Ron Paul, waiting to be wooed, defies concession to John McCain

He won more than 800,000 primary votes, more than far more famous, one-time, surefire front-runners Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson. He raised nearly $33 million, nearly three times the funds assembled by what's-his-name from Arkansas. And he's got a list of some 400,000 would-be Republican voters.

So Ron Paul's waiting to hear from the certain GOP nominee, Sen. John McCain, who's not calling Paul, according to a spokesman, because the Texas congressman has yet to inform the party's primary winner that he's giving up his presidential campaign.

In an interview with the Washington Times, Paul says he's still out campaigning here and there -- North Carolina, Pennsylvania, perhaps Idaho -- as long as he senses the support from his fervent followers, who created quite a ...

phenomenon during last fall's campaign, raising more money in the fourth quarter than any of the other party big shots who, Paulunteers feel, have hijacked the Republican Party from its conservative, small-government principles and opposition to foreign intervention.

And, as reported here earlier this week, Paul supporters have achieved some successes at the grassroots level this winter.

"We agree with the Old Right," Paul tells Ralph Hallow, "and they're the New Right, which is The Wrong."

According to voters polls, the Republican Party in 2008 could certainly use an extra 800,000 committed voters and dedicated donors. Oklahoma's Rep. Tom Cole told Paul he'd like to see them remain in the party.

There's more than one serious problem, but one big one is called Iraq. The 72-year-old Paul wants all U.S. troops out ASAP, as part of the demolition of the American overseas empire, and the money spent back home. The 71-year-old McCain has made steadfast support of the war surge and winning there a bulwark of his campaign. And he just went there to underline that.

But Paul, who is unopposed in November for his 11th term representing Texas' 14th congressional district, says he still holds out some hope for party reconciliation. "You can work to change a party without endorsing some of the people that aren't the kind of Republicans you want to be," he says.

-- Andrew Malcolm

Comments

[Robert Nightingale]

Americans like short, successful wars. Genada, Panama, and Kuwait had clear objectives. If McCain can produce a "victory" in Iraq, which includes "redeployment" home in two or three years, he would have a cakewalk to the presidency. Perpetual war is depressing. He could use Ron Paul for the economy, once an end to the war is in sight. McCain has a couple months to draft such a strategy. Otherwise, welcome President Obama.

[Tominellay]

Dr. Paul is doing exactly the right thing: he represents people who are for limited government, personal freedom, and a foreign policy of non-intervention. Republicans who support Paul should have the opportunity to vote for him in the remaining primaries. The nominating convention is more than five months away, so let the issues be discussed, let the candidates be heard on the issues. Many people are convinced McCain is UNPREPARED on the issue of the economy; now there's an issue the candidates certainly should be discussing...

[AKK]

Thanks for the continuing coverage.

It would be rather pointless for the GOP to try to woo Paul. We're not voting for McCain for the same reason that Paul isn't endorsing him.

[Brian]

Ron Paul has opened my eyes to the Federal Reserve who controls what our car payments will be, what our house payments will be, who our leaders will be, and so on...
Pretty scary when someone can print money, loan it out, and charge interest on it. Biggest scam ever pulled on the American people. Maybe people will start listening now after the dollar finally crashes for good.

Go Ron Paul, and keep spreading the word!

[dave]

ron paul has already won, regardless of the outcome of the elections, as has been noted before - having sparked fundamental change in how a major, and rapidly expanding, part of the people perceive the world and their own responsibility in shaping it. and as to the immediate practical political implications, he might as well relax and wait to be declared the 'winner by default' - as all other 'contenders' have disqualified themselves, and will continue to point out to the puzzled public each other's disqualifying features. so it might simply be a matter of time until they all drop out of the race, even in plain sight of victory. whether it's the 'panamanchurian candidate' mccain who's so eager to bomb iran (or anyone) for special interests, clinton with her conflict of interests and haunting criminal charges, or obama - weighed and found too light in many instances.
and ron paul will not kowtow to anyone.

[MJ]

Thank you for running this article and providing this forum.

The RON PAUL supporters are committed...and they are talking to people everyday. Many people are happy to hear about a return to LIBERTY and CONSTITUTIONAL government.

[JEN]

Naaa..I don't think Ron Paul cares one dimes worth of iota if McCain calls him or not. They are complete opposites and agree 0% on issues. McCain is an arrogant man, a prejudice man and a NeoCon..dumb move hugging up to BUSH and the other cozies like war profiteers and mouth pieces for the real powers that be. Ron Paul supporters would never vote against their principles and for McCain. No point except for Party loyalty, but then the conservative party is far gone from it’s roots..they left us a long time ago..Ron is holding it up with his supporters and hope it can be saved..

