Here is Newsweek’s Howard Fineman on Ron Paul, and it is not all bad. Far better than Capitol Hill hate sheets. But, Howard, “angry”?
I have to admit that I kind of like Rep. Ron Paul. Partly it’s that we’re both from Pittsburgh, and both began our careers as paperboys for the Pittsburgh Press. More important, Paul is something unusual in politics. He appears to believe in something. His fundamental views have not changed since 1971, when he decided to run for Congress in Texas because President Nixon abandoned the gold standard.
I don’t like labels, but in this case I’ll use some. Paul, a Duke-trained physician, is an angry, apocalyptic, populist, hard-currency libertarian. He is against paper money, the Federal Reserve, the income tax, and most of the federal government’s role in our lives, from fighting in Afghanistan to printing Social Security checks. Paul never saw an establishment he didn’t loathe. Many of his ideas are unworkable, some are dangerous, and some of his supporters are conspiracy theorists so paranoid, they probably think this column is part of the Plot. But, as odd as it seems, Paul has become a player in Washington and at the grassroots. His emergence should be a lesson to rudderless Republicans. They don’t want to scare away independent voters, but they need to find a way to emulate Paul’s outsider’s anger and his commitment to conservative essentials.
Read the whole article.
UPDATE with Clell Adams:
It is the disingenuousness of people like Howard Fineman and his terrible commentary that has caused people such as myself to be angry. His writing is most horrible.
Phrases like this: “Paul is a bargain-basement Jefferson for our time.” And this: “Somebody has to take the fall, and Bernanke—who has trillions of dollars at his disposal but not one dime of PAC money—could be the guy. Last week Paul’s Senate friend, socialist Bernie Sanders of Vermont, placed a “hold” on Bernanke’s nomination for a second term, which means the chairman will need 60 votes to keep his job.” (Here he makes two smears in one)
And lastly this: “What they need is a candidate who embodies the spirit of Ron Paul. Just so long as it isn’t Ron Paul.”
His immaturity is showing!! He sounds like a 24-year old journalist fresh out of Columbia University. (Just a random pick there on the age and the school.)
11:28 pm on December 4, 2009
