RON PAUL FOR PREZ

Ron Paul Winner of Republican Presidential Debate?

By Ray Perdue

Portland – Thursday night the first debate among Republicans for the 2008 presidential election was held at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. The debate has been described as everything from a worthless endeavor to a "political game show". MSNBC’s Chris Matthews was one of the debate’s moderators.

While the mainstream media has paid the debate a passing interest, by Friday morning the Internet chatter was alive with various opinions and comments. Most news agencies, websites, broadcasters and commentators have overwhelmingly declared Mitt Romney, John McCain or Rudy Giuliani as the winner of the debate, while choosing to ignore most of the other candidates altogether. Perhaps that is because most of the focus was upon the three frontrunners. However, the Internet chatter was alive with kudos for Ron Paul, Tom Tancredo and some of the lesser-known candidates.

Internet polls also indicate that most were impressed, if not enthused with the prospect of a Paul or Tancredo nomination. According to a press release by the Ron Paul 2008 Campaign, a poll conducted on MSNBC’s website last night after the debate showed that 43% of people felt that Ron Paul won and stood out among the ten debaters.

However, not all of the chatter was favorable for Rep. Paul. According to the Vox Baby Blog, Ron Paul was an embarrassment along with former Wisconsin governor Tommy Thompson, and "both of them should understand their roles as the GOP’s Crazy Uncle Bob’s and return to the attic forthwith."

Other reports of the debate mentioned Rep. Paul with only a few terse sentences.

The Ron Paul Campaign has seemed to brush off the low press and negative chatter. The Ron Paul 2008 Campaign chairman, Kent Snyder, said, "Last night, Americans met Ron Paul and loved what they heard. Dr. Paul's message of freedom and limited government resonates with Republicans hungry for a return to their party’s core values."


When questions were directed to Rep. Paul, he continued in his time honored strict Constitutionalist style. He spoke of his foreign policy, which he says is based upon the original intent of the founding fathers.

When asked why the other Republican candidates were wrong on the Iraq War, Dr. Paul reminded everyone that in the past Republican presidents were elected to stop making America a global police force. He said that Eisenhower was elected to end the Korean War and that Nixon was elected to end the Vietnam War. He went on to say that he did everything he could to solve the problems that we are now facing with the current Iraq situation. "…[D]eclare war if you want to go to war; fight it and win it, but don’t get into it for political reasons or to enforce UN resolutions or pretend the Iraqis were a national threat to us."

Dr. Paul was also asked if he would get rid of the IRS, something he is well known to oppose. When he said he would do so immediately, it was apparently thought of as a joke, as it received a round of laughter. He continued by stating that the IRS could not be dissolved unless the "ideas about what the role of government out to be" is changed. But, "if you think the government has to take care of us from cradle to grave, and if you think one government should police the world and spend hundreds of billions of dollars on a foreign policy that we cannot manage, [then] you can’t get rid of the IRS."

Chris Matthews did at one point recognize Dr. Paul as carrying on the great conservative tradition of men like Barry Goldwater. But Matthews seemed to avoid Dr. Paul as much as possible, and to be in a hurry every time he asked him a question.

Dr. Paul also had the opportunity to discuss his opposition to government regulation of the Internet and a national ID card, things that many of his fellow candidates support. He said that the Internet should be left alone without any government interference. His thoughts on a national ID card will likely gain him a few more supporters. "This is a total contradiction of what a free society is all about. The purpose of government is to protect the secrecy and the privacy of all individuals, not the secrecy of government."