I just came to the realization that Ron Paul is truly the first "punk rock" presidential candidate. His supporters have adopted a "do it yourself" campaign ethic (an ethic punk rock proudly proclaims) and Ron Paul himself shares with punk rockers an instinctual displeasure and distrust of government and politicians.

He should have mentioned Internet Regulation, but his performance was tremendous otherwise. I want to see this guy force the Republican Party to put libertarians in as the core of the next administration.

If I were the RNC or Giuliani, I would be changing my platform to be more libertarian in order to stave off a potentially heavy voter loss via a 3rd party run by Paul. It will be interesting to see what happens after Tsunami Tuesday on February 5th.

After 2/5 Giuliani will not have to worry about the religious right anymore. They will be spent refuse and they will have no other choice but to vote for him next November. The question will be whether Giuliani will consider libertarians a captive vote or not. A surge by Ron Paul will indicate otherwise.

Read "The Elephant in the Room" to see that the Republicans are split between the Religious Right and the libertarians. These people think opposite from each other and only agree on one thing: they are not liberals.

I watched the Jay Leno show and thought Leno gave Ron Paul a chance to say something. Paul did answer direct questions rather than enter into a monolog or criticism of other candidates. He did mention he advocated eliminating the Income Tax and, it sounded like offsetting it with a Flat Tax. He did state that Social Security would be saved and called it "...very important." Paul mentioned that the Income Tax was not passed until 1913. With the IRS in place people forgot that it is a voluntary tax. Leno mentioned that government has since structured itself around all of that extra money, but Paul indicated that the citizens would be happier keeping the "...fruits of their labor." All in all, Paul said a lot in a short period of time. Not on the major issues of the other candidates, but not being critical of anyone else. All the other candidates who have been on Leno have used it to find fault with others.

Even though Leno didn't agree with some things Ron Paul had to say, nevertheless he asked him good questions and gave Paul time to answer. It is sad a comedian is a better interviewer than MSM, especially on the "conservative" end (take a note Hannity).

Ron Paul 2008!!!

Ron Paul also said that he wanted to replace the income tax with a flat tax of ZERO and that this would leave revenues at year 2000 levels, which would be enough if all the spending for empire building (wars, overseas military bases) were eliminated.

Paul also said in the interview that about 40% of the budget the Federal government works with comes from the Income tax.

Pauls changes in Foriegn Policy alone, would dismiss a need for that 40% and we can keep that portion of our pay check.

Further Paul said that, the excess is what the lobbyists fight over to get their hands on for their special interest. Special Interest are out to get our money twice. Once through the government forcing their greedy interest on us and second for the money their interests being forced on us to consume makes from us again.

By eliminating the income tax, we can eliminate this greedy sham going on in Washington against the people.

I do not understand the ignorance of Americans who belive the income tax is the only tax that exists for local, state and federal Governments to work with for things we NEED, or how roads are built- private corps collecting tolls and or the gasoline tax.

For example, there is still properity tax, sales tax, customs tax, import/export taxes, gasoline and tobacco tax, estate tax, corporate tax, and tolls to fund roads, to name a few.

Ron Paul has been a diligent student of economics, foriegn policy and history for decades. His ten terms in Congress gives him first hand knowledge of money coming in and going out and where the wasteful fat can be cut. He is brilliant and will be the next Honorable and Honest President of the Unitied States

In Fiscal Year 2006, the U. S. Government spent $406 Billion of your money on interest payments to the holders of the National Debt. This government is out of control. Ron Paul is the only one truly addressing this issue in a direct and unequivocating manner.

nice writeup, thanks!

RP for Prez!

Ron Paul Looks like he is starting to break through the Main Stream Media! Well thats a very good sign.

Ron Paul <----- Last Hope for America....

Clinton / Rudy Will DESTROY this nation!

