From Dr. Paul:
“Whoa! What a year this has been. And what achievements we have had. If I may quote Trotsky of all people, this Revolution is permanent. It will not end at the Republican convention. It will not end in November. It will not end until we have won the great battle on which we have embarked. Not because of me, but because of you. Millions of Americans—and friends in many other countries—have dedicated themselves to the principles of liberty: to free enterprise, limited government, sound money, no income tax, and peace. We will not falter so long as there is one restriction on our persons, our property, our civil liberties. How much I owe you. I can never possibly repay your generous donations, hard work, whole-hearted dedication and love of freedom. How blessed I am to be associated with you. Carol, of course, sends her love as well.
“Let me tell you my thoughts. With Romney gone, the chances of a brokered convention are nearly zero. But that does not affect my determination to fight on, in every caucus and primary remaining, and at the convention for our ideas, with just as many delegates as I can get. But with so many primaries and caucuses now over, we do not now need so big a national campaign staff, and so I am making it leaner and tighter. Of course, I am committed to fighting for our ideas within the Republican party, so there will be no 3rd party run. I do not denigrate third parties—just the opposite, and I have long worked to remove the ballot-access restrictions on them. But I am a Republican, and I will remain a Republican.
“I also have another priority. I have constituents in my home district that I must serve. I cannot and will not let them down. And I have another battle I must face here as well. If I were to lose the primary for my congressional seat, all our opponents would react with glee, and pretend it was a rejection of our ideas. I cannot and will not let that happen.
“In the presidential race and the congressional race, I need your support, as always. And I have plans to continue fighting for our ideas in politics and education that I will share with you when I can, for I will need you at my side. In the meantime, onward and upward! The neocons, the warmongers, the socialists, the advocates of inflation will be hearing much from you and me.â€
RON PAUL IS A GREAT AMERICAN.HE IS A TRUE MAN OF PRINCIPLE.
“RON PAUL IS A GREAT AMERICAN.HE IS A TRUE MAN OF PRINCIPLE.”
LOL!!
Paul sure does know how to take you to the dance and then leave with someone else!
Well, there are several tens of thousands of people who have been screwed and will never look at politics again!
Can’t wait for the Obamaites to feel the same sort of burn when it comes out Obama’s grifting them all.
This has to be pretty disappointing for the Libertarian Party. Wasn’t the LP hoping he’d run as their candidate?
Lets face it with only 18 delegates he has hardly made an impact.
MARK HE GAVE A LOT US A REASON TO HOPE AND TO BELIEVE AGAIN.HE DID HAVE AND EFFECT ON THIS ELECTION CYCLE.
He made a tremendous impact. The media attention alone was extraordinary, as was his internet fundraising. He brought untold thousands of people into the political process who would otherwise have stayed home.
I’m sure “the socialists” to whom Dr. Paul refers look forward to hearing from him and his supporters, as he says. 🙂
Ron Paul was the biggest chance that the third parties had to make a name for themselves this November. I still believe that there is no difference between a Democrat and a Republican, and it therefore doesn’t matter if Obama gets the Democratic nod or not. No matter how idealistic he is, he would have to deal with the rest of his Party who isn’t interested in changing anything. With Ron Paul out, it looks like I’ll be staying home this November since there isn’t anyone left in any third party worth voting for. After all, there’s no sense in just voting for the sake of voting.
Deran,
Ron Paul didn’t screw-over anybody. Nice try, but it won’t wash. He has worked very hard for nearly a year and if he needs time off to ensure he retains his congressional seat, then godspeed and fare well. If I can’t have President Paul, I will gladly take Congressman Paul.
He gave it his best shot, and is not quitting, so I for one, am quite happy. All my money invested is worth it for the simple fact that people are now talking about these issues seriously.
For just one example. Nearly every pundit points out that the “stimulus” plan is money that we do not have, must tax, borrow or print in order to “return” and that the consequences may well be worse than the current economic malaise.
That alone, is well worth the nearly $500.00 I have spent. I would gladly spend another $500.00 (and just might) if we can get the Republican party to start being consevatives again.
Mitt’s constituency, and his delegates, are the most likely to change their votes to Ron Paul. Some of the independents, espeically in the North East, who voted for McCain are likely to switch their vote to Paul also…Incredibly, many NH primary voters went to polls thinking McCain was against the war. Great job MSM of informing those who generally don’t pay attention.
So he takes the campaign war chest back to Texas so that the threat to his congressional seat is nullified.
It’s a nice play, and one big pols play constantly… although I’m not sure the majority of his donors would have given if they knew the overall game plan.
He’s NOT giving up. You need to read the second
paragraph again.
Ron Paul is a fraud. He raised over $20 million dollars, hardly spends any, and keeps most of the cash making him a millionaire. He’s a thief
Come on Ron, please change your mind! Please run as a third party or independent candidate. We need you Ron!
To Derrick:
Do you often accuse people of felonies without proof? If he were to keep the money himself, that would be illegal. The fact is, he raised $35 million total, but as of Jan. 1, had spent over $20 million. In January, he spent another $10 million. It is detailed in the FEC reports.
As Webmaster, my inclination was to ban you for slander, but Richard tells me I shouldn’t.
I suggest that you provide proof for your accusations.
to Eric,
I have seen Ron Paul supporters accuse Republicans and Democrats of several things on this site without proof. If you wanted to ban Derrick you would have to ban a large number of other people who have posted on here.
Glad to hear Richard doesn’t think the poster should be banned. That is the right decision
Derrick, are you also going to accuse “Mr. Two America’s” John Edwards of thievery? How about Fred Thompson? Any other candidate that has EVER started a campaign and then dropped out?
