Similar concerns have been raised by others
Syndicated columnist and radio talk show host, Michael Medved, posts an open letter to presidential candidate, Ron Paul, on TownHall.com.
Edward Morrissey of Captain’s Quarters wrote an interesting analysis earlier this year.
Wonder if Medved receives a reply?
Ron Paul will not answer… he’s even too afraid to go on Glenn Beck’s TV or radio shows. Check out what Glenn had to say about him a couple of weeks ago:
But first, welcome to “The Real Story.” I want to read you what one Republican presidential candidate says about a few of the key issues that are at least important to me. And I want to see how many of these you agree with. And then you try to guess who I`m talking about.
First one, death and taxes. Quote, “Working Americans like lower taxes. So do I. Lower taxes benefit all of us, creating jobs and allowing us to make more decisions for ourselves about our lives.” Is that great, or what?
On American independence and sovereignty, he says, quote, “The so- called free trade deals and world governmental organizations are a threat to our independence as a nation. They transfer power from our government to unelected foreign elites.” Another big batch for me.
On borders and immigration, look at this one. “The talk must stop. We must secure our borders now. A nation without secure borders is no nation at all. It makes no sense to fight terrorists abroad when our front door is left unlocked.” How many times have you said that?
Next, the Second Amendment. Quote, “I share our founders` belief that, in a free society, each citizen must have the right to keep and bear arms.” Amen, brother.
And, finally, home schooling. Quote, “My commitment to ensuring home schooling remains a practical alternative for American families is unmatched by any presidential candidate.”
I`ve got to tell you, you read those things, and this guy, at least to me, sounds like a dream candidate. And then you find out that it was Ron Paul. Yeah, same Ron Paul who pulls in a whopping 2 percent in the polls of likely Republican voters. How does that happen? Even though this guy has raised over $5 million in the third quarter, only 2 percent. Why is that? Well, you know, he`s got — for me, at least, the breaking point of the policies that I don`t agree with, like pulling out of Iraq and legalizing drugs, but on the whole I probably agree with his libertarian, founding father, Constitution-focused values more than other candidates.
Why, then, doesn`t America consider voting for him? The “Real Story” is maybe, just maybe, because you can certainly judge a book by its cover, and Ron Paul`s cover, not exactly looking like a best-seller, you know? I mean, if you`re going to tell me that you`re going to abolish the FBI, OK, you`d better do it — you know, you`d better wrap that up in a nice, slick wrapper, you know? You`ve got to look like you actually can do that.
He`s got some pretty sane proposals. And if his fundraising is any indication, he has tapped into the frustration every American feels right now towards the dummies in Washington. But, unfortunately, no matter what he`s selling, for good or for ill, he ends up looking like the mayor of Crazy Town, and that seems to be a little problem.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. RON PAUL (R), TEXAS: The main reason I`m here is because I was invited.
Did they attack us because we`ve been over there? We`ve been bombing Iraq for 10 years.
Yes, we did bomb. Osama bin Laden has said, “I am glad you`re over on our sand because we can target you so much easier.”
They also cited sanctions. So we`re not making progress there, and we should come home.
How many times did Clinton bomb?
Have you ever read about the reasons they attacked us?
And I generally would rather walk in a parade than ride.
I bet you we didn`t go one year where we didn`t bomb them. Besides, we had sanctions.
And we`re more threatened now by staying.
I can`t think of one particular event where I made a critical decision that affected a lot of other people.
How many times did Bush bomb? Hundreds of thousands of people died from the sanctions.
I keep getting surprised every day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BECK: OK, there`s one other problem that I see with the Ron Paul revolution, and I say this with due respect. But the revolutionaries, you kind of scare me a little bit. I mean, it`s the little sheets that are the banners that you put over the freeways, you know what I mean? And then you crash the Web polls so that the candidate gets 95 percent of the vote. And then you complain when you`re excluded from future polls?
Whenever I talk politics on radio, half the phone calls I get from people who want to talk about Ron Paul, and I take them. And then the other half of the calls are asking why I`m part of some media conspiracy to not talk about Ron Paul.
They also love to say that the mainstream media refuses to interview their candidate. I`ll be completely honest with you. I`ve asked Ron Paul repeatedly to come on this program, never really agreed. I`ll offer you a fair — I`ll give you fair questions, Ron. I really will. I should say, he never has agreed, except for one time, and then at the last minute he bailed on us and stiffed us, which is good in national television to do.
I guess my question to all true libertarians is this: Your platform has reawakened a disgruntled electorate. I am more libertarian than anything else. Voters are begging for common sense, Founding Father-type values, and you`ve got them. But you can`t sell steak without sizzle. The question is, libertarians, is Ron Paul really the best guy you`ve got?
David Boaz, he`s from the CATO Institute. And Peter Fenn, former Gore campaign adviser.
Peter, let me start with you. I think that this guy actually is channeling some of the anger and the disconnect from our politicians. Do you get that sense at all?
