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Republican Ron Paul: Who's laughing now? Sheldon Alberts During the early Republican presidential debates last spring and summer, the leading GOP candidates treated Texas congressman Ron Paul a bit like a libertarian nutbar. He was someone to be tolerated or mocked - and even the Fox News moderators acted like he was a distraction to endure until they could ask the big guns important questions. The U.S. media, it must be said, initially treated him something like the Republican Dennis Kucinich - an interesting oddball, but an oddball nonetheless. Why? Because alone among the Republican candidates, Paul is strongly against the war in Iraq and is highly critical of an American military presence anywhere in the Middle East. During a debate in South Carolina last summer, Rudy Giuliani played schoolyard bully when Paul said he believes the causes of anti-Americanism in the Middle East are rooted in U.S. foreign policy.
(Article continues below) Paul stood his ground. And he's clearly found a following - if not among Republican voters in Iowa and New Hampshire, then among the libertarian right and (perhaps) the anti-war left on the Internet. He raised $5 million US during the third quarter of 2007, giving him more money in the bank than John McCain. Now he's stunned Republican frontrunners by ringing up $4.3 million US in donations in a single-day fundraising blitz. Reuters has a good take on his insurgent campaign here. The influx of money has helped Paul make his first TV ad buy in New Hampshire, a luxury some of second-tier Republican candidates have yet to indulge in. Like Howard Dean in 2004, Paul has a huge following on the Internet and draws tons of traffic to his Facebook and MySpace sites, as reported here. I interviewed Paul in May just after the Republican presidential debate in South Carolina where his anti-war views were prominently on display. He described the 9/11 attacks as "blowback" against American foreign policy, a remark which triggered Giuliani's ridicule. Here's what Paul told me when asked about Republicans and the war: "Republicans have been conservative and anti-war and picked up the pieces when Democrats get us into trouble. It's a constitutional and conservative position. I don't feel out of place ... It discourages me that Republicans aren't open-minded enough to look at their history and look at a traditional Republican conservative position. Because they are going to lose another election (if they don't) ... Our policies over 50 years have led to anti-Americanism, that leads to hatred and leads people to do irrational things. That's not blaming America. You can't attack my patriotism by saying that." But while Paul's anger over Iraq has generated the headlines, it's his views on other core conservative Republican issues may be fuelling his success in the money primaries. Paul is, as it happens, also firmly anti-abortion, pro-gun and anti-NAFTA. He believes the freedoms and liberties of Americans have been threatened by the White House, and cites the Patriot Act as a particular danger. He favours a drastically reduced federal government that would be primarily responsible for defending America from outside attack and not a heck of a lot else. In a Ron Paul administration - au revoir Internal Revenue Service, Department of Homeland Security and Department of Education. There's been plenty of tangible evidence of his appeal. He finished third in a recent straw poll at the "Values Voters" convention in Washington - ahead of Fred Thompson, John McCain and Rudy Giuliani. And he's got a strong following among economic conservatives furious with President Bush's big-spending habits over the past seven years. It may be that Paul's supporters are not concentrated enough to help in the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3. And he still doesn't have enough money to last much beyond Iowa or New Hampshire if he doesn't pull decent numbers in early January voting. But he's dangerous enough that Republican insiders are worried, at least a little bit, about a third-party candidacy in 2008 that could bleed votes from the party's nominee. Here's the column I wrote recently in the National Post about Paul. Judging from the letters it generated - even from readers south of the border - his followers are intensely motivated and easily stirred up.
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