Ron Paul

If Mitt Romney Wins Presidency, A Likely Challenge From Day One By Senator Rand Paul Of Kentucky!

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If Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney somehow wins the Presidency this November, he should be forewarned that he will not automatically be the GOP nominee for re-election in 2016.

There is great discontent within the Republican Party with Mitt Romney, and what is happening now is a “shotgun marriage”, as Republicans realize he is their only hope to dislodge Barack Obama from the White House.

But with Romney’s history of moderation until recently; with his alliance with neoconservatives on foreign policy; with the evangelical Christian right uncomfortable with a Mormon nominee, and distrustful of his social conservatism being real; with his close alliance with Wall Street big banks and corporations; and with his refutation of the libertarianistic views of Texas Congressman Ron Paul, it is certain that a President Romney would have rivals in 2016, most notably the highly ambitious Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, Ron Paul’s heir.

Paul running would set up a new civil war in the GOP, as the Wall Street Republicans would shun him; the foreign policy neoconservatives would look on him with trepidation; and the question would arise if the social conservatives would be able to accept some of his libertarian views.

Let’s just say that Rand Paul is a nightmare to many in the national political scene, including his fellow Kentucky Senator and Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who will not be able to count on Paul’s support to be Minority Leader or Majority Leader of the Senate in the 113th Congress.

Like it or not, the impact of Ron Paul, and his son Rand Paul, will haunt the Republican Party for a long time to come!

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul’s Loony Budget Proposal: A “Clear And Present Danger”!

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One of the worst results of the midterm Congressional elections of 2010 was the election of Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, the son of Texas Congressman and Presidential candidate Ron Paul.

Rand Paul, an optometrist who is not certified by the national organization in the field of optometry, but instead by his own self created association, and who was ranked as the worst Senator in oral discourse in Congress, with an average of only 8.0, eighth grade language, has been seeking to raise his libertarian image within the Republican Party, and is clearly looking to run for President in the future, based on his father’s reputation, and his own,. even more loony, ideas.

Like his father, Rand Paul is an isolationist and a small government man, and he has no concern about the effects of massive cuts in the federal budget.

So last week, he proposed a budget that would totally destroy the whole direction of the nation in an extremist way. absolutely nuts!

What did Paul propose?

A cut in the Social Security payments of 40 percent to all recipients.
End the Medicare program as we know it in two years.
Reduce defense spending by $100 billion below a level considered “devastating” by the Pentagon.
Eliminate the Education, Energy, Housing and Urban Development, and Commerce Departments.
Dramatically cut the Homeland Security Department.
Cut programs for the poor in a radical fashion.
Give tax cuts to the wealthy, lowering rates to 17 percent, and eliminate all taxes on capital gains and dividends.

The vote in the Senate was 83-16 against this radical, crazy plan of Rand Paul. The fact that fifteen Senators joined Paul in backing this most reckless plan is scary beyond belief.

It is clear that Rand Paul is a “clear and present danger” to our future, and must be resisted in every way possible to prevent any chance of him being a serious factor in future Congressional leadership battles and Presidential ambitions.

Paul makes other right wing Republicans look sane by comparison, which makes any intelligent person totally terrified of what this crazy libertarian stands for, sadly backed by many who have no concept of how dangerous this Kentucky Senator has the potential to be in the future!

The Failure Of “Americans Elect” As A Third Party Movement In 2012

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Independent minded centrists, disgusted with the two party system and the failure to promote political compromise, made a valiant effort to promote an online third party under the name “Americans Elect”, but they have utterly failed for the upcoming Presidential Election of 2012.

This is a bad sign for the future, as it indicates that the party conflict, greatest since the Civil War, is going to continue, and it endangers any hope of our system working, unless one party is able to win and keep control of government for a sustained period of time.

Having said the above, the author still feels that the victory of Barack Obama is essential, and that IF he is given a Democratic Congress, the country can make progress on the many issues that divide us, and loom in the future.

What it comes down to is that all of the potential independent candidates, symbolized by Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City, simply did not want to break with their party, did not want to go through the literal Hell that is the reality of running for President at a divisive time as we are now going through.

The list of potential candidates included also Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Chris Christie, Mitch Daniels, Rick Santorum, Hillary Clinton, Jon Huntsman, Ron Paul, Howard Dean, Donald Trump, Al Gore, Sarah Palin, and David Petraeus.

