Iowa Governor: Ignore Ron Paul Caucus Win

And these are the people who want to “spread democracy” around the world.

“People are going to look at who comes in second and who comes in third,” Governor Terry Branstad told Politico. “If [Mitt] Romney comes in a strong second, it definitely helps him going into New Hampshire and the other states.”

Has Ron Paul broken any rules? Has he cheated? No one even pretends he has. Yet his victory, which the Establishment now seems to expect, is still suspect.

How dare he not want to stampede the country into another war promoted by the same propagandists who gave us the Iraq fiasco!

How dare he think prison rape might not be the most humane solution for someone struggling with drugs! (And of course, if these people cared about the Constitution as much as they pretend to, they would agree with Ron Paul that drugs aren’t a federal issue in the first place.)

How dare he dissent from the (Republican and Democratic) Establishment, which has wrecked the economy, saddled us with unpayable debt, and given us a fiasco of a foreign policy that has made Americans more hated and isolated than ever before!

Note what they don’t say. They don’t say a Romney win would hurt the caucuses, even though Romney said “my views are progressive” just five years before running for president the first time. I won’t bother listing all of Romney’s offenses.

As for Ron Paul being to the “left” of Obama on foreign policy, this is a total misconception. See the foreign-policy resources on this page (below the section on war powers) for an elaboration.

So here’s the message: the candidate the elites least want you to vote for is Ron Paul. The newspapers, the cable news people, the politicos. They are dying for you to support Romney, Gingrich, Perry, Bachmann — anyone but Paul. That is another great reason to support him.

Truthstandsout

And when Ron Paul wins the GOP nomination, they will say he & his supporters hijacked that.
And when Ron Paul wins the presidency, they will say he & his supporters hijacked that.

Come to think of it, they will be right. When RP wins it will show that most Americans agree with him, and that we all “hijacked” power from the elitist, corrupt politicians/bankers/ corporations.
Adrianneknobloch

My email signature line is “Principle, not Party.” Party is a made up thing by the powers that be to institutionalize and perpetuate their own power structure. Constitutional law/design does not incorporate such a concept, it says in effect, principle, not party.
Too many line up behind party lines and unwittingly replace principle,self gov’t., self determination, representative gov’t. with a quasi-socialist gov’t giving party the authority to determine for them … rule them.

You can see this clearly when you see how many think elections and getting “the right candidate” in is the end all of self gov’t.
How many conservatives do not realize they are, by being party, not nation/constitution loyal are themselves, closet socialists?

3rd Party’s time has come, I agree and if RP does not get the GOP nod, I certainly hope he runs 3rd Party.

But his victory will not end all ills, it will however be a start. As a House Rep, he has been stalwart in defending constitutional law and never voting to raise taxes.

As Exec, he can be the true voice of opposition in DC which sorely needs said opposition, the one who will put emphasis on restoring states’ sovereign rights and constitutional SMALL, representative, REPUBLICAN gov’t.

He will not be the “dictator” issuing “dictates” called Exec. Orders to treat the Constitution like a suicide pact and he will be working under the balance of power.

Insodoing, he will be exposing and educating people on how it’s meant to be.
Derek F

Reading the mindless drivel of Iowa’s Governor, and those of like “ilk,” makes my blood boil. But it makes you wonder…if the Republican elites, MSM, academic intelligentsia, etc. are willing to come out this strongly against Ron Paul, then he must be on the right track.
Anonymous

Ah yes, the Establishment protecting itself yet again by taking the low road. Makes me proud to be an American. I guess we can expect them to stay on that road until Paul is sitting in the Oval Office. So be it.
Clayhamm

Tom, please stop clouding the issue with objective truth. If you are going to blog and make comments about the establishment and MSM please follow the rules. Ad Hominem attacks, out of context quotes, bald faced lies, he said-she said, misquotes, these are all preferred to objective truth telling. Please make a not of this for future postings.
Saudertim

If Ron Paul does not win you Americans are in deep trouble because they want to control you. Is the country run by a Constitution? Not at the present time and the future looks grim.
perlstar

Oooh, I like comment #116 on that Politico article:

gaoxiaen: Get used to it. The next question is “Is New Hampshire relevant?”
Bobby

Loved reading it!
Brutus

Good point.
neocontrotsky

Just as disappointing have been the remarks of that Deace radio show host in Iowa. He doesn’t honestly sound very different from what Rush/Dick Morris/O Reilly/Levin/Hannity types are saying about Ron Paul.
http://twitter.com/AnonymousHench Bruno Tata

