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Here comes Ron Paul's call to reject both Barack Obama and John McCain

Ron Paul is preparing to speak and it appears what he has to say won't be welcome news for Barack Obama (no surprise on that count) or John McCain (causing him, perhaps, some chagrin). Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul reportedly will be urging voters to reject the two major-party nominees and support alternative White House aspirants this November

Paul himself may have passed on an outside-the-lines run for the White House after his insurgent bid for the Republican nomination fell way short.

But the Associated Press reports that at a news conference Wednesday in Washington, the iconoclastic politician will urge others to support an alternative candidate of their choice.

The AP story relates that in his prepared remarks, Paul says: “The strongest message can be sent by rejecting the two-party system. This can be accomplished by voting for one of the nonestablishment, principled candidates.”

Perennial candidate Ralph Nader, who has curried favor with Paul backers, is to join him at the morning news conference at the National Press Club. And, according to the AP, other presidential contenders Paul invited to the event include Bob Barr of the Libertarian Party and Cynthia McKinney of the Green Party.

Here's hoping they take him up on the offer, because that will make for one memorable photo op.

The McCain camp reportedly made efforts to woo Paul, but that seems to have amounted to little. And they have little agreement on issues.

Meanwhile, all is not lost for hard-core Paul supporters who yearn for the chance to vote for him in November -- they simply have to reside in Montana. His advocates there have gotten Paul on the ballot as the Constitutional Party's presidential candidate (which could actually affect who wins the huge state's miniscule 3 electoral votes, as the Helena Independent hashes out).

-- Don Frederick

Photo credit: Bloomberg News

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I liked Ron Paul and I've got to say... I don't need him to tell me not to vote for either of the two socialists we have running for office. McCain was written off by the conservatives over the immigration nonsense. Obama is a complete joke and just like McCain, he's a complete phony.

We all know it, that's what so sad. I say we Christians need to pray about this because after Bush and his pre-emptive war, torture em and lock them away... etc etc... I think it's getting to the point where we need to stand on our moral values and refuse to elect those that we can positively identify as liars and/or war profiteers well in advance.

That eliminated any of our current choices for me and after voting for Bush twice I refuse to be let down in such a way where I feel as though I have blood on my hands over what my "candidate of of choice" has done..

Republicans will tar & feather him if they ever figure out that a tie in the electoral college would trigger the 12th Amendment to take effect. If enough of the safeguards against ties are then tripped, the Speaker of the House becomes the next president.

That's right. There's a small but real chance that Paul can flip Montana, cause a tie, and give us President Nancy Pelosi, even though she's not on the ballot!

I wonder what people would think of that?

Don't forget Chuck Baldwin of the Constitution Party. He'll be there, too.

Thank you Ron Paul! It's about time someone urged America to shake off the two-party death grip on this country.

You go Ron!

Ron Paul represents a fiscal responsibility based an anti-war criticism of the insanity of our military spending. Ron makes a point we should have learned from Reagan - the way to crush a superpower is to make them spend until they exhaust their economy - just how Reagan overcame the Soviet Union - only now in reverse we are crushing ourselves by military spending.

Insurgent campaign? Is that any way to treat the ONLY PROVABLY 100% honest candidate that has ran in this election cycle.

Of course they had to marginalize him and ignore him as there is no dirt on him.

Just the fact that Ron Paul is the only candidate that our founding fathers would endorse.

I guess Americans don't prefer liberty over socialism.

Ron Paul is a true Republican in the school of Thomas Jefferson … The Democratic party and current incarnation of the Republican party are Federalist in the school of Alexander Hamilton.
The difference between Jefferson and Hamilton has to do with looking at how folks solve problems ~ are they Collectivists or Individualists ?
The Collectivists believe that the majority can vote away inalienable rights of the individual for the greater good…
The individualists believe that the majority can never vote away a man’s liberty, a man’s property or a man’s freedom.
This is the difference. the major two parties are Collectivists, these are the issues.
Please google collectivism vs. individualism

Frank,

SHUT UP!

