Slouching toward Ron Paul

Stephan Dinan tries, in today’s Washington Times, to make Ron Paul look like the neo-folk-hero-type of this election cycle;

They are crusty Iowa farmers enticed by doing away with the income tax, libertarian-minded college students in heavy-metal band T-shirts, antiwar Republicans looking for a champion, and folks worried about the Federal Reserve Board and paper money.

They say they are the disaffected in politics, and this year they are finding a political home with Ron Paul, the congressman from Texas who is shaking up the Republican presidential contest with phenomenal fundraising and the potential to convert that into enough votes to be a spoiler come January.

But the image falls apart upon even a cursory analysis;

“I don’t want to sound like one of these nut cases, there are probably some of them here,” said Tom Levins, waving his arm toward 2,000 fellow supporters rallying with Mr. Paul on Nov. 10 in Philadelphia. “But you have to wonder about the establishment. I’ve had it cross my mind, could he be the next political person knocked off?”

“Probably some” nut cases, Tom? If you don’t want to sound like a nut case, you probably shouldn’t be perpetuating conspiracy theories like “the Establishment” is going to “knock off” Ron Paul because he’s polling about 4% among Republicans. Nor should you be hanging out with Michael Hamme;

“It’s not about the issues, it’s about the Constitution,” said Michael Hamme, one of the rally-goers. “Basically, as I see it, we’re run by the Federal Reserve system, which is actually not legal.”

I guess Mr. Bernacke would be surprised that he’s writing our laws and that he’s not bound by the Constitution. he’d probably demand a pay raise, too.

The words “authentic” and “honest” pop up repeatedly when his supporters talk about Mr. Paul, and many say that’s why they’re willing to overlook their disagreements — and for a candidate who embraces an end to the drug war, the Internal Revenue Service and abortion, just about everyone finds something to disagree with.

“He’s kind of no style and all substance. He wouldn’t be in the game if he didn’t really believe in what he’s saying,” Jacob Lyles, a 24-year-old investment banker from Arlington said in a telephone interview. He said Mr. Paul’s authenticity cuts through a lot of the political clutter to grab supporters. “I think that’s kind of the exact opposite of what his Republican opponents are saying.”

“Authentic”, “honest” and “substance” are all things we’d like in our candidates – but we’d probably want a little bit of rational thinking, too. For one thing, Ron Paul, as president would have to get Congress to go along with proposals. Many of his proposals are laudible, but not realistic when one takes the time to look at the process required to become law. Since he’s “no style and all substance” that won’t help convince Congress, will it?

Mr. Paul’s supporters say that they’re not liberal; they’re the true conservatives. But many of them are going to be first-time Republican primary voters. At the Philadelphia rally, an informal survey found party-switchers appeared to be the norm.

“I tell you what, it hurt,” said Bob Larkin, who changed his Connecticut registration to vote in the Republican primary. “I had to swallow the bile and do it. As soon as Super Tuesday is gone, I’m independent again.”

Shawntae Devlugt, who switched her registration in New Jersey from Democrat to Republican in order to vote for Mr. Paul in the primary, said she was never going back. “Kerry messed that up for the Democrats,” she said, blaming the Massachusetts senator for his 2004 defeat. “He can’t prove he didn’t throw the election to Bush.”

I guess if you’re convinced someone polling at 4% in the Republican party can win the Republican nod for ’08, it’s just as easy to believe that effete Massachusetts snob John Kerry would entertain for even a moment giving up what he thought what was his coronation. It’s my considered opinion that all of these “converts” from the Democrats are just window-dressing. They defect from the Democrats to make Paul appear as if he can is attractive to “independents” – but if anyone thinks that these “cross-overs” will vote for Paul in November, you’re only kidding yourself. 

“I look at some of these people, and I say to myself, ‘Yeah, it’s weird’ or whatever — I just think finally there may be a trend in this country where people are fed up with what they’re hearing,” [Tom Levins] said. “There’s no sheep here, there’s wolves here, questioning our nation’s government.”

No sheep? With all of the irrational rhetoric that you have to swallow in order to think Ron Paul is a viable candidate, it really does take a herd of sheep. A really weird herd of sheep who don’t understand the process. Kinda like that weird herd of sheep that put Congress in Democrat hands last November thinking that Democrats could end the war in Iraq. Or impeach the President with no evidence.