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Jim Cole / AP, file
Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson in Concord, New Hampshire, in October.
EXETER, N.H. -- Former two-term New Mexico governor and GOP hopeful Gary Johnson is dropping out of the Republican nomination race to run as a Libertarian candidate, NBC News has confirmed.
Johnson's campaign spokesman Joe Hunter cited Johnson's lack of exposure within the Republican party as a main reason for his decision to seek the Libertarian nomination.
Johnson appeared in only two of more than a dozen nationally televised debates and had trouble getting his shoestring campaign off the ground in early states. He will make an official announcement next Wednesday at a press conference in Santa Fe.
"His exclusion from the debates and lack of acknowledgement from the Republican establishment has been very frustrating," Hunter told NBC News. "His commitment since day one to get his message out."
Johnson's decision has been anticipated since he paused his New Hampshire-centric campaign several weeks ago.
His strategy shift notably began when Johnson nearly missed the registration deadline for New Hampshire's primary in October.
Johnson completed the filing with just hours to spare after a campaign staff mistake and a last-minute red-eye flight from Arizona to Manchester.
Several staff members left the campaign shortly afterward and Johnson quickly stopped canvassing in New Hampshire thereafter.
Johnson is known for his support for legalizing marijuana. He also supports abortion rights.
As New Mexico governor, he often worked with the Libertarian party to advance his agenda so this move is not entirely out of his comfort zone.
"Going back to his governor days, he has been comfortable with the Libertarian label," Hunter said.
The Libertarian party national convention will be held in Las Vegas next spring.
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The people who like Ron Paul are the same people who thought Alex P. Keaton was too wild in Family Ties.
Merry Christmas Everybody!
You just referenced a 25 year old TV show. Many of the people who support Ron Paul have no idea who Alex P. Keaton is.
The attempts to ignore RON PAUL by the "WHORE" mainstream media, and sheeple such as yourself have failed!! Make a true stand for Liberty!! The NWO and the Banksters will be DEFEATED!! Join the RON PAUL REVOLUTION!! Ciao
Any third party is better than the two party system totally sold out to special interests. There is ZERO difference between the Dems and the Reps - if you have any doubts just look at what happens in the House and Congress - shameless self interest while the ship is slowly sinking.
yes, start a new party. Just don't involve those idiot Teabaggers!!!!!!
Good. Because Ron Paul is a phony Libertarian anyway.
I like this guy....
Newt....Bet 10k you wouldn't say that to a mans face that's part of the Tea party...Punk
I'm liking Obama less and less. I don't like Republicans. I admire Tea Partiers for their strength and unity but hate how they are going about it (don't you just want to punch Eric Cantor in the mouth?). Ron Paul is a Tea Partier and no Libertarian as Commonsense says above.
J.H.C., isn't there anyone, anyone, worth voting for?
Over 312 million people in the U.S. and not one real person among them with honesty, dignity, vision, drive, patience, resolve to do this job. Not one?
you tell em leap-frog
if you want to turn this country around and get it going in the right direction, Ron Paul is the man
Go RON PAUL 2012
I never heard of Gary Johnson and did not even know he was in the race. Why are all the posters concerned with Ron Paul. He was not even mentioned in the article.
Gary -420
Do some research on RonPaul2012.com and find out.
The Ron Paul Revolution will continue the march to the White House.
Hmmm, seems like I heard that about Mr. Cain - that didn't work out so good did it?
Sorry Mr. Johnson, Captain Crazy Ron Paul already has the Libertarian nomination already locked up. Google Ron Paul earmarks and see how Captain Crazy spent federal tax dollars on bike racks and decorative street lamps in his district! No true libertarian would do that.
@Tiggle: That's because all the people worth electing don't want the job. It compromises people.
Mr. Johnson will make the perfect VP for Dr. Paul.
What ever. 3rd party candidates if even given a chance to debate at best manage to shape the conversation in one or two debates then are quickly dismissed when the poll numbers show they do not have a serious chance at election. As for Ron Paul he should have started as third party candidate waiting until after the Iowa caucus to decide to is a fools move that will only serve to make him look like a sour grapes spoiler and that is exactly what he would do to the republican chances. Having said that it really will not make any difference after the last obstruction of congress in attempt to seal the deal on the keystone pipeline they have no chance of a republican being elected as our next president.