You voted for Bush twice?

Your opinion is worthless to the hard-working American people. Oh yeah, leave your gawd out of my politics.

Again, shut up!

Wow - a Bush voter who not only owns up to it, but admits he has blood on his hands. If only this insight had dawned before voting (twice!) for someone who by any intelligent analysis had no business looking after a poodle, much less managing the free world, perhaps no apology would be necessary.

Let me guess: You were too busy watching cars drive around in circles to actually learn something about GWB and the world in general? Meanwhile, those of us who bothered educating ourselves about such trivialities as Sunni/Shiite relations and Iraqi/Al Qaeda mutual hatred, and who predicted and warned about the coming quagmire, money pit, and waste of American lives were called traitors.

Color me unimpressed that you've suddenly realized your own foolishness -- it's too late to undo the damage you and the uneducated multitudes (including the president you voted in) have caused.

No one needs Ron Paul to tell them anything. Mr. Paul may have some good and strongly held conservative ideas, but for all his time in Congress he has done didly. The minor party candidates are just that because they can not convince enought people to support them. Does Ron Paul actually think he can at this late date make a difference. Oh sure, Ralph Nader loves the idea but he is a worn outloser. Bob Barr is sorry loser also.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

That's all fine and good for Ron "I love Austrian Economics" Paul to say (heh heh), but in reality it more than likely would result in yet another deluded Republican getting into office, one who has indicated repeatedly the intention to perpetuate Shrubbie's failed policies. If Nader takes votes from Obama, again stealing those votes from what many of us see as the lesser of two evils (even those independents such as myself are likely to recognize this), Paul and Nader will have to share the blame for letting McCain get in. Because we *know* that most Republicans are going to blindly tow the party line, while Democrats, as we've seen, are more likely to split their votes among other candidates as vote for their own. At the very least I'd like to see someone who is at least talking about changing things to get elected, as opposed to "the devil we know".

i seriously hope obama deals with these 3rd party idiots so they don't cost him votes. yes they have a point, but they aren't helping at all. those candidates like paul should use their power to help elect obama, not just cause marginal disruptions - and instead make a real impact in the long run.

People can ALWAYS write in the candidate they want.

People who believe in Ron Paul should write him in.

I agree that the only way to get politicians to listen to the people is for everyone to vote third party. It doesn't matter which party - vote for the person you believe in. Not voting is not a protest, it is surrender.

I'm glad that Paul is doing this. The time has never been better with more and more people aware of how flawed our elections are. It doesn't help that Obama and McCain are about the most corporate candidates I've seen in my lifetime. It is time for Americans to use our collective power to break the 2-party monopoly on the political process.

The National Press Club shall astound you.

nader paul kucinich gravel
mckinney ventura
perot charts
rage

Ron Paul's battle ended months ago WHEN HE LOST THE NOMINATION OF HIS PARTY. All your efforts at this point are not going to make him president; there is nothing more to say. The American people do not want to legalize weed, do away with the fed, isolate the US from the world, institiute the gold standard, abolish the IRS, destroy NAFTA, criminalize abortion, etc. OK? Your guy's ideas have all been floating around on the loony left and right for decades, there is nothing new or worthwhile about them. And spare me all this the-only-one-who-understands-the-constitution nonsense. I don't question your patriotism, please don't question mine.
Now please go away, we heard the message and we dont care! Its over, go home!

Vote Ron Paul! Vote Revolution!

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There is such a concentration of power and money in just two parties. We can see no good that can come from urging voters to dilute the vote unless its the Republican vote. We need to res-establish our world standing and name in good faith, and no one can do it better than Obama and the dems.

The proletariat joke isn't so funny any more.

I can only hope that the lasting legacy for this election will be that it eventually caused fundamental change in election law in the various states.

As Dennis Kucinich stated over and over recently, "Wake up, America!"

