Someone please explain how Ron Paul beat Peden with 70%

[UnitedWeStand]

I think=

1. name recognition. They might not know hes running for president, but theyve seen his name 1000s of times on the way to work and all over the place down here.

2. there are thousands, maybe millions of republicans who say "I like his ideas, but he's got the war thing all wrong" or "he's the smartest man alive, but we can't just pull out etc."

3.they like him, but have been told he can't win, but they know he can win his congressional seat.

4. only people who are paying close attention to politics, or read flyers otw into the polling places even know wtf Peden is. It is the reverse of the McCain/Ron Paul issue.

 

[Nash]

I don't think the majority of voters think like this. As a member of the House, he helps make policy and they KNOW his views meet stiff oposition. His views are not popular with either side of the isle. So to support him in Congress is to really BELIEVE in what he stands for, otherwise there is no point. And if that is the case, how on earth can they support a man that stands for the complete opposite, in McCain?

it doesn't make sense to me which makes me very suspicious.

They support his ideas just not to the extremes that he sells them. They like the idea of less taxes but not the idea of doing away with the IRS. They like the idea of curbing domestic spending but not the idea of completely getting rid of Social Security.

They like his votes on guns. They like his votes on abortion. They like his votes on border security.

They hate his vote on the war but they put up with it because of all the aformentioned reasons.

There are plenty of Republicans out there who claim "I like Ron Paul but he can't win" or "I like his domestic policy in theory but he's wrong on Foreign Policy." There are common sentiments among typical Republican voters.

It makes perfect sense the these repub voters to like him in congress but go with McCain as president. Especially this late in the race when Paul has no chance of winning.

Paul said in his victory speech: "I will serve another term in Congress where I will continue my battle in behalf of taxpayers."

You'll notice he didn't say anything in that statement about abolishing the CIA, the WOD, or pulling out of Iraq.

 

[syborius]

TX14 wants him all to themselves.

Hogwash to the Nth degree

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bryanmartin/2287818536/sizes/l/in/set-72157603970964652/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bryanmartin/2287819144/in/set-72157603970964652/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bryanmartin/2287032469/in/photostream/


7k people show up to his "one" rally for president in austin Feb 23rd.

 

[josh24601]

If McCain was running against RP for Congress McCain would have beat him.

It's just weird to be on the other end of a popularity contest.

 

[TruthAtLast]

They support his ideas just not to the extremes that he sells them. They like the idea of less taxes but not the idea of doing away with the IRS. They like the idea of curbing domestic spending but not the idea of completely getting rid of Social Security.

They like his votes on guns. They like his votes on abortion. They like his votes on border security.

They hate his vote on the war but they put up with it because of all the aformentioned reasons.

There are plenty of Republicans out there who claim "I like Ron Paul but he can't win" or "I like his domestic policy in theory but he's wrong on Foreign Policy." There are common sentiments among typical Republican voters.

It makes perfect sense the these repub voters to like him in congress but go with McCain as president. Especially this late in the race when Paul has no chance of winning.

Paul said in his victory speech: "I will serve another term in Congress where I will continue my battle in behalf of taxpayers."

You'll notice he didn't say anything in that statement about abolishing the CIA, the WOD, or pulling out of Iraq.

OK, you make some good points. Maybe I was giving those voters too much credit in thinking they were REAL Ron Paul supporters.

 

[AJ Antimony]

No there isn't. If you guys are suggesting there is fraud you're being ridiculous.

Ridiculous? Can you prove there was no vote fraud? Didn't think so.

 

[TruthAtLast]

Ridiculous? Can you prove there was no vote fraud? Didn't think so.

I'm not saying there was or there wasn't but you can't prove the reason for something NOT happening.

It is like the Administration saying that all of their policies worked because "see, we haven't had another 9/11 so it must have worked".

But that kind of logic is backwards. We didn't have a 9/11 the previous 200 years so were THOSE policies working too?

 

[Ex Post Facto]

I'm not saying there was or there wasn't but you can't prove the reason for something NOT happening.

It is like the Administration saying that all of their policies worked because "see, we haven't had another 9/11 so it must have worked".

But that kind of logic is backwards. We didn't have a 9/11 the previous 200 years so were THOSE policies working too?

I love your thought process...so true.

 

[syborius]

I'm not saying there was or there wasn't but you can't prove the reason for something NOT happening.

It is like the Administration saying that all of their policies worked because "see, we haven't had another 9/11 so it must have worked".