Give it a rest #1.1
you say "you just referenced a 25 yr old show...people don't know Alex p Keaton"
I couldn't help but laugh - not all Paul supporters are youngsters.....for most of Pauls supporters the show that should have been referenced was "Lawrence Welk"!
Those who claim to be part of the "Ron Paul Revolution" seem slightly unhinged. Just because he's honest doesn't mean he has solutions to what ails America. He's a global warming denier; he'd rather believe scientists bought and paid for by Big Oil, Big Gas, and Big Business than 95% of climate scientists with no ax to grind. Global warming is not the first step to global governance; it's a problem that has already been ignored for too long, and it's consequences are so severe that we will one day curse men like Ron Paul.
There are a lot of candidates who have been ignored, from Ron Paul to Jon Huntsman to Buddy Roemer -- All far better candidates than Romney, Gingrich, or the flavor of the month Posers. But alas, Hate Radio shock jocks like Limpballs, and FOX Noise won't inform the public of these options (and yet conservatives continue tune in--you have only yourselves to blame!).
A few 2012 predictions (aside from a shake up in the Teapublican House, and OMG please don't allow the even bigger douche-bag Cantor to become Speaker), there will be at least one third party candidate (Gary Johnson claims he is running, haven't heard more about Rocky Anderson), not to mention Americans Elect. And most of this is a result of the GOP/TPimploding -- Way to go ultra conservative wing-nut Teabaggers!
Gary 420 -- Try to keep up, you and the rest of conservatives. I know more about your Party than you do, and I lean to the left. Low-information voter--no wonder where this term came from.
@ b dune: Lawerence Welk? Really? Hasn't he been dead for 20 years?
Gary who?
Exactly...He must have gotten his hands on some Primo Maui Waui to come up with this wacky idea.....The only thing this fool running as a Libertarian and the other Half-Crazy possibly running as an Independent will do is Guarantee a second term for Obama and another 4 years for his "Fundamentally Transforming America"
Ronald Wilson Reagan gave us---- Morning in America
Barack Hussein Obama giving us -----Mourning for America
better start looking forward to 2017 when you might get a real candidate for your side.
Better a second term for Obama than a Newt in the White House. If more people would vote Libertarian we wouldn't have the stupid payroll tax debate and tax breaks for coal burning cars (Electric cars effectively burn the fuel used to generate the electricity.).
Hey Gary Johnson - if you can't get above the 2% line in either the Republican or Democratic Party, you won't get much more than that nationally.
The only third party candidate so surpass 10% was Ross Perot in 1992 (18%). There are some who say the real reason he ran was to wreck Bush 41's re-election and it might be true. His business sense and respect caused him to poll at 29% and growing. His campaign suddenly paused to reconsider his run when nothing was apparently wrong. His flaky hiatus caused people to abandon him.
Johnson has none of the Perot appeal.
Theodore Roosevelt won 27% of the vote when he ran for President as the "Bull Moose" candidate. (Progressive Party) in 1912.
newday - that was then, this is now. The odds are stacked too much against third parties. Can't get in debates, have to expend far more resources than the major party nominees just to get on ballots, etc. And then there's the realization that even if any voter agreed 100 percent with a third party candidate, they might not vote that way because they don't want to throw their vote away.
First, Johnson may not get the Libertarian nomination. Part of that party will like his legitimate stature (former governor, not the failed presidential candidate part). But part of that party will probably not find Johnson to be a "pure" enough libertarian.
I like Gary Johnson, I think he's actually a better Libertarian standard bearer than Ron Paul, he had a lot of success as Governor of New Mexico, and has some terrific ideas for how to fix what's ailing the nation, particularly from the recent rash of fiscally progressive policies out of the Democrats. But I'm not sure this is a great move for him. If the Republicans put forth Newt Gingrich I'll be happy to toss my vote to Johnson and the Libertarian party, but right now I think Libertarians would probably be better served to try and back Ron Paul through the Republican party and attempt to have him lead a coalition through one of the two major parties.
Between the malfeasance of the fiscal progressives and social conservatives it's no wonder that the fastest growing group in the electorate are independents sick of both parties 'base'. For the majority of those socially moderate / liberal but fiscally conservative types, the Libertarian philosophy offers a nice sanctuary of sanity, but as a Party proof of validity in concept is still running up against the entrenched interests of the past. Working within one of those parties to take control and initiate needed change however... that could work wonders.
