The Krauthammer exchange on the Suez/Panama Canal question was awesome: "Study it, talk to the Congress, identify the enemy, declare war, go in, win and be done with it."
BOOM. You could literally see Krautie's nuts shrink up to his throat.
I agree. It just seems like Ron has done a 180 on the immigration issue since 2007. He's become influenced by the Libertarian Party on this issue. I remember he had some hardcore anti illegal immigration ads back in 2007.
He really hasn't. He just never went into the detail. Bachmann has evaded what she'd do. Ron's record of VOTES speaks for itself. The TONE of the ads was unnecessary, but I don't think his positions have changed at all.
That's the thing. If I didn't know all about Ron's voting record, I probably wouldn't support him. He really has an unbelievable voting record overall, and really even a very conservative one. But I just wouldn't get that if I simply listened to him in interviews like this and the debates. It's just frustrating to me that he goes on a show on Fox News and acts like he's giving an interview on MSNBC.
I agree it is frustrating and I think it is because many of staff nearest to him are movement libertarians and have an exaggerated opinion of Johnson's potential influence. I think they are simply wrong, if that is the case. Paul people are Paul people.
He really hasn't. He just never went into the detail. Bachmann has evaded what she'd do. Ron's record of VOTES speaks for itself. The TONE of the ads was unnecessary, but I don't think his positions have changed at all.
The Iran, OBL, and fence answers had substance... he just needs to get a couple of one-liner talking points in there that people are going to remember. Doesn't need to throw the baby out with the bathwater and become a walking soundbite
i can only hope they've influenced his immigration stance. i think it is an arrow in the quiver when people pull the old "isolationist" line. how can he be the isolationist when he is the only person on the stage that doesn't want to fence off the country?
I find the above exchange interesting as I evidently must now research the content (and apparently 'tone') of those 2007 ads as well as some person name "Johnson" (not Gary I hope)...and an entire movement within this party apparently (or even potentially) influencing RP's campaign presentation.
The two-way fence question was a legitimate one and simply yet another example of somebody willing to say "hey, slow down a bit and explain this one for us..." resulting in an answer that at least I frankly would have to go back and view again before I could even comment on it (which isn't good if you're a fence sitting former GOP kool-aid drinker who's a little slow...but who holds the fate of your campaign in their collective viewing hands).
One thing that fence sitters today seem to do better than most presently refusing to broach the two biggest issues facing this country (who is here/how do we 'add' their societal costs if we refuse to quantify them and very simply shared sacrifice in regards to entitlements) is "add".
This trillion dollar plan addresses neither (with the former not even mentioned in the synopsis) which effectively puts off a 16 trillion dollar basic math fence sitter appreciating the closer-than-everybody-else 'effort' by RP's plan...but not much else with poor efforts such as last night's to look forward to (sorry, Ron...yet you have to nail the basics before traditional conservatives will ever look past whatever this "Johnson" movement consists of within your apparently influential circle).
"... New people, however, will be just like us when we first started to support Ron: impressed by his message rather than the delivery..."
Besides, his delivery is exponentially better than it used to be. We are doing pretty good, guys. Don't freak out, just keep doing what you can to spread the message.
I resemble that remark (for pretty much my entire life save a vote cast for Perot) and am an on the fence supporter of RP who evidently doesn't read 'Rockwell' (my sole libertarian exposure being the recent groundbreaking shows on the Fox Business Channel).
As others have mentioned, the man needs to slow down...stick to the question that is asked (us GOP kool-aiders are used to evasive answers so rambling responses, no matter the content, have the same effect)...and be ready with a pretty much stock answer for those instances where you may have been misunderstood in the past (whether quoted by the panel or simply responding to a film clip he somehow refuses to stay focused on even an answer that most would suspect is coming 'somewhere' in the reponse).
Most importantly of all (and ironically this is where he outshines all other GOP contenders) a fast talker/thinker such as himself needs to be spot on with the details concerning spending cuts.
If somebody is hammering you with questions concerning $200 billion cuts concerning the defense and security of our country...and you aren't countering quick enough to tick off $150 billion or so like a machine gun with accuracy and specificity...you're losing just as many voters who remember what the cold war was all about (fiscally) as you might be gaining through any promise to get rid of known waste/fraud or present can't-afford-it-anymore missions.
I don't applaud Fox for much anymore but this type of candidate forum has been the single most revealing and informative that I have ever witnessed. Every single candidate has turned noticeably more uncomfortable as time has progressed smack dab in the middle of four questioners...and I like it.
I would argue that if this most recently introduced(?) and apparently groundbreaking 'trillion' plan itself is followed by no more debate than I've witnessed to date on RP's own forums...why would potential supporters such as myself be more impressed with the same message or 'plan'...over this thread with 100% more debate on whether he is truly getting his points across properly in the first place?
I'm not certain that many RP supporters (from the little that I've read on this forum) truly recognize the time frame that we are all working with here to save this country.
Your only chance in all of this is to perform well when given the chance, not to exclude any group (besides those of non-voting age) from the 'personal responsibility' of quickly and physically paying for our 'collectively responsible' mess...and very frankly (finally) admitting to even RP supporters that truly detailing cuts in all spending is physically possible in a decades(?) long political campaign.
If RP supporters refuse to accept the above and brush off opportunities squandered such as last night (see many but not all in this thread)...many traditional conservatives (myself included) are going to wonder what personal responsibility is truly all about in this campaign.
I would argue that if this most recently introduced(?) and apparently groundbreaking 'trillion' plan itself is followed by no more debate than I've witnessed to date on RP's own forums...why would potential supporters such as myself be more impressed with the same message or 'plan'...over this thread with 100% more debate on whether he is truly getting his points across properly in the first place?
I'm having a hard time following you. Try shorter posts or something. Perhaps fewer parenthetical comments. Perhaps fewer points in a post.
"...Your only chance in all of this is to perform well when given the chance, not to exclude any group (besides those of non-voting age) from the 'personal responsibility' of quickly and physically paying for our 'collectively responsible' mess...and very frankly (finally) admitting to even RP supporters that truly detailing cuts in all spending is physically possible in a decades(?) long political campaign.
If RP supporters refuse to accept the above and brush off opportunities squandered such as last night (see many but not all in this thread)...many traditional conservatives (myself included) are going to wonder what personal responsibility is truly all about in this campaign.
You can exclude groups, particularly those that have no chance of being converted to voters. We only need a majority to win. In the early parts of this primary cycle that could easily be 30%. So a strategy focusing on converting the parts of the population most likely to vote RP is most effective.