"Leno pushed, asking how you'd pave roads without the IRS and the income tax, which Paul pointed out has only been in existence since 1913."

our federal income tax does not go to "paving roads" that comes from our gasonline tax... the federal income tax only serves the purpose of paying off the national debt.

To the comment on the 406 Billion spent on just the interest owed on our national debt in 2006.

People need to remember that we american tax payers are responcible for that debt and we are paying that interest due to gross misoverspending like it or not.

Worse, the collateral offered to the Private Federal Reserve banks when it was estbliashed is OUR PROPERTY. You can have your property paid for and Chinese federal reserve Banks still hold an invisible lien on it they could collect on.

How did such a situation EVER get set up in the U.S.A.? Ron Paul knows how. Crooks in Washington, ignored the warnings of the Founding Fathers about the Federal Reserve, trampled on the Constitution, and sold us out to these private bankers.

Ron Paul knows how to fix this mess too. He has plans for cutting spending and getting the debt paid off, as well as plans for creating a sound competing currency to phase out the Federal Reserve banking system, which will restore our monetary Soverignity, the Constitution, and the wisdom of the founding Fathers.

Few people know that a reason the revolutionary war was fought, was because Benjamin Franklin, hooked up with local bankers to create a local currency which they were loaning to the colonists INTERST FREE, to boost the economy. England would have None of that, forced them to be shut down, and declared money borrowed by the colonists had to come from their banks with interest charged.

We fought for and won our freedom in 1776 and then let Wilson and his cronies give the spoils right back to European bankers in 1913 with the creation of the Federal Reserve banking system, income tax and IRS. We've been their economic slaves ever since.

Ron Paul for Freedom! Join the modern day rEVOLution! Make sure you are registered Republican and vote Ron Paul in the primaries.

Is it true that Paul wants to abolish Social Security? I read that somewhere on this website some time ago, and I also think that doing so would be a bit extreme.

Congratulations to Dr. Paul on his excellent interview with Leno last night. Besides his intellect, integrity and vast knowledge of history and economics, perhaps Dr. Paul’s best trait is his humility. He genuinely seems overwhelmed by the amount of popular support his simple message is receiving. That is such a refreshing break from the rest of the candidates who appear to gloat about their support. Dr. Paul’s message of liberty and a return to the Constitution scares the hell out of the “Special Interests” that have bought our government and seem intent on destroying America. There are much larger forces at work here against his campaign from the MSM to the Neo-con agenda, but ultimately, it is “We the People” who will put him into office.

Why didn't Leno ask him about the fact that he, having been a doctor, doesn't have any healthplan for EVERYONE, that's AFFORDABLE...he only seems to care about the wealthy keeping THEIR NICE healthplans intact (forget about everyone else)!!!

The fresh breeze of change is in the air and the people are throwing away their wool sheep skins and walking on their own two legs again. They were herded and culled for two long. We are breaking with the Elitists word of art players and finding out the truth, and
it is not what the soothsayers of the MSM say. Freedom and truth will be spoken again from a strong wind on the
Capitol and all those who break their Oath of Office will feel the pain of the
the branding of treason. This needs to be done to get our country on the right track. CHEERS,

tumbleweedin: Excuse me, but are you saying that Ron Paul HAS an AFFORDABLE healthplan for EVERYONE? Because you seemed to have forgotten to elaborate on it! Tell me, WHO is the person posting NON-truths?!?!?! As for me not "educating" myself before posting...I AM ONE OF THE VERY FEW WHO DOES, MY FRIEND!!! IN FACT, I'VE RESEARCHED EACH & EVERY ONE OF THE CANDIDATES IN DEPTH, PRIOR TO EVER POSTING MY FIRST COMMENT ABOUT ANY OF THEM, & ALWAYS CONTINUE TO UPDATE MYSELF W/THEIR STANCES!!! I, MYSELF, HAVE BEEN SO AGGRAVATED BY PEOPLE WHO DON'T BOTHERB TO LEARN ABOUT ALL THE CANDIDATES PRIOR TO COMMENTING...SUCH AS YOURSELF!!! (BTW, PAUL IS NOT "THE MOST HONEST & EXPERIENCED CANDIDATE"...TRY LOOKING INTO DENNIS KUCINICH IN DEPTH!!!)

