With the Republican primaries over as well this week, Ron Paul easily passed the 1 million vote mark.
The Texas congressman racked up more than 45,800 votes in the final three contests on Tuesday. He finished second in all three to John McCain, the presumptive nominee, with 22 percent of the vote in Montana, 17 percent in South Dakota, and 14 percent in New Mexico.
Paul is trying to win a speaking slot and platform influence at the GOP convention in September, when he could prove a fly in the proverbial ointment for McCain’s coronation.
“Dr. Paul’s grassroots supporters across the country are doing a tremendous job spreading our message, winning votes, and laying a strong foundation for the future,” campaign spokesman Jesse Benton said in a statement today.
RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) - Hillary Rodham Clinton will give her post-primary speech in New York Tuesday night, a rare departure from the campaign trail.
Staffers who have worked for her on he ground in Puerto Rico, South Dakota and Montana have been invited to attend the event or go home for further instructions, campaign aides said. The New York senator had no other events Tuesday. She planned to address AIPAC Wednesday in Washington.
But she is under increasing pressure to cede the Democratic nomination to Barack Obama after the final primaries. There was a sense of denouement in the campaign. She planned to rally with husband and former President Clinton and their daughter Chelsea in South Dakota Monday night—a reunion usually reserved for election nights.
While both candidates will speak at the AIPAC summit today, and they will both probably say similar things, here’s some highlights from McCain’s speech:
The threats to Israel’s security are large and growing, and America’s commitment must grow as well. I strongly support the increase in military aid to Israel, scheduled to begin in October. I am committed to making certain Israel maintains its qualitative military edge. Israel’s enemies are too numerous, its margin of error too small, and our shared interests and values too great for us to follow any other policy.
Honestly, I doubt Obama will say anything much better, but there you go.
Update:
Here’s Obama’s speech. A bit better (less talk of war with Iran, more talk of working with people, including Palestine, for peace), but there is still this:
At the same time, we must preserve our total commitment to our unique defense relationship with Israel by fully funding military assistance and continuing work on the Arrow and related missile defense programs. This would help Israel maintain its military edge and deter and repel attacks from as far as Tehran and as close as Gaza. And when Israel is attacked, we must stand up for Israel’s legitimate right to defend itself.
Not an increase in aid as McCain proposed, but not a decrease either.
We’re entering record-breaking territory here. Since The Real McCain 2 launched this past Sunday, over 1 million people have seen it! It’s been the #1 most viewed video on YouTube, #1 on the viral video chart, and the #2 story on the Digg Election 2008 page. We’re reaching an audience that most cable news shows only dream of.
We knew the press’s inexplicably blind love for McCain has led to a dearth of accurate reportage regarding his record on the issues. We knew the corporate media have been going far easier on McCain than on either Obama or Clinton. Now that we have the numbers, we know that the general public hungers for the truth about the so-called “Maverick.”
The video below has been playing in Pennsylvania markets and other States leading up to their respective primary. It’s a trippy, animated 60-second spot in which a Dr. Paul wanders back through American history to condemn today’s hubristic foreign policy consensus.
For readers who are unable to view video clips online, there’s a transcript after the jump …
Please join us this April 30th for the largest one week political book buying event in history. Our goal is to generate over 50,000 sales of Ron Paul’s new book “The Revolution” in one week’s time.
Doing this will put Ron Paul’s new book on the New York Times best seller list and create a wave of media opportunities. Make Ron Paul and Revolution: A Manifesto NUMBER ONE!
Buy the book between April 30th and May 6th.
The book should be available in book stores for around $21 and it is available on Amazon for around $12.
Here is a YouTube video of Ron Paul talking about the book and what happened in Nevada on CNN this morning:
The Democratic primary was not the only one going on in Pennsylvania yesterday. The Republican primary was also conducted and the results need to be examined. There is practically no chance for anyone but John McCain to win the nomination, but the voters in Pennsylvania have sent him a message that they are not 100% behind him.
While the talk has been about the Democratic race and the conflict between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama splitting the party in two while John McCain can devote his time to working on the general election, the vote in the primary sends him a message that he needs to connect with members of his own party first.
Without mentioning McCain’s name, Paul paints himself as the true conservative and draws obvious contrasts on immigration, taxes, and campaign finance reform. No mention of the issue that has drawn so many to Paul, his opposition to the Iraq war (he does say he supports “a pro-America defense policy”).
Anybody want to wager what percent of the vote Paul pulls tomorrow in Penn? And, to you Paul’ites, are you doing any get out the vote stuff to supplement the ad?
