Fox News is afraid of Ron Paul, keeping him out of their next debate. It used to be that a station like this would love to have Paul on as a whipping boy. But since their pathetic set of candidates are so weak, Paul looks like a giant among Lilliputians. Odd that Paul doesn’t make the debate stage, but the guy who this week said he’s not particularly interested in running for President does, huh?

Fred Thompson, Ron Paul | 2 Comments »

That Ron Paul collected $6 million yesterday, has over $17 million for the quarter, and could reach as high as $20 million, which would be more than any Republican candidate in any quarter this cycle (he may be there already).

In the polls, Mike Huckabee has come from nowhere. In the money race, Paul is destroying the competition.

The Republican establishment really threw out some fine choices this year, didn’t they?

Ron Paul, Mike Huckabee | No Comments »

Hey you guys - stop making jokes about Mrs. Paul’s balls.

Tomorrow, you may remember, is the deadline to vote for Yankee Magazine’s cookie primary.  And which candidate’s recipe is the winner?  Oh, you didn’t have to think about that one too hard, did you?

Because with just shy of 10,000 votes on the night of December 13, Carol Paul’s Apricot-Coconut Balls have received 93% of the vote!  The Cookie Monster, between stuffing Mrs. Paul’s balls in his mouth, was apparently stuffing the cookie primary ballot box, too. As goes Mrs. Paul’s balls, so goes the nation?

Alas, while the Paul fans may be gearing up for their cookie party, they can’t declare decisive victory yet.  We’ll have to leave that to our panel of expert tasters at Southern New Hampshire University who will be like a small caucus of voters themselves.

In the meanwhile, for those of you who will fix every online Ron Paul-related vote that you can, just remember not to eat too many of Mrs. Paul’s balls or you’ll turn into a blimp.

Ron Paul, New Hampshire | No Comments »

You’ve got to give them credit. Ron Paul’s supporters decided they wanted a blimp, and they went out and got themselves a damn blimp. The flight plan has the airship hovering over the East Coast for as long as the money holds out, but if they can pick up another dirigible, they just might take it to the big show:

While it would be quite difficult to get the first blimp all the way across the country to the Super Bowl, we could get another blimp in Arizona for the Super Bowl, if Ron Paul supporters sponsor it. The owner of an airfield nearby has agreed to host us for free. Then we could keep this one East coast focused until Super Tuesday.

The zeppelin may be a gigantic political ad, but its backers are doing an end run around campaign finance laws, financing the gasbag through a private, for-profit advertising company:

We will not be forming a PAC (Political Action Committee) as discussed originally. Under a PAC donations to the blimp would count towards donations to the official campaign. For example, if a person contributed $100 towards the PAC then they would only be able to contribute $2,200 of the $2,300 maximum to the official campaign. Forming a PAC would also be a FEC legal nightmare due to regulations and restrictions.

We created a business plan that allows any US citizen to buy as much blimp as they want without having it count towards their current campaign contributions. Former chairman of the FEC, Brad Smith, one of the top U.S. election lawyers, has been retained as our lawyer. This updated legal arrangement offers the best of both worlds, no limits and virtually no regulations.

So, we formed a for profit company called Liberty Political Advertising, LLC. which allows a US citizen to “sponsor” a pre-selected political message.

No better way to send a political message than by renting a massive flying bladder. They’ll give this whole son-of-a-bitchin’ country something to remember Ron Paul by.