Washington post pulls that "McCain wait" out of their false bottom hat. BUT publicity is publicity, I guess.

Ron Paul is the real deal, and the message of Liberty, prosperity and peace LIVES.

I would love to be at his next rally in PA!! He is loved there. The last time he rallied there, there were over 5000 people present to hear him speak!

[Alice]

We are taking our country back.

Ron Paul for America and for the World !

[Pinky]

Ron Paul the only wise man running for President & has sound monetary policy. He would get us out of this FED created financial mess!

Think about it America! He is wiser than them all!! Youtube Ron Paul & Bernanke.

[MC]

I am a Republican in NC, and I will be voting for Ron Paul in the primaries.

If Ron Paul does not get the nomination, then I will be considering moving to another country.

RON PAUL is America's ONLY HOPE.

[poppatml]

The question I pose to the Redstate bloggers, Why did we abandon a nonintervention, talk soft with a big stick, type of foriegn policy as was the case in the Regan years? When I read that all that changed with 9/11 I will agree to a point. If the world was so outradged by this horrific act why do we and other countrys educate these terrorists. After 9/11 21,000 visas were issued to Saudis to study in this country 21,000. Why do we give 2 Billion to the Saudis in aid. John McCain admitted that the oil money we send to the middle east comes back, in part, in support of these extremists. The debate on foriegn policy, economics and imagration are all tied to one another. Iraq is at the front of this debate. Ron Paul, like him or not, is the only member of congress, canidate for POTUS, to address issues directly connected to the combination of these issues thru legislation introduced in congress. The statement out of Iraq ASAP is appropriate. The sooner we put the Iraqis on notice we are pulling out the sooner the true nature of the Iraqis will surface one of contempt and disregard for the Christian/ Judeon world around them. Admiral Fallon and General Petraous have both conceded that the Iraqis are moving to slowly and using us as policemen to clean up thier messy political world. Ron Paul will not become POTUS but he should. Vote every chance you get to elect people who will uphold and defend thier oath of office and principles. Not the policys of a failing party.

[HoustonRP]

Ron Paul is the next Thomas Jefferson!
McInsane wants us in Iraq for the next 100 years!
I would not trust MCInsane if he changed his tune. He is a war profiteer NEOCON! he will never change his mind..and you know what? Ron Paul does not compromise! This is a Revolution...the contunuation ofthe first American revolution...the Republican party needs to be purged of ALL NEOCONS! nothing short of that will be acceptable to the Revolutionaries! Eliminate the crooked Federal Reserve and the IRS and let's get our country back!

Go Ron Paul 2008!

[AllenS]

How could we ever vote McCain? Most Ron Paul people seem to be thoughtful, hence following Mr Paul. It would be difficult to drop all reason and follow the "leader" who is against "Iranian al Queda" in example. The man genuinely is clueless concerning every aspect of our country and its business. Sorry to say but we will have a Dem president, so get ready to pay, pay, pay. Thanks so much, Mr Paul, for all you have done

[Jessie Jones]

The only way McCain, a liberal conservative, can win is by nominating Paul, a libertarian conservative. The two l's cancel leaving a conservative.

[JazzDiva]

Barrack Obama and Ron Paul ... Now, THAT would make an interesting ticket!

[Brian]

McCain's saving grace is supposed to be that he knows how to win the war in Iraq...
Yet he doesn't even know who the enemy is or who is supporting them. Yesterday he said that Iran was training Al Qaida, when they are not.
Watch the video as Lieberman has to correct him:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YF4THiNvVX4

Seems like he wouldn't be able to run his presidency without someone whispering constantly in his ear!!

[Darryl Schmitz]

The GOP has lost me. Sorry. When someone dumps on me like that, they don't get a chance to do it again.

[Tannim]

"Barrack Obama and Ron Paul ... Now, THAT would make an interesting ticket!"

Not even close. Mr. B.O. wants to increase government by hundreds of billions, and Dr. Paul wants to decrease it by billions. Night and Day here, people.

Obama gives a good speech, but I have yet to hear substance attached to any of them: figures, details, explanations. All I hear is rhetoric. His speech cadence has traces of southern Baptists ministers and Dr. Bill Cosby, and his tone sounds like Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, all of which make for good speaking, even with the lack of context depth.

