So, exactly when has Mitt Romney been the front-runner? Comments please

I've been following the 2012 election campaign about as close as any other American in the general public. I'm struck by something. Although former Governor Mitt Romney has only won 4 (maybe 5 depending on perspective) out of the 33 straw polls held thus far, the media references him as the “front-runner.” This is odd to me.

On the other hand, I'm seeing two other candidates who seem to be somewhat mopping the floor with Mitt Romney's well-styled hairdo. The first is a guy who seems to come from out of nowhere and claims to espouse a “business-minded” style of managing government. His name is Herman Cain. With 12 straw poll wins under his belt, Cain still faces the challenge of his 9-9-9 plan. Even if you buy his 9.99 special, there are many misgivings among the ever-increasingly Libertarian party-influenced non-Democrats in the “right wing” voting segment of society.

Cain's recent pandering to the religious segment of society is sounding quite a lot like bigotry. (Gay people aren't seeking “gay rights.” They're interested in their “individual rights,” just like anyone else would be – regardless of religious beliefs.) Also, with an ever-increasing segment of society coming out into the light and declaring themselves as atheist or agnostic, the idea of another candidate who wants to inflict their god on the rest of America just seems so...Dominionist. We do not need an American Taliban.

Then there's the Congressman from Texas, Dr. Ron Paul. This is his third shot at the presidency. In spite of a State-influenced media working so hard at “ignoring” someone who they try to claim is irrelevant, he sure does seem to have a knack for garnering contributions, volunteers and passion in his supporters. Ron Paul is promoting a platform which consists of/includes elimination of the I.R.S. As well as the Federal Reserve, a return to basic Constitutional principles and a non-interventionist foreign policy. With 11 solid straw poll wins, one in debate from Arizona (supporters say the online votes should be counted too, giving the doctor a sweeping win), and another in dispute since CNN doesn't seem to want to include him as one of the options, Dr Ron Paul is showing quite well too.

I'd even go so far as to say these three men are running neck and neck. But in now way is Mitt Romney showing as the clear “front-runner” as is so often touted by the main stream press. I just don't see it, and that's not personal bias. It's just the numbers. His supporters may come along to this post and start in with their “but,” and “well I” and I still just can't see where Mitt Romney is the clear front-runner.

Besides, Paul's latest straw poll victory was in Ohio at an incredible 53% of the votes. How many times has it been said the presidency often comes down to who wins Ohio? Paul has an appealing quality of being a sincere, down-to-Earth, non-psychopath – unlike most other candidates. He's business-friendly (something which really upsets American Communists). And, he's no lawyer. For all of the talking heads who try to claim his being irrelevant, he sure was re-elected a lot of times from his district. So, he's also very experienced with how the U.S. Federal Government works.

Okay. That's enough of my horn-tooting for the good doctor. Back to the point, right? Can any of my readers please try to show me where Mitt Romney is actually the front-runner in anything? I'm willing to hear you out with an open mind. I promise to publish comments, even if you show me wrong. I'm not afraid to be wrong, when I am. Mitt Romney isn't the front-runner of Jack Squat.

Come visit me on DonPennington.info.

Fox News again pretends to be surprised over Ron Paul's latest straw poll victory

COMMENTARY | Congressman Ron Paul, the Republican presidential candidate from Texas, has won yet another straw poll, this time with 37% of the votes. Still, in spite of winning the Values Voter Summit Straw Poll in Washington, the main-stream media behaves as if the very idea of a political candidate strong on Constitutional principles – and even stronger on peace – is some sort of an aberration of thought. The strangest of the media outlets to behave as if Dr. Paul were some sort of freak-of-nature is Fox News. (FOX NEWS! Dammit! Aren't they supposed to be all about American Liberty and offering a counter-view to big-government freaks like Obama and Pelosi and Reid?)

In the election update from Fox News, correspondent Doug McKelway claims to be “shell-shocked” over the beloved doctor's response amongst attendees. In one of his statements, McKelway says “The other big surprise here is that Ron Paul the Libertarian – the live-and-let-live Libertarian – comes out on top amongst a group of very Conservative Republicans.” What is this with so many in the media treating Congressman Ron Paul as if the American people have no reason to want a return to basic Constitutional principles? Is the document not the law-of-the-land?

Since when is a “live-and-let-live” personality freakish? Are we so used to the idea of having psychopathy at the helm of our country that the mere thought of having one honest, sincere candidate a shock? It seems we Americans are suffering from something resembling Stockholm Syndrome, and defend those whose only interests are for more power, more taxes and less for anyone else. We're so conditioned to sacrifice everything in our lives for the good of the state, we've forgotten how to be a free people who enjoy an unprecedented level of individual liberty.

So many candidates who claim to be “Conservative” are nothing more than statist parasites wrapped in a flag, just like their Democrat cousins. While they claim to be all about freedom, liberty and other basic American principles, they're really only hoping to enjoy the kick-backs paid to them by the industrial-military complex, in the event they can out-lie the other psychopaths on the field to get the job.

Bear in mind, this straw poll is only voted on by Republicans. Were this poll also voted on by statist “Democrats” we'd likely see a lot more support for the Christian-pandering Perry or for Mitt Romney. Millions and millions of us want no more-of-the-same from tax-and-spend-other-people's-money-to-buy-votes types of politicians. People have had enough. Sure, Ron Paul still has his flaws. But give the guy credit. He's sincere and honest. He's not afraid of being seen as human, and as a Congressman he has the understanding of how government works. He's also held a real job, unlike the current Usurper-in-Chief.

