I doubt anyone would have beat Obama last time. Romney was the most conservative in that race but the timing of financial meltdown meant the uninformed would go for the opposite party of the current President. In that race you had Obama who fought with Dodd & Frank to prevent reform to proactively deal with the housing issue and McCain who was pushing for reform for years before the crash, and people chose Obama.

I like Ron Paul on spending, however his pace of change would fail. Also he is right about the Fed but we must first fix our fiscal policy before we can unwind the monetary mess. His ideas of foreign policy are dangerous and naive. Lastly he would lose as either the GOP nominee or a third party, either way supporting him means a second term for Obama. Hard to believe you would like Trump if you like Ron Paul. Trump is a joke, he mistakenly thinks we can pay for entitlements by growth through getting a better deal with China and OPEC. Maybe make him in charge of negotiating a trade deal with China, but not President. Maybe Rand Paul could take over and avoid the drug legalization and isolationist side of Ron Paul. I would think at age 76 this is Ron Paul's last time running.

I've been told before that my preference for certain candidates is inconsistent with some of the other candidates I support, but such is politics, is it not?

I'm not convinced that Paul's foreign policy positions are dangerous, as we were extremely reactionary, as opposed to being proactive, in regards to both WWs, and because of that strategy, we ended up benefiting greatly, didn't we?

As to China, they need us far more than we need them. Negotiating a fair trade deal with China is easy - it's just a matter of doing it as opposed to allowing them to rake us over the coals, as has been our policy for quite some time now.

Rand interests me, and hopefully will take the torch passed on from his father in the near future.

As to drug legalization, I've yet to form an opinion on, as the war against drugs is clearly un-winable on the supply side. I also find it hypocritical to legalize alcohol, cigarettes, and other drugs while at the same time prohibiting others. The only constant in such issue is the logic which invariably premises that to voluntarily ingest a known poison into one's body is highly illogical, and under such, all such toxins, including alcohol and tobacco should be outlawed, correct?

After all, alcohol and tobacco are responsible for far more deaths and social ills than all other illicit substances combined. In the end, it all comes down to responsible use, and that's something you can't effectively govern, as our history has proven to us.

I don't think that Ron Paul thinks that drugs should not be regulated. He says that the President and Federal Government should keep their nose out of it and leave it up to the States. Here is Ron Paul's position on legalizing drugs, prostitution......http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0GZznxMC14&feature=related

Why is his idea of foreign policy any more dangerous and naive than Obama, the other Republican candidates or McCain. Seems their tactics are to strike first and ask questions later. Instead of sending our troops to fight and die, in foreign countries, for oil for China and other foreign countries, they should be put to work here in the US building that pipe line from Canada to Texas.

@JRH, Rand Paul is his father's son. Wish we had both of them here in Wisconsin.

Are you kidding about no baggage for Ron Paul. Any other candidate that did not have such a dedicated following would have been forced to pull out due to lack of money after the issue of the racist newsletters. His answers stink. If we take him at his word he is just too incompetent to manage a staff of 2-3. The other explanations are worse. People are way too concerned about debating Obama. If entertaining debates are your concern vote for Gingrich. I more concerned about winning and in the end the Debates will not decide the General election. I guess Ron Paul does not matter anyway since he has probably secured a prime time speech at the convention if Romney wins, which is the main goal for his campaign.

@DJ -

You never say that to me anymore, is it because I've gained a few pounds? ;-)

God Bless you for having a sense of humor. I don't how you keep your composure, if Patch doesn't pull the plug on Saxon soon, I won't be coming to their site.

DJ knows better than to give him what he wants. If we all did that the whole routine would become pointless.

Bob: Ignore him and he slowly gets more bold. By not calling him on it, we are accepting that. I don't know why posts related to his were pulled, pretending as if it never happened doesn't help. I can be less than cordial when debating the issues, but being a jerk is nothing compared to that type of behavior.
I think I am taking a Patch vacation.

@Craig -

There must have been an Aryan Nations convention, featuring David Duke as the keynote speaker, in town, as I've never seen him that riled up before.

I wouldn't put any stock into it though - like Bob said and DJ realizes, if you let it get to you, then he accomplishes his goal and wins. Best thing to do is either ignore it all together or have a little fun with him when he gets that way, just as DJ did.

Guess we need to have a tribal council, so we vote him off the island....

I'd actually like to say 'you're fired', but 'the Donald' might sue and Lyle might tell me that I'd be breaking my social contract... the -realm- of possibilities are endless....

Hoffa, those pants do make you look a little heavy. :)

Seems maybe Saxon got under my skin more than anyone else. And maybe my reply was just what he wanted. But for those of you who saw his words; had I just ignored it, would have reflected badly on me. To me that is as bad as pretending you didn't see a pedophile abusing a kid.
We spend time debating the issues that we are split on, sometimes without civility. The things we all agree that are wrong, get almost no mention.

Craig, flagging it as inappropriate isn't ignoring it. It's alerting the folks that can actually do something about it.

Good point. Sorry if I made the issue worse.

Oh, he's still here...never gone for long.