Excellent thoughts Turf Talk. I am tired of everyone trying to label each other. Ideas are ideas. This groupthink desire to all fit into one group is why nothing changes. People wind up just accepting things w/o thinking because of their group identity.
Mboyle99

Go Ron Paul.Informed and peaceful resistance to the establishment. Ron Paul does not support the globalist elite endgame policies.Globalistagenda.org; infowars.com.FREEDOM WILL RULE
David Bardallis

What is all this “hurt the caucuses” nonsense, anyway? As if caucuses were valuable things in and of themselves and not (supposedly) just a particular way people (allegedly) select the nominee for a party. These advocates of democracy for the whole world seem to have a lot of trouble with it in their own backyard.

The bizarre contortions the political establishment goes through as it tries to keep its exclusive club going are hilarious!
Bksherm

Tom it would be nice if you would do a piece on why the Iraq war was a fiasco, unless you have and I didn’t see it. Ammunition readers of your site can have that is not standard propaganda from the neo-cons. Love your work, thanks in advance.
Cduggi

fuck the elites trying to run our lives. The very fact that they hate him is reason enough to vote for him. Him being an unbelievably intellectually consistent, incorrigible, and a brilliant thinker are nice bonuses.
ProbablyTrue

If Ron Paul were to actually win the presidency, the headline the next day would be
“President Obama comes in a Close Second in Election”

Subheading: Trounces Third Party Candidates
Pingback: The Enemy Of Our Enemy Is Our Friend… | Freedom to Fascism
Cam

Thank you Tom…..I LOVE IT!!! RON PAUL 2012
Jay

This is why I will never again support Governor Terry Branstad. When he said that if Paul won, the Caucuses wouldn’t matter, he sold out Iowa voters as far as I am concerned.

What Branstad forgets is that on January 4th, Ron Paul will be on to New Hampshire. However, the tens of thousands of people Paul contacted, organized and brought to the Caucuses he will leave behind in Iowa. I for one will not be voting for Branstad, or anyone he endorses. God help him at the polls if Paul’s organization starts working against Branstad and the other “small tent” GOP types.
Lou Bjostad

I love that quote, Mike, but it is disputed that Gandhi ever said it:
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi
Look in the yellow box at the bottom of the wiki that says Disputed.
Lou Bjostad

Ich bin ein Berliner. – JFK 1963
Lou Bjostad

But please see Phil Luetchford’s posting above, that Politico misquoted Branstad. I don’t know anything about Branstad, but I do know that the media can be a pretty sloppy drunk.
http://profiles.google.com/ken.egervari Ken Egervari

Exactly. Good post!

I’m sure Fox News would have liked nothing better than Ron Paul explaining this left vs right semantics during the debate to each up his 60 seconds too. Gotta love the loaded questions they ask Ron during the debate, which need like 10 minutes to first correct the question, then educate the audience of what the real facts are, and then finally tell what your answer is.
http://profiles.google.com/ken.egervari Ken Egervari

Philosophically, Paul’s makes the most sense when you compare the country to a human being. It is pretty similar to justify the use of force in self-defense. I think any other policy that drastically differs from self-defense is really quite irrational.
http://profiles.google.com/ken.egervari Ken Egervari

Exactly. Ron Paul is exactly what the party needs to grow. If it were any other candidate, they would have welcomed this growth with open arms. They just can’t stomach the fact that it’s Ron Paul.

The stuff they were saying yesterday… there is so much non-sense to it that I hope its easy for the average person to see through. Cenk from the Young Turks, not someone I consider an ally, did 2 great pieces yesterday about it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8EwKLAuSyw&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGPDTkeYjFs
Lou Bjostad

True story: A little over three years ago, a small group of students on our campus was shivering in the cold, holding up Ron Paul signs and politely handing out pamphlets about Ron Paul’s positions. One of the students came up to hand me a pamphlet, and I said, “Ron Paul is by far the best person to be president, but you have to know he is not going to win this election.” I had a Starbucks gift card in my wallet with a few dollars left on it, and I handed it to the guy, and I said, “I still think what you’re doing out here today is terrific. When you’re done canvassing, why don’t you give this to somebody on your crew who did a particularly good job?” He smiled, took the Starbucks card, and went back to handing out pamphlets. Well, Ron Paul lost that election. But he didn’t lose me. I made a contribution to the Ron Paul candidacy last week at http://www.revolutionpac.com/donate/ and I’m getting ready to make another donation. And when it comes time to vote, I’m voting for Ron Paul. I don’t even care who else is running.
Lou Bjostad

