In 2004, we had Howard Dean, until the ‘I have a scream’ speech gave the commentariat a chance to say, ‘enough, already.’ For the 2008 presidential election, we have Ron Paul looking increasingly comfortable in the Dean spot. Coming in fast from the fringes – check. Webby campaign that circumvents traditional party structures – check. Inspires unquestioning loyalty among the true believers – yes, yes, and yes again.
Paul’s campaign for the Republican nomination is just beginning to be taken seriously by the mainstream. He’s not going to win – but he could help shape the early stages of the primary campaign. Marc Ambinder and Chuck Todd have Paul steadily climbing up their monthly rankings:
He has $3 million, an extremely aggressive Internet base, and seems to be angling for an Ames surprise. A plugged-in GOPer (Patrick Ruffini) thinks he’ll place second. On the other hand, Ruffini also thought Paul would raise twice what he raised last quarter. One wonders if all of us slightly overestimate his Internet prowess.
As Dave Weigel points out, this is quite a move from May, when they placed Paul twelfth out of twelve and were desperately trying to swat his online supporters away.
Worth watching will be how Paul’s international views play with the Republican voter. The libertarian congressman is a strict isolationist (“no pre-emptive war, no nation building, no entangling alliances, no interference in the internal affairs of other nations, and trade and friendship with all who seek it”).
He has also been campaigning against the United Nations for the past twenty years:
Those bureaucrats are not satisfied by meddling only in international disputes, however. The UN increasingly wants to influence our domestic environmental, trade, labor, tax, and gun laws. Its global planners fully intend to expand the UN into a true world government, complete with taxes, courts, and a standing army. This is not an alarmist statement; these facts are readily promoted on the UN’s own website. UN planners do not care about national sovereignty; in fact they are actively hostile to it. They correctly view it as an obstacle to their plans. They simply aren’t interested in our Constitution and republican form of government.
The choice is very clear: we either follow the Constitution or submit to UN global governance. American national sovereignty cannot survive if we allow our domestic laws to be crafted by an international body. This needs to be stated publicly more often. If we continue down the UN path, America as we know it will cease to exist.
I rather doubt UN bigwigs have noticed Paul’s existence as yet. But when they do, they could be in for a nasty surprise. Still licking their wounds from ‘oil for food’, the last thing they want is to find themselves in the US election spotlight. Worth watching…
