Paul can do to influence the smaller states that are still left and get a couple more people who share his ideas on his side.
Ron Paul warmly welcomed the audience, obviously surprised by the large audience, packed tightly in the ballroom and even flowing out into the hall. He ended his speech by explaining that he had never dreamed America would come out in such great numbers to support his ideas, but the fact that he has had such a following demonstrates the readiness to pursue the goals of campaign. Stating that all military extravaganzas and the overextension of government both abroad and domestically eventually come to an end when the economy fails, Paul expressed his concern that such a trend can indeed be witnessed in the United States. Before we plummet into a full-out recession, the already shrinking value of the dollar must be restored and the troops brought home. This message spoke to a frustrated people.
What garners Paul so much trust and respect is his quality character and commitment to his ideas and family (married 51 years… wow). A captivating and articulate speaker, he can explain every part of government and policy in a way that relates to every other part and thus engenders a broader understanding of the implications that can be expecting from his actions. Most candidates approach the issues individually but these perspectives easily can get swept up in other positions because they aren’t connected to a message like “Freedom and Consistency”. People trust that Ron Paul has been developing his ideas for many years and has only expanded on his core beliefs, rather than flip flopped around.
He used his conclusion of shock at the support to segway into a call for voter turnout, especially in the caucuses. The Republican nomination process is unique in that there is the opportunity to essentially cast two votes, both in the primary and in the caucus. This opens the door for cross party voting to skew the results. The Democratic Party prefers to only award delegates for votes in the caucuses, limiting the nomination voters to those that demonstrate more effort and are presented with the multiple candidates in a more confrontational way.
Quite frankly, I just really like lil’ ol’ Ron Paul! He’s such a cute old guy! Yes, I do agree with Chad – bless the guy for braving through our 20 feet of snow to get here on Thursday! That just goes to show that he wants as many American voters as possible to hear his message – even up here in the frozen tundra!
But anyway, I actually enjoyed that video you had us watch one day that you were gone, Mr. Kautzman. And now reading this article I really like his stances on “the issues”, well actually one issue mainly…maybe two. To be honest, I don’t do too well with trying to understand the whole “income/federal tax stuff”. So I really don’t know if I agree with him or not! What I do agree on with him, is his stance to pull out troops as much as possible! My favorite part of the article was when his response to the question that that could result in chaos was “What’s over there now?” That is so true. I wish he was doing much better where polling is concerned. I really do believe that pulling the troops out of Iraq is a common want. And what’s better than appealing to the “ignorant masses” I ask you! Ron Paul is not just playing to American voters to rally support…I really think he means it. What’s sad is that he has never managed to grab hold of the magic three m’s: momentum, media and money. Or else he might be doing a lot better.
Does anyone else find it weird Paul was an ob/gyn?
I am not sure I agree with his views in leaving the economy alone. While that might sound good, I think Hoover tried that same tactic of ‘letting things work out on their own’ and wasn’t so popular as a result. As for the need for a limited government and independent Americans, this is another thing that might sound good, but might not go so smoothly in practice. It might be inspiring to hear about independence and limiting the government to what it once was, but I have a feeling that once Americans get a taste of what government services they’ll be missing independent America won’t seem so sweet. He does stand out as a Republican candidate calling an end to war, which seems like it should isolate conservatives seems to be attracting voters. Paul’s popularity with young voters seems to e quite the oddity as well, it doesn’t seem like typical voting behavior for the young demographic to be drawn to a liberatarian candidate. Here I thought many young voters had a tendency to be more liberal, but Ron Paul is the opposite.
Ron Paul is a crazy man that no one should ever have to deal with in their whole entire lifetime. Of course every one is going to rant and rave when someone talks about freedom, it is what we do as Americans, that’s why we scream and whistle when in the National Anthem it says, and the land of the free. The writer is making such a big deal about it. Not to mention there was only 900 people there out of the hundreds of thousands of Spokane. It seemed like Paul’s whole speech was about bringing home the troops from Iraq and of course everyone is going to love that idea just because we want to see the soldiers come home safely, even I want to see that. But what will happen when Paul wins the presidency and pulls all the troops out of Iraq in an instant, will the terrorist leaders of the Middle East strike the United States again. Now I know we can’t keep our troops their forever, but we should pull them out slowly when their economy and government is set up and ready to go. Since we have been following Paul’s election trail in class it just keeps declining, and now I see no hope for him winning the presidency, I think he should drop out, and maybe link up with Romney or McCain and try to become their running mate.