One looks at this list and is shocked that Christie, Santorum, Paul, Trump, and Palin are on the list, all horrible choices in so many ways.

But to put most of the others on the potential list is also totally out of touch with reality, particularly with Powell, Rice, Clinton, Dean, and Gore.

Daniels, Huntsman, and Petraeus join Bloomberg as the most reasonable candidates, but again none wanted to put their name in the running.

The reality is that the Presidency is becoming such an obstacle course, that many good people will decide NOT to run in the future, leaving us with the danger of the kind of mediocrity we saw this year in the Republican Presidential race.

Nobel Prize Winner Paul Krugman And The American “Depression” Solution: An Activist Government!

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Paul Krugman, the winner of the Nobel Economics Prize, columnist for the New York Times, and Professor at Princeton University, has written a new book about how to deal with the American “Depression”, as he calls the Great Recession.

Just suggesting that we are going through a depression is a stunning statement, but Krugman, despite attacks from conservatives, Republicans, and Texas Congressman Ron Paul and his libertarian views, is correct in stating that austerity, being pursued in Great Britain and elsewhere in Europe in a way that has led to a worsening economic condition throughout the continent, is absolutely the wrong thing to do at this time.

The time for cutting spending is when there is a booming economy, not an economy with millions of people unemployed, and attempts being made to cut back the social safety net for desperate people. As Krugman writes, it is John Maynard Keynes, whose ideas helped Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression, who needs to be followed today.

After all, even Richard Nixon said he was a Keynesian when he decided to impose wage and price controls in the 1970s, and it was Keynesian ideas that helped Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan during the two worse economic downturns in the 1970s and 1980s since the end of the Great Depression until those time periods!

So Krugman advocates much more government intervention and spending than Barack Obama was able to get through Congress in 2009, and argues that had more been done then and since, our economic condition would be far better than it is now.

There may be skeptics, and certainly Ron Paul supporters live in their own parallel universe, but Paul Krugman needs to be listened to, and followed, hopefully, by a Democratic controlled Congress in 2013 and after!

Six Months To Presidential Election Of 2012: No Signs Of Strong Third Party Movement!

Ronald 1 Comment

With six months to go to the Presidential Election of 2012, there are no signs of a strong third party movement occurring, which would have any dramatic effect on the election results.

Third parties in the past have had significance in election results, although never able to win the election.

This certainly proved true with the Free Soil Party of 1848, the Progressive Party of 1912, the American Independent Party in 1968, and the Reform Party of 1992.

And even in small ways, as in 2000, the candidacy of Ralph Nader, and even that of Pat Buchanan, had an effect on the race, particularly in Florida.

There is no such danger at this point, and with Mayor Michael Bloomberg making clear he is not running as an Independent, and instead allowing himself to be courted by both the Romney and Obama campaigns, there should be a major sigh of relief in both camps.

Yes, there will be third party candidates, but no one seriously is seen as a major figure, although it sometimes has seemed that Jon Huntsman, the former Utah Governor, might run, and Ron Paul, still technically in the race for the GOP Presidential nomination, has been rumored as a Libertarian Party candidate, as he was in 1988.

But realistically, the most “threatening” possible candidates are two former Governors who were ignored in the Republican race for President: former Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer, and former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson. Roemer might run as the Reform Party candidate, and Johnson as the Libertarian Party candidate

Virgil Goode, former Republican Congressman from Virginia, might be the Constitution Party candidate; Roseanne Barr, the comedian, might run as the Green Party candidate; and either Buddy Roemer or former Salt Lake City, Utah, Mayor Rocky Anderson might run on the Americans Elect (online nomination) Party, with Anderson also the candidate of the Justice Party.

Of course, there is always the possibility of Ralph Nader or Donald Trump or Jesse Ventura running, as they have often talked about, but with only Nader actually running just about every four years, making him, sadly, a joke at this point, when once he had real credibility.

The point is the likelihood of a third party or independent candidate having any impact on the election is close to zero at this point!

The 2012 Republican Presidential Candidates: A Group Embarrassing To American Politics, Except For Three!

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The Republican Presidential race for 2012, now effectively over, was a terrible embarrassment to American politics and history, with only three candidates fitting the image of being serious, mainstream candidates.

Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, and Ron Paul were all, at best, “cartoon” characters, not coming up to the standards expected by most sane, rational Americans for the office of President of the United States.

