Iowa Caucus!

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Originally Posted by dragonrider

Nailhead, I don't think we usually would agree on policy, but I do agree with your analysis.

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I'm a realist 1st, Ron Paul supporter 2nd. That was as much of a spin I could put on the news without being completely unrealistic. I'm just hoping NH goes much better, a landslide would help...but yea, the realist part of me is kicking me about that fantasy lol. I'd say if he doesn't at least get 3rd or 4th in NH then his chance really is close to nothing, but even if he places last I'll still vote for him as long as he's on the ticket. If he looses and doesn't go 3rd party, I most likely won't be voting this year.

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Originally Posted by r0k

P4B, I don't understand your total aversion for Ron Paul. I'm not going to provide any arguments for liking him, as I'm quite sure you've heard them all, I just want to know where you're coming from.

(Sorry for thread hijack)

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Well, of course P4B will have to answer your question for himself. He's clearly not an RP supporter, but my take on it is not that he has a strong or unfair BIAS against RP, if that is what you are asking. It seems like the RP supporters are a little more agressive in promoting their candidate than supporters of other candidates (hijacking threads, for example), and if the moderator didn't step in to preserve some balance, the whole forum would be hijacked.

Here's my own take on RP, so I don't get accused of being biased myself:

Pros:

• Seems honest and true to his convictions.
• Strong defender of personal liberties and constituional rights.
• Strong defender of fiscal responsibility and balanced budget.

Cons:

• I strongly disagree with his foregin policy (withdrawing from foreign military commitments and alliances).
• I strongly disagree with his economic theories regarding monetary policy (Federal Reserve and gold standard, etc.)
• He is weak on enforcing environmental regulation.
• Some of his ideas seem to me to border on conspiracy theory.

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Originally Posted by Nailhead

I'm a realist 1st, Ron Paul supporter 2nd. That was as much of a spin I could put on the news without being completely unrealistic. I'm just hoping NH goes much better, a landslide would help...but yea, the realist part of me is kicking me about that fantasy lol. I'd say if he doesn't at least get 3rd or 4th in NH then his chance really is close to nothing, but even if he places last I'll still vote for him as long as he's on the ticket. If he looses and doesn't go 3rd party, I most likely won't be voting this year.

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I don't personally support him, but I am glad he is in the race. I think it's important that someone bring the issue of our eroding constitutional rights to the table in a very strong way. And it is also good to see someone who is honest and true to their convictions, whether you agree with them or not --- it helps to expose the phonies and liars by comparison.

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Originally Posted by r0k

P4B, I don't understand your total aversion for Ron Paul. I'm not going to provide any arguments for liking him, as I'm quite sure you've heard them all, I just want to know where you're coming from.

(Sorry for thread hijack)

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I don't recall bashing on Ron Paul in this thread but I'll give this one a shot I guess. First off, my statements regarding the college crowd is true.....I'm sure that if they were around that he probably would have placed in the top 3 if not the top two.

As for "not liking"/supporting Ron Paul...there isn't a one of the candidates right now that I can truly say that I support or even say that I'm remotely impressed with. Find me a pro-war, pro-abortion, pro-death penalty, pro-legalize drugs candidate and THEN I'll be impressed.:D

Ron Paul did VERY well in Iowa in my book. 10% for someone that was "predicted" not to even remotely rank was a good showing and I'm sure that it'll be better in N.H. Even on FOX last night; the announcers were stating that maybe their network should reconsider not having him in the future debate since he placed so well or at least hold two different debates so he'd be included. :thumbsup:

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Originally Posted by dragonrider

I don't personally support him, but I am glad he is in the race. I think it's important that someone bring the issue of our eroding constitutional rights to the table in a very strong way. And it is also good to see someone who is honest and true to their convictions, whether you agree with them or not --- it helps to expose the phonies and liars by comparison.

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Pretty much my feelings also. I may not support the dude but he does bring issues to the table that create debate........that's a good thing!:thumbsup:

Have a good one!:s4:

You guys are all high!

