Ron Paul may be trailing significantly in the polls, but he’s got one thing going for him – the dude can raise money. And lots of it!
Paul’s supporters raised an astonishing $6 million through online contributions yesterday, the largest single day amount in U.S. political history. That infusion brings Paul’s fourth-quarter total over $18 million – more than any other candidate running for the GOP nomination.
The fund-raising campaign was scheduled on the 234th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. Paul supporters in Boston even staged a reenactment of the historic event where colonists boarded a British ship and dumped chests of tea into the Boston Harbor in protest of high taxes.
It will be interesting to see if Paul will be able to capitalize on this weekend’s “money bomb.” Hopefully – for Paul’s supporters – he can quickly turn those dollars into primary votes. According to most polls he has yet to climb out of the single digits with primaries beginning in just over two weeks.
Shane Bertou 
I’ve always felt the media was biased, typically against conservatives, republicans, Christians,etc. But now I’ve realized it’s bias against anything that doesn’t make for soap opera type news. Ron Paul’s campaign broke John Kerry’s single day fund raising record and it’s nowhere. It’s not on CNN, MSNBC, or FOXNEWS as a lead article. Mitt Romney possibly shedding a tear is everywhere, but not $6 million in one day. Bizarre.
I thnk alot of that has to do with the fact that Ron Paul is so far down the list of “legit” GOP contenders right now. Sitting in fifth – sometimes even sixth – place he just isn’t going to get the biggest headlines. Especially on a day when Hillary was endorsed by the Des Moines Register, Lieberman endorsed John McCain, and Obama’s yet again having to deal with the whole “Muslim issue” (which is the absolute dumbest thing ever).
Headlines are for headliners buddy. đŸ˜†
Plus, that’s not entirely true either:
– It’s the top headline under the “Politics” section of the USA Today’s homepage.
– It’s also currently the top “U.S” story on Google News.
– It’s also one of the top headlines on Reuters.
Wow! 6 mil in one day. If he had raised that much back the first time he ran we might have had a libertian pres.
I’m not totally a free market guy, but I like Ron Paul’s willingness to challenge a system that is obviously yet to be perfected. I think it’s cool this guy has so much support from youth and he’s an old guy going for the GOP.
It’s really amazing to see how much of an online emphasis his campaign has had thus far. Beyond being the primary fund-raising vehicle, if you go on Ron Paul’s website you’ll notice that he has a presence on just about every conceivable social network.
Ron Paul’s biggest problem isnt the money he can raise nor if he can convince “libertarians” and independants to rally around him. His problem is that no matter how much you sit around and wish for things like seperatism and big government disappearing its not a reality that 95% of this country can grasp, so right now so he is just wishing. He is doing the repulicans a favor though by having at least one of them sound like a independant and a dreamer where the dems all sound very polished and calculated.
As if it will matter…
Also Shane as to your comment about the whole muslim issue remember that who wins elections is determined as much by who comes out to vote against people as who comes out to vote for people. The dems are trying to make sure that they have very few things this time around for people to vote against and thus why I still think Edwards will be our next president. If he is running there will be no mobilization of the concervative side against him like there would be for the other two. Talk all you want about how nice it would be if we live in a utopian society that ignores all outside factors but its a reality that you have to run a woman, black muslim, or a white lawyer. We dont live in a world where those things dont matter yet. They have it in the bag with which ever most likely but one is a slam dunk the others are not.
Ok this doesn’t really count for anything but Paul’s son was one of the coolest guys in school.
But that’s what’s so mind-numbingly insane about it all. Barack Obama isn’t a Muslim! He’s been a member of a Christian congregation in Illinois for over 20 years! But there are so many people out there, who get all their information from forwarded emails and Pat Robertson types that this keeps coming up over and over and over again.
And it’s mostly because his name sounds like Osama. (Well, and his middle name is Hussein.) Surely he must have ties to Al Qaeda with a name like that!
And I heard he sells cocaine to children from the Senate floor!
And he has the nerve to only SOMETIMES wear an American flag on his lapel. I mean, I don’t wear one at all but I certainly could never vote for someone who doesn’t wear a flag pin!
And did you hear he smokes! A smoking president? I think not!
For Pete’s sake, how incredibly mindless can people be? And these people vote no less. Scares the petunias out of me.
You went to school with Ron Paul’s kid?
Yes, Rob.
Ok, so would having a Christian president insure that president will act with the highest level of moral intregruity. Clinton professed to be a Christan as was a member of an Southern Baptist church. Didn’t seem to have much impact on his moral standards. He cetainly doesn’t agree with the SBC on many issues. I saw something last week where Richard Land of the Christian Life Commission of the SBC (now is that for a long name) actually seemed to be supporting Romney because of his support for faith in the public sector. Of course, Land & the CLC have at times been controversial in SBC circles.
Interesting that you would bring up Clinton and not the moral and ethical shortcomings of the president who has banged the “Jesus drum” the loudest of anyone to date. đŸ˜‰ I’ve completely lost track of the number of scandals the current Bush administration has been implicated in over the past seven years! How many senior officials have resigned under the weight of those scandals?