Paul: you misinterpret my post: The poster said that the only 3rd party candidate to surpass 10% was Perot. Roosevelt did it in 1912. The truth is that with the current set up, no third party candidate would be able to win.
Hoo Boy we got us a spoiler!
About the only thing he can spoil is New Mexico's electoral vote and it will probably go for Obama, anyway.
The real nightmare of a third (or more) party candidate is if they do well and no candidate reaches the minimum electoral votes, so the election is determined by Congress instead of the voters. Yes, the electoral college is not the actual popular vote, but at least it's a more representative reflection of the vote that Congress may cast.
In a Democratic Republic, we feel cheated when we as voter feel that our votes didn't determine the results regardless of who we supported whether it's electoral trumping popular vote, the Supreme Court deciding whether recount challenges can go forth, or our representatives voting for us. I think most people would prefer a run off like it is done for local races.
You may not know who Gary Johnson is, but I'm sure you remember Ross Perot.
I'd pick Teddy Roosevelt over any of the Republicans running this year, in a heartbeat.
Me too. Teddy would leave the Party all over again....
Under the current system,
"The real nightmare of a third (or more) party candidate is if they do well and no candidate reaches the minimum electoral votes, so the election is determined by Congress instead of the voters."
The National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and DC).
Every vote, everywhere, would be politically relevant and equal in presidential elections. There would no longer be a handful of 'battleground' states where voters and policies are more important than those of the voters in more than 3/4ths of the states that will just be 'spectators' and ignored.
When the bill is enacted by states possessing a majority of the electoral votes– enough electoral votes to elect a President (270 of 538), all the electoral votes from the enacting states would be awarded to the presidential candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states and DC.
The bill uses the power given to each state by the Founding Fathers in the Constitution to change how they award their electoral votes for President. Historically, virtually all of the major changes in the method of electing the President, including ending the requirement that only men who owned substantial property could vote and 48 current state-by-state winner-take-all laws, have come about by state legislative action.
In Gallup polls since 1944, only about 20% of the public has supported the current system of awarding all of a state's electoral votes to the presidential candidate who receives the most votes in each separate state (with about 70% opposed and about 10% undecided). Support for a national popular vote is strong among Republicans, Democrats, and Independent voters, as well as every demographic group in virtually every state surveyed in recent polls in closely divided Battleground states: CO – 68%, FL – 78%, IA 75%, MI – 73%, MO – 70%, NH – 69%, NV – 72%, NM– 76%, NC – 74%, OH – 70%, PA – 78%, VA – 74%, and WI – 71%; in Small states (3 to 5 electoral votes): AK – 70%, DC – 76%, DE – 75%, ID – 77%, ME – 77%, MT – 72%, NE 74%, NH – 69%, NV – 72%, NM – 76%, OK – 81%, RI – 74%, SD – 71%, UT – 70%, VT – 75%, WV – 81%, and WY – 69%; in Southern and Border states: AR – 80%,, KY- 80%, MS – 77%, MO – 70%, NC – 74%, OK – 81%, SC – 71%, TN – 83%, VA – 74%, and WV – 81%; and in other states polled: CA – 70%, CT – 74%, MA – 73%, MN – 75%, NY – 79%, OR – 76%, and WA – 77%. Americans believe that the candidate who receives the most votes should win.
The bill has passed 31 state legislative chambers in 21 small, medium-small, medium, and large states. The bill has been enacted by 9 jurisdictions possessing 132 electoral votes - 49% of the 270 necessary to bring the law into effect.
NationalPopularVote
Does anybody remember John Anderson in 1980?
Teddy Roosevelt would get my vote. Trouble is he was a liberal, progressive, environmentalist, government regulation, and trust buster. He would be a DEMOCRAT today!!!!!
From the guy that wanted to defund education in New Mexico. The only thing that stopped him was that both houses of the legislature in New Mexico wasn't going to let him balance the state budget on the backs of teachers.
The reason nobody knows his name is because he's an ideologue. You might as well vote for Ron Paul.
I fully intend to vote for Ron Paul, thanks for the support!
Look, TeaBats - you actually have a choice now!
Doc
From the guy that wanted to defund education in New Mexico
where do you get that crap!
I had to look this up, but Johnson cut New Mexico's general spending, and the ONLY thing he increase (by 33%) was FUNDING education. The purpose was for what liberals claim is through more money to public education.