Those of us who support Ron Paul need to keep the pressure – and our support – up for the man. For the corporate media to try to pretend like Ron Paul isn't electable, is an insult to everyone in the country who believes the government has grown too big for our good. Here's to Congressman Ron Paul and to putting government back in its place in 2012.

Come visit me on DonPennington.info.

If Ron Paul is winning so many Straw Polls - as in California - WHY is the American media trying so hard to ignore him?

Once again, the American people have spoken in favor of our candidate, Congressman Ron Paul of Texas. And for once, a mainstrem media news outlet had to cover it. "It" being only the California Straw Poll.

Yes friends, you read that right. According to msnbc.com themselves, Congressman Ron Paul of Texas has won the California Straw Poll for the Republican nomination, to run against Incumbent President Barack Obama in 2012 presidential election.

So, what was the reason the mainstream media decided to discuss any and every other candidate for the Republican nod, other than the good doctor? Why is the experienced, qualified, non-pandering, honest, non-psychopath, who has held a real job, and is not an attorney, not a reasonable candidate? Why on Earth would anyone claiming any sort of ties to conservatism in America, not want President Ron Paul elected as our Commander-in-Chief? Why not try the path of peace, just one time, and see how things go for us.

Let's pull out of these foreign shores, and so many other foreign interests, and close the Fed. We need to remember what keeps us Uniquely American, is one specific document which purposefully limits the power and scope of government in the United States. Dr Paul remembers it. We call it the Constitution, and it is the law of the land.

Ron Paul scares the establishment media. His quest, his promise to remember our individual liberties, and to remember the Constitution, make Congressman Ron Paul the people's candidate. He certainly is mine. He has my vote. Heck. Congressman Ron Paul is the only candidate I've ever bet money on. (And I'm paid up, :D just in case.)

Actually, Ron Paul could win. That's what scares the establishment

At just over 76 years old, and after both a long career as a congressman from Texas and as a medical doctor, Ron Paul is making the news a bit more than the establishment wants him to. Scratch that. Congressman Ron Paul is making a lot more news than the establishment wants him to. What is it about him, that the main-stream media is so afraid to point out his popularity among voters?

I have a few theories. But first, I want to point out a few things out about the guy. In a Yahoo News piece I published on Ron Paul, readers can follow a link to a survey published by Fox News which shows the tremendous popularity of the man after the Republican debates just prior to the Ames Straw Poll in Iowa. Although the results of the survey indicate a clear majority of respondents chose Ron Paul as the winner, Fox News pulled the link to the results from their homepage.

At the subsequent Ames Straw Poll, the nuttier-than thou Michelle Bachmann won, but only by a very tiny margin over the Congressman from Texas, and she had to give out more tickets to the event than he did, to win it. With all of her efforts to get the target of 6,000 votes, she still only managed to win it by 152 votes. (Kudos to the LA Times for telling it like it happened, too. That's more than can be said by “Conservative” Fox News.) Power-mad Barbie paid more per vote than the good doctor.

On August 20th, 2011, The Hampton-NorthHampton Patch reported Ron Paul the winner of the New Hampshire Straw Poll, and barely a peep came out of the main stream media about it. He didn't just win it by some slight margin either. He took a commanding 45% of the votes, in front of all eleven other candidates!

His popularity is growing, and not just in the number of disruptions of public events by irrelevant Paulbots, as claimed by some guy named Eric on The Washington times last February. Why are members of the media working so desperately to ignore the man, if he's as irrelevant as a few of them claim?

Ron Paul threatens the power-base of the current system and the media itself. The popular, national news agencies and our federal government have worked long and hard over the years to establish their little daisy-chain arrangement. The press corps says what our bureaucrats want them to, and in return the bureaucrats let the press say what the bureaucrats want them to. What a sweet arrangement, huh.

With a president like Ron Paul, and his simple plan of a return to Constitutional principles, limited government, and a rejection of the cradle-to-grave provision for the parasite class by the government, he just wouldn't make enough news to justify reading/watching/listening to talking heads. Bad news, crisis and drama sells newspapers, not common sense. With as little of an agenda as possible, we might even have a rather boring presidency.

Ron Paul plans to eliminate the I.R.S. And to end the drug war. My goodness. With as much money as bureaucrats make off of those two institutions, there's now way the media can avoid being pressured into trying to ignore Ron Paul. Every crooked cop, every lawyer and every single political fat-bag in the country who derives their unearned income and undeserved power from the average American's propensity to be scared silly sees the man as a threat. We can only expect every shady interest in the country will do everything they can to blackout Ron Paul and his third run for the presidency of the Unites States in 2012.

And they will succeed too. They'll rig the game. They'll make sure to tell the major media (as sponsors, of course) exactly who we the people should be focusing on, as our best candidate for President. The press will paint a bad image of a good man. We'll see more stories of “Muslim threats,” the drug war, and the obvious need for more and more and more social welfare systems. They'll succeed in keeping the dumb-as-hell average American fooled. That is, unless his supporters make all the noise in his favor that we can. The powers-that-be in America today might own every last “journalist” in the nation. But they don't own us. Ron Paul 2012.

Patriot Depot