So to answer your question, “no.” Having a Christian president doesn’t insure that president will act with the highest level of moral integrity. đŸ˜†
I’m assuming you brought this up because of my comments about Obama and the “Muslim issue.” If I were to vote for Obama, his faith would be pretty near the bottom of the list. I’m just as opposed to voting for a candidate soley (or even primarily) based on which faith he professes as I am disqualifying that candidate for the same reason.
he could raise $6 billion, it wouldn’t matter. the GOP will have him killed if they have to. there’s no way in hell they’ll let a man who thinks for himself (even though many of his thoughts are straight up wacky) be the leader of their party. ron paul will hopefully run as an independent. i still think he should hitch his star to the libertarian party and help give a 3rd party some legitimacy, just like kucinich should do w/ the greens. but, that’s my pipe dream.
When I was watching the McLaughlin Group this weekend they were hypothesizing that if the nominees ended up Rudy and Hillary, that Michael Bloomburg would throw his hat in the ring as an independent. They said that could turn New York into a swing state.
I had the great misfortune of watching Ron Paul on Glenn Beck’s program last night. Beck seems to be growing in popularity, and it sure seems to have gone to his head.
How do you root for someone who seems to love himself so much?
His “interview” with Paul was fair, but seemed again to degenerate into Beck’s own axe-grinding.
My take on Paul? He just doesn’t have the physical presence or presentation to be president. He’s small, whiny, and not a great communicator.
I would echo the “utopian” comments from earlier posters.
Most of what he says just makes too much sense.
Shane,
A friend of mine recently floated the Bloomberg idea as well.
A Republican third party hands the White House to the Democrats. It’s futile.
I don’t trust Romney.
I don’t Giuliani will win the nomination.
Really like McCain & Huckabee. They would make a formidable team.
I’m really confused about this “utopian society” comment. Do you guys really think an America where a woman, or a black man (since he’s not Muslim, we’re really just talking about him being black here) could actually win the Presidency is that out of reach? Implying that America isn’t ready for it?
Man, I really don’t know what to say to that. That sounds really archaic to me. Is that the sense in the Midwest? That a woman or black man doesn’t stand a chance against a white man?
I find the notion that the Conservatives would push back harder against a candidate because she was female, or because he is black, pretty tough to swallow. And risk being “exposed” as bigots? Probably not the most sound political strategy.
You guys are going to have to help me out here. I’m afraid I’m not clear on what you’re saying.
The “utopia” comment, for me, was regarding Paul’s ideas about totally blowing up the federal gov’t (no more IRS, CIA, etc.). It had nothing to do with women or muslims, jews & gentiles, protestants, mormons, or catholics.
I think that Ron Paul’s comments about dismantling what Eisenhower referred as the “military industrial complex” just make too much sense.
Much like the “FairTax” plan that Huckabee talks about. It just makes too much sense.
That’s all I meant by utopian.
http://www.fairtax.org/site/PageServer
i’ve said it before in jest, but i’m kind of serious. until the older generation passes away and takes their prejudice with them (i get the irony in what i’m saying), it will still be an issue in business, in church, and in politics. i feel like our generation doesn’t give a rip about most of the male/female issues, race issues, age, etc.
to me, it’s all about our lack of real choice in this “democracy”. i mean c’mon! a real democracy gives you more than 2 choices. i’ve probably used the terms “tweedle dee & tweedle dum” and the nader saying “the lesser of two evils is still evil” more than al gore said “lock box” in 2000, but it’s true! in the UK they have at least 5 viable candidates every election. in canada they have 3 or 4. every other 1st world nation has real choices, at least in comparison with us and our pathetic 2 party monolopy where nothing every really changes. hillary or rudy, barack or mitt, edwards or huck, all of them bow down to big business and corporate control of our govt, and our lives. and we let them. hopefully with jimmy james’ pointing out that the issues of race, age and gender will no longer be real issues with the passing of the older generation, they’ll take this antiquated and simply disfunctional 2 party system with them. but for now we’re all just too damn scared that voting for ron paul should he go indie will give it to the dems, or voting for the green canidate will give it to the GOP. forget that. nothing will ever really change til we all use democracy as a weapon and vote with our damn conscience!!!
Alright, I’m with you. It’s just that you said you echoed Pdog’s “utiopian” comment – which, when he made it, was completely framed by issues of race, religion and gender. That was his context.
I just wanted to make sure somebody in the Midwest was okay with the idea of a black or woman, or black woman president. (Not that I think Pdog was being biggoted, I think he was offering his take on the social climate of the country and not speaking for his own feelings.)
That being said…
I see where Jim and tiamhdha are coming from with their talk of the “old guard” needing to die off first. I guess I just refuse to believe that in a country where the biggest televsion star and best golfer are both black – and where hiphop is the highest grossing form of music – that we’re not ready for a black president.
A woman… now that’s another story. *gasp* đŸ˜†
my “damn” conscience.
There’s a thought!
