The Political Inquirer

Ron Paul was given a hot six minutes to make his case last night. He was not asked to weigh-in on the economic stimulus package being prepared by President Bush and the congress. He was not asked how he would take on the tag-team of Mr and Mrs Clinton in the general election. He was not asked any question by any rival. And when moderator Brian Williams asked Ron Paul his first question of the night, he turned logic upside down. Acknowledging that Dr Paul had a “different view of these issues,” Williams decided that America would not care to hear Paul’s contrarian viewpoint, “so I’ll ask a vastly different question.”

Tim Russert also dropped the logic ball when he suggested that if Ron decided his campaign was over (”unelectable” was the word used), would he then “launch a third party movement.”
How do you leap from being unelectable to launching a new campaign? I guess they really do think he’s insane.

And Russert took a page from “Primary Colors” starring John Travolta when he asked, in Florida, if Ron would end social security. That should get the old folks riled up. I figured the next question would have to be, ‘when did you stop beating your wife?’

But MSNBC did do Ron two favors: first, by forcing all of the other candidates to express their intention to stay in Iraq. Any chance the Democrats will be able to use these quotes next fall? Absolutely. Unless, of course, the GOP nominee is Ron Paul, who repudiated both Bush and Clinton when he said:

The Al Qaida wasn’t there then. They’re there now.

This decision on policy was made in 1998 under the previous administration, because they called for the removal of Saddam Hussein. It wasn’t worth it and it’s a sad story, because we started that war and we should never be a country that starts war needlessly.

Damn if that wasn’t what I was taught in grade school, and in every war movie I ever saw. It’s our national myth, and we need to believe it, and live it, or pass into history as another failed republic.

Second, in giving Ron the chance to ask his own question, they presented him with an opportunity to show that John McCain is a complete boob on economic issues. By asking about the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets, he forced McCain to use for the second time in the evening a non-answer that shifted responsiblility for all policy onto a couple of fossils from the 1980’s, notably Warren Rudman and Phil Gramm. Having already made that statement just a few minutes earlier and forced to expand on it, McCain just kept digging a hole, saying that rather than formal organizations, he would “rely on … a circle of acquaintances… supporters and friends.” That made me feel real confident. What we really need in this country is another administration founded on cronyism.

Six minutes. Thanks Tim. Every little bit helps.