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Title: GOP will take off the gloves if Ron Paul wins Iowa
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URL Source: http://campaign2012.washingtonexami ... s-if-ron-paul-wins-iowa/264111
Published: Dec 19, 2011
Author: Timothy P. Carney Senior Political Colum
Post Date: 2011-12-19 07:06:10 by Ada
Keywords: None
Views: 264
Comments: 10
The Republican presidential primary has become a bit feisty, but it will get downright ugly if Ron Paul wins the Iowa caucuses. The principled, antiwar, Constitution-obeying, Fed-hating, libertarian Republican congressman from Texas stands firmly outside the bounds of permissible dissent as drawn by either the Republican establishment or the mainstream media. (Disclosure: Paul wrote the foreword to my 2009 book.) But in a crowded GOP field currently led by a collapsing Newt Gingrich and an uninspiring Mitt Romney, Paul could carry the Iowa caucuses, where supporter enthusiasm has so much value. If Paul wins, how will the media and the GOP react? Much of the media will ignore him (expect headlines like "Romney Beats out Gingrich for Second Place in Iowa"). Some in the Republican establishment and the conservative media will panic. Others will calmly move to crush him, with the full cooperation of the liberal mainstream media. For a historical analogy, study the aftermath of Pat Buchanan's 1996 victory in the New Hampshire primary. "It was awful," Buchanan told me this week when I asked him about his few days as the nominal GOP front-runner. "They come down on you with both feet." The GOP establishment that week rallied to squash Buchanan. Just after New Hampshire, Gingrich's hand-picked group of GOP leaders, known as the Speaker's Advisory Group, met with one thing on their minds, according to a contemporaneous Newsweek report: "How to deal with Buchanan." While many Republicans dismissed Buchanan's New Hampshire win as irrelevant, arguing his support was too narrow to ever win the nomination, the neoconservative wing of the GOP darkly warned of a Buchanan menace. "People are panicked," Bill Kristol of the Weekly Standard told Newsweek. "If they're not, it's only because they don't know what's going on." The liberal mainstream media dutifully filled out Kristol's picture of "what's going on." Newsweek put an ominously lit picture of Buchanan on the cover under the words "Preaching Fear." The article stretched itself into contortions to paint Buchanan as a white racist. (Buchanan was campaigning in South Carolina, which still flew the Confederate flag over its capitol.) Ted Koppel, on "Nightline" in the days after New Hampshire, relied on unsubstantiated tales (for which he later apologized) about Buchanan's father as a way of tying the son to "bigoted and isolationist radio orator Father Coughlin." He also cited a Jewish neighbor of the Buchanans who was beaten up and called "Christ-killer" -- without mentioning that Pat was off at college at the time. Insinuations of racism and anti-Semitism were the weapons of the mainstream media, but Buchanan's sins in the eyes of the GOP establishment were different. They feared Pat because he rejected a rare inviolable article of faith among the party elites: free trade. Also, in the post-Cold War era, Buchanan's foreign policy had become far less interventionist than that of the establishment. It's similar with Paul. There are many reasons he is unacceptable to the Republican elite. Some of these transgressions reflect badly on Paul. Others reflect badly on the party. In Paul's favor, he holds to the professed principles of his party. He makes Republicans look bad by firmly opposing overspending and the unconstitutional expansion of federal power. He correctly predicted the troubles that would be caused by housing subsidies and the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Paul is also disliked for his foreign policy. His non-interventionism has provoked clashes with the party elites, but it resonates with a growing number of Republicans who have grown tired of endless war and nation building that doesn't seem to serve American interests. But Paul regularly goes too far for even these voters, criticizing the killing of al Qaeda leaders and at times sounding like he agrees with Iran's grievances against the United States. But neither his establishment-irritating adherence to principle, nor his hawk-angering foreign policy, will be the focus of the anti-Paul attacks should he carry Iowa. His conservative critics and the mainstream media will imply that he is a racist, a kook, and a conspiracy theorist. Paul's indiscretions -- such as abiding 9/11 conspiracy theorists and allowing racist material in a newsletter published under his name -- will be blown up to paint a scary caricature. His belief in state's rights and property rights will be distorted into support for Jim Crow and racism. Many of Paul opponents will take heart in concluding that Paul cannot get more than 25 percent in any state, and so he can be dismissed as a spoiler. But for the enforcers of Republican orthodoxy, a Paul victory in Iowa will be an act of impudence that must be punished. Timothy P.Carney, The Examiner's senior political columnist, can be contacted at tcarney@washingtonexaminer.com. His column appears Monday and Thursday, and his stories and blog posts appear on ExaminerPolitics.com.
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#1. To: Ada (#0)
... But for the enforcers of Republican orthodoxy, a Paul victory in Iowa will be an act of impudence that must be punished. Perhaps we'll see how effective those weapons are now, after 2 wars and threats of even more wars that don't serve our interests. -------------------------------------------------------- Thing is, to go after Paul, they have to have somebody waiting to take his place as front runner. But who? Just about everyone else in the field has already been a front runner and lost it. They gonna recycle someone who already had it and blew it?
"It does not take a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brush fires of freedom in the minds of men." -- Samuel Adams (1722-1803)‡ "Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God." -- Thomas Jefferson
Maybe the Citizens will take the gloves off if anything untoward happens to Mr. Paul.
