[Peace-discuss] We agree with Ron Paul: McKinney, Baldwin, Nader

Wed Sep 10 13:47:03 CDT 2008

[It is surprising that Ralph agreed to participate, but he clearly did.  See his 
website: <http://www.votenader.org/blog/2008/09/10/
ralph-nader-ron-paul-press-conference-this-morning/>. As the following account 
says, "It's a coup for Paul, who has settled into a role as the patron saint of 
political outcasts. He introduced the candidates as representatives of the real 
American majority. 'Most people are voting for the lesser of two evils!' Ralph 
Nader took the sentiment further, arguing that lousy media coverage and trivia 
'like the newest one, Lipstickgate!' was preventing the average voter from 
learning how he agreed with these four candidates. As weird as the event got, 
this was really something: Ralph Nader, old-time contributer to the Freeman, 
signing on to a libertarian candidate's principles." --CGE]

	What About Bob?

David Weigel | September 10, 2008, 11:50am
http://www.reason.com/blog/show/128716.html

Ron Paul's press conference with the top third party candidates just wrapped up, 
but it was missing one of the scheduled speakers: Libertarian Bob Barr. Barr 
pulled out of the conference this morning, but the LP's Austin Petersen hadn't 
been told. He showed up with campaign literature and was kicked out of the 
hallway by Paul spokesman Jesse Benton. "He was extremely angry," Petersen said. 
"I feel like the fall guy."

[UPDATE: A video of the press conference is here: 
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Ron_Paul_offers_support_to_thirdparty_0910.html]

I'll find out shortly why Barr decided to bail on the press conference. He 
wasn't going to get an endorsement apart from Paul's blanket, quasi-endorsement 
of all four candidates. According to Ralph Nader (who joined the Green Party's 
Cynthia McKinney and the Constitution Party's Chuck Baldwin on the dais), Barr's 
campaign manager Russ Verney affirmed that Barr agreed with the premise behind 
the press conference, that all the candidates had agreed to four principles.

     Foreign Policy: The Iraq War must end as quickly as possible with removal 
of all our soldiers from the region. We must initiate the return of our soldiers 
from around the world, including Korea, Japan, Europe and the entire Middle 
East. We must cease the war propaganda, threats of a blockade and plans for 
attacks on Iran, nor should we re-ignite the cold war with Russia over Georgia. 
We must be willing to talk to all countries and offer friendship and trade and 
travel to all who are willing. We must take off the table the threat of a 
nuclear first strike against all nations.

     Privacy: We must protect the privacy and civil liberties of all persons 
under US jurisdiction. We must repeal or radically change the Patriot Act, the 
Military Commissions Act, and the FISA legislation. We must reject the notion 
and practice of torture, eliminations of habeas corpus, secret tribunals, and 
secret prisons. We must deny immunity for corporations that spy willingly on the 
people for the benefit of the government. We must reject the unitary presidency, 
the illegal use of signing statements and excessive use of executive orders.

     The National Debt: We believe that there should be no increase in the 
national debt. The burden of debt placed on the next generation is unjust and 
already threatening our economy and the value of our dollar. We must pay our 
bills as we go along and not unfairly place this burden on a future generation.

     The Federal Reserve: We seek a thorough investigation, evaluation and audit 
of the Federal Reserve System and its cozy relationships with the banking, 
corporate, and other The arbitrary power to create money and credit out of thin 
air behind closed doors for the benefit of commercial interests must be ended. 
There should be no taxpayer bailouts of corporations and no corporate subsidies. 
Corporations should be aggressively prosecuted for their crimes and frauds. 
financial institutions.

Barr agrees with all of that. It's a coup for Paul, who has settled into a role 
as the patron saint of political outcasts. He introduced the candidates as 
representatives of the real American majority. "Most people are voting for the 
lesser of two evils!" Ralph Nader took the sentiment further, arguing that lousy 
media coverage and trivia "like the newest one, Lipstickgate!" was preventing 
the average voter from learning how he agreed with these four candidates. As 
weird as the event got, this was really something: Ralph Nader, old-time 
contributer to the Freeman, signing on to a libertarian candidate's principles. 
Cynthia McKinney and Chuck Baldwin agreeing on the bulk of a political platform.

But it did get weird. There was no censorship of the candidates. Cynthia 
McKinney had time to tell press to watch the film American Blackout and learn 
how the 2000 and 2004 elections were stolen. Chuck Baldwin repeated his line 
that when he's elected "the New World Order comes crashing down!"