I suppose you saw nothing wrong with Joe Lieberman running for VP & Senate in the same year, but suddenly have a problem when Ron Paul decides to focus on HIS congressional seat for a minute.
To Kyle,
You are right, I was just expressing my frustration with people who are so lazy they would rather slander someone than actually look up the facts.
Eric,
I completely agree with that statement. I get frustrated by the same thing.
I see the Ron Paul nazis have delated any negative posts against Paul.
Paul has $20 million of laundered money. He sure can buy a lot of shrimp with that.
While I don’t agree with all of Dr. Paul’s positions, I am grateful to him for working very hard to push forward some important notions in the face of enormous resistance from the major parties and the media.
Someone has to stand up and fight for principles. He did. Agree or not, he made his points.
To think he did this to make money is pointless and naive. There are easier ways he could have made money.
The Libertarian Party must now do something to try to get a lot of the people in the Ron Paul Revolution to join the LP and continue the fight for Freedom & Liberty within the Libertarian Party, the true political home that stands for the principles of Freedom & Liberty.
Others, I presume, can try to change the Republican party from within and others may find their home within the Constitution Party.
I just hope all these people stay politically active and don’t give up the fight for Freedom! The Freedom Movement needs their help!
In Freedom & Liberty,
Ryan Brennan
http://www.thirdpartynews.net
While I am disappointed that Dr. Paul has decided to downsize his presidential campaign for the GOP nomination, keeping his seat in Congress is very important to those of us who love freedom and the United States Constitution. Perhaps once he has secured renomination in the GOP primary he will look differently on a third party run. I believe he has no Democratic opposition in November. I suggest both the Libertarians and Constitutionalists nominate him anyway. I would like to see Bob Barr as the VP candidate on the LP ticket and Alan Keyes on the CP ticket. That way if Ron Paul actually did not choose to campaign they could do the heavy lifting and probably do a great job at that! Just a thought…
Paul’s secret plan, as a lover and knowledgable reader of the Constitution, is to somehow get Huckabee his campaign up soon, then Paul needs to come in a strong second in the remaining races and get any/enough delegates to get close to Romney and Huckabee. Then come national convention time Paul challenges McCain’s constitutional eligibility to be president of the United States. McCain was born in the Panama Zone in 1936. Is that the United States? US controlled yes, United States no. Thus McCain is not a natural born citizen and inelibible to take the oath of office. Shazam…a convention brawl greater than the Dems could ever get themselves stuck in.
Will any Ron Paul supporters now support Mike Gravel? You have a choice. What will it be? Who will you vote for? Mike Gravel is has and will stick to his guns. He is underfunded and has spent all of his own life savings to put forth NI4D dot us and his run for the presidency. If EVER there was a candidate that deserves that a compelling grassroots movement get behind a man it would be Mike Gravel. 100% of Ron Paul supporters that say they wouldn’t support him don’t even know or understand his positions. It’s like they have tunnel vision or want to pit man against man. This is no game it’s life. Our reality, our future, the future of this country and our place in the world. Please take the time to learn about Mike Gravel and make a clear choice. A choice that is yours and no one else’s to make.
…and yet he still manages to get 21% of the Republican Primary vote in Washington.
Hi Richard,
Thanks for all the work you do for ballot access. I am sending you the link to a piece I wrote on my experience in trying to gain ballot access for the Green Party in Indiana:
http://ifweonlyconnect.wordpress.com/2008/02/02/what-happened-to-my-democracy-my-story/
So, “Undertoad” (reply #10): you somehow slither beneath the belly of a toad? How fitting…
—-
And to “Derrick” (reply #12): Dr. Paul is, besides a 10 term TX Congressman, a career Physician. He accepts people for general medical care if they can afford it or not, and does not accept Medicade or Medicare welfare compensation payments from YOUR tax dollars.
As a TX Congressman, he returns a significant portion of his compensation, to the Treasury Dept. for being a State Representative. Does YOUR Congressman do that? Do any others?
Derrick, sorry you can do no better than to simply chastise people with no facts in your little head. Pitiful.
Undertoad: So he takes the campaign war chest back to Texas so that the threat to his congressional seat is nullified.
As I recall, unless and until he drops out of the Presidential race, which he has not done, he cannot spend any of his Presidential fund on his Congressional race.
And he has already spent most of his Presidential money anyway. Even if he took a few million of whatever remained and used it for his Congressional race (if he were to drop out of the Presidential race, that is), still 6 out of every 7 dollars he had raised would have gone to the Presidential race.
Damian: Will any Ron Paul supporters now support Mike Gravel?
No, because Ron is still running. Besides, a lot of Paul supporters have already voted or are already registered as Republicans, making a vote for Gravel impossible in any non-open primary or caucus (unless you suggest we write him in for the GOP nomination).
There is a parallel between the situations facing Rep. Paul and Rep. Kucinich–both are facing well-financed primary challengers in their home districts and must actively campaign for their seats. Would be a real shame to lost the two best members of Congress, who often vote together, and have, at times, been the only two “no” votes in our rubber-stamp Congress. I contributed to Kucinich’s Congressional campaign–Paul’s supporters should consider contributing to his.
I and my friends are pleading for you to run for third party Mr . Paul. If you can believe in , we can believe in you. This two party system has only given us a choice between two evils. There are so many more people in our country then forty years or so ago, and we believe our country is ready to vote a third party in.
Don’t give up …please consider.
Dianna