Can We Start Thinking Realistically Now?

[jmdrake]

You guys need to learn that Ron Paul is not the only option. We need to start preparing for a Ron Paul loss NOW! Because if we wait until the end of the primaries we are going to be pressed for time to get people to run for congress.

Why the hell does someone running for congress depend on a Ron Paul loss? That's stupid. If you or someone you know wants to run for congress go ahead and run already! Even if Ron had WON the last two states that wouldn't change the need for good people to run for congress.

Really the only way your position would make ANY sense is if you were encouraging people to divert resources to other campaigns. If that's what you're about the take your nonsense somewhere else.

Regards,

John M. Drake

 

[Caravello]

I'm stoked. Now the gloves can come off. We got a taste of blood, a punch in the mouth, and now the fun starts.

 

[The Tao Of Bill]

BULL. I want 3rd party......It's not over until its over.

He will not win as a 3rd party. He won't even come close. If this election proves on thing it's that Americans are still unwilling to go with the candidate that the media says has no chance. We might be able to do better than Nader did. We might even be able to surprise everyone with double digit numbers. But there are still too many republicans to take over that party and there are too many democrats scared of voting 3rd party and causing another nader. It's just not going to happen for Ron Paul in a 3rd party. America is not ready for it yet.

Paul will lose and he will spend the rest of his life living a civilian life. I'd rather put Paul in a position he can actually win which is his congressional seat. I'd rather Paul continue his fight for freedom. Even if he doesn't have much of a voice in congress.

The best course of action would be to help Paul get a bigger voice by getting him some allies in congress.

Think about what's best for the movement. Not what's best for Ron Paul.

 

[ronpaulitician]

I do agree with you that we need to realize Ron Paul is not the end of this movement. We need to get "Ron Paul Republicans" elected at the local level and gradually promote change from within. However, I do think he should run third party if he doesn't win the GOP nomination. Even if he has no chance of winning, continuing to spread the message on a national level is very important.

And the chance of him running third party will keep a lot of us involved in the fight.

Anyone know enough about sore loser laws to know if and when Paul needs to drop out of the GOP race to be able to get on the ballot in all the states as an independent/third party?

 

[alexpasch]

Super Bowl Commercial

Desperate times call for desperate measures...

Hopefully the economy has crashed by then...

 

[GryphonsClaw]

Look if Ron Paul doesn't win a primary, the independent option is the best choice. IMHO always the choice. The reason he went republican is because he needs exposure. You think if he was running Libertarian he would have 8-10% of the vote and 20 million. So the primaries wrap down and we have Hillary vs McCain, come on don't you think Ron as a 3rd candidate would steal that race.

Remember the restrictions aren't on that race and most people tune in for the presidential election not the primaries. I was listening to a group of women talk the other night. The one said she was going to see who the two candidates were and vote for the lesser of two evils. That is how our society thinks. Give me my IPod and enough money to afford rent and leave me alone. Remember, most of them don't use their freedoms to know they are gone. Lock that girl up for no just cause or let her not find a job for three years and that would be a different story. She'd be on the front lines with us. The machine is breaking but its still running well enough to keep enough happy.

We have the movement going, just cause you get beat in the first few games don't let it ruin the season.

Ron Paul could do more damage as an independent. He could be the first independent to win the White House. A three party race, that would shake the foundation to its knees if another party won. Think about it, you would have a serious three party race in 2012 then.

 

[mconder]

Both Iowa and New Hampshire have proven one thing.

The polls are correct.

I repeat. The polls are correct. They might not have been able to project winners a month ago but within a few days of primaries they are nearly dead on.

Though we shouldn't give up on Ron Paul we should start prepareing for how to move forward without the help of the whitehouse.

If there is anyone on this forum who has some decent political qualifications I would like to ask that you consider running for a congressional seat in your district. I have started a thread in the general politics forum called "Plan B" ( you can look it up in my profile) where we can compile a list of congressmen running that will run with a strict constitutionalist platform.


