CAN THE RON PAUL ARMY SWING THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION?

Ever met a Ron Paul supporter up close? I flew back from Oakland on Southwest-- no reserve seats. I managed to snag the aisle seat of row 1 for the 55 minute flight back to Burbank. A small, quiet young woman was in the window seat-- and the plane was far from full. There were seats everyone. So I was grumpy when a guy in his late 20s/early 30s squeezed into the middle seat. There were dozens of open seats everywhere. Oh well... I didn't want to send any bad vibes his way; after all, we'd all soon be at 30,000 feet together on this flimsy aluminum tube. I settle down to read the last chapter of Cliff Schecter's fantastic book, The Real McCain. No sooner than we were over Hayward, he asked me, gesturing towards Cliff's book, if I like John McCain.

I never mind putting aside a book to get a chance to rant about all the reasons why John W. McCain is unfit for public office. I'm not sure how the people behind me or across the aisle felt, but this guy couldn't have agreed more. He knew most of the anti-McCain talking points. But it wasn't really McCain he was interested in. At his first opportunity he lurched into a schpiel about the 6 families that own the media and how McCain, the Clintons and Obama all belong to the Council of Foreign Relations and how that organization... yes, rules the world. I immediately realized I was sitting next to an actual Ron Paul supporter.

It wasn't long before he was talking about the gold standard. He was definitely a pleasant person with nice manners and not steeped in ignorance-- although when I questioned Paul's actual voting record, he wasn't open to believing his hero (idol?) spent most of his time in Congress rubber stamping the reactionary Republican agenda. Anyway... come November he plans to write Paul's name in. No Obama voter here. He's not buying the "change" theory-- although he is buying corporate media talking points (6 families or not) about Obama being all gloss with no substance. I urged him to go to Obama's website and read the substance and he promised he would; I bet he does. But I wouldn't bet he'll vote for Obama. For him-- and how many more Paul supporters-- Obama is merely the lesser of two evils. Fortunately, Obama can win the presidency without the Ron Paul supporters. But can McCain-- the greater of two evils?

Today's L.A. Times reports that, regardless of how the Machiavellian right has swallowed hard and come over to the McCain they know and hate, the far, far more principled Paulistsas never will... or, at least, haven't as yet. The Paul loyalists are still seething about McCain's condescending and malicious attitude towards Paul during the debates and are furious that McCain backed a primary opponent-- who failed dismally-- in his congressional race. The Paulistas don't like being labeled moonbats and Paul-tards and I don't blame them. Even Paul himself told CNN this week that he has no intention of campaigning for McCain this fall... "Not unless he changes his tune-- like bring the troops home." Asked how he can be a good Republican by the CNNbot, Paul replied "Maybe you’re a good Republican if you stand up for Republican principles."

And that is what his supporters intend to do-- by not voting for John W. McCain's bid to embody a third term for George Bush. Their websites read like ours when it comes to McCain. "We have labeled John McCain has a political opportunist who does not truly represent what the general public thinks of him. Every news item coming out regarding McCain lately only reinforces this view... [W]hile Ron Paul’s foresight and knowledge continues to get validated, John McCain continues to try to polish his maverick straight talker image. Unfortunately, it seems to be a successful strategy on a public that would rather play Grand Theft Auto IV than pay attention to politics... Liberty Maven is not made up of a single Democrat, so it isn’t only the Democrats trying to reveal the truth of the John McCain myth."