To be completely honest, before I read this article I thought that Ron Paul was a complete nut-job, but then again I hadn’t really heard a lot about what he believed. (Yes we did watch that video in class but, let’s face it, I was not there mentally) Anyway, I think that Ron Paul has some very good ideas about what we should do with the country. Not occupy foreign countries and have foreign ties except for the use of trade. That’s a great idea. We have the military power to defend ourselves, and lets face it, it would not be a smart idea to attack our country, we all know what would happen if that happened again. Although it might sound radical I think that eliminating the federal income tax and the Federal Reserve Bank would be a great idea. The Federal Reserve Bank is not even run by our government, so basically we are not in charge of our own money. Also, I think that going back to the Gold and silver standard would be a fantastic idea because it would stop inflation. The fact is that Ron Paul is running a losing race, but he is getting his points across and that is what matters. Like third party candidates, Ron Paul is trying to get his ideas across to the major candidates running the race; Mike Huckabee for example now wants to do away with the IRS. I think that if Ron Paul is selected as a vice president he could get the age 18-25 vote that is coveted by so many. All this money has to be coming from somewhere and my bet is that this age group is the source. As we talked about in class this would be a huge gain for the 18-25 age group if Ron Paul won as a vice president because the next time around our age group would get our issues addressed.
I think it’s way cool that a presidential candidate came to our little town of Spokane. I don’t even remember a candidate or any other important individual ever coming to Spokane. But then again, I’ve never been a real big “political junkie”…unlike someone we know! It is so strange that Ron Paul barely has any support overall, but he has so many supporters in Spokane. From what the article said, Ron Paul’s visit here sounded like it went very well. It sounded like everything that was coming out of his mouth was exactly what they wanted to hear. From eliminating income tax, to bringing our troops safely home, to stopping government spending, the people there liked what they were hearing. We talk about the three m’s of politics all the time in class. (Money, momentum, and media) One of the major reasons why Ron Paul isn’t doing very well is because he is lacking, whether completely or partially, all three. You don’t hear about Ron Paul raising thirty-some million dollars a month like Barack Obama. He doesn’t really have any momentum – except in our weird little community where he has such a following. And he is not really getting any media attention. The pieces of media he gets are his own commercials, and they are kind of ineffective and a little too late. But props to him for sticking it out and for having a successful gathering last week!
Re: Basically Everyone Above
First off, yes Meagan I find it very weird that Ron Paul was an ob/gyn. I know he wouldn’t be my choice.
Secondly, are all Spokane people crazy? Gosh reading not only this article but some responses I wonder how many communist we have among us. His ideas and plans seem good in theory but in actual function they are destined to fail miserably. Sure we are going through some hard times but not enough to think that we should actually get rid of the IRS or abolishing income tax. I don’t know if he or any other Ron Paul cult member realizes but these “inconveniences” actually help our country function. Eliminating them could have a very negative impact on our country. The reason we have the bad is because of the good, with one comes the other. I’m truly baffled at the thought of so many Spokanites and my fellow classmates supporting the Ron Paul rEVOLution, I just can’t get on the bandwagon to support him or even understand why someone would. I’m glad to know that he doesn’t have a real chance of becoming our president (now), however, it is unsettling knowing that candidates like Mike Huckabee are picking up his ideas. The only positive thing I have heard from Ron Paul is his determination to get the troops out of Iraq but the other candidates haven’t been so determined to follow his lead in making that a key point (most seem to stay away from that topic at least in level of seriousness of Ron Paul).
-Caitlin Barschig
This is in response for Caitlin. I’d have to say I agree with you almost completely. I mean honestly I didn’t know much about him till we watched the video in class, and even after that I still thought he was pretty crazy because in his movie he just rambled about how USA sucks now but he can fix it.
