Ron Paul on Bill Maher (and issues sans soundbites)
Disclaimer: I am the chairman for the Libertarian Party of Collin County, TX.
Republican congressman Ron Paul was interviewed on Bill Maher last night. Maher, a self-described libertarian (Maher is a single issue libertarian), attempted to throw Dr. Paul under a bus. I think Dr. Paul did quite well under pressure and described the libertarian viewpoint beautifully. Please watch, try to avoid the slavery soundbite distraction (Maher’s), and do your own research. Here’s the clip:
Here are a few little known facts about Dr. Paul; perhaps you will gain some insight with regard to his character.
10 Things You Didn’t Know About Ron Paul
By Danielle Burton
Posted 3/23/07
Compiled by the U.S. News & World Report library staff1. Ronald Ernest Paul was born on Aug. 20, 1935, in Pittsburgh. His father was a dairy farmer.
2. Paul graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Gettysburg College in 1957 and with a medical degree from the Duke University School of Medicine in 1961.
3. He served as a flight surgeon in the Air Force from 1963 to 1965 and in the Air National Guard until 1968. That year he moved to Texas to take over another doctor’s medical practice.
4. Paul greatly admires Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973), an Austrian economist who advocated laissez-faire, free market policies. A photo of the economist decorates his office wall. Paul became interested in politics in 1971 when President Nixon removed the country from the gold standard and set wage price controls– disappointing actions to Paul (and presumably von Mises).
5. Paul was elected to the House of Representatives in a special election in April 1976 to replace resigning Rep. Robert R. Casey. He was not re-elected later that year but did win his bid in 1978. He held office until early 1985, when he returned to his medical practice.
6. Paul ran for president in 1988 as a candidate for the Libertarian party. He received over 400,000 votes (or 0.47 percent), finishing third behind George H. W. Bush and Michael Dukakis.
7. Returning to the GOP, Paul won office again in 1996 to represent his Texas district in the House. He has been re-elected five times. He reportedly would like to be listed as both a Republican and a Libertarian, if Texas law allowed. And maybe also as a member of the Constitutional Party.
8. Paul received the nickname “Dr. No” in Congress for repeatedly casting “nay” votes, even on legislation with almost unanimous support from his Republican colleagues. Explaining why he opposes legislation that expands government power, funds federal spending, or reduces privacy: “I interpret through the eyes of the Constitution. If we don’t have direct authorization, I don’t vote for it, even if there are good intentions.” In 2006, the Washington Post wrote: “He says, if his fellow Republicans are ‘very desperate,’ he may allow himself to be talked into changing a ‘no’ vote to ‘present.’ “
9. During his medical career specializing in obstetrics/gynecology, he delivered more than 4,000 babies. He refused to accept payment by Medicare or Medicaid, preferring to not charge patients or to work out a cash payment.
10. Paul is married to Carol Wells. They have five children and 17 grandchildren. He supported his children during their undergraduate and medical school years–not letting them accept federal student loans. It is also said he plans to refuse his congressional pension. (Emphasis mine.)
With Dr. Paul’s candidacy, I find myself lucky to be a Texas libertarian. Texas libertarians easily achieved ballot access so I can support Dr. Paul in the Republican primary and remain true to liberty’s cause. There are many libertarians in whom I am interested, but in the duopoly that is American politics, if Dr. Paul wins the GOP nom, my vote might be for the RINO.
Links:
Ron Paul’s voting record
Libertarian Party
Ron Paul’s campaign site
Ron Paul’s issues
Update: I should make clear that as county chairman, I can support Ron Paul up to the primary, but cannot vote for him and hold convention. You can only affiliate with one party. If you are a libertarian who wishes to vote in the primary for Dr. Paul, you will not be able to vote in the Libertarian Party nomination process.
Who needs government subsidies when you work for a monopoly like hte health care industry that milks the public for all its worth. What’s one medicare payment when you can charge hundreds of dollars for nothing.
There’s something scary about someone who got into politics because he thought Nixon was too liberal, and doesn’t seem to know the first thing about collaborating with others of different viewpoints.
[...] By info@associatedcontent.com (Steve Helmer) wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptPaul greatly admires Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973), an Austrian economist who advocated laissez-faire, free market policies. A photo of the economist decorates his office wall. Paul became interested in politics in 1971 when President … [...]
free music » Ron Paul on Bill Maher (and issues sans soundbites) said this on April 1, 2007 at 9:13 am |
Paul did a great job, despite Maher’s trying to make him look like a kook. I think if most Americans used logic they would (or already do) agree with Ron Paul. Maher is a schmuck.
Doug,
Dr. Paul has lived with integrity. Not accepting tax funded payments from entitlement programs likely cut deeply into his personal income. (My husband is a doc so I know a little about these things.) And as far as the “liberal” comment, Dr. Paul is quite liberal himself- it is just that he is “classically liberal.”
Maher showed his rear end! He tried to make the Honorable Ron Paul look like a flake. He evidently didn’t understand that Dr. Paul doesn’t run from controversy he nails it head on.
Honesty and Integrity…two words that can always be hung on the name of Dr. Ron Paul
Ron Paul? I’d never heard of the guy until I clicked your link. WOW! Ron Paul is reasonable, thoughtful, experienced, and impressive. Thanks.
I’ve never heard of him before either, but it’s good to see that there are still a few TRUE Republicans out there! I’ll be keeping an eye out of him in the future.
OOPS!- make that: keeping an eye out FOR him…!
[...] Ron Paul on Bill Maher (and issues sans soundbites) Disclaimer: I am the chairman for the Libertarian Party of Collin County, TX. Republican congressman Ron Paul was […] [...]