PETER FENN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Absolutely. I mean, the thing that amazes me, as you said, is that he has raised $5 million on the Internet. He didn`t know what the Internet was, basically, before he started. I went to his Web site today. It`s absolutely incredible. It`s a great Web site.
And I think part of it, Glenn, is that, you know, there`s a none-of- the-above quality that`s out there by a lot of people. And he kind of — he brings it in. And in `88, this guy was on the ballot in 46 states and the District of Columbia. He got a little less than 500,000 votes, not that many. But no one knew who he was then. If he`s the libertarian candidate for president of the United States with a cynical, angry electorate, you know, who knows what could happen out there?
BECK: I have to tell you, I really wish that they would run a good libertarian. David, do you know any good — I mean, good quality — I mean, our founding fathers were more libertarian than anything else.
DAVID BOAZ, THE CATO INSTITUTE: Well…
BECK: And they were scientists and preachers and everything. They were great. What happened?
BOAZ: Well, that`s right, and I think one thing that happened is that people like John Adams and Thomas Jefferson probably would have trouble in today`s media market, today`s special interest-dominated politics.
(CROSSTALK)
BECK: … a reason to pull for a libertarian then.
BOAZ: Ron Paul is not necessarily the ideal libertarian candidate, but he`s the one who`s out there running. And it`s interesting. You named a lot of his positions, and I think you like all the ones I don`t. But maybe he can appeal to both of us in different ways.
I think he`s tapping into something on the war, on the disgust with Republican corruption and overspending, on a general “what`s gone wrong in Washington” attitude. And he`s been here for 30 years, but he`s never given in to the temptations of Washington. And that`s what people are liking.
BECK: Peter, I just think that he would be foolish to not run. I mean, if you really, truly believed in these things — which I do — I don`t want some dope in there. I refuse to throw my vote away and give my vote to the Republicans unless I believe it. I won`t do it. I`ve always been, “Hey, come on, you can`t vote for” — you know, what was the big- eared guy? “Perot, you can`t vote for him because you`re throwing the vote away.” I`m not throwing my vote away on somebody I don`t believe. I think if they run him, he could be a spoiler.
FENN: I think he could be a big-time spoiler and sort of teach the Republicans a lesson here. Look, you have the Evangelicals, who are concerned about Rudy Giuliani and a lot of his social positions. If you had a guy like Ron Paul in there after he`d done well, which he is doing now, in the Republican primary, that would strike fear in the hearts of, I think, a lot of Republicans, maybe shake them up a little.
BOAZ: He says he`s not going to run as a third-party candidate. He says he`s running as Republican, he`s a Republican member of Congress, and that`s all he`s interested in.
But CATO published a study last year saying that there are 15 percent or 20 percent of the electorate who are basically libertarian, not liberal or conservative, but basically libertarian. So there is a market there in either a major party or a minor party if you can find the right candidate. Ron Paul is certainly touching an intense group of people; the question is whether he can touch a large enough group of people.
BECK: Are either of you guys — two questions, I guess — are either of you guys concerned about how both parties seem to be pulling everybody to the fringes and nobody`s reaching out to the middle? It`s just the edges of the party, the edges of the Republicans that are big spenders, and I don`t even know what it is, the giant corporations, and the Democrats who are reaching out to the socialists. What about everybody who lives in the middle?
BOAZ: Well, I think that`s right. One of the things that we did in our study was we found that 59 percent of the American people said they would describe themselves as fiscally conservative and socially liberal. But neither party is doing a good job of trying to appeal to that group. And I think that`s the group that swung from the Republicans to the Democrats in 2006.
But now that the Democrats are in, they`re not ending the war; they`re not stopping civil liberties abuses; but they are raising taxes and spending. So they`re not appealing to that group.
BECK: So then, Peter, what happens? When does the average Democrat start to feel about their party like the average Republican now feels about his party?
FENN: Well, you know, the difficulty right now is, of course, the Republicans have been in office for about seven years, and a lot of problems have occurred during that seven years. I think we need our chance. But, no, that`s…
(CROSSTALK)
BECK: I mean, you have your chance in office, but please don`t make the same kind of mistakes.
FENN: You know, the crazy thing about this is we are a moderate country, we do have our candidates go to the extremes during primary season, and a lot of times they have trouble getting back to the middle. And I think a lot of it — I actually think a lot of candidates — I would argue, for example, the John Edwards strategy right now is insane. I mean, he`s going as far left as he possibly can go, and it`s hurting him.
Because, look, both parties want someone who can win in this election. In order to win, as David says, you have to be viewed as moderate. You know, it`s better to be a fiscal conservative and a social moderate. And you will be able to win elections with that kind of philosophy. And it does kind of confound some of us as to why we can`t do it.
BECK: Why can`t we find anyone on either side that`s fiscally responsible? That`s my question. David, Peter, I`ve got to run. Thanks a lot. That`s the “Real Story” tonight. If you`d like to read more about this or if you`ve found a “Real Story” of your story, tell us about it. Visit CNN.com and click on the “Real Story” button.
Even better, take a look at the interview Hugh Hewitt did with Ron Paul back in September: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf8koGU7s-Y
What a nut!!!