2008 marks our opportunity to reject the obsolescence of the two corporate-controlled parties and their fake debates and fake platforms.

I've had enough. Vote for any emerging-party candidate this year. Let's demand that we get OUT of this horrible war and redirect our tax dollars to our infrastructure.

What if come voting day no one votes?

Why vote at this point for politicians who are not sound...?

Lets find someone else, there must be better.

Are these characters who are trying to convince us to put them in the seat the best this country has?

We should insist these jokers clean up their act and talk straight, and stop flinging bullshit. And we should insist that the media stop making everything into crap.

Media & politicians, they all ought to be told where to go. What a joke all this is, what a serious situation is upon us...

Here's a poll that SUPPORTS this notion. The following poll uses approval voting style and includes ALL candidates currently running according to wikipedia. Take a look and see what America really thinks about the candidates.

***********************************************************

I'm really tired of seeing the mass media present us with only the Republican and Democratic choices.

Here is a poll that allows you to not only choose from all currently running presidential candidates from all parties (according to wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_candidates_in_the_United_States_presidential_election,_2008), but this poll will allow you to select multiple

candidates (similar to instant runoff voting). So, if there are several candidates that you wouldn't mind seeing in the white house, you are free to

select more than one.

Let's see what the public REALLY thinks for a change. I wish this site allowed for embedding, but since it doesn't you need to go to the link.


http://www.misterpoll.com/polls/356231

Results: http://www.misterpoll.com/polls/356231/results

And a nifty forum as well: http://www.misterpoll.com/forums/134756

As a lifelong Republican, I am disgusted with my partyover the past six years. I worked for the Paul campaign, donated money, ran as a delegate and a PCO. The reaction from the party at both the local and national level was that we weren't "real" Republicans for the simple fact that we wanted limited executive power, limited government and did not find amusement in joking about killing hundreds of thousands of innocent people.

I will NEVER vote for another Republican candidate again. Rather than being a party of ideas, it is now a party of cultural identity and religious zealotry. If you don't blindly follow the belief of unlimited war or think that the Earth is only 6,000 years old then you don't belong in today's Republican party. This has been illustrated by the fact that the convention speakers failed to raise any major substantive policy issues.

This was a party headed for the ash heap until a bunch of white, middle aged women decided that a VP candidate whose only qualifications were she is 1) white, 2) middle aged, and 3) has a developmentally disabled child somehow enoble her to a position where there is a 20% likelihood she will be in charge of a nuclear arsenal of 5,000 warheads.

Maybe she can speak in tongues, eat mooseburgers and talk about God's will as the bombs fall.

One has to wonder about America when the best the 2 major parties can come up with are Obama, McCain, Biden and Palin. Especially when Palin has the most executive experience of the 4 major party folks.
Wow!
Are we doomed or what?
Please vote for anyone but these 4 “majors”. We need peace and balanced budgets.
It would not hurt if any of the four actually knew what the movie “IOUSA” was about.
We must allow the free market to work AND quit bailing out the Central banks and the Federal Reserve.
Go Ron Paul and everyone else outside the Dem and Repub parties!!

it seems that RON PAUL's assertion was correct all along, that a majority of the people are not awake at this time to see and fully grasp what they're doing, what they're suffering, what they're doing to themselves and each other...so they cannot yet be counted on to make responsible choices in their own interest.
the fact that millions of people did not and do not protest in alarm and outrage, at the multiple and massive fraudulent actions perpetrated in plain view, by those that perversely seek their votes and support by insulting their intelligence and corrupting their integrity, sadly shows this.
but those that are now awake and have forever left the bubble of self-destructive mass hypnosis, are aware of the immense obligation this entails to pursue their efforts helping others to wake up, by assuming responsibility for their own actions.

How do you write in someone on the electronic voting machines?