Ron Paul | No Comments »

Despite failure at the polls in 2006 and 2007, the Republicans think they have a magic bullet headed into the next election year with the issue of immigration. If they can only demagogue the issue enough, the theory goes, they can tap into nativist fears of a brown horde sweeping across the nation and eke out a victory. It doesn’t matter to them that immigrants actually underuse the health care system instead of “stealing health care” away from real Muricans, or that children of immigrants actually grow fluent in English in the second generation, because they understand that learning the language is the key to economic success. They would rather demonize the other, despite the historical blunder of alienating the record numbers of immigrants entering the country (One in eight people living in this country is an immigrant, the highest percentage since the 1920s).
(more…)

Ron Paul, Mike Huckabee, Tom Tancredo, John McCain, Mitt Romney | No Comments »

It’s been a few days since Yankee Magazine announced its New Hampshire Cookie Primary. In it, the nice Presidential folks submitted their favorite cookie recipes. Readers can rate the recipes online, and a panel of judges will also vote for their favorites on December 14 after the recipes are baked by culinary students at Southern New Hampshire University.

And, shock of shocks, Rep. Ron Paul so far appears to be the winner - if you go by the ratings at the website to date. There isn’t a single rating for any of the candidates’ recipes, but for Mrs. Paul’s Apricot Coconut Balls, 99% said they would make the recipe again, and an anonymous commenter said, “This was so easy! A great recipe that the kids can help with!”

But if Mrs. Paul’s recipe doesn’t win in New Hampshire next month, count on Paul’s supporters to claim that the panel was biased because the culinary student who baked it didn’t use enough condensed milk.

Meanwhile, amateur gender studies specialist and fulltime journalist Stephen Dinan at the Washington Times points out an interesting trend. While Democratic male contributors were mixed on whether or not the recipe they offered was their own, or just their wife’s/grandmother’s, not a single Republican candidate indicated that he baked these cookies himself.

But I’m sure they all like to lick the bowl.

On the Web, Ron Paul, New Hampshire | No Comments »

I just…. I can’t really…. I’ll just let them speak for themselves:

A blimp? A blimp!

Imagine.. the mainstream media is mesmerized as the image of the Ron Paul blimp is shown to tens of millions of Americans throughout the day (and throughout the month). Wolf Blizter, stunned and as if in a trance, repeats the words “Amazing, Amazing”.

As GPS co-ordinates stream to the website a map shows the Ron Paul blimp’s location in real time. The local Television stations broadcast its every move. The curious flock together and make a trip to see history in the making. Emails with pictures are sent, then forwarded, then forwarded again. Youtube videos go viral and reach tens of millions of views. Ron Paul becomes the first presidential candidate in history to have his very own blimp. The PR stunt generates millions upon millions of dollars worth in free publicity, and captures the imagination of America.

Please join us in our goal to raise $350,000 to make and fly the first ever Presidential Blimp in history.

It might be the first ever Presidential Blimp, but it wouldn’t be the first blimp to get into politics:

Ron Paul | 3 Comments »

Whether you’re a turkey or a member of the Detroit Lions (or both), there are some for whom Thanksgiving is about facing up to a lost cause. In that spirit, I leave you with the inimitable Wonkette’s latest gambit in the War on Paultards. What to do when the war effort is flagging? Find a new general to save you. General Farr seems to fit the bill quite nicely.

We may never win the war on Paultards, but it won’t be for General Farr’s lack of trying.

The Right’s Field will probably be slow for the next few days, but we’ll have some great news on Monday. In the meantime, thanks for reading, and happy Thanksgiving. Even to you, lower-case matt.

Ron Paul | 3 Comments »

I’m not always comfortable with publishing polls because they’re a snapshot. But we’re only a month-plus out of New Hampshire, and the trends of this CNN poll show that the media simply needs to start running a new story about the Republican race. Because Mitt Romney is solidly in the lead right now.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson has skidded into sixth place in a new CNN/WMUR poll of likely Republican voters in New Hampshire, edged out by ex-Libertarian and anti-war congressman Ron Paul and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney topped the poll, widening a lead he has held for months in neighboring New Hampshire, while Arizona Sen. John McCain and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani were running close in the second and third spots.

Thompson … has trailed the GOP front-runners in early voting states since entering the race in August, and his support in New Hampshire dropped from 13 percent in a September poll to 4 percent in November’s survey.

