Is it time for Ron Paul to drop out?
January 30, 2008 by Orlando
Filed under News and Opinion
Ron Paul has fought the good fight, he has got his message out, and he has earned the respect of millions. It is now time for Ron Paul to drop out of the race. In reality (and I mean honest to God reality) there is no way Ron Paul can win the nomination.
There are no polls, experts, and pundits who believe Ron Paul can now win. Consequently, his only role is that of spoiler. He will siphon off votes from one of the other remaining candidates but he will never place above third or fourth in a four man race. There is no point for him to stay in anymore.
I don’t anticipate that he will drop out but he should seriously think about it. No doubt his argument is not about winning but about the message. The message is a principled one based on the Constitution of the United States. It is a worthy message but it is not playing well with the electorate. They are not buying it. They are not voting for it. As a result, he flounders at the bottom. If the voters do not buy his message, then the messenger is not going to win.
Therefore, I call on Ron Paul to do the honorable and distinguished act of gracefully bowing out of the race now. He can leave knowing he impacted millions.
Also see: Poll: Should Ron Paul Drop out of the Race?
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Forget about it,,
The supporters donated 80k today,,,I think he is in it till the end.
I call on all other candidates to resign to the 160,000 AMERICAN CITIZENS that have donated an average of $50 dollars each.
Unlike Romney who got $500,000 from lobbyists, and some 30 Million of his own money, for a $300,000 a year job!!!!
I can’t believe you deleted my comment. You’re weak.
Orlando didn’t delete your comment, notaserf; I did, as the administrator of this blog. It was an unnecessary personal attack on the author. If you’d like to make a point about the topic, feel free to make it, but keep it professional.
Multiple troll comments removed by Aministrator. Obnoxious behavior is not welcome.
Hi Orlando,
Let’s start from the position that McCain is a no-go for any conservative. Romney would be OK for me only if he came out in favor of men’s rights vs radical feminism. Otherwise, I would rather have the radfem Hillary Clinton as President so Republican men could finally stare the dragon in the mouth.
Then let us remember that delegates at the Republican Convention are only locked into voting for the candidate who won their state primary for 1, 2 or 3 votes.
You’ve published my account of the IMBRA and VAWA laws being anti-male and unconstitutional. This kind of stuff would resonate with the public but the MSM simply will not discuss misandric and other unconstitutional laws.
While the MSM refuses to publicize new unconstitutional laws (leaving the public with the impression that there are no new unconstitutional laws), Ron Paul has also failed to discuss any of these laws, in none of the debates has he even explained what might be wrong with the Patriot Act (which is mild compared to others that nobody is talking about).
So the message of civil liberties has NOT been discussed hardly at all, ever, by Ron Paul or his supporters.
Instead, he has talked like an anti-war Dennis Kucinich and given the impression that he would let Social Security implode, ruining the investment of anyone over 30 who feel that they have earned a pension (I am one of those relatively young people who feels that my SS payments so far have earned me at least a check of $1000 per month when I am 65).
This has little to do with “civil liberties” except in the sense that excessive programs require excessive taxation.
So the “message” has been muddled badly. Ron Paul does not promote normal libertarianism. Normal libertarians would be fine with abortion and open border crossings (I live in Europe and I prefer not to have to get visas everywhere I go). Most importantly, normal libertarians would not necessarily be against spreading democracy with libertarianism around the world (provided that it was not done by taxing citizens too much and deflating their currency).
A Ron Paul who said “Removing Saddam was necessary but we have overstayed our time there” might be the front-runner now. A Ron Paul who said “Let’s close half the overseas bases while keeping an eye on Pakistan” might be the frontrunner now.
He carries everything to a theoretical extreme and that scares people. He makes them think he would shut down the IRS by February 1, 2009 (that would not scare me, but it apparently scares too many conservatives).