True story: A little over three years ago, a small group of students on our campus was shivering in the cold, holding up Ron Paul signs and politely handing out pamphlets about Ron Paul’s positions. One of the students came up to hand me a pamphlet, and I said, “Ron Paul is by far the best person to be president, but you have to know he is not going to win this election.” I had a Starbucks gift card in my wallet with a few dollars left on it, and I handed it to the guy, and I said, “I still think what you’re doing out here today is terrific. When you’re done canvassing, why don’t you give this to somebody on your crew who did a particularly good job?” He smiled, took the Starbucks card, and went back to handing out pamphlets. Well, Ron Paul lost that election. But he didn’t lose me. I made a contribution to the Ron Paul candidacy last week at http://www.revolutionpac.com/donate/ and I’m getting ready to make another donation. And when it comes time to vote, I’m voting for Ron Paul. I don’t even care who else is running.
Jose

Thank you, Tom.
http://profiles.google.com/ken.egervari Ken Egervari

It’s tough because then he has no time to answer the actual question. The answers were limited to *60* seconds. What is a man to do? You can’t answer this stuff in 60 seconds unless they ask follow-up questions – but there is no way to know that in advance until after your 60 seconds are up. The whole debate structure is nonsensical.
http://profiles.google.com/ken.egervari Ken Egervari

Actually, gingrich getting 2nd would be really bad.

The best outcome possible – and I’m not saying it is probable – would be Ron Paul in 1st and Michelle Bachmann in 2nd. Michelle Bachmann really does have no chance to win anything beyond Iowa – it’s her home state. She can’t claim that she’s making a come-back. That’s it for her. This destroys both Perry and Gingrich at the same time.

The second best outcome is still Paul in 1st and Romney in 2nd – about 8-10% behind. We want to make this a 2-man race as much as possible. If gingrich is out, Ron Paul is going to do really nicely in the South. The South hates Romney.

Barring that, Paul in 1st and Rick Santorum in 2nd would be pretty ideal too. Rick has a ceiling. He’s not going anywhere. It probably will never happen though.

If Rick Perry gets 2nd in Iowa, this is bad news. He has money still, so this would be terrible. It would knock Newt out, but then Rick would steal so many votes from Dr. Paul in the South – without the baggage of Newt. This is a horrible outcome.

The most probable outcome is Ron in 1st and Mitt in 2nd. That isn’t too bad for us, especially if Gingrich doesn’t even make the top 3. That would be ideal.
http://profiles.google.com/ken.egervari Ken Egervari

Here’s an article I wrote about Steve Deace.

It’s called, “If only Ben Bernake Were Gay, Steve Deace Would Support Ron Paul”

http://www.dailypaul.com/194294/if-only-ben-bernanke-were-gay-steve-deace-would-care
SRG

Great article, Ken!! I really enjoyed reading it and hope others will read it, too. Keep it up!

You nailed it. Deace is a religious zealot. Such zealots think their view is the ONLY correct view and they are thus entitled (and even required) to force it on everyone else. It’s the same type of thinking used to justify flying planes into buildings. The difference is one of degree.

The small minds of the masses need to belong to a team and have a common enemy in order to feel secure and worthwhile. (That’s part of why sports are so popular.) Since RP doesn’t thump his chest and threaten everyone who isn’t a Christian, he isn’t “on the team” as much as Bachmann. So, Deace will support Bachmann.

Small minds also find it much easier (and far more interesting) to understand and impugn homosexuality than fiat money. The masses, as represented by Deace, fixate on the puerile and salacious over the intellectual, regardless of their relative importance.

Sex gets ratings and that’s what Deace really cares about. Truth and reason are just innocent bystanders that take a bullet as a result of Deace’s daily, drive-by radio shootings.
Jernan2

I will not support Ron Paul. I am fully supporting Newt Gingrich
Jernan2

There is absolutely NO Way that Ron Paul could defeat Obama!!
Jayspats75

I have been hearing the stories from the decepticons on Ron Paul and his ties to these so called neo-Nazi groups and racist groups. The stories are saying that these groups supported him n gave him money which he never gave back or discredited these groups. Have you heard anything about this?
Rob Nabakowski

You have to remember that Ace, while a comedian, is an idiot. He’s a pro GOP cheer leading moron. Ed is simply a neocon. I stopped reading Hotair a long time ago, but have kept up with Ace, due to the aforementioned humor of his site, but that’s done now, too. They are the other side of the coin from the regressives. Statists the whole lot. It’s a kind of self loathing I think in regards to their allegedly sincere hatred of the left. They’re really not that much different.
SRG

I looked into the charges of racism last time RP ran. It seems to be the one potential skeleton in RP’s closet, as far as I can tell. The bigger problem than the donations is the racist newsletters under his name. If RP wrote the newsletters, then he’s a liar because he denies writing those words.

