Ron Paul gaining credibility and backers on freerepublic.com

[Zydeco]

Interesting development over at conservative message board site freerepublic.com: Ron Paul's popularity there seems to be growing.

Free Republic started off as an old-school conservative website, but its readers largely followed Bush's lead after September 11th. They overwhelmingly supported the war in Iraq, for example, and most still do, although there has been growing skepticism, and their support for Bush on this issue led many to look the other way when he went big government on domestic issues like the prescription drug benefit, illegal immigration amnesty, etc.

When Ron Paul threads started to show up a couple of months ago, he was usually hacked to pieces with charges of being a "crank" or having "crazy ideas."

But I've noticed a distinct shift there over the past month, as more and more posters are becoming Paul defenders and fans. They tend to present more coherent arguments than the somewhat robotic he's-crazy-and-can't-win charges of Paul opponents, and are getting better organized and reacting more quickly to (often grossly uninformed or unfair) attacks on Paul. I'd say the anti-Pauls and the pro-Pauls are now evenly matched in thread comments, but the trend is toward us.

Free Republic also has a function where you can see how long a poster has been a member, and these Paul fans are generally not new members; the majority I have checked on have been members since 2005 or long before (I found a few from the late '90s).

So while we know RP has crossover appeal to Democrats and firm support with libertarians and paleocons, we still have to deal with a large segment of the Republican Party whom I would label misled by the neocon establishment. This Free Republic shift shows me these Republicans are open to being re-convinced that the conservatism they knew before 9/11 should not have been abandoned after it, and are looking at RP as a guy who might be right about a lot of things. At the very least they want to know more about him.

I think this obnoxious amnesty bill and its process are opening a lot of eyes on the right.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/search?q=quick&m=all&o=time&s=ron+paul

 

[angrydragon]

Hey that's great...we're winning the fight for liberty.

 

[Noodles]

Thanks. You always seem to find the cool stuff.

 

[Spirit of '76]

Man, if this is true, it's the best news yet.

 

[CJLauderdale4]

I think this obnoxious amnesty bill and its process are opening a lot of eyes on the right.
[/QUOTE]

I think this amnesty bill will be the end of John McCain. I can't see how people will contribute to him knowing he's fully behind this bill...

One down, few more to go...

 

[Zydeco]

It's a real trend, here's a typical change of heart in progress:

The income tax amounts to 1/3 of all taxes. We limit government the way it should, and the income tax wouldn’t be necessary.

This is where conservatism is getting killed though. 50% of us pay 96% of all income taxes. We are in a a system where general welfare is an enumerated power and half of the population doesn’t pay income tax.

And then we wonder why spending can’t be controlled and oru party keeps moving left.

I’m liking Dr. Paul more and more actually!
51 posted on 06/26/2007 9:40:14 PM PDT by eboyer

 

[Silverback]

I hang out on gun boards, which tend to be extremely pro-Bush, pro-war, so on.

In other words the people I do my message board campaigning to fall into the mislead Republican camp, mostly they just went along with W and are too proud to admit what a huge mistake that was.

Except lately they've been admitting just that.

The majority aren't ready to admit they've been completely wrong on foreign policy yet, but it's coming, you can feel it. Bush has alienated everyone at this point and it's only a matter of time before the ranks start to question the last policy they're still happy with him about.

There are many Paul supporters on the boards I frequent, the only other candidate with any support is Fred Thompson.

 

[LibertyCzar]

I'm thinking we are seeing the beginning of a snowball effect. Ron Paul can literally shoot up like Howard Dean did in 2004. And he is smart enough not to make the same mistakes that Howard Dean made.

But in the meantime, I am content to see the supposed "frontrunners" tear each other apart. It does our work for us.

 

[BillyBeer]

Wow. Freepers have always been Bushbots.

 

[kylejack]

Yeah, but is it converts or an invasion of our operatives (as is usually the case with these communities)?

 

[LibertyEagle]

Guess what the first article on FreeRepublic is... Doesn't exactly sound too good.

