It may seem a bit obvious that Ron Paul's presence has created headaches for John McCain and the GOP in general. He's been like an anti-war thorn in the side of the right wing radicals that have co-opted all good sense in the Republican Party and supplanted it with totalitarianism. Paul has served in Congress as a Republican over the years although his positions on key issues certainly would seem to stand at odds with the current administration.
His 1988 Libertarian Party run at the presidency fell a distant 3rd to George H. W. Bush and Michael Dukakis, but he has attracted flocks of followers over the years for his ability to corner the market on a political identity that speaks to more than a few conservative minded citizens out there.
Paul opposes the Patriot Act, torture, domestic surveillance and the trampling of constitutionally guaranteed civil liberties. However, he falls in line with standard conservatives by opposing abortion, hating the UN, voting to crush immigration, and promising to abolish the income tax and drastically pare down bureaucracy. By all accounts, Paul is a true conservative. In this climate, where John McCain is a lock step Bush supporter, Paul is the real maverick.
In this campaign season, it's been apparent that the GOP is struggling against itself for an identity. For the first time in more than a generation the Democrats seem to have a fixed and focused sense of who they are, while the Republicans are running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Most of the confusion comes from the lack of a sitting Vice President in the presidential race after 8 years in office. The Bush presidency has produced such a litany of disasters due to incompetence, excess, patronage, corruption, propaganda, and war mongering that it's difficult for anyone associated with the current government to avoid "getting any on themselves."
Mitt Romney could speak as an outsider to the Bush mess, but couldn't shake his wishy-washy past or his affiliation with the Mormon church. Fred Thompson was a disinterested old fart that made John McCain look like JFK. Rudy Giuliani was both stupid and arrogant. Mike Huckabee had the appeal of the religious right, but hardly seemed a polished enough national candidate to beat either Clinton or Obama. Ron Paul was too much of a radical, hard liner for the Libertarian agenda. His success in using the internet to raise money came from the perception of maverick-ness and the appeal of the conservative anti-war stance. In a way, he's the Bizzaro-Kucinich. He sticks to his guns when it comes to his ideals and he has a large base of supporters who feel unrepresented in the muddling of political identities in Washington.
McCain won the nomination largely because he is a maverick in the media, while being a Bushie to the base. Playing both sides of the fence won't win him many friends on either side, but it was enough to get him the nomination in this mixed-up, weak field of candidates. He was the known quantity and he could pretend that he didn't get any of "the Bush" on him, despite his voting record and his pledge of allegiance to Bush on Meet the Press in 2005.
Paul refused to go away. He only netted a total of 35 pledged delegates before bowing out this week (officially), but he speaks for a minority of conservatives out there that want a smaller, more competent government that respects civil rights and "traditional American values." If he didn't come across so "kooky" he might actually have drawn more attention in the mainstream. He's a quirky character.
This plays into the current general election in a couple of important ways. First, Paul promises to impact the tight "down ticket" races across the country and cause the NRCC more than a few headaches. The AFP has this today:
Paul spoke Thursday night in Houston at the Texas state Republican Party convention, where he told supporters that while he was bowing out of the race, he would continue to spread his message.
"What I see happening now is hardly the end of anything," he said as he announced the launch of a "Campaign of Liberty" to help elect those who share his views.
Further, he is going to use his spotlight to force the GOP into recognizing the wake of dissent that has sprung up from the conservative grassroots by pissing on their parade.
He also said he was expecting many of his supporters to join him at a mini-convention he is hosting in early September in Minneapolis to coincide with the Republican national convention in St. Paul.
In his Internet message, Paul said: "We have some exciting plans to move the revolution forward that will come together in the next several months."
The Libertarian Party heaped praise on Paul after his announcement and there is more than a little speculation that he will attempt a third party run at the presidency. He has refuted that possibility for months, claiming his status as a Republican first and foremost. At least some doubt about that has emerged, however.
"We don't have to live in the kind of America the two major parties have in store for us."
Paul clashed with several of McCain's positions, in particular by calling for the immediate withdrawal of US soldiers deployed in Iraq but also those stationed in South Korea, Japan and Europe.
He has so far refused to endorse the presumptive Republican nominee McCain, and commentators have speculated that Paul might use his war chest to launch an independent White House bid.
So, he's going to be visible and apparently he's going to run around the country making noise in the background of the Republican contests. He's going to attempt to upstage the Republican National Convention by holding his own little shindig on an overlapping schedule. Then, he's going to consider an independent run? In the end, I doubt this impacts many of the local races on the calendar and I doubt his efforts make much of a dent in the two party race. It will be interesting, however, to watch the national stage to see where Paul's crusading might impact Congressional seats. Even two or three seats swung in the Democratic direction would be a blessing, as conventional wisdom would suggest that Paul's impact would generally be negative for the Republican candidate who tried to stick close to either Bush or McCain.
I dislike Ron Paul for a number of reasons, but I respect his stance. He genuinely believes in something and sees it being torn asunder by the Bush parade, who care nothing for conservatism, libertarianism, or the country. For people who support Ron Paul, there has been a dawn. The rising of the sun has shed light on the failures of the GOP under Bush/Cheney and it has recognized them for what they are....a thirst for unchecked power. For all my differences with Paul and his supporters, at least we see eye to eye on one thing.