Charles Krauthammer: Ron Paul's remarkable achievement

[Harald]

Surprisingly nice article by Charles Krauthammer

Ron Paul's remarkable achievement

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=48760

There are two stories coming out of New Hampshire. The big story is Mitt Romney​. The bigger one is Ron Paul​.

Romney won a major victory with nearly 40 percent of the vote, 16 points ahead of No. 2. The split among his challengers made the outcome even more decisive. Rick Santorum​ and Newt Gingrich​ were diminished by distant, lower-tier finishes. Rick Perry​ got less than 1 percent. And Jon Huntsman, who staked everything on New Hampshire, came in a weak third with less than half of Romney’s vote. He practically moved to the state -- and then received exactly one-sixth of the vote in a six-man contest. Where does he go from here?

But the bigger winner was Ron Paul. He got 21 percent in Iowa, 23 in New Hampshire, the only candidate other than Romney to do well with two very different electorates, one more evangelical and socially conservative, the other more moderate and fiscally conservative.

 

[EndTheFed]

Someone needs to tell him that RP came in 2nd in the NH Dem primary too.

 

[AlexAmore]

He said his son Rand is more moderate. I can understand that perception, but that's because Rand is reaching out to the masses. He has to appear moderate.

 

[hueylong]

Krauthammer is such a tool. He must be throwing up in his mouth, having to write that column.

 

[FreeTraveler]

Tweeted:

Krauthammer: Ron Paul's remarkable achievement -- best whistling past the graveyard of this election cycle. http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=48760

@AgoristDon

 

[MRoCkEd]

Nice article

 

[acptulsa]

Another one begins trying to salvage his reputation as a journalist...

Too late, Charlie.

 

[Rincewind]

He looks a bit like Claude Frollo.

Anyway, better late than never, right?

 

[trey4sports]

 

[Rincewind]

Hey now, there's plenty of room on this bandwagon.

Come one, come all!

 

[ShaneEnochs]

I thought it was ironic that this showed up while viewing the comments:

 

[Eric21ND]

inadequate grass, oxen has died...

 

[kylejack]

I don't know what their game is. There is no way in hell Krauthammer wrote this. He couldn't fake this even if he tried.

 

[cdw]

I've been hearing this condescending junk a lot by the pundits since New Hampshire. Krauthammer and his ilk still don't get it. They treat Paul's campaign as if Ron is a child that is jumping up and down waving "Look at me!". As if all this money and hard work is just for attention just so that we can be heard by our masters in the establishment whom now see fit to pat us on the head and say "good job!". I guess that's their new narrative: "OK he's doing well viewers, we admit it now, but he's can't win and this is just an ideology campaign."

No Charles, he's not in it just to get second place and some "influence" of Mitt Romney's platform. He's running to win the damn thing. Such remarks like this piece is just the last remnants of bravado from an establishment that sees the writing on the wall and are trying to throw anything at the masses in the hope that it sticks. Pathetic really.

 

[blazeKing]

I dropped em some truth bombs in there at the ignorants.

 

[helmuth_hubener]

I don't know what their game is. There is no way in hell Krauthammer wrote this. He couldn't fake this even if he tried.

Hmm, interesting.

 

[Shellshock1918]

I've been hearing this condescending junk a lot by the pundits since New Hampshire. Krauthammer and his ilk still don't get it. They treat Paul's campaign as if Ron is a child that is jumping up and down waving "Look at me!". As if all this money and hard work is just for attention just so that we can be heard by our masters in the establishment whom now see fit to pat us on the head and say "good job!". I guess that's their new narrative: "OK he's doing well viewers, we admit it now, but he's can't win and this is just an ideology campaign."

No Charles, he's not in it just to get second place and some "influence" of Mitt Romney's platform. He's running to win the damn thing. Such remarks like this piece is just the last remnants of bravado from an establishment that sees the writing on the wall and are trying to throw anything at the masses in the hope that it sticks. Pathetic really.

+1

 

[agorist ninja]

Beware the co-opt.

 

[kylejack]

Best guess: They're now absolutely terrified of Ron running third party and are trying to make room in the party for us again.

Paul was genuinely delighted with his, because, after a quarter-century in the wilderness, he's within reach of putting his cherished cause on the map. Libertarianism will have gone from the fringes -- those hopeless, pathetic third-party runs -- to a position of prominence in a major party.

Look at him now. He's getting prime-time air, interviews everywhere and, most important, respect for defeating every Republican candidate but one. His goal is to make himself leader of the opposition -- within the Republican Party.

He is Jesse Jackson of the 1980s, who represented a solid, African-American, liberal-activist constituency to which, he insisted, attention had to be paid by the Democratic Party. Or Pat Buchanan (briefly) in 1992, who demanded -- and gained -- on behalf of social conservatives a significant role at a convention that was supposed to be a simple coronation of the moderate George H.W. Bush.

No one remembers Bush's 1992 acceptance speech. Everyone remembers Buchanan's fiery and disastrous culture-war address. At the Democratic conventions, Jackson's platform demands and speeches drew massive attention, often overshadowing his party's blander nominees.

Paul won't quit before the Republican convention in Tampa. He probably will not do well in South Carolina or Florida, but with volunteers even in the more neglected caucus states, he will be relentlessly collecting delegates until Tampa. His goal is to have the second-most delegates, a position of leverage from which to influence the platform and demand a prime-time speaking slot -- before deigning to support the nominee at the end. The early days of the convention, otherwise devoid of drama, could very well be all about Paul.

The Democratic convention will be a tightly scripted TV extravaganza extolling the Prince and his wise and kindly rule. The Republican convention could conceivably feature a major address by Paul calling for the abolition of the Fed, FEMA and the CIA; American withdrawal from everywhere; acquiescence to the Iranian bomb -- and perhaps even Paul's opposition to a border fence lest it be used to keep Americans in. Not exactly the steady, measured, reassuring message a Republican convention might wish to convey. For libertarianism, however, it would be a historic moment: mainstream recognition at last.

Put aside your own view of libertarianism or of Paul himself. I see libertarianism as an important critique of the Leviathan state, not a governing philosophy. As for Paul himself, I find him a principled, somewhat wacky, highly engaging eccentric. But regardless of my feelings or yours, the plain fact is that Paul is nurturing his movement toward visibility and legitimacy.

Paul is 76. He knows he'll never enter the promised land. But he's clearing the path for son Rand, his better placed (Senate versus House), more moderate, more articulate successor.

 

[Peace&Freedom]

Paul knows they're trying to dangle the carrot, after weeks of using the stick. They see the fraction of the electorate he commands is sizable, despite all their efforts to beat him down, and now want to sound nice to get Paul to accept a "forgettable convention speech" scenario, where they offer him a few minutes of podium at the convention and some platform language concessions, if he just quits the race and endorses the nominee. Kucinich accepted that deal from the Democrats, but who remembers what he said at the con?

Paul is letting them believe their own dream that he is pulling back (which means they are backing off for now), which gives him time to step up the race to win through delegate pickups at the caucuses, which begin in earnest in February and beyond. If Paul can overtake or gain parity with Mitt in the delegate count on that basis, it's a new ballgame.