Shane,
Didn’t omit the current president for on the moral issues. Your comment about the muslim issue tied into something I had been thinking after a comment I heard from somene at church (an SBC church) and an interview I heard with Richard Land from the Christian Life Commission of the SBC. It seems he has taken some flack for not condeming Rommeny because of his faith. So, president would be a good thing? Look at the track record of the 3 southern baptist presidents: Clinton, Carter & Truman.
Ah, I think I finally get what you’re saying. Let me paraphrase:
Am I reading you right now? For whatever reason your words were English, but my brain read them in Plutonian for a while.
Shane,
You are correct. Sometimes my old nemsis dysgraphia interferrs with my written communtication.
Only, addition is that many people don’t like Land because of other things he has done. In fact, I’m surprised I agree with his position this time.
DH
Oh, I think some Christians forget the purpose of the 2008 election is to select a president and not a pastor. For me a canidates position on faith or religion would only become an issue if he/she were hostile toward the faith community.
Also, I do not believe that a candidate’s position on aboration should always be the major bench mark for canidate selection. There are some elected offices that it really doesn’t matter. The first one that comes to mind is a state level office. For example the Texas Railroad commissioner, from what I can tell the Railroad commssioner doesn’t really deal with anything situations where abortion would come up. Of course I always support the Libetrian candidate because they run on the platform to get rid of that useless office.
for those still reading this thread, ron paul will be on meet the press this morning at 10:30 in the northeast i believe.
This Sunday I actually attended a church worship service for once, so I didn’t get to see it. But I have watched many of the “Meet the Candidates” episodes during recent months.
They have all the episodes from all the candidates available to watch on the Meet the Press site. A great way to get up to speed on all the candidates!
I think that the president’s position on the abortion issue is important for this reason:
In my humble opinion, the current president’s legacy will not be his response to 9-11, or the wars in Afghanistan & Iraq.
His legacy will be lived out in the tenures of the two (relatively young) Supreme Court justices he has appointed & their interpretative decisions regarding (potentially) overturning Roe v. Wade
That’s why it’s not necessarily important for me to know how the mayoralty candidates here in Fort Wayne, Indiana feel about the issue, but why it is desperately important for me to know how a potential president would behave regarding that issue.
I can’t say that I agree with that. From where I sit, the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – in dollars, lives lost and foreign policy fallout – will leave behind such an enormous wake that the next ten Presidents will likely be dealing with some reverberating issues as a result of our current policies. Wheras the likelihood that Bush’s Supreme Court nominees ever actually hearing a case that could potentially overturn Roe v. Wade is pretty scant. Even if such a case is heard by the Supreme Court, there’s no guaranteeing that they won’t be outnumbered by judges who oppose their view on the issue.
The abortion issue has always been troublesome for me regarding how much weight it should carry in deciding which candidate to back. While it certainly is a significant issue, with grave consequences and social implications, it is typically nothing more than a political hot potato that both sides toss back and forth to polarize the voting public.
Conservatives have made abortion (and homosexuality) their bread and butter issues for at least the last two decades. And with droves of young would be Republican voters now thinking beyond that issue – particularly this election season – you’ll likely see that issue take a backseat to foreign policy, the healthcare crisis, Social Security reform, immigration, etc.
Abortion just hasn’t been a hot issue this time around.
even if roberts and alito never hear a case re: abortion, they will still be sitting on the bench when I’m a great-grandfather.
Their abortion position notwithstanding, they will exert an influence far beyond the rest of GW Bush’s other executive responsibiities.
In terms of the “lives lost” issue, I would think, that, by comparison, the abortion question certainly merits a conversation.
I simply cannot bring myself to make the issue a secondary issue, to think “beyond it”, no matter how candidates treat it (certainly polarizing, Shane, you are right).
There is indeed a groundswell to at least revisit Roe v. Wade, widely believed to be wrongly decided.
At the end of the day, I tell my students (& myself) that abortion & homosexuality are not political talking points because real people struggle with these issues every day.
Wherever we land, we cannot treat these issues (as has often been the case to heartbreaking results) as “test-tube” issues. Again, they happen in the real world to real people who need to have the love & compassion of Christ displayed to them through us.
I relish & crave intelligent, humble conversation on these issues. Thanks for conversing, Shane (& others).
Happy Boxing Day!
Have you read God’s Politics? I really appreciated what he had to offer in dealing with the abortion issue.
His basic feeling was that Christians would help their case if they didn’t start the conversation with the idea of abolishing abortion altogether. Like I (and you) said, it’s too polarizing. He suggested that we start the debate at “how can we reduce the number of abortions?”
His point was that if we could meet in the middle in beginning to create a society that was better at dealing with unplanned pregnancy, that could provide better support (financial, social and spiritual) for people facing these decisions, that strengthened our adoption opportunities and built a more loving and compassionate society, we could deal with the abortion issue in a more sane, effective and loving way.
The alternative being the status quo. Where you have little more than a rallying cry for both sides of the political divide, with no real sollutions being offered and millions more abortions taking place while we bicker.
I found his proposal refreshing. There was plenty in that book I didn’t agree with. But on this issue I felt he was moving us closer toward the right path.