The Real Architect of the Debt Ceiling hostage Debacle is Counting on the Ames Straw Poll
Remember when adult members of the GOP used to distance themselves from this crackpot?
Rep. Ron Paul of Texas knows next Saturday’s straw poll in Ames, Iowa, will determine much about the future of his Republican campaign for president.
But gauging from the approximately 400 people who turned out Friday afternoon at the American Legion Post in East Aurora to cheer on the self-described “champion of the Constitution,” Paul and his supporters think the success of the tea party movement over the past two years has moved him from fringe to mainstream.
“A lot of people try to say Ron Paul is now mainstream,” he told an adoring crowd. “But maybe the people who used to be mainstream have to come our way. I think a lot of credibility has been gained for our views.”
In his third try for the presidency, Paul has been articulating his libertarian views of government to bigger and more organized crowds who view him as a hero of the tea party movement now established as a major force in U.S. politics.
On Friday, en route to a family reunion in Orchard Park, he took about 30 minutes to outline views ranging from abolishment of the Federal Reserve and returning to the gold standard to ending the war in Afghanistan.
He reiterated a now familiar message centering around “personal liberty” and said the nation’s return to “living within its means” will go a long way toward fixing economic problems that he says stem from a retreat from free market policies.
“The freer we are, the more prosperous we are,” he said. “There is no down side to it.”