Some Facts Don't Fly
Ron Paul Was There, Too
Fundraising phenomenon Ron Paul used his limited airtime to get in a couple of questionable claims. For the second straight debate, Paul referred to a U.S. "empire" that he said is costing taxpayers $1 trillion per year.
Paul: We were – we were elected in the year 2000 to have a humble foreign policy and not police the world. Yet what we doing now? We're bogged down in another war. We're bankrupting our country. And we're – we have an empire that we're trying to defend. It costs us a trillion dollars a year.
The figure is highly debatable. The Paul campaign gets its numbers from a study done by the libertarian Independent Institute. The study's figures include the budget for many programs that one might not intuitively associate with empire building – like, for example, retirement and medical care for veterans, Homeland Security and part of the cost of the FBI. It's also worth mentioning that the study in question was looking at the full costs of the defense budget. Paul's claim that defense equals empire is dubious.
Paul also attempted to call out his opponents on cutting spending:
Paul: We have to cut some spending. That's what nobody here talks about. Where do you cut spending if you want to spend some money? We need lower taxes, less regulations and we need to free up the market.
It is absurd for Paul to claim that "nobody talks about" cutting spending. McCain talks about it constantly and has made going after earmarks a personal crusade. Romney and Huckabee both regularly rail against out-of-control spending. Indeed, by our very quick count, candidates other than Paul referenced spending cuts 14 times in this debate alone.
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Member Comments
Posted By: M_Whetstone @ 02/07/2008 3:33:20 PM
Comment: sorry, i didnt intend for this below to post three time, i dont know how that happened. Sorry again!
Posted By: M_Whetstone @ 02/07/2008 2:47:58 PM
Comment: I find it very interesting that with all the facts given by both McCain and Romney, they were wrong on many different areas of their own back patting. But because people are easily influenced by the most popular guy on the news that week they still seen to follow them like sick little puppy dogs. I understand that the news hates to give a "fair and balanced" view on anything that cannot benefit them financially, but i find it sickening when they completely ignore people that have their own voice and ideas that arent "main stream". People like Ron Paul will never be elected because there are other people out there that dont see the financial gain in supporting him. They'll even go as far as to cut him off in debates and try to exclude him all together. This is a flashback to the time when Harry Brown ran for office as Libertarian and the two "major" parties did everything in their power to make sure you as a people didnt hear thing that might benefit you as a whole. Ron Paul isnt that radical, he isnt crazy by any means, he just want to give everyone back what they've been loosing for years, your own identity and your ability to make decisions that make sense for you and you alone. As a whole we really need to think about why we spend so much time worrying about what everyone else is doing with their lives and start living their own. However, unless people in the main stream media openly support people like Ron Paul then this country will never be what it is truly supposed to be, free and independent and a mecca for individual civil liberties. So to those closed minded sheeple, keep following the herd and let them lead you nowhere.
Posted By: M_Whetstone @ 02/07/2008 2:47:43 PM
Comment: I find it very interesting that with all the facts given by both McCain and Romney, they were wrong on many different areas of their own back patting. But because people are easily influenced by the most popular guy on the news that week they still seen to follow them like sick little puppy dogs. I understand that the news hates to give a "fair and balanced" view on anything that cannot benefit them financially, but i find it sickening when they completely ignore people that have their own voice and ideas that arent "main stream". People like Ron Paul will never be elected because there are other people out there that dont see the financial gain in supporting him. They'll even go as far as to cut him off in debates and try to exclude him all together. This is a flashback to the time when Harry Brown ran for office as Libertarian and the two "major" parties did everything in their power to make sure you as a people didnt hear thing that might benefit you as a whole. Ron Paul isnt that radical, he isnt crazy by any means, he just want to give everyone back what they've been loosing for years, your own identity and your ability to make decisions that make sense for you and you alone. As a whole we really need to think about why we spend so much time worrying about what everyone else is doing with their lives and start living their own. However, unless people in the main stream media openly support people like Ron Paul then this country will never be what it is truly supposed to be, free and independent and a mecca for individual civil liberties. So to those closed minded sheeple, keep following the herd and let them lead you nowhere.