One of his worst problems is that he can win a debate encounter but not exploit his advantage. He caught McCain looking like a 4 year old in that last debate, when he asked about the White House Markets task force and McCain knew nothing about it (but should have). While nobody in the MSM followed up on that coup, Ron Paul only managed to look into a Youtube camera and explain just how badly McCain had stuck his foot in his mouth. Ron Paul should have issued a press release and gotten on TV to follow through on that. But he is too shy.
He still has the TIME to cure these defects in the debate tonight in California and the MTV debate on Saturday.
If he can achieve a breakthrough by slamming McCain for all the unconstitutional laws he passes, he can do quite well on 2/5.
I see Ron Paul getting about 300 delegates in the primaries while Huckabee might get another 300. Hopefully, if Romney and McCain split the remaining delegates, there will be a brokered convention and, especially if the polls are then showing (as they are now) that Ron Paul is the only one who could defeat Obama or Clinton in the general, Ron Paul could actually win the votes of delegates on their 3rd and 4th votes. Remember that the media is sitting on a dozen scandal stories about McCain’s lobbying shenanigans and the media will make sure that every American knows every detail about the Mormon Joseph Smith’s controversial life.
Please check out FreeRepublic.com where nobody is willing to see McCain become President. I know of few conservatives who would allow either McCain or Romney into the White House without their having at least voted 3rd party in protest.
Regarding Romney, here is a blueprint for Romney getting the support of the pro-Constitution crowd:
http://mensnewsdaily.com/author/marc-h-rudov/
I disagree with Rudov on a lot of things, but not on the basic premise that the GOP is snubbing males.
We have to wait till after all Super Tuesday states have their results in. Depending on that result should rise this question.
IMHO Jim Peterson, you have not done enough research on some of these things. Check out http://www.ronpaullibrary.opg
Now, as to the article, Ron Paul has stated that he’s in it for the long haul and for as long as people support him. It’s as he should be. There are many who, as others drop out will back RP. He may not win, but it is still possible and there’s no reason I see, other then the MSM being afraid he might become popular, for him to drop out. TJMO of course.
Sorry, that link should be http://www.ronpaullibrary.org My mistake!
Thanks for the comments all. When I first heard of Ron Paul this past summer I thought he was a joke. However, as time went on, I learned to have a great deal of respect for him, his principles, and his Constitutional message. I am also realistic. The reality is, I can not see how he can win the nomination unless a miracle happens. Maybe America is just not ready for Dr. Paul yet. He may be a man ahead of his time. Cheers….
I don’t think Paul is siphoning off any votes from anyone in the primaries. If anything, he’s still getting more people involved who would have otherwise simply stayed home or voted 3rd party. This may change for the general election, but there’s certainly no reason for him not to stay in throughout the primaries. Anything can happen.
Think about it like this… of the remainders, only Paul or McCain can even theoretically win in a general election. It’s simple math. There are fewer republicans than democrats, which is slightly offset by a better get-out-the-vote effort… but independents are an absolute must-have to win (especially in this season which has an unusually large democrat turnout for once). Romney and Huckleberry will get zero discernable independent votes. Now… what happens when it turns out that the surge didn’t really work after all and it was just the end of the killing season, part of the same cycle we’ve seen since the insurgency began… well then people turn against the war and therefore against mccain. Clinton will somehow come out looking like the only anti-war candidate available. At that point it’d be good to have Ron Paul in reserve if for no other reason than to prevent 40 years of socialism under a clinton junta. She’ll pull in 2/3 to both houses in a sweep and then prodede to redistricting in two years…
I’m about ready for a Democrat in the White House. It would serve the Republican Party right for their arrogance. As Rush said, it took Jimmy Carter to get Ronald Reagan. It might just take Hillary Clinton to straighten the party out again. After four years of her I’m pretty certain a conservative would be a shoe in for 2012. My only real fear is judicial nominations. One thing is certain, I will never vote for John McCain under any circumstances.
