Admittedly, I don't have a lot of extra time to follow every whim of the US political landscape. Perhaps that old joke -- Q: How do you know when politician is lying? A: His mouth is open! -- rings all too true in the current climate.
However, the more I hear blurbs and interviews here and there from Ron Paul, the more that I think he's exactly the kind of person to get the message of 'libertarianism' out to the masses.
Do I think he's going to win the Republican ticket? No. I think CNN, Fox, and every other network 'in between' will see to it that Giuliani, Romney, and Thompson get all of the press....and hence the ticket to square off against Hillary or Obama. But as Letterman noted the other night, you know things aren't quite right in the Republican party when "...Rudolph Giuliani had three wives and he's not the Mormon candidate." And does anyone seriously think any of the Republican's 'Big 3' can take down Obama or Hillary?
That's what makes Paul such an intriguing candidate. The Republicans know they have a monumental task ahead of them, with the general polls showing disapproval of Bush. Where do the Republicans go now? If they run on a 'Bush legacy' ticket, they know they are going to lose....and you can really sense that when you see Romney and Giuliani try to answer questions about what they would do the same and what they would change. They strike me as not really knowing what to say!
But Paul is very clear about where he stands....and (in rather strange turn of events) the Republicans have no idea what to do with him.If you really want to put up a viable opponent to Hillary or Obama, I think Paul might be the only guy who's capable of doing so. If the Republicans don't know what to do with him now, the Democrats won't have a clue come next year! The tiring 'anti-Iraq occupation' rhetoric from Hillary and Obama simply won't work against Paul....since Paul is the only House Representative that didn't vote to send troops over in the first place!
Of course, the problem is that I'm not sure the Republican party is ready yet to embrace a truly anti-big government platform like that of a libertarian like Paul.
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