Ron Paul fundraising

Why can’t U.S. Rep. Ron Paul get any media coverage for his presidential campaign?

He raised more than $5 million in the third quarter in a true grass-roots movement. This was 114 percent increase from the second quarter. He raised more than $1 million in the last week of the third quarter from online donations.

Paul’s 114 percent increase is in stark contrast to the decrease suffered by Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani and John McCain. Romney’s fundraising was down 29 percent, Giuliani’s down 40 percent and McCain’s down 55 percent. I would think the huge show of strength of this grass-roots movement compared with the other candidates’ decline, even with access to the big-money people, would be a newsmaker.

In the second quarter, Paul received more in donations from military personnel, active and retired, than any other Republican candidate. (Third-quarter results are not available yet.)

Murl Talbott
Kansas City

Comments

[Mark K]

JungleJack-
You are correct. He is against the war in Iraq and our many overseas bases. As he has correctly pointed out, our founding fathers' warned against entangling alliances.

I don't post much regarding the war because I've had to admit to myself I was wrong. When we went into Iraq, I thought it was a great idea. We believed he had weapons of mass destruction, Saddam was shooting at our planes in the no-fly zone, and he was gassing his own people. How could we go wrong deposing this asshole?

Well, the short answer is, we couldn't. Saddam needed to go. The problem wasn't in getting rid of him. It was the aftermath. The "will of the people" is a tricky thing. As the Palestinians have shown us with Hamas, letting the majority rule doesn't guarantee a positive outcome.

I'm far from a peacenik. I was cheering us on when we went to Afghanistan and Iraq. I'm still all for blowing up countries that threaten our national security. If taking out their governments gives them a civil war, let them deal with it. Quite frankly, I don't care.

I have come to believe that having our troops stationed all over the Middle East pisses them off quite a bit. They don't really like us to begin with, and we put bases up all over their backyard. Obviously our current strategy isn't winning their hearts and minds. Perhaps if we left them the hell alone, they would return the favor.

Although I do not pretend to have all the answers on this, I do have a few suggestions for after the pullout. For one, hunt down Bin Laden. Take 50,000 guys into Tora Bora, hunt him down and kill him. Sorry about Pakistan. Two, make it the stated policy of the United States to respond to terrorist attacks with nuclear weapons. If you blow up a plane, we'll send a nuke to your favorite city. Hey, I'm not much on diplomacy, but mutually assured destruction worked for Reagan didn't it?

Like I said, I don't pretend to be an expert on the subject, but Ron Paul has at least remained consistent in his message. I'm also pretty sure Congress gets better intel than the general public. This guy's been saying the same thing since before we got into this mess. Its obvious our current foreign policy isn't working. Maybe its time to try something else.

[JUNGLEJACK]

Mark - I believe Ron Paul is for the abandonment of Iraq and any other interest that lies outside the U.S.
At least that's the impression I get in the debates.
This narrow, protectionist, isolationist view is not realistic in today's world, and is more dangerous than an expanding government.

[Mark K]

Except for the fact that he'll lose, what do you have against him? I mean, you guys are right... Ru Paul, snowballs chance in hell and all that.

If you're for the status quo, fine. Vote for Romney, or Guiliani, or Hillary, or Obama. It doesn't matter, not really. Spending increased more under Bush than it did under Clinton. That's crazy. Even if you do take the war into account, that doesn't explain entitlement expansions such as the vaunted Medicare drug benefit. I mean, come on. A republican house, senate, and President can't even keep the entitlements from expanding? What the hell is the point of voting for them? I'm gonna go vote for Ron Paul because he really is against big government, and I'm really convinced that the rest of them are.

[JUNGLEJACK]

"RuPaul stands a better chance of becoming president than Ron Paul."

LOL!! Would he also serve as First Lady?

[Kacela]

Ron Paul is the only candidate who has told us the truth. Just look him up and listen to the man yourselves - don't let the media choose your next President for you.

[Arminius]

RuPaul stands a better chance of becoming president than Ron Paul.

[NoMoreMrNiceGuy]

I'd vote for him over Giuliani or Romney.
I'd never vote for Hillary, Bama or Edwards, we need less socialism not more.

[solomon]

It does seem in the debates I've watched that Paul on one side and Gravel on the other side are the only ones to stand up and say the other candidates are full of crap with their view of why the world is like it is today. That in itself is why neither of them has a chance in perdition of having any meaningful contribution to the process.

Very exclusive club, that executive branch...

[JUNGLEJACK]

Kyle - I personally think it's going to come down to Guliani vs. Thompson.

I have many friends who extol the conservative aspects of Thompson - but I'm waiting to hear what he actually says to make up my mind about him.

BTW - the best pro-life conservative running is Alan Keyes. We hear even less coverage of him.

[Kyle Brotherton]

I hope Conservatives realize that we CAN win this one. Ron Paul has the strongest pro-life record, low tax record, limited gov record, and strongest constitutional record.

As of third quarter, Ron Paul has more donation money in the bank than McCain, Romney, and Huckabee COMBINED. In fact, Romney has no donation cash left.. only the personal loans he made to his campaign.

[freethinker]

from the left side of the spectrum, Ron Paul seems to be the best candidate on the issues that will have an (R) next to his name.

If republican fundraising trends mirror the thinking of potential voters, then the base should be encouraged that Ron Paul is making some headway.

[BuddyT]

Good Alias Soph, I would have never guessed you would use "Murt"...where the h.e. doule toothpicks that come from..."Murt" lmao...