In three years, the performance of the public schools DROPPED instead of improving, so he moved to institute school vouchers to allow more people in failing schools to enroll their kids in a school that is doing a better job.
What school vouchers do, and should only be allowed to do, is allow the parents to use the tax money they would be paying to the public school for their kids in the school of their choice.
I don't know how New Mexico funds schools, but in the two states I have live in, Funding is made up of local state and federal taxes. The average state pays 44% of the cost per student. The fed adds 6% of the cost per student and the remaining 50% is local taxes. This has been altered in recent years so that Richer districts get less state aid and poorer get more state aid.
APS costs about $11,500 per Student. My local taxes (real-estate set for schools & income taxes) Amounts to about $1200 in real-estate and $125 - $150 in other taxes. The local half of funding is $5,750 A maximum voucher in Ohio is $2250 - and you only get a voucher if you are below a certain income level.
When the local school loses a student, they lose $5750 in funding from the Fed and State. And lose only $1350 in local fund keeping $4400 for every student they lose.
BTW The average cost for educating a student in private school is about $6500 per year. $4500 for elementary, 6500 for middle school and $8500 for High school.
Every state should want to use vouchers because they only pay $900 in taxes for a voucher under this system instead of paying about $3600 more. Better yet the federal money isn't even needed.
Here's the kickers, My and many other private school parents have experience performance improvement in our kids by moving them to private schools. And no, I never received a voucher, eat rice, beans, and hot dogs, never eat out, and get help from relatives to keep my kids in private school. May kids are now in the top 10 percentile in the nation - instead of something less.
You don't get anywhere funding failure, worse yet, you don't get better over-funding failure!
I'm not a teabat,I'm a democrat and i fully intend to vote for Ron Paul.I temporarily switched parties to vote for him in the primaries.
PEOPLE !
I know that most American's carry deep party affiliations, it is almost as if it is ingrained in our DNA. But if we want real change, we can't elect anyone that is bought and paid for by the status quo!
Exactly.... as long as so many continue to vote for one end of the Donkephant or the other, all we'll ever have is status quo as it's the same animal. I, for one, can't take much more of the status quo and don't want it for my children.
Johnson may not be the guy, but we need some real representation back in government- across the board. Especially Clowngress.
So right! To many people regard party affiliation like religion or sports affiliation. In truth they are all choices. No one is born a Republican or Democrat. Just like no one is born a Browns fan or Muslim. Gary Johnson seems like a decent man. The same cannot be said about Newt Gingrich. He's been a Lutheran, Southern Baptist, and now a Catholic. He's been married three times. The first to his former high school geometry teacher. The last to a woman 23 years his junior whom he had a long affair with while he was still married to his second wife.
It is amazing to me that all people seem to remember about Newt is his infidelity. I am far more worried about the fact that he racked up an enormous number of ethics violations in the House, paid his way out of most of them, was kicked out of office by his own party, has made a bundle of money by "consulting" as a "historian" (revisionist history, not to mention undeclared lobbying), has been less than truthful in a variety of situations, and still believes that he is owed the presidency!
Gary Johnson--I didn't even know that he was running.
"We have met the enemy and he is us!" Pogo by Walt Kelly
Too many people who would do a great job are scared off by the media assassinations. Everyone has baggage, no matter who they are.
If you pass gas to often than you can't possibly do the job.
If you stumble on a few words, you can't possibly do a good job.
Whether it's a gaff on 57 states or I can't remember something, you can't possibly do a good job.
My criteria for a president is someone who will put America First, and will lead and not put party affiliation above whats good for America. That goes for both the Donkeys and Elephants.
Sick and tired of what we have now. In my opinion we have no leaders right now....
Nurse-1006. I haven't chosen a candidate yet, but from checking in on Newt. His big problem was the infidelity. The 84 of the ethics charges were dropped because they lacked sufficient evidence. The one he sign off on was so he didn't get nailed for not giving full answers to the committee.
The Ethics charge he signed off on involved his alleged using of his college course to benefit his politics and that therefore 501c3 that was distributing the video of the course was in violation of it's non-profit status - making his payments for making the videos taxable - which he did not report as taxable income (also called tax evasion)
Anyhow Newt signed off on the ethics charges and the committee turned him in to the IRS.
Three years later - the IRS of all people had studied the videos and determined that the videos were educational, not biased, and did not support any political party or candidate. They ruled the 501c3 as not having violated IRS non-profit status AND that Newt had reported the income appropriately.
