I hope all you commenter dudes come back. It’s all Brandon’s fault really. He also got it turned back on before payday, so that’s cool though.
Sorry for anyone who missed out on the last couple KAOS Reports, but check out the brand new show for Antiwar.com and KAOS Radio 95.9 FM in Austin, Texas:
welcome back dude. you were sorely mised.
Texas Congressman Seeks Presidency
AP | January 12, 2007
JOE STINEBAKER
Rep. Ron Paul, the iconoclastic, nine-term lawmaker from southeast Texas, took the first step Thursday toward a second, quixotic presidential bid _ this time as a Republican.
Paul filed papers in Texas to create a presidential exploratory committee that will allow him to raise money. In 1988, Paul was the Libertarian nominee for president and received more than 400,000 votes.
Kent Snyder, the chairman of Paul’s exploratory committee and a former staffer on Paul’s Libertarian campaign, said the congressman knows he’s a long shot.
“There’s no question that it’s an uphill battle, and that Dr. Paul is an underdog,” Snyder said. “But we think it’s well worth doing and we’ll let the voters decide.”
Paul limits his view of the role of the federal government to those duties laid out in the Constitution. As a result, he sometimes casts votes at odds with his constituents and other Republicans.
He was one of a handful of Republicans to vote in 2002 against giving President Bush the authority to use military force in Iraq, contending that only Congress had the power to declare war. At times, he has voted against funds for the military.
Paul bills himself as “The Taxpayers’ Best Friend,” and is routinely ranked either first or second in the House by the National Taxpayers Union, a national group advocating low taxes and limited government
I would love to hear you to interview Dr. Paul about this…
Consider it done.
All Dr. No needs now is approximately $250 million in campaign funds, and he can actually win.
This was the one misgiving I had about resigning from Republican Party to either join Libertarian or Constitution Party (I went LP route). I now can’t participate in the primaries to get libertarian/constitionalist Republicans to the party’s nomination.
QUESTION: Won’t this hurt any Libertarian Party and/or Constitution Party Candidate in raising funds from the diehards since these funds will now be expended for RP in his primary bid?
Or, assuming RP loses but spreads his message, will it whet the appetite of the general public to libertarianism and thus aid an LP candidate in the general?
Steve C: I don’t see how it could aid the LP candidate, since RP is not campaigning for the LP nomination, and is not an LP member. It should siphon off funds that would normally go to the LP candidate, but considering some of the LP candidates, such as the last one, that may not be a bad thing.
There are obvious problems inherent in raising money for political campaigns from a group of people that hate politics and politicians with an abyssal passion. Therefore, I’m not convinced there’s much libertarian money out there for any LP candidate regardless of what RP does. The LP needs to nominate a wealthy muckety-muck to have a chance to make any noise anyway.
It may be a good idea for him to run as the LP/Const. Party guy. That way, he will really be able to do the movement some good. I’m afraid we all know what the GOP and TV channels are going to do with his GOP run.
I wish I had 250 million to give…
A strong (but unsuccessful) RP run could at least make an introduction to the general public of the libertarian message. This would mean those ideas don’t sound so “peculiar” when echoed by an LP candidate in the general.
Aside: I like Badnarik. I think he was a pretty good candidate but once he could not get into debates his fate was sealed. I think instead of running for congress in 06′, he would have been better off lecturing about the framers, the constitution, etc… which he is eminently qualified to do. I think the LP has better candidates (WN Grigg – if he switches over from Constitution Party) and Ms. Keaton are two (how’s that for a ticket). But Badnarik is a strong libertarian, and I hope he stays active.
Yeah well he works at my old bumper sticker company now.
S.H. – Would you actively support a Grigg – Keaton ticket (if one ever materialized)? – SC
Hell yes. But I am not predicting one.