Ron Paul Ended His Bid For the White House Tonight

No, Congressman Paul did not bow out of the race.  I wish he would.  He's just a nut. Here are the three things that I think ended his candidacy.

1) Paul actually called the Occupy Wall Street protesters victims.  Victims? Really?  Did anyone force them to go take out student loans?  Did anyone force them to go into massive debt for an education?  I don't think so.  Doug Schoen in the Wall Street Journal, today (click HERE for the article) wrote an op ed after his polling firm went down and polled the occupy wall street protesters.  The only real thing that these people have in common is that they share a hard left, almost Marxist ideology.  In the piece, Schoen warns Obama to not support them.

2)  Paul said the US should end all foreign aid to Israel.  While I understand his libertarian ideology is such that he believes that all foreign aide should be ended, I think this is a huge misstep.  Israel is one of our most loyal allies.  Israel is the only functioning democracy in the Middle East.  Israel is the only sane voice in the middle east.  We need to continue to help support Israel.

3)  Congressman Paul called the people being held at Gitmo "suspects." These are not common criminals.  These are enemy combatants who would detonate a nuclear bomb in the US if they could get their hands on one.  They are not really entitled to protections under the Geneva Conventions, since they do not adhere to any of the normal rules of war.  To call them "suspects" means that they deserve constitutional protections.  These men deserve none of that.  They are enemy combatants.  Most of them are terrorists, and we know that a majority of those who have been released have gone back to fight against the US in the country that they were captured in.

So long Congressman.  It was nice getting to know you.

McCain not a Conservative (and barely a Republican)

It is amazing how the mainstream press continues to swoon for John McCain. The latest is a story in the Times that attempts to create sympathy for McCain so that he can be pushed to the forefront of the Republican party. The article talks about smear tactics being used in South Carolina, in which people are spreading outright lies about the Arizona Senator. The Article then details how this had been done in the 2000 primary. The tactics truely are dispicable and, in my opinion have absolutely no place in American politics. After detailing some of the smears used against McCain in 2000, and now in this Election year, the article says the following:

Although Mr. McCain, of Arizona, roared into the state as the upset winner in New Hampshire that year — a feat he repeated last week — eight years ago he had neither the organization nor the money to respond. He lost the state to George W. Bush, and his campaign soon derailed.

Herein lies the problem that I have with this article. The writer of this article does not come right out and say it but rather heavily insinuates that the smear campaign was what derailed McCain's presidential hopes in the year 2000. This assumption just is yet another example of how far off the main stream media is when it comes to Republican Presidential Politics.

McCain did not lose in 2000 because he was smeared. He lost because Conservatives will not vote for him. Why, you may ask? Because he is simply not conservative, and other than the fact that he is a registered Republican, McCain diverges from not just one, but many planks in the Republican platform. Here are just a few:

1) McCain cosponsored McCain-Fiengold, which in essence destroyed a form of free speech in this country by limiting election adds and campaign contributions in during elections. The moderate supreme court upheld the law, but many constitutional scholars see this law as a clear violation of the first amemdment.

2) McCain supports amnesty for illegal imigration. He co-sponsored McCain-Kennedy, a bill wildly unpopular with the vast majority of all Americans. It was the grass-roots movements in America that killed this bill not once, but twice.

3)McCain accepts hook, line and sinker, the unproven hypothesis of man-made global warming. His rhetoric on this issue smacks of arrogance. He often speaks as if he is completely right and that those who oppose him are not only just wrong, but immoral and stupid for disagreeing with him.

4)McCain undermined the Republican leadership in the bitter fight to get Bush appelate judges confirmed. Republicans had threatened to impose the "neuclear option" and end the ability of the minority to fillibuster judicial appointments once they had received an endorsement from the judiciary committee.

5)McCain, just yesterday reiterated his unwillingness to look for oil in a small part of ANWAR, a place in Alaska that most Alaskans favor drilling. He equated drilling in ANWAR with drilling in the Grand Canyon or the Florida Everglades. Anwar is a wasteland. The plan is to leave 92% of the refuge alone. The area in question is described as a frozen swamp. Yet a source of oil in the US is not good for America, according to McCain.

McCain did not lose the primary because he was smeared. He lost the primary because he is not Conservative. So don't let the press fool you. McCain would be a disasterous choice as the Republican nominee. He would get trounced in the general election.