I find it crazy how so many people stand for Ron Paul. Nothing against him but his stand on issues are way too ridiculous for me to grasp. He is basically criticizing the government and how inefficient and ineffective it is. The fact that our economy isn’t doing too good right now doesn’t mean we need to get rid of the IRS. I find it funny that he says that it will get worse for a while but it’ll fix itself and be better from it. From my understanding of it, he doesn’t know when and how its going to get better, but “it’ll get better soon…I hope”. That’s the message I’m getting out of it. And from that makes me wonder why so many people follow Ron Paul. I know he isn’t doing so hot right now in the election, actually he is doing horribly. Nonetheless I don’t understand, maybe people are caught up on “bringing the troops home” and not paying attention to his other stand on issues. Seeing how no other candidate is really being straightforward on their stand on the war maybe that’s how he is getting the public on the bandwagon. Seems to me like he is pulling in the more politically inept people, like some of Spokane for example
~Ryan Brannan
I agree with Emily, Ron Paul is just a third party candidate who is going to steal votes from the Republican Party. He is pretty much going to be a Ralph Nader in the election of 2008. We have so many people in Spokane who support Ron Paul. It’s crazy! When I drive around Spokane, all I see is Ron Paul signs. It’s ridiculous! Ron Paul has some very interesting ideas, but they are so far fetched that it would never work. Like Caitlin said, his plans are destined to fail miserably. Ron Paul wants to get rid of income tax and the IRS. Yeah good luck with that. Our country may be going through a lot, but I do not think that it is enough that we need to get rid of income tax and the IRS. This would not make our country any better, it will only make it worse. We are freaking out about our economy going into a recession; well with Ron Paul as President we will definitely go into a recession. It is a good thing that he does not have a chance to become President. I do not want to think what our country would become with Ron Paul as President. Like I said before, he is only going to hurt the Republican Party by stealing votes from them.
Response to Ian:
Yeah there was probably a reason you thought Ron Paul was a nut-job… because he is! I too didn’t know much about him so I looked a little more into his positions online. He wants to end the war in Iraq which is good I guess, but I hated his reasoning in the article. I believe we need to be in Iraq long enough for Iraq to get back on its feet. In the article it stated:
“To those who might argue that would result in chaos in Iraq, he countered: ‘What’s over there now? People who say the war must continue are the same ones who were wrong in saying that Saddam Hussein had ties to al-Qaeda and weapons of mass destruction, and that Iraqi oil would pay for the war’, Paul added.”
I don’t believe any of that and it pissed me off how Ron Paul just generalized like that. But not only would Ron Paul pull out of Iraq immediately he’s also interested in making the U.S. completely isolationist. He doesn’t want the U.S. to be involved in any other country whether its relief money or defending them against other countries. Personally, I think that’s an obligation we have as a superpower. And Paul’s ideas on the economy are just too right winged to work. I don’t think you can go changing up our tax system without some serious thought and explanation, due to just how complicated it is. What really blows my mind is how he did in the caucus on Saturday. He rounded out third place behind Huckabee but only 3 percentage points away. I think people who support Ron Paul just think “No Taxes!” and “End the War in Iraq” and need to look into his views a little more.
Cody it never ceases to amaze me how far you exaggerate things, such as with your opening statement. But believe it or not I actually agree with a lot of the rest of your post. The writer of this article does emphasize on the reaction of the crowd when bringing troops home is brought up. Of course everyone wants our soldiers to come home, but in my opinion they need to stick around until things over there are finished. I think that when things are nearly done, then we should start bringing our troops home slowly as Cody said. I think that if after the next president is sworn in and his/her first move is immediately withdrawing all of our troops, it would be bad for both Iraq and the US in the long run, if not right away. – Matt Powles
Caitlin, I see where you are coming from. Yes some of Ron Paul’s ideas seem extreme, but aren’t we as a country looking for extreme change as a country form what we have right now. Not everyone who posted above is a communist, Ron Paul is not a communist, if anything I would say that he is anti communist and personally I would say that he is anti socialist. He has some great ideas. Get rid of the Federal Reserve Bank. That might sound like he wants to get rid of our banking system, but that is not the case. The Federal Reserve Bank is crazy. It is a bunch of rich people, not even our own government, in charge of the money for the United States. That is what is crazy. Like you said though, you take the good with the bad. I would be willing to have the Federal Reserve Bank taken away and the money put back into the hands of the government and then have some bad things come along. (Like the industrialization of hemp.) Personally I think that you are crazy for not liking some of the ideas that he has. It doesn’t matter though because you and I both know that he will never get elected anyway. I have to say though; I’m glad that major candidates started picking up some of Ron Paul’s ideas.