Top Posts « WordPress.com said this on April 1, 2007 at 5:59 pm |
Ron Paul needs to get a sense of humor. He looked horrible on that show. My God, his performance was boring. Who is running his campaign? Didn’t they brief him before hand that it was a Comedy Show and he needed to lighten up, at the very least crack a smile.
He was like Mr. Doomsday. I can’t imagine that performance won him any support whatsoever.
Interesting. As long as he stayed away from economics I found myself in full agreement.
I think he’d add more in 08 as Lib rather than a Rep.
I watched his performace for the 2nd time. I can now honestly say that Ron Paul on Bill Mahr will go down in Libertarian Movement history as the very worst, or at least second worst performance of a Libertarian on national TV ever.
The first, of course, was David Bergland in 1984 appearing on Ted Koppel’s Nightline. With that single performance Bergland probably lost 1 million votes. He was that bad.
Ditto for Ron Paul. He most likely lost a few hundred thousand votes with this performance. People who would have otherwise voted for him, saw his fringe, humorless performance, and said to themselves, “no, forget about this Paul guy.” It was that bad.
My God, what are Ron Paul’s handlers thinking? Didn’t anyone bother to tell him ahead of time that it was a Comedy Show. That you’re supposed to smile. That you’re supposed to crack jokes. And above all YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO DEBATE THE CIVIL WAR!!
Ron Paul should stick to radio, and the internet, were people can’t see him as he is in reality.
Whatever Dondero. It isn’t like Ron Paul chose to be railroaded on that issue. I think he handled it well considering.
Bill really decided to waste Ron’s evening. With so much to talk about (ie: WAR!!!!, Habeas Corpus, etc) Bill decided to chat about things that even if Ron were to be elected he couldn’t do with a swipe of a pen. What a waste of time. Too bad Bill didn’t take the time to talk about Ron’s vision for America. Bill also didn’t congratulate Ron on winning the Tax Payers Friend Award (http://tinyurl.com/2ha6yw ). I guess Bill decided Ron’s opinion on how the civil war could of been avoided and settled in a peaceful resoultion to free the slaves was more important. Damn Bill, I thought you were going to ask some tough questons.
Brief Overview of Congressman Paul’s Record
* He has never voted to raise taxes.
* He has never voted for an unbalanced budget.
* He has never voted for a federal restriction on gun ownership.
* He has never voted to raise congressional pay.
* He has never taken a government-paid junket.
* He has never voted to increase the power of the executive branch.
* He voted against the Patriot Act.
* He voted against regulating the Internet.
* He voted against the Iraq war.
* He does not participate in the lucrative congressional pension program.
* He returns a portion of his annual congressional office budget to the U.S. treasury every year.
Congressman Paul introduces numerous pieces of substantive legislation each year, probably more than any single member of Congress.
This man is the ONLY canadiate to candidate to put his pen where his mouth is. He signed a document promising to restore the US Constitution!! http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2247774663533107477
Ron is awesome, he took LIVE calls on C-SPAN. Check it out to see where Ron stands on many issues: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2771662541893688122
Dondero – Dr. Paul did an awesome job, I don’t think he came accross as “Mr. Doomsday” as you say. Instead he came accross as “Mr. Levelheaded and Mr. Commonsense” and that ROCKS!
Congressman Ron Paul is the leading advocate for freedom in our nation’s capital. America was instituted on the basis of creating a limited and balanced government. The revolution was fought to prevent a centralized government to take shape that would deny its people intrinsic rights. What we have in America today is a centralized totalitarian state. At the expense of local governments which help create healthy communities. Returning to the gold standard is the best way to restore our once firm check on our gov.
Bill Maher came out as an arrogant jackass who thought he could demean Ron Paul; sorry to inform you bill, Ron Paul served you a plate of knowledge and you threw it in the trash. As for Ron Paul, he came across as a very calm, intelligent gentleman.
RON PAUL 2008!
RON PAUL FOR PRESIDENT
Who interviews a presidential candidate and does not ask about his position on IRAQ?????
Very weird.
When a-hole Maher asked him about the civil war he should have said something like, “I’m more concerned about the war we are in now, not what happened in the 1800’s”
If he managed to get his opinion on the war out (most likely begin troop withdrawls on inauguration day) he would have probably garnered some real attention.
I am ashamed of Bill Maher for wasting a good man’s time with his, as elequently stated above, railroading of the issues. I tuned in because I really wanted to hear what he had to say on the issues… Bill… you are the worst and I will never again waste another minute of MY time listening to YOUR stupid crap.
Bill Maher is not a libertarian. Like Eric Dondero, he is a partisan hack who merely calls himself a libertarian, with the difference being that Maher is beholden to the Democrats (hence his support for gun control and class warfare politics), while Dondero is beholden to the Republicans (hence his near fanatical support for the Iraq War).
This was Bill Maher at his absolute worse. Bill Maher is always telling his audience how he opposes the Iraq War and the War on Drugs. One would think that given that Ron Paul is the most outspoken Republican against both the Iraq War and the War on Drugs, Bill Maher would brought those issues up and enlisted Ron Paul’s support on those positions.
Instead, Maher did everything he could to try to discredit Ron Paul and make him out to be just another loony right-winger.
This definitely was not one of Ron Paul better performances, and it was a completely blown opportunity for Maher to demonstrate that one of President Bush’s biggest critics is a member of his own party.
Being somewhat liberal-leaning myself, I’ve never understood why so many on the left (including pseudo-libertarians such as Maher) seek to discredit libertarians rather than work with them on issues that they supposedly agree on.
I agree. In 06 the Greens and the (right leaning) Libertarians had a very civil debate and found many issues of agreement including the Iraq War and Patriot Act., suspicion of government power etc…
I would welcome Ron Paul as the Libertarian candidate for Prez in 08. I think if we made sure the Libs and Greens were in every Presidential debate we would be doing this country a great service.