And here is one of the links to back up what I write.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/govt/leadership/stories/gingrich020499.htm
What I find is most charges leveled by the Left are overstated, and quite often very inaccurate. I check out everything I say and find they should be trusted far less than the far right!
84 ethics charges. THAT quantity ALONE should be a warning. Where there's smoke, there's fire.
I don't want a man that lies to his family as my leader. Whether R OR D. We need statesmen, not these prima donnas.
Not if the charges are baseless and intended to smear someone. Seems to me in rules for radicals, one of the things you are supposed to do is through every negative possibility at your opponent and then emphacize anything that seems to stick.
I particularly like this comment, because Clinton could be on his deathbed and about half the people in the country would vote for him.
So, did you support Clinton? If so big double standard nosferatu!
I liked Johnson, but I think he supported a flat tax. The only flat tax I am interested in is a 0% tax. If he is into that, then I can get on his train.
Regardless, I will support Ron Paul this cycle. I will certainly begin researching him though in future cycles.
It's like Ross Perot all over again...
Zero tax. Ok with you, I guess, to give up the military, roads, schools, and medical care for sick children. Huh?
PER,
It must be quite interesting to live in your world. You think that stuff would not be possible without an income tax? Review history, you'll find you are mistaken.
Darn tootin!!
Arm the citizenry - we can protect our own borders without that fancy "professional army"
I'll blaze my own friggen trail if I want to get somewhere. Who needs paved, well maintained roads? Pansies! that's who!
Schools!? don't get me started on those leftie bastions of socialist double-speak! Teaching my kids that the earth isn't the center of the universe! Who do they think they are!?!
Then those sick kids...it's called survival of the fittest, cull the weak from the herd...i say, let 'em crash.
Just, you think we could keep it up in 2011? Stop living in the past and step into the real world.
Seems to me I here the "giant sucking sound" of votes being syphoned from a more popular Republican giving Obama another term. Kind of like the Perot line "the sucking sound of jobs leaving the country over the North American Free Trade Agreement.
From Maxx's home to yours:
To all my liberal/socialist/progressive/marxist friends - Happy Winter Festival!!
To all my conservative friends - Merry Christmas!!
To answer your next question - Yes, I do know the meaning of socialist, progressive, marxist and liberal... thanks for asking!!
But do you have even a nanogram of originality?
Maxx is grenade trolling ... ignore.
Merry Christmahannuquanzaka to you too.
Maxx, I'm a liberal and celebrate Christmas but I also respect all those who do not celebrate it including those of the Jewish faith who celebrate Hanukkah. Your attempt at broad-brush painting only conservatives as Christians isn't remotely accurate. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Maxx, think about it.
With as broken as the House and the Senate is, which will only get worse, it is pretty irrelevant who the damn president is, or what their "message" is.
How that is disregarded term after term I'll never know, but many do seem to put more stock in whom's president than in those that actually are responsible for most all policy and legislation.
whom's?
Through the nomination of a candidate through Americans Elect is the only way that we can change our broken system.
Gary Johnson...isn't he that guy from that TV sitcom, Diff'rent Strokes?
I thought he was dead!
morning Mickey
He's almost a left wing libertarian if you can wrap that concept around your mind. I was on some who to vote for questionnaire site and surprisingly when I finished he ranked just below Obama 92% to 89%. Romney came in dead last at 6%.
And a good morning to you as well ideo,
Is there such a thing as a "left wing libertarian"?
Yes. There are many self proclaimed "left-libertarians"
Personally, I'm not sure they really qualify as libertarians at all.
Not to an an-cap like me at any rate lol
I'm also not sure if this fellow is a "left-libertarian," or any kind of libertarian for that matter. I don't know much about him at all to be honest.
I fully support third party candidates. The two ruling parties are broken and owned by corporate interests. It almost comes down to - are you voting for GE or Haliburton??? I will vote for neither the Rebugnican nor Obama. Funny now that everything Ross Perot warned of is coming to pass, isn't it??
Politicians are not owned by anyone, but they are influenced by many groups. Republicans are
strongly influenced by the the wealthy lobby, the business lobby and the christian lobby.
Democrats are strongly influenced by the poor lobby, the government employee lobby and the
lawyer lobby. Both parties are strongly influenced by the healthcare lobby and the senior lobby.