But that kind of logic is backwards. We didn't have a 9/11 the previous 200 years so were THOSE policies working too?

ron paul voters are the most informed in this election. No way in hell those voters would vote for anyone else for president other than Ron Paul. That is like saying that for congress Ron Paul killed Peden 70% to 30% in a landslide, but for the presidency people decided to vote for Peden 70% to 6% because he was right on the war issue. COME ON????? Give me a break, I will never believe that type of garbage. This needs to be looked at more closely than it is right now

 

[TruthAtLast]

ron paul voters are the most informed in this election. No way in hell those voters would vote for anyone else for president other than Ron Paul. That is like saying that for congress Ron Paul killed Peden 70% to 30% in a landslide, but for the presidency people decided to vote for Peden 70% to 6% because he was right on the war issue. COME ON????? Give me a break, I will never believe that type of garbage. This needs to be looked at more closely than it is right now

I'm conflicted on this issue. It should always be looked into but I guess I don't know the demographic in the District 14 well enough to know what their thought process was. Were they supporting him because of name recognition, or because of his stance on taxes, or because he was just better than Peden, or are they all REAL Ron Paul supporters?

 

[constitutional]

Even in my own district here in MD we got 11% at poll.

And 6-7% in his own district? Oh I smell bullshit. :o

 

[liberteebell]

Someone please explain how Ron Paul beat Peden with 70% of the vote, but only mustered 6% versus McCain in the same Texas district?

I'd like an answer to that myself. That, and the statewide vote comparison. Ron Paul got ~37,000 votes in his district and ~67,000 statewide? I find that hard to believe, especially with the sentiment against the Trans Texas Corridor and all.

 

[S3eker]

This is easily answered.

Most democrats voted for Ron Paul over the NEOCON Republican running against him. Nothing difficult to understand.

 

[ButchHowdy]

See how kind we've become? Instead of jumping on the Diebold Fraud bandwagon (Occam's Razor) we try to uncover every other possible scenario first.

 

[ThePieSwindler]

See how kind we've become? Instead of jumping on the Diebold Fraud bandwagon (Occam's Razor) we try to uncover every other possible scenario first.

*Sigh*

Yes, they just decided to rig the vote numbers in ONLY ron paul's district, even though the low number matches up with every other primary tally for the most part. What if find most absurd about this sentiment you are peddling is that you actually invoke Occam's razor to be SUPPORTIVE of the conspiratorial view... conspiracies imply a level of complexity above anything Occam's razor would apply to. Don't also forget Hanlon's razor, (Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity) or in this case, the stupidity of the masses vs the malice of the controlling elites.

This result really doesn't surprise me - most people know very little about their representatives. I'll bet there is a sizable portion of D14 that voted for Ron Paul because there was an election that day, and his name was familiar, that also voted for McCain because his name was familiar as far as the Presidential race goes. I'll bet there were also alot of people simply didn't vote because it would have been, to them, a "wasted" vote. I'm sure there are other factors, but even a limited understand of Public Choice theory and some political science... or shit, even some basic observations on the tendancies of voters (such as by exit polling) will show that this result is plausible.

Has there been voter fraud? Certainly. Do you honestly think it would be pulled off in a single district of a single primary where the presumptive nominee essentially has the thing locked up? I dunno, apply Occam's and Hanlon's razor to that line of thinking, and see what is spat out.

 

[Sandra]

Maybe it's district 14"s way of saying "if we can't have you, then nobody can!"

 

[syborius]

I'd like an answer to that myself. That, and the statewide vote comparison. Ron Paul got ~37,000 votes in his district and ~67,000 statewide? I find that hard to believe, especially with the sentiment against the Trans Texas Corridor and all.

I was warning people about this before the vote. I said watch he wins in a landslide in his own district, but across the state he gets 6%, and that's exactly what happened. It makes no sense. That's like saying that for his congressional seat he wins 70%, to 30%, but for the presidency people decide to vote for Peden and wipe him out with 70% for Peden to 6% for Paul because the supporters believe he is dead wrong on the war issue. That assertion is just ridiculous to even fathom, yet that is exactly what happened here. No educated Ron Paul supporter would vote that way, and this statistical anomaly is just harder to swallow the longer I think about it.

 

[Knightskye]

What's the deadline for a Texas recount?

 

[abe447]

1. People think Paul represents them well as a Congressman, but doubt Paul's ability to make a good President.
2. Chris Peden is an unknown commodity, John McCain is not.
3. They thought Ron Paul dropped out of the Presidential race.
4. McCain practically had the nomination wrapped up so they viewed voting for Paul as a waste.

There are probably many sensible variables that go into this. Those who automatically assume fraud obviously are incapable of thinking logically.

 

[ThePieSwindler]

1. People think Paul represents them well as a Congressman, but doubt Paul's ability to make a good President.
2. Chris Peden is an unknown commodity, John McCain is not.
3. They thought Ron Paul dropped out of the Presidential race.
4. McCain practically had the nomination wrapped up so they viewed voting for Paul as a waste.

There are probably many sensible variables that go into this. Those who automatically assume fraud obviously are incapable of thinking logically.

Thank you for simplifying what i was trying to say!