Ron Paul Tells Iowans He Can Bridge Occupy Movement and Tea Party

Patch.com:

As rivals attacked him and Mitt Romney pulled ahead in a new CNN poll, Ron Paul touted his appeal among both Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street activists during a last-minute push in Iowa Wednesday.

Read the whole story: Patch.com

 

Comments

[catboycolo]

08:10 PM on 12/29/2011

Ron Paul has a bridge he wants to sell you...

[Roger Rabid]

10:36 AM on 12/29/2011

If the government wants to protect liberty, start by protecting the MEDIA and FREEDOM OF SPEECH. Ron Paul understands that and he's been fighting for us to prevent the government from censoring. However, it will be difficult to address the consolidation of the media over the past decades. I really think the internet through social media and new journalism will save us from disinformation through a democratic process of distributing and self-regulation.

[jason9045]

09:55 AM on 12/29/2011

One wants to reign in government in favor of corporations and the other wants to use government to reign in corporations. Yeah, they'll be singing Kumbayah three hours into a Paul presidency.

[Roger Rabid]

10:27 AM on 12/29/2011

Uh no... Reigning in government does NOT favor corporations. Remember it was government that bailed out the corporations and it's government that hands out political favors, it's governemtn that give no-bid contracts, it's government that gives subsidies to political allies, it's government that makes it cheaper to do foreign trade and creates trade agreements that ruin our economy...so tell me exactly how your theory holds?

[jason9045]

10:58 AM on 12/29/2011

It's only government regulations that prevent already-powerful corporations from running roughshod over you and I, in pursuit of the next quarter's numbers. Food safety standards? Child labor laws? Minimum wage laws? Environmental protections? Just a handful of the ways in which government works directly against corporate interests to the betterment of the many, and which the Tea Party would roll back. Financial regulations which kept the economy safe for seventy years, already being chipped away - not to mention the entire reserve banking system - are on the chopping block in the view of the Tea Party. Public broadcasting - lately one of the very few media outlets in this country free from corporate influence - is in the Tea Party's crosshairs. They are opposed to public insurance programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP, and the elimination of those would put the country's most vulnerable citizens at the mercy of insurance companies. Privatizing Social Security, another goal, puts the retirement savings in the hands of the banks who would then manage that money, as well as the corporations that money would be invested in. The list goes on and on.

I don't mean to come across as anti-corporate, I'm not, I'm just anti-corporate influence. It always serves the few at the expense of the many, which strikes me as the opposite of what this country was intended to be, and what it must be if it hopes to survive.

[jason9045]

10:58 AM on 12/29/2011

To your points, the government bailed out those corporations which had been allowed, through looser and looser regulation, to grow so large that their failure would have ended this country as we know it, and it's to corporations that those political favors are handed out, thanks in no small part to lax campaign finance laws and to things like Citizens United which equates money to speech and corporations to people. No-bid contracts, subsidies to allies, corporate-friendly trade agreements? All tied directly to that corporate influence.

[Alex Croley]

09:43 AM on 12/29/2011

Trying to bridge from the Tea Party to the Occupy Movement is like a bridge to nowhere.

[stephan67]

08:15 AM on 12/29/2011

Only in your dreams Paul!

[johnny strike]

08:01 AM on 12/29/2011

If anyone could do that it's Ron Paul.

[Kafkasica]

07:52 AM on 12/29/2011

The Tea Party and OWS technically hate the same thing. The Tea Party hates big government while OWS seeks to end corporations paying off politicians, lobbyists, and corporate personhood. In essence, THESE ARE THE SAME THING. The "Big Government" is the way it is because of the actions taken by the 1% and lobbyists that OWS seeks to end. So, yes. They can be bridged. If they can get past their own stupid ignorant hatreds of each other.

[morbius]

09:28 AM on 12/31/2011

I disagree. The dominate message of OWS is the wealth disparity between the 1% and the 99%. That is their fundamental message. They are not, at least at this point, affiliated with any particular political party. Not so the tea party. The tea party is funded, at least in part, by right wing wealth and have been co-opted by the right wing. There is also a racial component of the tea party. They, in fact, are polar opposites. Government, as the boogie man, is a message of the republicans and has been since Reagan.

[schildpad]

07:04 AM on 12/29/2011

No hon, you really can't bridge the two. Yes, OWS people are tired of it all - but not tired enough that we're willing to bend over for any corporation that comes along in your Austrian Economics Fantasy Land.

[momoluvsu]

06:49 AM on 12/29/2011

Ron Paul didn't really say that much, and I am unsure if he can bridge OWS and TP into common themes. Paul might be appealing because he goes against the mold Americans are tired of, but think about it.........He will meet with the same furious opposition that Obama did because he is going against an old established group of gangsters.

[rgilley]

06:43 AM on 12/29/2011

Every democrat in the country is praying Ron Paul is the Teapublican nominee.
he is of course unelectable by the simple facts of his record.

[Just logic]

10:17 AM on 12/29/2011

His record is what is appealing. Just ask my parents who are lifelong democrats and they switched this year to vote for him.

[rgilley]

11:11 AM on 12/29/2011

google Ron paul voting record

[loveO]

05:11 AM on 12/29/2011

I believe it's not capitalism that OWS is against. I believe OWS represents a growing anger at the close government-corporate relationships that give certain businesses advantages over others.

This creates corporate monopolies because the competition is paying with the Umpire, chokes small businesses, and ends up in a too big to fail scenario.

Where if not bailed out it would be the end of our economy. We have to do something about this, but in a reasonable way.

[morbius]

09:32 AM on 12/31/2011

I think, at the end of the day, it is in fact capitalism that is the problem, or at least our brand of it. Google Richard Wolff's lecture on capitalism: "Capitalism hits the fan". It's hard to argue with his analysis.

[jsgaetano]

02:36 AM on 12/29/2011

Libertarian ideology supports everything OWS stands against. Even the Teaklanners are against the decades of failure and fraud conservatives served up on a big silver platter... they're way too indoctrinated to understand conservative ideology is the problem. But when they do... they'll be turning against conservatives as well. Nobody likes failure, but conservatives have been preaching a religion of failure for decades.

[VolatorVentum]

02:44 AM on 12/29/2011

There are significant differences, but Libertarianism is far more similar to the movement than traditional conservatism.

[jsgaetano]

02:55 AM on 12/29/2011

Libertarianism is the same thing Confederates believed. Same radical, violent, anti-American ideology.

[Just logic]

04:41 PM on 12/29/2011

Wow everyone who disagrees with you is lumped into the other group. Well guess were done here. I cant talk to people when they refuse to understand or can make reasonable sense. Have a good one.

[realmystical]

01:53 AM on 12/29/2011

Leave it to another headuphizazz republican to think that the tea party and occupy are fueled by the same issues.

[Pat Lacey]

02:03 AM on 12/29/2011

keep embracing the left/right paradigm.....

[realmystical]

02:11 AM on 12/29/2011

Deeeeeep,

[wowme]

01:43 AM on 12/29/2011

Both sides failed, give this man a try!

[Thinking Clearly]

01:35 AM on 12/29/2011

I like Ron Paul. I hope he has the strength to carry the Republican nomination. He is THE ONLY reason any Republican would get a vote out of me this coming November 2012. If he doesn't make it (I wish him well), my vote will get a New Mexico flavor to it (not mentioning any names here). Obama has me thoroughly disillusioned over recent issues re: medical marijuana that he has roundly disappointed me on. If only he could keep his word.