By contrast, Romney’s support grew from 25 percent to 33 percent over the same period; McCain held steady at 18 percent; and Giuliani dipped from 24 to 16 percent.

Meanwhile, the percentage of support for Paul grew from 4 percent to 8 percent, putting him fourth among the GOP contenders in the Granite State […]

Among other contenders, Huckabee — seen gaining ground ahead of the Iowa caucuses — claimed 5 percent support in the new poll. Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo, who has made opposition to illegal immigration the centerpiece of his campaign, drew 1 percent; and California Rep. Duncan Hunter, the former chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, had the support of fewer than half of 1 percent.

Romney is now well beyond the margin of error in New Hampshire, and 9iu11iani, who’s trying to make a strong showing UP TO THIRD in Iowa, is looking at the same placement in New Hampshire. Meanwhile, Ron Paul is surging and will probably spend as much money in that state as anyone else. And Fred Thompson no longer exists.

All I’m saying is that it might be time to rewrite those stories. If all you’re going to do is focus on the horse race, the least you can do is get it right.

New Hampshire, Ron Paul, Fred Thompson, Mike Huckabee, Duncan Hunter, Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Tom Tancredo, Mitt Romney | 5 Comments »

True to Ron Paul’s “we don’t need your stinkin’ government/UN/Trilateral Commission” spirit, one group supporting the Texas “libertarian” went the extra mile back in July and offered us the opportunity to celebrate Paul even while battling the tyranny of the Treasury Department. Yes, it’s the Ron Paul Dollar:

In celebration of The 4th of July, 2007 you are invited - even urged - to flex your independence with the Volunteer Network’s ’secret weapon’ - the Ron Paul Dollar bringing new meaning to the U.S. Mint’s “Presidential Dollars” and symbolizing the Congressman’s values. WOW! Now the Internet’s favorite Presidential candidate has his own money to help turbo-charge his shot at the White House.

Wow! is right, and if you don’t believe me, believe these folks:

“The Ron Paul Dollar is certainly different,” said Jeff Kotchounian, a collector in Michigan. “For me, it’s a great way to popularize Ron Paul and get him elected!”

[Bernard] Von NotHaus, the fiery “freemarketeer” behind the Ron Paul Dollar, observes, “It will be interesting to see if enough people are fed up with politics, Bush regime, and the war to take Congressman Paul seriously. Certainly the Ron Paul Dollar is as unique as the Candidate and the election itself. Do the majority of Americans really want to change Washington? Time will tell.”

Unfortunately for von NotHaus, one of the things time has told since July is that the Ron Paul Dollar, along with von NotHaus’s whole “Liberty Dollar” private currency scheme (von NotHaus claims the Liberty Dollar will be immune the the value fluctuations currently roiling the US Dollar), is illegal. This week the FBI raided the Liberty Dollar headquarters and seized, in the words of CNN, “gold, silver and two tons of copper coins featuring Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul.”

The raid comes eight months after von NotHaus filed a lawsuit in federal court in Evansville seeking a permanent injunction to stop the federal government from labeling the Liberty Dollar an illegal currency.

The U.S. Mint issued a warning this year that the Liberty Dollar violated the Constitution and warned consumers against using them unsuspectingly.

Paul’s campaign said it had not authorized production of the Ron Paul dollars.

“We were aware they existed, but we didn’t have any affiliation with them,” said Jesse Benton, a spokesman for Ron Paul’s campaign. “He didn’t ask our permission to make them.”

The FBI also froze Liberty Dollar’s bank accounts and the company is apparently now defunct. The Liberty Dollar website, delightfully, is documenting all the action as it happens, legal papers and all. Von NotHaus is establishing a legal defense fund (”please make your check out to me as there is no other bank account”) and has launched a lawsuit against the US Mint.

I can’t help poking fun at libertarian utopianism, but on the other hand we may all go crawling back to NotHaus when the Canadians have bought our asses out from under us.

Ron Paul | 6 Comments »