You lost me at "fell way short." I think he was the second most voted for Republican. I know everyone is entitled to their own wrong opinion, but you guys who bash someone who's already out of the race really take the cake. Hope it tastes sweeter than your bitter personality.

To those of you suggesting that Ralph Nader somehow handed the election to Bush in 2000, please take note:

1) Gore did not carry his home state,
2) 250,000 Florida Democrats voted for Bush, and
3) it has been documented time and time again that Gore actually won Florida in the first place.

Never thought I'd say it, but here is a case where I support Ron Paul. Let's hope this inspires real public debate, election reform, and so much more.

Ron Paul got 1.2 million votes in the Republican primary. In a general election with 2 candidates that offer no real alternative to continual war, and have no clue about the economy, his message could attract millions more. I do believe that 99% of Ron Paul supporters will NOT vote for Obama, and consider McCain and the Republicans even worse, and will not vote for him, either, but they will vote to make their disgust with the faux democratiic system known. The Republicans, with their dirty tricks at the state level and at the convention to disenfranchise Republican voters will not be forgotten or forgiven. It would give me tremendous satisfaction for Ron Paul to be the factor that denies McCain the White House.

Chuck Baldwin is not even mentioned anywhere because he represents the greatest danger to the establishment and the NWO.


--- Google Chuck Baldwin!

Vote fearlessly this year! Reject the establishment's non-choices! Vote for a candidate who can bring the REAL change America needs so much!

Don't waste your vote on either of the two vetted and kept Establishment candidates. You'll only encourage them. Your only sane and moral option is to refrain from voting or to vote for one of the minor candidates.

There's nothing loony about a noninterventionist foreign policy, hard money or self-medication. What's loony ("crackpot realism," C. Wright Mills called it) is perpetual war, Federal Reserve counterfeiting and incarcerating people for smoking, injecting or ingesting the plant products of their choice.

You at the LA Times were either ignoring or putting down Paul the entire time he was running. Now you get to say "see, he didn't win the nomination!" Of course he didn't win the nomination, you and the rest of your big media friends chose Obama, and needed a non-winner to run against him. But Paul refuses to go away. Good for him! Oh No, you cry now, he's such a spoil-sport! The Revolution is not going away. Ron Paul was the last chance for "electoral politics" to roll back Leviathan, and it didn't work in large part because of the lap-dog press. And you wonder why your newspaper sales are dropping into the toilet?

lol @ "Michael the Conservative"

Did you really just imply the job of the President is to "manage the free world"? And you don't see anything contradictory with that statement?

Perhaps you should spend less time telling the world how educated you are and more time reading books or something.

There is tremendous value as well as personal satisfaction to be found in voting one's conscience, which is why I will be voting for Bob Barr in November.

Voting for the lesser of two evils (Obama or McCain) is still voting for evil. I know this will anger some Obama fans, but there really is not much difference between McCain and Obama at this point. McCain and Obama both saber-rattle against Iran and Russia, the difference being that Obama pays lip service the anti-war left and McCain relishes in arousing the radical, hawkish right. But when it comes right down to it both are very interventionist and believe in flexing our military's might. Both McCain and Obama support big government and by extension inflation. Both McCain and Obama have similar stances on the environment. There is very little real difference between the platforms of the major two candidates.

Remember, elections are not horse races where the goal is to pick the winner so that you can brag to your friends about how you were right. Elections are where you can vote your conscience. If anyone votes for either McCain or Obama when they know that there is a better candidate out there (Barr, Baldwin, Nader, McKinney), then they are the ones who have thrown away their vote.

If your establishment candidate (read: McCain or Obama) fails to get a plurality of the votes, don't attack Independents, Libertarians, Constitutionalists, Green Party, etc. If a candidate loses an election, they have no one to blame but themselves.

Oh FormerLPMember - we are in so much trouble!

If you don't live in a swinge state your vote means nothing in our ridiculous "electoral college" system. I am using my vote to make my point.