The political fund raising of Rep. Ron Paul, which dominated the Republican presidential field as recently as December, is fading fast, apparently as his loyal followers’ enthusiasm reflects the looming numerical reality of his long-shot campaign.
Paul filed his campaign’s required financial reports with the Federal Election Commission over the weekend and said he raised a mere $123,523 in the entire month of March.
I truly believe that historians will one day write of THE REVOLUTION as the book that inspired a national movement to reverse America’s decline.
It begins with a reality check. Our entitlement programs are insolvent. The dollar is collapsing yet we continue to borrow billions from China every day. National bankruptcy looms while we play empire games abroad, weakening our national defense and stirring up hostility against us. And the political class offers no alternative. Artificial limitations on free debate ensure that the right questions are never asked, let alone answered.
The book’s core message is that our current path is unsustainable. Either we face the facts and revert gracefully from empire to republic, or financial reality will make itself known in increasingly uncomfortable ways until the system degenerates into chaos.
It seems impossible to me that anyone could read this book from cover to cover and come to a different conclusion. In concise and captivating prose, Ron Paul takes a rhetorical wrecking ball to the conventional wisdom about terrorism, foreign policy, the economy, healthcare, taxes, trade, the war on drugs, foreign aid, international institutions, and much more. He lambasts the media and political establishments for sustaining the illusion of a fantasy world while liberty and prosperity are silently strangled.
When the dust clears, all that remains standing is the legacy of our founding fathers. Ron Paul eloquently defends the original intent of the founders and the continued relevance of the Constitution. He draws for us a beautiful picture of America - the way it was meant to be, the way it still can be.
Forget the campaign-season rhetoric about unity and change. Here, finally, is a message - a manifesto - around which Americans can unite. “In the final analysis,” Ron Paul writes, “the last line of defense in support of freedom and the Constitution consists of the people themselves.”
It is that time. The system is compromised. The government is not coming to the rescue. The media will only distract you. The future of our Republic will be decided by you and me. As a first step, let us rouse our neighbors by spreading this book far and wide.
Ron Paul has written a masterpiece that deserves to be read by every American. It enlightens and inspires from the first page to its final sentence:
“Let the revolution begin.”
Check out Ron Paul’s new book at Amazon… It’s $12.60. Click here.
I was told just a bit ago that we FINALLY have a date set down in stone for the march! This is amazing news, because it also means that the permits are done, and we can finally go into the real promotion and organization stages! There were (and still are) a lot of people who don’t believe that this can and will happen, but everything is in motion now and we are going to stand up for ourselves.
So, to the information you care about… The rEVOLution March will be held JULY 12, 2008 ON THE WEST SIDE OF CAPITOL HILL. Dr. Paul’s people are now in on the march, and are going to help us out how they can. Keep in mind though that this is still a grassroots effort, meaning that it’s up to us to spread the word!
Having a date also means that we FINALLY get to move into our heavy promotion and organization stage! This is going to be pretty difficult, because the state coordinators are going to be trying to contact the people within their states to help out with hotel accomodations, travel, and everything else that goes into helping ensure that we all get there safely.
I can’t stress this enough: If you want to help promote or coordinate for your state, LET ME KNOW! I can get you in contact with your main state coordinator pretty quickly. If you need to do fundraising to get there, start now, because the countdown is on!
As always, feel free to let me know if you have any questions-
M. Grace Cook
Promoter/Coordinator
…PS: It’s late, so I apologize for what I’m sure are a ton of grammar/spelling errors…
Jed Report, the blog which promoted Hillary Clinton’s Tuzla problem with a tough video montage that drew a whopping 400,000 views, is back with a new spot assailing the New York Senator. The three-minute attack ad, billed as a movie “trailer,” winds from old archival footage of Clinton backing NAFTA and dissembling on Tuzla and Iraq to her latest complaint that Obama is “elitist.” In its first day on YouTube, the video is the fourth highest rated item under “news and politics.”
RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) - Hillary Rodham Clinton will give her post-primary speech in New York Tuesday night, a rare departure from the campaign trail.
While both candidates will speak at the AIPAC summit today, and they will both probably say similar things, here’s some highlights from McCain’s speech:
The Democratic primary was not the only one going on in Pennsylvania yesterday. The Republican primary was also conducted and the results need to be examined. There is practically no chance for anyone but John McCain to win the nomination, but the voters in Pennsylvania have sent him a message that they are not 100% behind him.