Paul has no chance at all
Hillary is a tool

Obama is a good candidate and would make the best president

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I think it's important that someone bring the issue of our eroding constitutional rights to the table in a very strong way. And it is also good to see someone who is honest and true to their convictions, whether you agree with them or not --- it helps to expose the phonies and liars by comparison.

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well said dragon rider

but for all of you that say ron pauls idea of pulling out of foregin alliances is a bad idea i dont think it is. by us staying and funding isreal we are preventring them from just rubbing out there enemy. i think if we were to pull out they would take care of buissness and get it finnished with once and for all

Iowa went fine guys. While the result was not quite as quite good as we would have liked today, there are plenty of positives to take out of Iowa and we are in a much better position than many of our competitors. Below are some positive messages we should be using when we talk about Iowa to friends, family, undecided voters and the media.

(1) Contrary to what some here believe, we did significantly outperform our polls, just as we had been saying we would do all along.

According to Real Clear Politics, we were polling at 7.3% in the last five polls taken before the caucus (on average) yet, as of writing this, we are at 10.0%, meaning that we performed more than 37% better than we polled. That is a substantial overperformanceâ??about twice as good as anyone else in the field.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epo...a-primary.html

(2) Despite the fact that we put very little effort into Iowa until very late in the game and despite the fact that Ron Paul spent less time in Iowa than any other candidate (in a state where in-person campaigning is essential) and despite our shabby treatment by the mainstream media we still were just 3 points out of third place.

(3) We destroyed former front-runner Rudy Giulianiâ??absolutely destroyed him with almost triple his vote totalâ??and donâ??t be fooledâ??Rudy didnâ??t compete here because he couldnâ??t compete not because he didnâ??t want to.

(4) The winner in Iowa, Mike Huckabee, is completely unacceptable to large portions of the Republican party from Rush Limbaugh to the National Review crowd. Iowa has a much higher percentage of evangelicals than will primaries coming forward. Huckabee ainâ??t going to win New Hampshire and has little national organization.

(5) Meanwhile, of the other contenders, it was an unmitigated disaster for each of them. Despite spending tons of time and million of $ in Iowa Romney was crushed. And heâ??s going to lose to McCain in New Hampshire. McCain meanwhile, did not get the bounce that he needed from this performance. He is still low on cash and though he is likely to win New Hampshire itâ??s not obvious how he does well afterwards. Thompsonâ??s performance was likewise weak given his sole focus on Iowa and his one time front-runner status. He is going absolutely nowhere in New Hampshire. He is also totally out of money. He may drop out of the race soon. Meanwhile Giuliani was embarrassed in Iowa and is toast going forward.

(6) Exit polls suggest that we WON Independent Voters, who are the key crossover constituency that a Republican candidate is going to need to win in the general election.

So where does that leave us? We have a wide open race right now. We are likely to be top 3 in Wyoming and we should also do fairly well in South Carolina and Nevada, where we have spent time building our base while everyone else was in Iowa.

Virtually every other candidate is broke and with the exception of Huckabee, they wonâ??t pull in more money based on their Iowa performance. Meanwhile, we have millions in the bank and with our huge grassroots base, we can easily raise millions more. That money will matter a lot more in states that, unlike Iowa donâ??t allow candidates to meet every voter. This is where we begin to use our finances to our advantage.

Weâ??re not going to have a clear winner going into Super Tuesday on Feb. 5th. Right now, we have a large funding base and the organization to get out our message and reach voters. Almost all our competition doesnâ??t because they have spent all of their time and money in Iowa and New Hampshire. While it is still an uphill fight for the nomination (as it always was, eternal optimists on this forum aside) we are coming out of Iowa in a better position than we came in and we are well placed to do some real damage in the primaries going forward.

The Revolution Continues!

A little more info regarding Iowa. If it is true this is sad, but true or not the votes have been cast and it's time to move on to the next state.

An email from an Atlanta RP meetup member in Iowa - Ron Paul Forums

sounds like sabotage, if it's true then paul did extremely well considering...

Oh Oh another conspiracy. I'm heading for my bunker.