15 August 2011

Ron Paul 2012 and Paultards

This is a subject I always feel uneasy writing about. After all, discussing (and sometimes dissing) running US presidential candidates is an internal affair and should be restricted to the citizens involved.

That one is somewhat exceptional, so I reluctantly break my own rule. While my sympathies are with the libertarian cause, Ron Paul is taking the cause in the direction that (given he wins, which is, as far as my friends tell me, a low probability outcome) is sure to bring the country to its demise. And I am not talking about the small government/low taxes part, but about the isolationism he preaches.

Non-involvement in the outside world affairs may work - for a while. As it worked for Rome, Japan, China and other places that decided to put themselves in enforced isolation. But then the moment will inevitably come when the big bad wolf is already huffing and puffing at your door, and unfortunately you don't have firewood to boil the water. I am afraid that with Ron Paul at the helm that moment will come sooner rather than later, taking into account his exceptional lack of knowledge and understanding of the world outside USA and his monochrome "let's all be friends" mantra used to respond to any worrisome phenomenon in that world. Or his responses like "CIA Tells Me Iran Not Working on Nuclear Weapon". Naive? Trusting? Interesting how this most naive and trusting person will interpret something like this:

Today Zionists are completely surrounded by the Mujahedin of Islam and we advise them (Zionists) to return to the countries of their origin soon to save their lives.
Something a la Juan Cole, I wonder? By the way, the plans Mahmoud the Mad nurtures re United States are not very much different, but of course one can make allowances for sanity in this case, I guess.

But you know what: even Paul's attitude to Israel sometimes makes sense. I wouldn't reject this statement lightly:
I am not the only one who can see the absurdities of our foreign policy. We give $3 billion to Israel and $12 billion to her enemies. Most Americans know that makes no sense.
I have always been a fan of the idea that cutting this $3B umbilical cord that, in a way, is twisted around our necks, is a good deed, no matter that a few new holes will have to be made in our collective belt. Only, of course, it's not about the money as much as about the military purchases made with it. And I am quite certain that Mr Paul hasn't said all he thinks yet, hiding - among other things - his thoughts about these purchases. To be fair, here is a WND article by a lady who claims to be "a principled libertarian and an unapologetic Zionist" that tries to prove that Ron Paul is good for Israel. Could be. I strongly doubt it for some reason.

The other way to judge a man is to check who his friends are. Friends there are aplenty, and I am sure that many of them are nice, libertarian kind of hard-working people who (like I, by the way), would like to see less of the Big Brother, more of their own money and more say in what to do with their own lives. However, not all of Paul supporters are of that kind. And here comes the crunch: tell me who your friends are...

The tolerance Ron Paul displays of his anti-Zionist (if not outright antisemitic) supporters was already noted. So is his tolerance of openly antisemitic ones. Many of these characters appear on a site Daily Paul, which usually revs up at crucial election or primary times.  Then all kinds of odious "supporters" crawl out from the woodwork - the conspiracy freaks, members of this or another militia, the intrepid fighters against the New World Order, white supremacy knights etc. Among them, of course, your garden variety "anti-Zionists". Daily Paul takes care to allow Paul a step or two back from what is going on in its articles and, especially, comments.

Recently I've seen another shining example of a Ron Paul's supporter going all out in his "anti-Zionism". Somebody with a moniker James_Madison_Lives discloses a frightful Zionist propaganda conspiracy. Well, not really a conspiracy when its chief protagonists willingly tell all to anyone, but why not present it as something sinister and secret? What is interesting in this article is the support material used by the author. To start with, the plainly anti-Zionist Israeli Occupation Magazine. To continue: Counterpunch - as anti-Semitic as they come, with Jonathan Cooke, the British Palestinian. And to top that, one Greg Felton, charitably characterized by Terry Glavin as "Jew-obsessed, conspiracist, Hamas-praising, Ahmedinejad-admiring, medication-needing". More on Greg Felton, if you wish, but get your barf bags ready.

Just one example of many, and if you have a few hours to spend - especially if you feel that you lean toward voting for that man - visit the Daily Paul Liberty Forum. Then decide if you are going to join the company of these ladies and gentlemen. Or, if you want a shortcut, just check out the comments to one short piece. The reason I put so much stress on Daily Paul and its branches is simple: the place identifies itself with Paul (save that disclaimer) and I don't doubt that a phone call from Ron Paul would have changed the contents and the tone of that ridiculous site. Still year after year it consistently churns out all matter of sick bullshit and the telephone just doesn't ring...  so something isn't right there, and it's not just Daily Paul management.

Yes, all that besides the esteemed candidate himself rejecting the evolution theory and nurturing conspiracy theories instead. 

So - you decide.

Thanks to Judeopundit for some background material.

22 comments:

jams o donnell said...

The man's a head case but then most oft he Republican candidatees look like that to me... Spineless ones on the left, head cases on the right... what a wonderful choice!

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Well, that Texan, Rick Perry, may give Obama a run for his money. Although social services in US will shut down as a result, it looks like. But compared to the most other states in US - and Europe, for that matter - Texas is a shining example of prudent fiscal policy.

Dick Stanley said...

<span>I continue to see Paul as a flash-in-the-pan (an old phrase from the days of flintlock musketry for a misfire), essentially because the man could not be elected state dogcatcher (if there is one) in Texas. Although I know people who like his basic political themes.  
 
Can't imagine him being nominated, let alone elected.</span>

Dick Stanley said...

The funny thing about Rick is that despite his and the state's long history of being good for business, and not-so-good for social services, the state has always taken plenty of federal money when it was offered, and demanded its fair share when it wasn't.