"It'd be a lot easier to see God in life if there weren't so much death surrounding it."
How about a 2nd term for Obama? Remember when the Pubs sent Bob Dole in as the nominee thereby guaranteeing Clinton's reelection? The Pubs are much happier when slamming the DEM in office. They have all the answers now but if a Pub wins they'll be clueless as to how to reverse the trends that they claim to despise. And even St. Ronnie The Reagan's fix of multiplying the national debt can't work now. Perhaps they don't intend to win.
JEB is still lurking in the wings. He's got money, a machine & can articulate a message far better than W.
They didn't intend to win in 2008: Juan McStain was the GOP strawman who dutifully took his ass-whooping and went right back to his country club enclave (Senate) and laughed all the way to his wife's bank. Romney doesn't want to tie up his fortune up in a blind trust for 4 or 8 years, if he gets the nomination he'll find a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, too. Insinuations of racism and anti-Semitism were the weapons of the mainstream media,
Somebody ought to tell the truth about the Bible. The preachers dare not, because they would be driven from their pulpits. Professors in colleges dare not, because they would lose their salaries. Politicians dare not. They would be defeated. Editors dare not. They would lose subscribers. Merchants dare not, because they might lose customers. Men of fashion dare not, fearing that they would lose caste. Even clerks dare not, because they might be discharged. And so I thought I would do it myself... Robert Ingersoll
#2. To: Ada (#0)
#3. To: Pinguinite (#2)
#4. To: Ada (#0)
#5. To: Pinguinite (#2)
Thing is, to go after Paul, they have to have somebody waiting to take his place as front runner. But who? Just about everyone else in the field has already been a front runner and lost it. They gonna recycle someone who already had it and blew it?
#6. To: Pinguinite (#2)
Thing is, to go after Paul, they have to have somebody waiting to take his place as front runner. But who?
#7. To: HOUNDDAWG (#5)
Perhaps they don't intend to win.
-Alex Kurtagic
#8. To: Ada (#0)
...of course they'll take the gloves off. The elites/bankers/communists/ globalists own BOTH teams, the RNC & DNC, they don't care WHO wins, it will be THEIR candidate...with the one exception...Ron Paul, and he has them scared sH! tless...he is the ONLY one they don't own...and never have!
#9. To: X-15 (#7)
Very good. I felt the same about the presidential bid by the cowardly son of Admiral John S. McCain, Jr. Johnny Three reportedly spent some of his imprisonment as a POW in a downtown Hanoi hotel in the tender arms of commie hookers. McCain's radio and print interviews to enemy and/or sympathetic media outlets were not just poor judgment by a commissioned officer and navy pilot. They were aid and comfort to the undeclared enemy even as his fellow POWs were beaten like Salvation Army drums. And, shortly after his capture the enemy seemed to know the flight paths and pattern of scheduled bomb runs on Hanoi and their success rate at bringing the US A6 Intruders down with SAMs improved. He didn't accept the offer to be released because he knew that he'd never have a political career if he left his comrades behind as a commie gesture to "Admiral The Daddy." So, he did the next best thing and ate the fine cuisine reserved for foreign diplomats and media friendlies, and enjoyed the services of A list girls, teens and tweens who were kept wholesome for the red elite. If he was the best the GOP could send up then, well he just wasn't. He had a mission and he completed it. And, your mention of blind trusts reminded me of Sen. Bill Frist's Blind Trusts and Conflicts of Interest. And, Romney snatching defeat from the jaws of victory reminds me of when the WKRP station mgr "Big Guy" Mr. Carlson decided to throw an election to the school board or something because he felt guilty after taking unfair advantage of his opponent. He told the evening news reporter that he'd had a fight with his wife and "...you won't be seeing Mrs. Carlson in public for a while!" Funny! They didn't intend to win in 2008: Juan McStain was the GOP strawman who dutifully took his ass-whooping and went right back to his country club enclave (Senate) and laughed all the way to his wife's bank. Romney doesn't want to tie up his fortune up in a blind trust for 4 or 8 years, if he gets the nomination he'll find a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, too.
#10. To: Freedomsnotfree (#8)
A last minute broadcast TV blitz (so that folks with rabbit ears don't miss the savaging) claiming that a Ron Paul presidency would mean an end social security would have folks standing in line on election day. The AARP will send out advance notice but not early enough to allow Paul time to cry foul and respond with the truth. (he wants to phase SS out and not cutoff present recipients, or those who expect to start "collectin' th' munny they paid in that the' gummint was supposed to invest-Hey, a promise is a promise!" As you know seniors on SS are the single most fearsome demographic and "as they go so goes the nation." My in-laws, lifelong union Democrats voted for Bush The Stoopider after the prescription drug perk, the largest giveaway in US history. Believe me, torpedoing Dr Paul will be as easy as falling off a walker and shattering a glass hip. I'm not happy about this sad reality and I hope I'm wrong. But, let's not discount the paperless voting machines that brought in near total landslides in districts that had never gone Republican before. And coincidentally, districts where every exiting voter asked lied to the pollsters. The fact that Americans were twice told that exit polls had never been wrong before BushCo swiped La Casa Blanca and we did not march on the capital (not the Capitol) is all the reassurance the evil bastards behind the curtain need that "Those Americans are getting the govt they deserve." .with the one exception...Ron Paul, and he has them scared sH! tless...he is the ONLY one they don't own...and never have!
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