Dr. Paul, OTOH gives a fair speech, but his are loaded with the things that Obama lacks in the substance and details. He has been the prophet int he wilderness, warnign us for 30 years that this was coming. He was right, but it isn't too late for the GOP to toss McCain in favor of someone who knows the economy better than the Fed does, and also knows not only what a colossal cluster our foreign policy is but how to wage peace.

[Jenn]

McCain makes me think of Egor..

The whole neocon bunch is like some sinister horror flick...or nightmare.

Cheney is the most creepy.. torcher sicko.

WE do not want McCain, he is a complete REJECT!!! All those NEOCON's are creepy, bloodthrusty, Nasty bunch of throwbacks!!! Not what Americans should be represented with..

Ron will never endorse McCain..I think this news/Blog subject Paul and Mccain is out of context..

[Mike]

IF McCain, or even the Republican party, wanted to unite the party instead of looking for new way to cozy up to the amnesty and carbon-tax crowd, here is what he would do:
-Declare Romney as his choice for VP
-Say that Ron Paul would be his first SUpreme CT nominee, and
-Respect our soldiers enough to declare war instead of promising to perpetuate conflicts at the executive branch's discretion.

[Renee Camille]

The Obama/Paul ticket could never happen, JazzDiva- mainly because Obama and Paul disagree on our world occupations. Ron Paul wants to bring all troops home, not just from Iraq.

Obama wants only some troops to come home, shift some troops to other middle east places, not bring troops home from the numerous other places we occupy, and other troops will remain occupying Iraq and bascially Obama would just be renaming the 'war' a 'transitional period', but occupation is occupation, and it will result in more deaths (both usa and iraqi), more anger and less progress to peace.

Read Obama's plans right on his website - he voted for the surge when Democrats were elected not to fund the war anymore as a way to stop it - a huge portion of Ron Paul supporters are former Democrats who voted in Democrats on the promise of one thing who were then, sadly, given nothing but more broken promises.

USA occupations need to be googled, as it's quite an astounding number and for durations of time that make it clear we've drifted away from what we're supposed to be doing, as a nation that supposedly stands for 'freedom.'

Also, Obama, unfortunately, is given huge amounts of money from lobbyists - that can be googled, too. Some Obama supporters have been told that he doesn't get/accept money from lobbyists - that's incorrect. And take note of which lobbyist groups donate to Obama - and then google those places to understand the connection of keeping those occupations going.

Our troops, thank gosh, already figured all of this out and did the research to know who would make the best commander in chief - Ron Paul received more donations from the military than Obama, Hillary, McCain and Huckabee combined.

This is the most vital election of our lifetimes - do a lot of research. My heart breaks for Obama supporters who feel they are doing the 'right' thing, as I know in the years to come, should Obama be elected, as wars and occupations continue, and the economy collapses, but taxes still rise, and services go down, you will ask us Ron Paul supporters why we didn't explain all we know now to you, why we didn't try harder - but we are out here trying so hard, both online and offline.

We are reaching out to you... but you have to do some of the reading and learning yourself, too, or you'll just be voting for a change that will never come, just like the Democrats before you found out during that surge vote.

The real hope and real change comes with Ron Paul - because when you vote for him, you are getting over 800,000 people, so far, who are willing to do the work it's going to take to fix this nation on federal, state and local levels. We'lll do the work - we just need you to vote for Ron Paul, even if you have to write him in.

It's worth taking a few days or even weeks and months to really research who you're going to vote for in November of this year... there's time.

[DJ]

Thanks again, Mr. Malcolm! It's quite apparent you have a firm understanding about Ron Paul, so I guess you're going to have to live without the hate mail -- a quip here and there, but nothing you couldn't handle.

(I'll manage as long as I keep hearing from you.)

[Danielle]

I'm spreading the word, I hope you are!

Ron Paul 08'

[TheGlobalEndlessPreemptiveWarOnRadicalExtremistIslamoFascistJihadistTerrorism]

America is like a bus with a madman in the driver's seat. There's a handful of pasengers that have the courage to try to pull the madman away from the wheel but the majority just sit there listening to their ipods with 50 Cent and Britney Spears playing on them.

[ladiliberty]

I am on my county REC and there is no way I will ever vote for a liberal pro amnesty gun grabbing wife cheating placating war monger like mccain!
I won't vote for the other socialists either... America is in a state of fascism and Ron Paul is the only one is the soup mix that can save our economy and country for we the people that have been ignored!