If each politician ignores the professional lobbyists in DC and the media lobbyists and the armchair
lobbyists, they can do their job and rescue this country from the path of destruction.
Dan, if the 'strong influence' of lobbyists and corporate donors is strong enough that the lobbyist's bribes/gifts are consistently outweighing the voice of the constituents in determining policy (see the SOPA and PIPA acts currently in the house/senate) then how is that any different from the politician being "owned"/sponsored outright by the corporations and their lobbyists?
What we have in this country is conspicuous corruption, and it's a problem. Enough is enough.
He's dropping out of the race? I didn't know he was in it... and I don't know who he is.
He's getting more coverage for this than he's recieved for the last 9 months after being the first republican to announce his candidacy this spring.
Gary who? And just exactly what race was he in, besides the human one? Some more internet space, just wasted on this non news.
Third Party Alternative: Right idea, wrong man. Trouble is the best person for the job, Huntsman, isn't getting any traction. Nevertheless almost anyone is better than Obama except Bachmann, Gingrich, Perry, and Santorem. It's a toss up with Romney and Paul. Let's have some viable choices.
if gary johnson were elected president, he wants to legalize marijuana. what else
does he want to do? sounds like he is more interested in marijuana than he is in
working to get this country on solid ground, getting people back to work. ect;ect;ect however, it is a good buisness, if you know what I mean
Of course, legalizing and taxing marijuana will most certainly help create revenue without having to tax the rich.....which means few jobs will be created, but they'll have a lot more money to p*ss away...
Well DB I guess you think if it were legalized it would just plant, maintain, grow and harvest it's self. Dolt!
@Gary, Too lazy to find out his positions for yourself? And you vote?
Sorry, I meant to address that to George, not Gary.
He is being paid by the Gaseous Old Pharts to run as a third party. There will be even more entries also sponsored by the Gaseous Old Pharts. That way when the Greatest President in my lifetime beats the pants off of whom ever wins the Gaseous Old Pharts contest they will sqeal like the little piggies that they are that it is the third, fourth, and fifth parties fault.
The Gaseous Old Pharts could run Gingrich, Paul and Romney on their ticket and they still could not beat President Obama. Because the American People recognize that he is the only one in Washington that truly cares about the whole country, not just the one percent.
He will run as a libertarian and help hand Obama his second term.
The Libertarian candidate will get the same 300K votes they always get- not to worry about that one affecting this election.....the only exception would be if Ron Paul decided to run as a Libertarian, but he won't do that, because he knows d*mned well that Obama would win easily if he did that, and in his world, Mitt Romney is the lesser of those two evils, regardless of what Paul might be saying about him now.
Gary Johnson will get my vote. www.newsandopinions.net
I don't dislike Gary Johnson though I do not believe he's the man for THIS job (and have known he is for some time) but he doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell. He's the Ralph Nader of the other side...he will do nothing but pull votes from the Republicans. I don't think he'll pull many though. This will be my first year NOT voting for my party (I am a registered Dem) and I really hope that we don't see a lot of third party vote pulling from the Republican nominee because we desperately need change...and not the kind that was promised four years ago.
Johnson did have the BEST quote from the Republican debates thus far...I have it posted in my office (and every day have to explain who he is when someone reads it):
"My neighbor's dogs have created more 'shovel ready' jobs than this administration" - Gov. Gary Johnson, Sept. 22, 2011
we desperately need change...and not the kind that was promised four years ago.
Yes, but we also don't need the kind that we got 12 years ago.
I do agree with some of his ideas - yes indeed, it is time to decriminalize reefer maybe even legalize it completely, we have to have some way to get rid of the cartels and gangs - that would be the first step, no doubt would put a big dent in their money train and everyone must know by now that reagan and bush 1's war on drugs always has been an ineffective tool to award more money to the local law enforcement and thereby win their votes. I'd much rather my law enforcement on every level be working to rid society of real criminals, those who are raping, robbing, killing, and abducting working class citizens. Not so worried about the upper 1% - they have enough money to hire retired blackwater body guards, but the rest of us need police who are ready to protect us from the real criminals, if they don't have to worry about the gangs then they have more time to do the job they were trained and hired to do. now on getting rid of the department of education, OSHA, the EPA, transporation dept, dept of health and human services - that would be the wrong thing to do because as a nation we must have some laws that cross over states boarders and there are some causes that apply to al of us. Good news - the President's approval rating is up to 49% today, as this dirty little tax war on the working middle class continues I really expect that to improve on a regular basis, even if the republicans and bonehead come to their senses and agree to extend the tax cut for working middle class people, those of us who are actually in the working middle class will never forget this little folly of theirs.