However, three candidates did fit the standard of what one would expect of a major party nominee for President.

With all their shortcomings, former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, and Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney, former Governor of Massachusetts all fit into the arena as legitimate candidates.

And there is a possibility that Romney might select Pawlenty for Vice President, making for a very sane, responsible ticket, which could, in theory, give Barack Obama a “run for his money” in the Presidential race.

But the whole craziness of the Republican Presidential battle helped to marginalize Romney, and destroyed the candidacies of Pawlenty and Huntsman.

2012 will not be remembered as one of the great years of exceptional candidates offered by a major political party for the Presidency of the United States!

Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich, Secret Service Protection, And American Taxpayers

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Ron Paul is still, technically, in the race for the Republican Presidential nomination, but has refused Secret Service protection, not wishing to bilk taxpayers for the cost of protection.

Newt Gingrich, technically, is still a candidate for the Republican Presidential nomination, but like Paul, has absolutely no chance to be the nominee of the party.

But Gingrich insists on keeping Secret Service protection at taxpayers’ expense until the Tampa Republican National Convention in late August.

This protection costs the taxpayers close to $40,000 a day, the equivalent of the average American’s annual salary. So if Gingrich does indeed continue to have Secret Service protection for another four months, it will cost taxpayers almost $5 million, at a time when his party complains about any expense of the federal government.

Why is Gingrich insisting on protection? It is clear that it is because Newt Gingrich is an arrogant egotistical maniac, a person loves to talk about how brilliant and important he is, and has no concern about saving the government money.

Maybe also it is because Gingrich knows he has made enemies with his rhetoric and divisive behavior over the years. Well, that is HIS problem, because he refuses to ride into the “sunset”!

Also, maybe he feels a need to have Secret Service protection to prevent against another penguin assault on his finger! LOL

Seriously, there is NO reason for Gingrich to be protected anymore, and he should be denied security coverage! Let him hire his own protection, as President Richard Nixon did in his later years.

And this is a moment to applaud and hail Ron Paul for his totally different perspective, wishing to save the taxpayers money. Thanks so much, Ron Paul!

While Gone In DC, The Republican Presidential Race Ended!

Ronald 4 Comments

While the author was gone on vacation in Washington, DC, the Republican race finally came to an end.

Now, some of you might say that Ron Paul is still in the race, but let’s be serious: Mitt Romney is the GOP Presidential nominee, with both Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum having stopped campaigning.

This does not mean that Mitt Romney has an easy road to the nomination, as he still needs several hundred delegates, and has not received the endorsement of either Gingrich or Santorum.

Newt Gingrich left the race primarily for economic issues, and Rick Santorum left due to the illness of his youngest daughter, Bella, and his realization that he might very well lose the Pennsylvania Primary two weeks from now.

By both leaving the race, they remain eligible for consideration in 2016, if Romney does not win the White House, even though one would have to say that for either to believe in their hearts that they have a real chance to be President in the future is purely delusional!

But Mitt Romney now has to face the reality, that in seeking the GOP nomination and selling his soul to the right wing of his party, he has lost credibility completely among middle of the road Americans, and yet is not trusted by the right wing or the evangelical Christians who look on his Mormon faith as a cult.

So Romney cannot be sure that evangelicals and conservatives will actually vote for him in November, and therefore, could lose some of the South and Midwest.

But he also trails terribly behind Barack Obama with women, Hispanics and Latinos, and Independents, and it will be hard to recoup.

And in polls, Romney is not well liked or trusted, and comes across as distant, aloof, and not able to relate to us.

And with Tax Day coming at the end of this week, the Democrats will do their best to remind us that Romney has not released his tax returns, except for the year 2010, while providing John McCain with 23 years of returns when he was considered a possible running mate by McCain in 2008. Why not release all of these tax returns?

The answer is that it is clear that Romney has something to hide, including the reports that he has loads of his $250 million fortune in the Cayman Islands and in Swiss banks!

That makes Romney look very unpatriotic, and unwilling to do his fair share to help the nation, seeing paying higher taxes due to his good fortune, as something that a rich person should feel for the blessing that he was able to accomplish his wealth, and owes it to the country to help its future, rather than just go by the legal limitation of the minimum he needs to pay, due to accounting tricks!