Ron Paul is in it for the Long Haul. The BEST America could ever have. I will write Him in if needed against the other Repulicrats!
Thank God for Ron Paul.
Multiple troll comments deleted by Administrator. Obnoxious behavior is not welcome.
No way should Dr. Paul drop out. By way of Dr. Paul, the public is running for office, although most don’t know it yet. When the convention comes and three are still standing the public will have been able to see the contrast, i.e. Dr. Paul the Constitutionalist, the very knowledgable fiscal conservitive, anti-Iraq war, non-interventionist, against the wannabe warmongers McCain and Romney. Both have demonstrated on numerous occassions they want to keep sticking our business into everybody elses business and both lack the needed knowledge concerning the monetary system and how the economy works. I think it’ll be a very good thing.
P.S. McCain, Romney, and Huck, if they had any class, integrity, and sense of honesty, should say something from the viewpoint of just plan old manners, that Ron Paul shouldn’t be treated as he is by the MSM. Then again, maybe the public will see it for what it is and vote accordingly…yes?
“There are no polls, experts, and pundits who believe Ron Paul can now win. Consequently, his only role is that of spoiler. He will siphon off votes from one of the other remaining candidates but he will never place above third or fourth in a four man race. There is no point for him to stay in anymore.”
Sorry, But who cares if there are no polls, experts, or pundits who say Ron Paul can or can not win. That is the problem with Americans, are we just mindless tax paying fools? Do we need some one to tell us who to vote for or who not to? Vote for who you want, don’t be forced fed by what others want you to hear.
I find it hard to belive that Ron Paul is a “spoiler” at this point or at any point. He is not taking votes that McCain, Romney or Huckabee would get. He is getting the votes of Republicans who belive that over the last 7 years the republican party has lost it’s true meaning. Ron Paul says him self that he agreed with every thing Bush said 8 years ago, and he is basically running on the same platform as bush, no nation building, state rights, following the constitution.
The only spoiling of votes atm from Ron Paul so far are independents who might have hurt or helped some on the democratic side. Most of Ron Paul’s voters are first timer voters, that more then likely would have not voted in the first place.
He should stay in the race as long as he wants, it is his right. We should not take his right a way no matter what. Love him or hate him, he brings excitement to what would be a other wise very boring republican primary.
With all that said, I am sure that he will drop out after Feb. 5, if he does not make a dent in any state. You could tell in tonights debate that he looked as if he was just fed up with how the media treats him. They ask him questions that just get him to say the same things over and over again, then the pundits say “Ron Paul the one issue guy.”
If the best debate we will have with republicans will be the exchange between Romney and McCain over who said they supported the surge in Iraq first, which 1/3 of tonights debate was about, well count me out.
I think we should think of two things:
1. Ron Paul is tired. He has been campaigning like this for over 30yrs, before most of us were born. He has passed on the torch to us. we should take it on, and not expect him to keep carrying this burden. Even in the CNN LATimes debate, the Ron Paul of 6mths ago would have picked up on the states rights question and pulled it around to states rights about drugs in particular medical marijuana.
2. By dropping out, he gains more media time to spread his idea. By dropping out people will drop the misconceptions (you can blame Fox, some of his zealous supporters, but it doesn’t matter) about him temporarily so he can remind people that America is a constitutional nation.
For us, we should make sure he gets the best send off ever!
Lots of love and support because he changed all of us, even his opponents started mentioning the constitution more often than 9-11 or guantanomo. Lets do our best for him, support him, and make sure he goes out of this race in a blaze of glory.
The rest is really down to us now…
Ron Paul has united thousands and thousands of people across this country, many first time voters and many like myself who skipped the last election because we are so fed up with the deceit by candidates and blatant manipulation by the media. I do not believe he will be a spoiler because any true supporter of Ron Paul would not settle for the drivel that is left to choose from and probably would not vote out of protest if he is not on the ballot. Personally, I will write him in on the ballot or not vote at all.