Sam...it's not that he's starting to break through main stream media, the media is trying to keep him low key as they are government controlled. ie: a few weeks ago when the mass media gave Rudy credit for blasting Romney about confering with his attorney's rather than with congress about going to war with another country. Dr.Paul blasted romney immediately, not Rudy. There is no way American media control & propaganda will keep Americans from voting for RON PAUL 2008, the only hope this country has for a chance to better this country & to reclaim it for "We The People" !!!

Regarding the Healthcare dialogue, I wish someone would step up and say that we need to address the malpractice payouts, which in my mind, is one of the main problems with rising healthcare costs. We don’t need government run healthcare; we need to limit the ridiculous payouts. These payouts are always passed onto the end consumer. Say some person is awarded 10 million dollars for a surgery gone bad. That 10 million dollars is paid out by the insurance company that covers the doctor or hospital. The insurance company then raises rates to compensate for the large payout. The doctors and hospitals now pay more insurance. They raise their rates to compensate to remain profitable. Now the insurance that covers the John Doe that walks into the doctor’s office doesn’t cover the entire bill and/or raises its rates to compensate. It is a vicious cycle. The culture of our nation is “sue, sue, sue” to the detriment of the average person. All this said, I am not against a fair compensation for malpractice. Any additional medical care should be covered by the insurance company along with a reasonable amount to compensate for the individuals loss.
Additionally, the welfare state also adds to the healthcare woes. By law, hospitals are required to admit and provide all the help they can for individuals who are hurt in some way. A lot of the individuals are illegal immigrants. I have followed quite a few articles that have demonstrated how this has added strain on our healthcare system. Whatever you stance you take on the immigration, there is no doubt in my mind that it is adding tremendously to the problem. There was an article yesterday from a local paper in San Diego which talked about the burden of the additional costs in hospitals. There is “619 million in uncompensated care” of which they estimate 10-17 percent is represented by illegal immigrants all of which is subsidized by the state. That is 61.9-105.23 million in tax revenues going to the care of people who ran across our border. My fiancée works at a hospital in an Intensive Care Unit where she has seen many of the same situations. There are people who for months on end will be in the hospital costing the states millions of dollars.
Before we bring on board another lethargic Federal Institution (think MVA), we should consider looking at why the system is broken. These are not the only two reasons healthcare is so expensive. I’m sure there are many other reasons. What should take place is extensive research as to the costs on all levels of healthcare and have several think-tanks look at how to make the system more efficient.

The candidates pulling for a system will just make the situation worse. Solutions that don't address the problem, never fix the problem.

Ron Paul only ran as a Libertarian once. He has been a Republican Congressman for 10 years and is running as a Republican.

Slanted stations like CNN and Fox keep calling him a Libertarian to give people the impression he will split the vote, or that he's running with a third party.

Ron Paul's Libertarian view points are great, and I don't want to put down the Libertarian Party, but Ron Paul is a traditional Republican. Not a neocon.

I believe he is the only Republican who can beat Hilary Clinton.

Ron Paul is a lot of firsts - and I agree with one of the above in that Ron Paul is probably the first "Punk Rock" presidential candidate. Not by his own doing, but by his message, and his amazing supporters message. But punk rock only in the meaning (as changing the beat it can be referred to as any form of emotion, or music with meaning) as against the normal politics of terrorism, war, death, destruction, inflation, getting votes with money, etc etc.

Ron Paul is really just "American" in the true sense of the founding fathers. Against trynanny and oppression. Against making the few rich and the majority poor by way of an inflated economy and falling dollar.

Ron Paul is my choice and the message/movement I hope to be part of (or at least do enough to be apart of).