POLL: Ron Paul's VP???

[speciallyblend]

The point of a VP pick is to broaden the appeal of the ticket. Another full-on libertarian therefore adds nothing electorally. But at the same time, we don't want someone Establishment who would provide motive for them to "replace" the president. It's just hard to find anyone to trust... :\

Someone suggested Walter Jones, an idea which has been growing on me.

paul is conservative with libertarian leanings, gary is libertarian with conservative leanings. if ron paul were to pick a neo-con or gop establishment . I would drop my support!!

 

[Liberty_Mike]

Gary Johnson, Walter Jones, Rand Paul, Tom McClintock, Allen West, Mike Lee? Any of these Republicans would be a good pick. If Ron Paul stays in it as a Republican, he will only really be able to pick a Republican running mate. No more of this Chuck Baldwin, Alex Jones, Dennis Kucinich talk.

I would however like to see Ron just run as an Independent with Ventura, but that's just not going to happen. Unfortunately it looks like it will have to be a Republican ticket or bust.

 

[Working Poor]

barry goldwater jr

 

[Paul Or Nothing II]

paul is conservative with libertarian leanings, gary is libertarian with conservative leanings. if ron paul were to pick a neo-con or gop establishment . I would drop my support!!

That's a joke, right?

What are your options otherwise? I think Rand is a decent pick, he has neo-con appeal which balances out Ron & there's a good chance he won't try to assassinate Ron or something like that

 

[ClayTrainor]

Mary Ruwart!

 

[realtonygoodwin]

You guys don't seem to understand the concept of broadening Ron's appeal. So many of these choices narrow his appeal.

 

[No1ButPaul08]

Tim Pawlenty
Colin Powell
Herman Cain
Jim DeMint

You guys don't seem to understand the concept of broadening Ron's appeal. So many of these choices narrow his appeal.

Ron needs a VP who believes in liberty and that he can trust. Not some establishment hack like Pawlenty or Powell like you suggest.

 

[nandnor]

Whats with all the conspiracy nuts talking about assassination? Take a breather guys, no one is out to get Ron. You are severely overestimating CIA/bankers if you think they would pull this shit off. So obviously an establishment popular guy to get the votes in, like palin, cain, demint is the best choice

 

[Restore-America-NOW]

Though not a realistic choice, Herman Cain may be a good one. He's accepted in the mainstream and would broaden Ron Paul's appeal to the average American. It would also dispel any remaining beliefs that Dr. Paul is a racist. The problem is he would become president if Ron Paul died, and I don't want that! So some other people to consider would be of course Gary Johnson, Judge Napolitano and Dennis Kucinich.

Definitely not Ventura or Alex Jones. While I like Jesse, he is now thought of by the vast majority as a nut, and Alex Jones is a nut.

 

[Mallory]

Palin is popular among many and seemed to do okay with cutting spending in Alaska. I'm not sure what her stance is on gate rape and the Big Brother Act. If she is against those things, she might be someone to look at. But if she's for it then no.

 

[scrosnoe]

Praying for more allies for sure!

Colin Powell. He is liked by the left and right, endorsed Obama in 2008 and managed to be the only member of George Jr.'s gang of thugs to be forgiven. I think Powell would strengthen the ticket. Paul needs someone who comes from military or intelligence. I want to see Napolitano as the Attorney General.

very interesting thought to ponder; equally as bizarre to imagine and ponder is Sarah Palin (but I know that will be hotly contested here) I wish we were being more friendly to more people in the battle to win hearts and minds as we go -- giving all a chance to come go with us! I think Colin and Sarah have the backbone to stand up on principle in the face of great odds and I like that quality a lot!

with Ron Paul as a mentor and friend, they could both be solid constitutionalists at some point in the future

as a believer, I am praying to that end, because we need more friends in high places to support the grassroots efforts for sure -- may it be so in time to save the nation, please dear heavenly Father!

 

[cubical]

Walter Williams, Peter Schiff, Tom Woods all would be great.

 

[The Binghamton Patriot]

It's not 1992 ( not that they would have fared any better then), and that pick would be as suicidal as many of the others already mentioned.

( This was supposed to quote the Buchanan pick, and I have no idea why it didn't)

Pat would bring in the social conservatives that we desperately need. This would unite the GOP so well; a united GOP vs. Obama for the republic.

President: Ron Paul
Vice President: Patty Buchanan
Supreme Court: Judge Nap
AG: Ralph Nader
Sec of Treasury: Peter Schiff
Sec of State: Jesse Ventura
Chief of Staff: Tom Woods

 

[mac_hine]

Judge Nap
Peter Schiff
Tom Woods
Cynthia Mckinney

 

[Maltheus]

I like Napolitano, but quite frankly, I don't feel he's up to the job intellectually. He's too repetitive on his show and a lousy interviewer. Not entirely comfortable with some of his foreign policy positions either.

My favorite on this list is Walter Williams. He's comes across as smart, yet not hate filled. And being black could help to insulate RP from those BS racist charges. I would like to see Rand run someday, but it would be too goofy to have him on the same ticket as his dad.