A few more details:

- Paul said that the McCain campaign contacted him on Tuesday about endorsing 
the GOP candidate. He turned them down, again.

- Paul lambasted the Commission on Presidential Debates for excluding third 
parties and recalled the way that his was excluded from Dukakis-Bush debates 20 
years ago. (Those wounds never heal. Who hasn't wondered what he would have done 
if Kitty Dukakis was raped and murdered?) Paul's stance: If you're on enough 
ballots to theoretically win 270 electoral votes, you should debate.

- Paul, on whether his endorsements would hurt McCain or Obama: "I don't want to 
hurt anybody! I want to save the country!"

Robert Naiman wrote:
> As far as I can tell, there was no such press conference and no such
> joint statement.
> 
> Somebody posted a statement on a Ron Paul website claiming that these
> were areas of agreement, not claiming that there was a joint statement
> of agreement.
> 
> That Ralph Nader would have signed off on this statement is highly implausible.
> 
> In particular, as far as I know, Ralph Nader does not advocate getting
> rid of the Federal Reserve function of regulating the money supply.
> Nor does he advocate "pay as you go" budget rules, which, in practice,
> are quite reactionary in their impact.
> 
> This is the sentence that tipped me off:
> 
> "The arbitrary power to create money and credit out of thin air behind
> closed doors for the benefit of commercial interests must be ended."
> 
> That sentence was written by a Ron Paul supporter - someone who wants
> to abolish the Federal Reserve, the US central bank.  I will wager a
> thousand dollars against a dime that Ralph Nader never signed off on
> it.
> 
> On Wed, Sep 10, 2008 at 10:41 AM, E. Wayne Johnson <ewj at pigs.ag> wrote:
>> This morning at a press conference, Cynthia McKinney (Green Party), Chuck
>> Baldwin (Constitution Party), and Ralph Nader (independent) released a
>> a statement that they agree with Congressman Ron Paul on 4 key points.
>>  Interestingly Bob (patriot act) Barr did not participate.
>>
>>
>> *
>>
>>
>> We Agree
>>
>> The Republican/Democrat duopoly has, for far too long, ignored the most
>> important issues facing our nation.  However, alternate candidates Chuck
>> Baldwin, Cynthia McKinney, and Ralph Nader agree with Ron Paul on four key
>> principles central to the health of our nation. These principles should be
>> key in the considerations of every voter this November and in every
>> election.
>>
>> We Agree
>>
>> Foreign Policy:
>> The Iraq War must end as quickly as possible with removal of all our
>> soldiers from the region. We must initiate the return of our soldiers from
>> around the world, including Korea, Japan, Europe and the entire Middle East.
>> We must cease the war propaganda, threats of a blockade and plans for
>> attacks on Iran, nor should we re-ignite the cold war with Russia over
>> Georgia. We must be willing to talk to all countries and offer friendship
>> and trade and travel to all who are willing. We must take off the table the
>> threat of a nuclear first strike against all nations.
>>
>> Privacy:
>> We must protect the privacy and civil liberties of all persons under US
>> jurisdiction. We must repeal or radically change the Patriot Act, the
>> Military Commissions Act, and the FISA legislation. We must reject the
>> notion and practice of torture, eliminations of habeas corpus, secret
>> tribunals, and secret prisons. We must deny immunity for corporations that
>> spy willingly on the people for the benefit of the government. We must
>> reject the unitary presidency, the illegal use of signing statements and
>> excessive use of executive orders.
>>
>> The National Debt:
>> We believe that there should be no increase in the national debt. The burden
>> of debt placed on the next generation is unjust and already threatening our
>> economy and the value of our dollar. We must pay our bills as we go along
>> and not unfairly place this burden on a future generation.
>>
>> The Federal Reserve:
>> We seek a thorough investigation, evaluation and audit of the Federal
>> Reserve System and its cozy relationships with the banking, corporate, and
>> other financial institutions. The arbitrary power to create money and credit
>> out of thin air behind closed doors for the benefit of commercial interests
>> must be ended. There should be no taxpayer bailouts of corporations and no
>> corporate subsidies. Corporations should be aggressively prosecuted for
>> their crimes and frauds.
>> _______________________________________________
>> Peace-discuss mailing list
>> Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
>> http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/peace-discuss
>>
> 
> 
> 