Ron Paul praises convicted tax evaders
Posted by Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus
On News/Activism 06/26/2007 6:50:48 AM PDT · 50 replies · 841+ views

WCAX TV 3 News (Vermont) ^ | 26 June 2007 | AP Staff Writer
New Hampshire's convicted tax evaders Ed and Elaine Brown have gained a new supporter: presidential hopeful Ron Paul. In an interview with RogueGovernment.com, the Texas congressman compares the Browns to Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Junior. He says the Browns are suffering like those leaders. The Browns are holed up in their Plainfield (New Hampshire) home and have threatened violence against federal officials if marshals come to arrest them. They were convicted of an elaborate scheme to hide millions of dollars in income. Their protest has become a rallying cry for anti-tax activists and militia members.

 

[SCrevolution]

This is glorious news!
-Tobias Fünke

 

[austin356]

I think we can (to an extent) thank this immigration bill as something that is removing the wool from people's eyes. The immigration issue is not something he can trick people into believing, and all it has done is show he is not conservative. Once his followers lose respect for him there, combined with liberal spending, liberal this, liberal that, his foreign policy credibility is gone. Though FP will be last to go; Iraq will be second last.

 

[Zydeco]

Yeah, but is it converts or an invasion of our operatives (as is usually the case with these communities)?

As I mentioned above, it's not operatives, all but a very few of these posters are longtime Freepers.

My sense of the mix of Paul backers and defenders is that there are some libertarians, about as many old-school conservatives who are re-emerging into the debate after being shouted down by the MbN's (Misled by Neocons) for the past few years, and a small but growing number of MbN's who are beginning to make the journey back to the palecon/paleolibertarian fold, but they are understandably sheepish about the return trip.

It's important to be welcoming, many know they were wrong on Bush and Iraq but shouted loudly about it and are now a little embarrassed; but for many of them this amnesty bill is the final straw and they are ready to re-examine Bush in a less rose-colored light.

They still have a strong desire to support the troops in Iraq themselves, though they sense the internal contradictions involved in supporting the troops but not the mission.

 

[Highmesa]

I let myself be sucked into reading a couple threads. One was about the war and Paul's legislation to issue a Letter of Marque and Reprisal to go after Bin Laden

I was laughing hard when I read this comment from one of the resident Bushie brain surgeons: "Had to look up what a Marque and Reprisal was before I found out Ron Paul didn’t know what he was talking about."

Yeah doof. Because you googled it, you know more about it than Ron Paul who submitted the legislation.

You know, I've never voted for a democrat in my life and long believed that there was more intelligence within the GOP. But the more I read some of these neo-con message boards, I think that trend has long left the dock. Being a libertatrian (no vested interest in either party), I really haven't followed the development of the GOP over the past decade, but there are some seriously stoopid people in that party now. I mean seriously f'ed in the head, brain damamged stupid.

I don't know if it was the war, or talk radio that brought these morons out of the woodwork, but that party has jumped the shark. I will be holding my nostrils tight when I register to vote in the primary.

 

[angelatc]

In other words the people I do my message board campaigning to fall into the mislead Republican camp, mostly they just went along with W and are too proud to admit what a huge mistake that was..

That's a key point. When the towers were attacked, if I had heard Ron Paul saying that we needed to use the Marque of Reprisal to hunt the men responsible down I would have scoffed.

I wanted to see something turned into a huge pile of rubble in the Middle East.

Turns out that I was wrong and Ron Paul was right though. That's why he should be President and I shouldn't.

 

[Zydeco]

Guess what the first article on FreeRepublic is... Doesn't exactly sound too good.

Right, it's the tax evader-praising smear from AP. But notice the commenters did a respectable job of pointing out the quote was removed from its context by the MSM; two months ago it wouldn't have been nearly as effective a defense. And then notice the discussion turned to the realm of ideas and ended with newly-potential Paul voter eboyer's statement I cited upthread that he's liking RP more and more.

Once the discussions move past the personal and get to ideas, RP usually wins.

 

[LibertyEagle]

If you read the comments, we have a LONG way to go. Most people are still against him.

 

[billv]

Man, if this is true, it's the best news yet.

I completely agree.

 

[Zydeco]

If you read the comments, we have a LONG way to go. Most people are still against him.

If it's most, it's not most by much, and it's nowhere near what it was a couple of months ago.

Did you notice the difference in quality of arguments I mentioned? An anti-Paul argument is typically "he's loopy" or an unsupported "there's no way I'm voting for Paul." But once the reasoning and logic gets whipped out, you can sense the slow shift in perception.