Max - you don't own Christianity, you most certainly don't own mine, I've been a Christian probably longer than you have been alive, I know my Bible pretty well (went to David Lipscomb University, a Church of Christ supported and regulated university where we had to take Bible as a real class every day and it was taught just like a history class so we would all get the full impact and history of the real living word), and I do know the things neocons like to ignore in the Bible - "it will be harder for a wealthy man to go to heaven than for a camel to enter into the eye of the needle, You shall not treat a wealthy man any better than you do a poor one, and my favorite - especially this time of year: Jesus Christ was not born to a wealthy or affluent family, he was born into a working middle class family. So, yes, from this lifelong Christian and Democrat (who also owns and can shoot a gun very well, thank you for asking): Merry Christmas! Happy New Year.
Union Baby: I think if Jesus were on earth today you would probably find him at a Union hall (probably Carpenters Local 001), or at an Occupy encampment.
He would be an unwashed, unshaven Rabbi with coarse hands feeding the poor, healing the sick and caring for the dispossessed.
In other words,.......he'd be everything the republican party ain't.
Union Baby, check out thechristianleft.org. I think you'd enjoy their point of view.
Is Ron Paul going to be Gary's running mate.
no but I could see Mr. Johnson being Dr. Paul's running mate even Mr. Johnson knows he can't beat Dr. Paul from wiki (I know I know)
from "outsidethebeltway.com
There's plenty of articles out there.
Gary Johnson was elected Governor of New Mexico based on the idea that he would cut government spending and balance the state budget, something the GOP always promises but never delivers. After 4 years he won reelection because he did what he said he would do. Within the GOP the only candidate who would seriously attempt to balance the budget is Ron Paul, and the GOP establishment will never allow him to win the nomination. After Ron Paul is defeated, if his supporters do not abandon the GOP and support Gary Johnson then it will mean they never believed in what Paul stood for.
Simon I just read an interesting article that said
So anything could happen. Personally if Dr. Paul doesn't get the nomination, I'll give Mr. Johnson my vote.
u know what i can respect ron paul and gary johnson then flipper meet and newt at least they be consitentwith their views,and no i am not a libertirain. hey were trump who's platform would let me see his birth certificate
Since Christmas is here I guess we must tolerate all of the "fruit cakes" who post here!
Save the USA, Obama 2012!!!!
Your reservation to the nearest FEMA Camp has been confirmed... wake-up!! Obama?? Is your post some sort of SICK JOKE?? Wake up sheeple!!
Sure rattled your delicate little cage huh Leap? LMAO
Sorry, Gary, even though I have voted Libertarian for the last twenty years, I will have to vote for the Republican candidate this time. Four more years of Obama is unthinkable.
What's one more election where your candidate is going to lose.
can you promise to move out of the country if Obama wins? Please?
The "Whore" maninstream media, along with the NWO have failed!! Ron Paul is now #1 in Iowa. Most are missing the POINT when it comes to The RON PAUL REVOLUTION... we have wittnessed a GREAT AWAKENING IN AMERICA, even if Ron Paul does not win the nomination...The Awakening for LIBERTY has begun, and soon the "RECKONING" shall follow... to run these Criminal Politicans and Banksters of the NWO, OUT of this Country and OUR GOVERNMENT!! NOT ON OUR WATCH!! GOD BLESS FELLOW OATHKEEPERS Ciao
The "Ron Paul revolution" staged in sparse irrelevant Iowa. LMAO
Yeah, funny thing, that 'sparse, irrelevant Iowa' is considered the most important primary by presidential candidates. The candidate chosen in Iowa isn't necessarily the winner of the nomination, but every other candidate also spends more money by far on Iowa than any other contest nationwide. Iowa is sparse (I've driven through a few times), but it's hardly "irrelevant" if you follow the money. LMAO.
The bottom line is that Ron Paul's message is out there and gaining traction with a lot of people. Even if Ron Paul dies/is assassinated/commits 'suicide' before he can hold office, he won't be the last to take up his cause.
I woke up I'm with you guys about Ron Paul. People take our country back vote Ron Paul.
Ron Paul is a joke.