We also need to encourage Ron Paul not to run as an independent. I know this will disappoint some of you but it's important that we put Ron Paul in a position where he can continue the fight. And congress is where he needs to do that. Vote for him for president and if he does not make it then support in any way you can for his congressional re-election. And let's push this movement forward. This time we can hopefully get Ron Paul some allies.

If we don't continue the fight after RP, then we are all either hypocrites or we never really got the freedom message in the first place.

 

[derekjohnson]

I have lurked this forum for awhile and thought I would throw in my two cents. Even if we do not win the nomination, WE CAN STILL WIN. We are getting enough votes for both parties to take notice of us. A large percentage of Americans are willing to fight for personal liberties. Until the Republican party changes course, it will erode. If Ron Paul fails to get the nomination, and chances are he will, who ever gets the nomination will get slaughtered by (insert the name of any Democrat here). One of the things really driving Ron Paul’s numbers down right now is the huge amount of people showing there disapproval of the Republican Party. I really think the best thing that could happen, if Ron Paul fails to get the nomination , would be a strong Independent or Libertarian that could capture 7% or so of the vote in the presidential election so the Republican party would be forced to wake up to the fact that they need us. I have nothing but respect for Ron Paul, but I have more respect for the message of restoring the Constitution. I will continue to support Ron Paul throughout the race. If we don’t win, I still plan on keeping up the fight for Liberty and Freedom. This Revolution will not stop if we fail to get the nomination. These primaries are just the beginning of the movement. They hope we will go away, but we won’t. We will grow and someday be able to take this country back. I don’t know about everyone else in these forums, but I have just started to fight.

I agree completely. If he can pull enough votes as a third party and the grass roots can continue to push with him as the spokesman for the next four years, we could make serious difference in congressional runs and possibly the white house in 2012. Think of the potential of putting libertarians in congress in an off-year election when Ron Paul republicans/libertarians show up in droves, but the rest of the republican party shows up in their typical fashion for an off-year election. I think a third party run and this grass roots movement to stay alive and fight for the party Paul chooses for the next four years is the best possible outcome at this point.

 

[PaleoForPaul]

The polls are correct.
I repeat. The polls are correct. They might not have been able to project winners a month ago but within a few days of primaries they are nearly dead on.

Not always, but yes they were somewhat close, depending on which ones you looked at. There were some MSM polls that were not within their own margin of error.

We also need to encourage Ron Paul not to run as an independent..

BULLSHIT. Ron Paul has a better chance to win as an independent.

ESPECIALLY if Rudy wins the Republican nomination.

Paul can easily win enough votes to get federal funding for a THIRD party in 2012 if he runs as an independent. He could straight up WIN a Rudy/Clinton/Paul election.

An independent run would do much more for the freedom movement. He might even win. You can't predict what will happen months from now. The campaign is growing exponentially every month. If you told me 6 months ago Ron Paul would raise 30 million in the last 2 quarters of 2007, I'd have told you that you're nuts.

What we need is for people to not get negative, and keep spreading the word.

All of these different primary winners actually favors Paul in the Republican primaries, and we should ENCOURAGE an independent run.

 

[PC_for_Paul]

Draft James Carvil!!!!!!
have him chased like Hannity, threaten him like Beck!!!!
just get him before super Tuesday!!!!!

 

[The Tao Of Bill]

You're really dreaming if you think a 3rd party run will help spread the message much. Someone else can run for the libertarian run. It's bound to happen anyway and we can support that person. But Ron Paul will have the best chance in congress. And the message will be spread by us. Like it has been from the start.

 

[lbrtylvr]

The best course of action unless a miracle happens will for each meetup group in every congressional district to get together and find a candidate to run for congress in November. If it is a Democrat district run as Republican. If its the other way run as Libertarian or a Democrat.

 

[The Tao Of Bill]

The best course of action unless a miracle happens will for each meetup group in every congressional district to get together and find a candidate to run for congress in November. If it is a Democrat district run as Republican. If its the other way run as Libertarian or a Democrat.