Romney is now said to be “mischievous and naughty” by his wife Anne, often acting like one of their sons, but that does not ring true, and even if so, it does not make up for his unwillingness to understand the plight of the average American, and his stiffness and aloofness and reserve around people he cannot easily relate to.

Americans like to feel that they like their President, and Romney is, unfortunately, simply not a warm and pleasant personality.

That, above all, is his ultimate doom, as it was for Thomas E. Dewey in 1948, who Romney looks more like by the day–an intelligent, qualified person who simply could not relate to the American people he wished to govern.

And get this: both Dewey and Romney grew up in Michigan! Dewey’s campaign against Harry Truman in 1948 went from a landslide lead to a total collapse, against a President who gave the Republican Party “hell”. In the case of Romney, he is way behind with little prospect of recovery, but also running against an incumbent President who is copying the Truman method of giving the Republicans “hell”!

Republicans, Women And Hispanics: Antagonism Self Induced And Irretrievable!

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The Republican Party has been suicidal in this Presidential campaign, and likely nominee Mitt Romney, as well as Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul, have all effectively killed off the chances of the party wooing large percentages of two key voting groups–women and Hispanics.

Joe Scarborough, former Florida Congressman and host of Morning Joe on MSNBC has warned the party of the self induced damage they are doing, but the party leadership and candidates have been tone deaf to it.

And now a new series of polls show Mitt Romney way down in percentage with both women and Hispanics, and with seven months to go, no one, realistically, can see how the former Massachusetts Governor is going to turn the tide in his favor.

Trying to appeal to the right wing has harmed Romney in the nation, while not convincing the right wing to like him.

In the South and Midwest, in more rural and evangelical Christian areas, Romney has been unable to win, or promote loyalty for his candidacy. It is still doubtful that large numbers of these voters will come out for Romney in the Fall campaign.

So the story goes that he must pick a very conservative running mate for the Vice Presidency to appeal to these right wingers, but if so, it will only guarantee that Romney will lose the middle, the center of the population–including women, Hispanics, and also the all important Independents.

Without women, Hispanics, and Independents, how is Romney going to win the all important “swing states” in the South, the Midwest, and the Mountain States, as well as New Hampshire?

The answer is that the election is effectively over, as Romney cannot appeal to the “swing states” adequately, and cannot count on strong right wing support either.

What it comes down to is that Romney, by being a person who one cannot trust as to his views and beliefs, has effectively alienated the middle, while not being trusted even now by the right wing of his party.

And if, by some miracle, Romney won, he would see his dark hair turn grey quickly, as he would have no natural constituency to support him!

The Democrats would fight to weaken him, and the Republicans would feel no loyalty, and would work to move him to the extreme right, making it impossible to get anything done!

If one thinks Barack Obama has had troubles getting things done, imagine a President Romney trying to get things done, whether with Democratic or Republican control of the Congress!

Mitt Romney’s Endorsement By Jeb Bush And What It May Mean

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Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has had a good 24 hour cycle, with the major win in Illinois, support from a wide band of voting groups, and the endorsement by former Florida Governor Jeb Bush.

Bush is one of the heavyweights in the GOP, and his endorsement, held off to now, is a prized one.

It would seem that former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, ending up 12 points behind, will have less opportunity to move ahead, although he might win Louisiana this weekend. But he would have to win WIsconsin on April 3, and his home state of Pennsylvania on April 24, to remain alive, and nothing in this regard is certain.

Meanwhile, with Newt Gingrich ending up last, behind Ron Paul, in Illinois, it would seem that it is time for the former House Speaker to leave the race, but his ego, and the fact money is still rolling in, means he will wish the publicity to continue running, even though he has only won South Carolina and Georgia.

Ron Paul has won nowhere except the US VIrgin Islands, but he is not about to withdraw either.

The goal of the three stragglers is to prevent 1,144 delegate votes for Mitt Romney on the first ballot at the Republican National Convention in Tampa in August, and the promotion of the first contested convention since Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford fought it out on the convention floor in 1976.

Bush’s backing of Romney is certainly a sign that the “Establishment” Republicans want unity, seeing it as essential now to organize against President Barack Obama.

And there is now speculation that Jeb Bush might accept the Vice Presidential nomination with Romney, but that seems highly unlikely. Bush certainly would help with Hispanic and Latino voters, and mainline conservatives, but Bush does not seem like the type to be number two on anyone’s ticket.