If he was nominated and elected, I wouldn't expect him to do anything against the various entitlement programs that already exist---with the exception of getting rid of Obamacare.

He'd be most likely to push through tax reductions, a moratorium on business regulations, particularly of the oil industry, and, in general, get the country back to work. Something the clueless Dumbocrats have no notion of how to do.

Whoever the GOP nominee is, he/she will have to brave the slander of the media, which is entirely Democrat and utterly slavish to Obamalot, and Rick might be pretty good at fighting back. He's already pretty adept at ignoring or castigating the Texas media, which is no different from the national brand.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

"the state has always taken plenty of federal money when it was offered"

That sounds to me a good business practice.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

He he... well, let's hope so, cause he is trouble.

Bernard Marx said...

Few sights are as pathetic and nauseaing as watching zionsit Jews and Christians resort to defamation to prop up the crumbing edifice of their neo-fascist empire. You denigrate Ron Paul because you have not the courage to discuss the merits of his argumemnt, or recognize he is the only non-insane GOP candidate. You simiilarly smear Greg Felton, who did nothing mroe than expose the facts of the zionist colonization of America. Instead of letting Felton speak for himself, you cite the ignorant, defamatory drivel of Terry Glavin, who has sold-out to The srael Lobby long ago.

"Simply Jews?" More like "Simple-minded Jews"

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Ron Paul is non-insane, Greg Felton is exposing zionist colonization and Terry Glavin has sold out...

Are you sure, Bernie, that your first name is Bernie and not Graucho, by any chance?

Bernard Marx said...

Oh, yes. I am quite sure.
It's easy for the likes of you to smear those you refuse to listen to.
You state the nature of Paul, Felton and Glavin perfectly, yet your zionist mindset forces you to mock the accuracy of the observation.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

My zionist mindset also tells me not to bother deploying a 6 ft lizard to British Columbia. Just some mild mind control irradiation should do the trick. Try not to drive for the next few days, Graucho. Not that I believe that they allow driving licenses to the likes of you.

Anonymous said...

Wonderful comment!—inane, infantile, irrelevant and gratuitously personal. You truly are a shining example of the intellectually defeated, morally depraved zionist that has indeed colonized North America.

What is the point to your mindless verbiage? How do you defend your slagging of Paul and Felton? C'mon, put up or shut up!

SnoopyTheGoon said...

You started so strong, Bernie/Graucho: inane, infantile, irrelevant - and then what happened? Run out of words starting with 'i"? Poor show.

As for mindless verbiage: who says I have an obligation to discuss idiotic slogans with an impotent, imbecilic, irrational, incoherent, indoctrinated, intractable illiterate that besides his mouldy anti-Zionist slogans and rotting conspiracy theories cannot argue worth a farthing?

Begone, putz.

YK said...

A Pro-Paul Zionist here. You have completely misunderstood and/or misrepresented Ron Paul's stance on foreign policy. Non-intervention != isolation. You don't have to trample someone's flower beds, break his windows, and beat him up when he yells at his kids to be a good neighbor.

YK said...

You didn't know that he's been elected to congress eleven times? That's a little bit beyond dog catcher.

Anonymous said...

Still proving my point, I see.

Nothing but cowardice and insults. Typical zionist. Never do you or your ilk ever discuss an issue. I say Ron Paul is right, and Greg Felton is an expert on debunking zionist propagana.

Obviously you couldn't put up a fight so do us all a favour and shut up. You have nothing to say.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

OK, YK - you are entitled to your own opinion and I will fight to death for your right to express it. That's all the leeway I am gonna give you. Ciao.

ThePaganTemple said...

You left out the biggest tell of all. I've had people tell me that Paul simply doesn't believe he should "boss" his supporters around, that its a freedom and free speech issue. According to them, this doesn't necessarily mean he agrees with them, or approves of them.

So if all this is true, then why is he a regular, even a constant presence on The Alex Jones Show? Now I won't go so far as to say that Jones is anti-Semitic, because I simply don't know, not being a listener to his program. But Jones is a widely and well-known conspiracy monger, and for Paul to be such a frequent guest on his program speaks volumes, in my opinion.

ThePaganTemple said...

I must say I do agree with YK. The US is far too extended in the world, and we need to dial it back a little. Strike that, we need to dial it back a hell of a lot. I never did care for the argument that this would make us "isolationists", whatever the hell that is. I put that on the same level as Paul Ryan, because he wants to reform Medicare and other entitlements, being accused of wanting to "throw granny off the cliff". It doesn;t mean any such damn thing, in either regard. We can still conduct trade, and even have mutual defense pacts (preferably of a bi-lateral as opposed to multi-lateral nature). But that doesn't mean there has to be a damn US military base every fifty miles all over the world.

ThePaganTemple said...

<span>Few sights are as pathetic and nauseaing as watching zionsit Jews and Christians resort to defamation to prop up the crumbing edifice of their neo-fascist empire.</span>

Wow you learn something new everday. And here all this time I thought Nazis and Fascists got along pretty good.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Well, I wouldn't call Paul anti-Semitic, seeing as he never expressed himself  fully on the question. The fact that he lets his supporters be as anti-Semitic as they will is neither here nor there - after all, politics make strange bedfellows.

Alex Jones is just a wacko, addicted to conspiracies and scoops, which makes him just a wacko without any beliefs or a platform.

Yes, the fact that Paul appears on Jones Show is telling.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Notice (I believe YK missed it too) what I said about the US yearly $3B.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

They tend to have some differences of opinion, esp. on what to do with Zionists when they put their grubby hands on them.