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Opinion: Ron Paul endorsed by Jane Roe, yes, THAT Roe

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What a coincidence!

On the 35th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s historic Roe vs. Wade abortion ruling, the Roe of that landmark legal case endorsed libertarian turned Republican Rep. Ron Paul for president. Paul, a 10-term Texas congressman from the Houston area, is a 72-year-old Air Force veteran and ob-gyn who has surprised many political observers with the fervor of his bands of followers, not to mention his campaign’s fundraising prowess that has outshined other Republican so-called front-runners.

‘Jane Roe,’ whose real name is Norma McCorvey, turned against abortion a decade ago. In her endorsement Tuesday she said, ‘I support Ron Paul for president because we share the same goal, that of overturning Roe v. Wade. He has never wavered....

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on the issue of being pro-life and has a voting record to prove it. He understands the importance of civil liberties for all, including the unborn.’

Not surprisingly, Paul accepted the endorsement and said, ‘As much as I talk about economic liberties, and civil liberties and trying to avoid the killing overseas, I think the issue of life is paramount.’

As outlined on his website, Paul’s positions, which generally involve drastically cutting the federal government and ending the Iraq war as soon as possible, have attracted an eclectic band of disaffected but determined Democrats, Republicans and libertarians who gather online and in some 1,400 meet-up groups around the country to plan all kinds of imaginative demonstrations of their support.

Their devotion and donations made Paul likely the most successful Republican presidential fundraiser in the fourth quarter, accumulating some $20 million while other alleged front-runners had a difficult time and, like Mike Huckabee and Rudy Giuliani, are now forced to trim campaign operations. According to Paul’s website, he has raised another $3.3 million this quarter, enabling him to campaign and advertise widely.

Paul has consistently lagged far behind in the polls, which his fans say are frauds perpetrated by a corporate media determined to crush him,. However, Paul beat Giuliani in Iowa and Fred Thompson (who dropped out Tuesday) in New Hampshire, despite being barred from the GOP debate by Fox News, and came in a distant second in Nevada, beating all the Republican contenders except Mitt Romney.

In Florida today, however, we saw another side to the Paul campaign’s passion as a band of his followers, instead of trying to present their candidate’s case, banded together with some antiabortion protestors to prevent a Giuliani news conference in Palm Beach Gardens. At first the Paul followers, who have shadowed Giuliani in an attempt to gather publicity from a media that largely ignores the long-shot Paul, simply waved signs behind Giuliani’s head to get them in TV pictures.

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But when the former New York mayor attempted to hold a brief news conference, the Paul supporters joined with some antiabortion activists to shout the candidate down. According to the Associated Press, after several minutes of attempting to answer reporters’ questions on Iraq, the economy and his campaign, Giuliani gave up in the din. And the news session moved inside.

--Andrew Malcolm

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