After reading comments from a "Christian" individual on this talk about "Torture him," etc... Is that what Christianity teaches? Evangelical politicians shouldn't be doing Gods work! It isn't about what YOU think! Remember the constituition says, "We the people..." Not "Me the Christian."

I have news for you, Rusty. You can be a Christian; argue for a young earth; and still be a patriot. Neither McCain or Obama deserve to be President.

I plan to vote for Ralph Nader. He is on the ballot in California. He supports Single-payer Healthcare which our governor vetoed even though it passed both houses of our State Legislature. He is concerned about the environment and the rights of individuals more than the rights of corporations. He has a plan to pull out of Iraq safely for both our troops and the Iraqi people. I know some people think he is kooky, but right now, he is the candidate that best represents me. I can't say the same for Obama or McCain. I plan to vote for someone I believe in.

I completely support Ron Paul. However, he ran with the Republican party because he knows he must leverage the system to make any changes. Third parties will help and the "lesser of two evils" is getting old, but by fragmenting the vote and clearly costing Obama votes, voters will help to elect John McCain. Sure Obama is a socialist but if we don't step back from the aggressive foreign policy there won't be an America to save. McCain will ruin this nation. There is a better time-one where our standing is again strong-to bring in a third party. One other thought, in Italy they have 14 parties and all kinds of choice but it makes no difference and they are embroiled in scandal and corruption. You are NOT going to succeed in electing one of these candidates. I know, I know that attitude is why they don't win, but look at reality. Your average American doesn't get it and until we can get them too, they will absolutely continue to elect one of the two parties. That brings the choice back to war vs. less war. I vote less war.

I'm really dissapointed in this whole election process....
It really bothers me that we'll be splitting votes between various third-party candidates when we had the perfect choice in the Doctor all along....
I think most of the sheeple have the horse -race mentality...they want to pick a winner, which they think is either of the republocrats.
Alll third parties should unite and nominate Dr. Paul..
I think it's the only way to send a strong message and possibly win this election for the people. Please....let's do it America...last chance?

Want to really get rid of the duopoly? Have all the federal government revenues go directly to the parties in proportion to the popular vote for president rather than to the general treasury. Then the parties would be forced to be accountable for what they individually spend on government projects. Can you spell "fiscal conservative"?

I am a republican and would vote for Obama over McCain. Don't worry though, I have no intention of voting for Obama. Unfortunately, Barr has shown himself to still have neo-con leanings so he is out also. Too bad, he could have been a contender.

The fact is the USA is by far it's own worst enemy . Just what the results of the election are going to be will be just how much damage it does to itself . It has the opportunity to reverse the current massive damage that it has done to itself and the World . If it doesn't I'm afraid that the rest of the World will have to , as a matter of survival , isolate itself from the collateral damage and the side effects of the US actions - essentially a quarantined USA - that's how serious it is .

How delicious to see know-nothings characterize our Presidential candidates as "socialists". Neither of the major US parties has ever run a candidate as socialist as the most conservative of Prime Ministers in the European Union. The US is the least socialist developed country in the world, and neither Obama nor McCain threaten our standing at the bottom of that list.

Wouldn't it be great if Paul took Montana?

Please Montana, be the Yorktown of this rEVOLution!

Hooray to Ron Paul for having the guts to tell the GOP (Grand old Pharts) to shove it. Paul has more principle in his little toenail than McCain or Palin have in their whole body. Paul would not sell his soul like Palin did. That phony doesn't fool this chick.

I plan to vote for a third-party candidate (not Barr) and will do so proudly. No holding my nose and voting for the evil McManiac or Obamaniac.

Get grounded in reality, people. Stop the oppression!

I'm glad Bob Barr didn't show up. Now I know for certain I won't vote for him.

A vote for either Obama or McCain is a vote for more war, less privacy, and ruinous fiscal policy. I'll be voting Barr for President and Yvonne Adams Schick for the U. S. Senate.


Jeff Daiell

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