If RP did NOT write the newsletters, it’s a shame the true author won’t stand up and take the heat since this is clearly RP’s last, best chance to be president. If RP starts to win primaries, this will become a much bigger story.My best guess is that Lew Rockwell wrote the newsletters and RP is too loyal to squeal on him. Here’s an article from that slant:http://reason.com/archives/2008/01/16/who-wrote-ron-pauls-newsletter No one is perfect and no candidate is ever going to come along at this level without some baggage. I’m not going to let the perfect be the enemy of the good. RP is BY FAR the best presidential candidate of my 65+ year life. I don’t think he’s a racist but he should have been more closely watching the newsletters going out under his name. We all make mistakes…Given my choices, I’m voting for him again and I’m giving him money.
http://www.TomWoods.com Tom Woods

It was certainly not Lew.
SRG

If someone doesn’t credibly stand up and tell the truth, this will dog RP and cause more and more trouble as he rises in the polls.
jen

Answers can be made in 60 seconds if well structured, planned, rehearsed, and differentiated. Interviews and other activities on the campaign trail would allow more indepth responses that are persuasive.

The problem with debates is not with the 60 second answers, but that it is biased towards Romney while the rest of the field quarrels with each other.

Each person gets asked a different question for the most part, so you can’t really debate. Hence, it is not really even a debate for the most part. Few moments are when the patriot act was discussed or Romneycare, but in my opinion, not much success has been made against Romneycare.

Also, when most of the field holds similar views, debate is less likely. And, the important issues like monetary policy, government role, non-interventionism vrs intervenionism are not brought up, one does not get as much out of the debate as possible. Rather, the same questions on immigration, etc…are brought up.
jen

It is better they hate versus ignore if there are people that efficiently defend against claims that are false or distorted. Otherwise, the “hate” could be enough to eventually keel over the movement.
http://economati.blogspot.com/ The Captain

What many havent’t figured out (even though it slaps them in the face every day now) is that the US military industrial complex (the one Ike warned us about) has been running a massive, corrupt debt Ponzi for 40 years. There is no emotion in any of those “trigger words”, they are technical statements of fact by someone who has put in several thousand hours of dedicated study on the matter. Search Economati Blogspot. Everyone except Ron Paul is a pawn of this system, Hell bent on maintaining the “statist” quo. Only Ron Paul talks about freedom, privacy, sound money, peace as a policy, etc. because these concepts are the enemy of the military industrial complex. It’s past time to wake up, America. It’s time to grow up.
Yeahboy

That kind of talk is a slippery slope and reminds me of the sophistry used to dupe the masses into wars, more debt, etc. It blurs the line between right and wrong. Let’s make it real simple, OK? How about constitutional and moral vs. unconstitutional and corrupt?
jen

During a recent interview on Freedom Watch, he was effective and genuine in defending Paul – hence the theory of Lew goes out the door. Perhaps someone Lew met, but certainly not Lew.
Laura

Who do you think you are! What possible reasons do you have for supporting Gingrich. Good grief.
WhatMeWorry?

In truth, the country doesn’t need defending. It was here 1,000,000 years before man set foot on it and it will be here billions of years after the warmongers kill us all off. It’s people that need defending. Thus the paradigm for defending a person is easily and logically applied to the nation in general. If you go around slashing people’s tires and killing their dogs in your neighborhood then at some point someone is going to strike back. It is no different for a nation.
Scrubbo

I vote almost always for Democrats as the lesser of two weevils, but if Paul got the nod, I’d vote for him.
Laura

Need I remind you that PAUL was the ONLY candidate (besides Bachmann) that voted and was AGAINST THE BANKING BAILOUTS.
Patsym2533

THATS FUNNY IGNORE THE VERY SAME PEOPLE WHO VOTED HIM IN OFFICE, FOLLOWING HIS LOGIC HIS OPINION SHOULD BE IGNORED!!!
Laura

I recommended on Daily Paul that whoever it is could just WRITE A STATEMENT and refuse to do interviews. That would be acceptable, and it would be good not to do interviews.