Representative Paul has always been a critic of the Patriot Act and the wars of Afghanistan and Iraq. In the clip below, he talks about his objections to the crowd of 2,000:
As I said, these sentiments are nothing new for Paul. What is more remarkable is the sponsorship of the event:
the Minnesota Campaign for Liberty, Republican Party of Minnesota, Minneapolis City Republican Committee, College Republicans and Students for a Conservative Voice.
One prominent Sixth District Republican blogger walked out of the event:
And now we end this monetary speech for an antiwar rant.
And I’m ready to walk out.
Update:
Home now. I did leave after that. Someone in the back yelled out inside job when Paul was talking about the Patriot Act and September 11th. It makes me so proud to know the Republican Party and Bachmann co-sponsored this event. Not! I know they can’t control what people say. But well. What did you expect?
Although the Star Tribune coverage might be said to have buried news of Paul's extended anti-war remarks, since it notes them just at the end of the article, the reporter did point out the differences nonetheless:
On a currently hot issue, U.S. foreign policy, Bachmann issued a statement saying that she believes in "the mission of our men and women fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan."
In contrast, Paul not only wants to bring troops home from Afghanistan, but also from Iraq, Germany and other overseas bases "and concentrate on mending badly damaged relationships around the world."
The event does mark a shift in course by the Republican Party of Minnesota with regard to Paul. At the party's state convention last year, Representative Paul was effectively denied permission to speak to convention delegates. He rallied supporters outside at a park near Mayo Civic Center where the convention was held.
Later in the year, Congressman Paul held a rally at the Target Center in Minneapolis while the Republican National Convention met in St. Paul.
Perhaps in a move based in an "Overton Window" strategy, the MNGOP now plays host to a man who holds strong libertarian views. Obviously, Paul is acceptable to the state party in 2009; perhaps Mr. Sutton likes the view.
I wonder what Paul might think of all this.
Update: Triple A isn't the only conservative scorning Paul's performance at the Town Hall; "Allahpundit" uses the d-word in a tweet to describe Paul in a micro-post that links to a Daily Beast article about the event, The Craziest Town Hall Ever.
Update #2:An Uptake citizen journalist uploaded the entire Ron Paul speech in a clip that includes a pan of the audience and wide shots of Representative Bachmann responding while Congressman Paul speaks (via The Hill)
Update #3: Early this morning, Eric Ostermeier posted a read-worthy analysis of the Bachmann-Paul interaction at Smart Politics in Has Ron Paul Converted Michele Bachmann To Libertarianism? His method:
Smart Politics was on the scene and noted which of those key moments in Paul's town hall address that engendered widespread applause from the audience also inspired applause from Congresswoman Bachmann, and which did not.
Go find out what he saw.
Representative Bachmann is a smart politician … she realizes that presidential candidate Ron Paul got 16% of the MN-GOP vote in the February caucuses and his supporters tried to be active at the MN-GOP state convention. While Representative Bachmann was an active participant in the GOP convention at the Exel Energy Center, she had to know about the three-day event that Paul’s supporters held at the same time … including over 10,000 paid admissions to hear Paul speak at Target Center.
Considering the poor performance of Norm Coleman in maintaining the Republican vote (more than 63,200 McCain supports did not vote for Coleman) which may have been based on Coleman’s TARP vote, the “Paul” voter could be in play in 2010 congressional elections. Bachmann knows that Independence Party candidate Bob Anderson received 40,643 in the 2008 Sixth District election … no doubt some were “Paul” supporters.
But what got me was Representative Bachmann’s comment that she and Ron Paul had voted the same on stimulus legislation … WRONG.
On January 28, 2008 under Roll Call #25, Congresswoman Bachmann voted FOR the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 [H.R. 5140] which Congressman Paul opposed.
The $168 billion economic stimulus package was touted for providing tax prebates to U.S. taxpayers and tax breaks to businesses, but also to make more-expensive mortgages available through the government and government-sponsored mortgage-finance companies (Federal Housing Administration and Fannie Mae). Since voting for this legislation, Representative Bachmann made Fannie Mae a favorite target (only recently usurped by ACORN.) History has proven, what almost every economist agreed when the legislation was being enacted, that the business tax breaks would have very little impact on the 2008 economy.
Bachmann has been a loyal Republican while Paul has been true to his beliefs which he stated in describing the Target Center event : "The Rally for the Republic is the first step in alerting our countrymen to these dangers, and holding out the message of freedom is the only remedy. We must resist the false choices the two major parties are giving us - join me in Minneapolis, and let's shake the rafters."
Is that the basis for a 2012 campaign slogan
“Freedom is the only remedy, so become armed and dangerous and slit your wrists against the false choices
– Vote Paul/Bachmann – 2012” ?
Posted by: Minnesota Central | Sep 27, 2009 at 09:28 AM