This is what I would like to see happen. I want the meetup groups to try to start selecting a congressional constitutionalists to back. We have the resources to get a significant backing in congress but we need to start as soon as possible. Congressmen generally have strongholds in places they have already won. It takes a lot of effort to dethrone a congressman because generally people simply vote for the person seated unless there is a sudden shift in partisan support. We will need as much time and resources we can get to try to get these guys to be more credible than the seated congressmen.

 

[Sebas]

Brainstorming:

If you are a recent 'freedom 7ov3er', what made you like Ron Paul's message ?

Now, imagine you never heard Ron Paul on the internet or in a debate... and carefully watch and listen to all his 'mainstream' ads ... would they appeal to you if you did not know Dr. Paul ?

Not to me anyway... NEVER ! (What I mean by that, is that these messages show him only a little different than the other candidates. What we need to try is REAL original messages TO WAKE UP PEOPLE ! The substance of his ads is perfect... it's the '"form" that must change)

They are to ordinary... not orginal enough... not "Ron Paul' enough...

The campaign must think of a way of reproducing -in the mainstream media- what made most of us love Ron Paul's message.

That's it !


p.s.
Please people, I know this is a sad day for some of us, but we MUST keep faith and keep on spreading the message !

 

[PaleoForPaul]

You're really dreaming if you think a 3rd party run will help spread the message much. Someone else can run for the libertarian run.

1. Libertarians ARENT the only ones here supporting Paul. I'm not a libertarian, and plenty of others aren't either.

2. Forming a NEW political party, and winning gets you all kinds of goodies. Read this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reform_Party_of_the_United_States_of_America

Yeah, I know some of you guys dislike federal matching funds, but it's good to have that option. It's also good to have BALLOT ACCESS for any of our candidates that would want to run.

Perhaps it could be called "The Revolution Party"?

 

[PaleoForPaul]

If you are a recent 'freedom 7ov3er', what made you like Ron Paul's message ?

I'm not new. I've been reading him since 2003. That is the problem, you can't fit all of those columns into a 30 second commercial.

I did like his commercial on immigration.

 

[The Tao Of Bill]

1. Libertarians ARENT the only ones here supporting Paul. I'm not a libertarian, and plenty of others aren't either.

2. Forming a NEW political party, and winning gets you all kinds of goodies. Read this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reform_Party_of_the_United_States_of_America

Yeah, I know some of you guys dislike federal matching funds, but it's good to have that option. It's also good to have BALLOT ACCESS for any of our candidates that would want to run.

Perhaps it could be called "The Revolution Party"?

How about "The Tea Party"

 

[Gustogus]

Before Bloomberg got into the race, I'd have loved to see Ron Paul somewhere on the Unity Ticket. The much touted Paul/Kucinich ticket would have fit in perfectly with the Unity Theme.

Now Unity is pushing for a Bloomberg candidacy... So thats out the window.

Honestly, I'm with Dr. Paul all the way to the end no matter where he goes. He has the right message, its just getting the rest of the country to see it.

We'll just have to see where he decides to take us.

 

[derekjohnson]

1. Libertarians ARENT the only ones here supporting Paul. I'm not a libertarian, and plenty of others aren't either.

2. Forming a NEW political party, and winning gets you all kinds of goodies. Read this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reform_Party_of_the_United_States_of_America

Yeah, I know some of you guys dislike federal matching funds, but it's good to have that option. It's also good to have BALLOT ACCESS for any of our candidates that would want to run.

Perhaps it could be called "The Revolution Party"?

The problem with forming anew party is ballot access. The libertarians have access in more states than any party, 48 in the last election, more than Nader and the greens. Forming a new party would cost millions to gain access and the libertarians already have it., so Paul's money could be spent on campaigning. Gaining a certain percentage, I believe 5%, would also guarantee ballot access in the next election, so the next four years could focus completely on campaignig and spreading the message, rather than gainign ballot access.

 

[ghemminger]

The only thing you can do is to shake Ron Paul's HAND and tell him face to face to fix his campaign....