 

[MaxPower]

Ventura would be a huge blow to the credibility of Dr. Paul's ticket. I certainly like the idea of a Paul/Paul ticket, though Rand doesn't seem to be interested. Short of that, Johnson and Schiff would be solid picks.

 

[AndrewD]

Some interesting ideas bouncing around here. Good to see. I will give my .02 :

Rand Paul: No. I don't think direct family ties is a good thing. It would open us up to the MSM completely writing the entire "Paul" ticket off. No matter how much diversity we could see in the ticket, the MSM would never acknowledge it.

Ventura: A great American. But he would be harmful. Plus he won't appear on a Republican ballot. It is against his moral convictions.

Peter Schiff: I like this idea. I need more information though on how plausible it is.

Judge Nap: Another great American. But I agree that we need him in the Supreme Court to spread the notion of liberty even further.

Pat Buchanon: No, just no. Not saying I don't like the guy, but he got completely destroyed by Rachel Maddow, because he had loose lips and didn't get his history right.

Tom Woods: Nope. Too many direct similarities with Paul. Plus, how can we justify that he is ready to jump all the way up to VPOTUS?

Chuck Hagel: This is my pick, for now. Watch this guy on youtube and tell me he isn't a standup guy, one of the few that has principle. His voting record isn't perfect by any means. But he has a lot of influence, no baggage, and is willing to straight up tell it like it is.

 

[Paulistinian]

very interesting thought to ponder; equally as bizarre to imagine and ponder is Sarah Palin (but I know that will be hotly contested here) I wish we were being more friendly to more people in the battle to win hearts and minds as we go -- giving all a chance to come go with us! I think Colin and Sarah have the backbone to stand up on principle in the face of great odds and I like that quality a lot!

with Ron Paul as a mentor and friend, they could both be solid constitutionalists at some point in the future

as a believer, I am praying to that end, because we need more friends in high places to support the grassroots efforts for sure -- may it be so in time to save the nation, please dear heavenly Father!

Glad to see someone else recognizes the merit in a running mate like Colin Powell.

 

[Paul Or Nothing II]

As people've already said, VP must be selected with a few things in mind :
1) He needs to appeal to a block that Ron doesn't already have & thereby bring in more votes
2) He needs to be someone who can carry the torch of liberty & set himself as the top contender for presidency in 2016.
The next one is probably is more crucial for older presidential candidates like Ron than younger ones like Obama I guess -
3) Since Ron is so old, a lot of voters will likely fear he might die before completing his term so his VP needs to be someone who, in people's eyes, is almost as good as president in terms of policies as well as has the strength to do the job if needed & for obvious reasons, MUST be somewhat younger (so Williams, Buchanan, etc are out).

Ron has three options in terms of how he can go about choosing his VP :
1) He can go for a libertarian or an independent who does NOT bring him a significant amount of new votes which may or mayn't please his main support-blocks but the bottomline is that Ron only has the smaller blocks like Repub-Libertarians, Independents & a few Dems but as a Repub, it'd be NEAR IMPOSSIBLE for him to get the GOP nomination WITHOUT the neo-con vote & they just won't choose an anti-war candidate & convincing them against war is an EVEN HARDER task in most cases.
2) To attract the neo-con vote, Ron can choose a neo-con VP like Palin, Cain, etc who're part of the establishment but that may turn off a lot of his main blocks because :
a) they might think he's sold out &/or this was the plan all along
b) if they fear Ron might die before completing the term then those supporting Ron because for his policies definitely WON'T want an establishment neo-con in charge
3) He can choose Rand & because he's not seen as part of the GOP establishment & his stance on militarism isn't as aggressive as some so he'll help Ron secure a fair chunk of the neo-con vote WITHOUT discrediting himself or losing a significant amount of his libertarian, inde & dem votes

I know media may attack the whole family thing but as I've said Ron NEEDS the neo-con vote to secure the nomination & choosing establishment neo-cons just discredits him so a cost-benefit analysis should yield that without Rand he can't get the neo-con vote while any other neo-con will scare away a fair chunk of Ron's own voters. I may be wrong but I think Rand is Ron's best chance based on how things stand for the moment so he should declare him as his VP candidate & let Rand pack in a chunk of neo-con votes, apparently he's a better speaker too if I may add.

Not to mention, only Rand has significant national appeal among those who've been talked about for VP & he'll likely be the only one who can be a strong presidential candidate for 2016 so he'll be able to carry the torch of liberty. Obviously, he's not so libertarian but much better than most neo-cons & neo-libs & agrees with libertarianism on most things like free markets, individual liberty, anti-socialism, sound money, etc so he still keeps most libertarians interested.

 

[Charles Lupton]

Putting my thought on Johnson aside (I would hope should Ron get the nod he would choose Johnson), I don't think Mr. Ventura is a good idea. He is not very well liked even in his home state and I don't see him bringing much in the way of a positive to the RP campaign. That couple with a conspiracy based TV show(the conspiracy has a negative public meaning and RP needs to avoid association with it to help shrug off the "crazy uncle" term used by detractors) would make him a no go for a choice to me.