On military donors supporting Ron Paul

| January 7, 2012

We all heard Ron Paul say the other day, while introducing Corporal Jesse Thorsen to the crowd in Iowa, that he receives more monetary donations from service members than any other candidate. Yesterday, an old friend from a previous forum, where I was banned, asked me if this is true. In fact, ROS asked me the same question a few months back. I knew it was true, because it happened back in 2008, too, when Paul got 99 donations totaling $45,500 – that’s about $460 per donor. According to Open Secrets, Paul’s military contributors have donated almost a six-figure amount;

I remember when I looked at who specifically was donating to Ron Paul from the military, his largest donor was some POG in California who had never deployed, and actually had got out of the National Guard the year before to help run a Ron Paul campaign office near San Francisco. But he had identified himself as an employee of the military on his donor form.

Paul has raised over $12 million last year, so less than a hundred grand is almost meaningless. Who among us had money that we were willing to spend on a political campaign while we were on active duty? I suspect that that since this whole debate depends on the donor to identify his/her occupation, there’s an opportunity for dishonesty…but we know that the Ron Paul supporters are as honest as the day is long.

Of course, that’s sarcasm. They can’t even be honest with themselves. They always manipulate anything they can in their favor – even in Drudge’s exit poll of the Iowa caucus on Tuesday.

So, at this point, Ron Paul can say truthfully that he receives more in donations from the military than any other candidate, but we can also remain skeptical, thanks, as always, to his lunatic supporters who split their time between trolling blogs and spraying their yards with vinegar.

Category: Ron Paul

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Isnala

Not saying people shouldn’t donate to candidates but CINC House would probably shoot me if i gave away any of our meager pay to a politician…. AD (at least us enlisted folks ) don’t get paid enough to have that kind of disposable income.

-Ish

NHSparky

The fact that Obama pulls in almost as much when it’s pretty well established that conservatives/Republicans outnumber liberals/Democrats by at least 3:1 (based on historical voting record) tells me a lot as well.

Also consider this–I don’t know if they’ve asked similar questions in 2012, but in 2008, most of the Ron Paul supporters described themselves as fairly or very liberal, much more so than those who described themselves and fairly or very conservative (almost negligible.)

Paul is getting support from people at Huffpo and The Nation among other leftist publications. He speaks to them more than he does actual conservatives or Republicans.

And frankly, any asshole (or his supporters) who would run a commercial of one of his competitors in a Mao hat simply because he (Huntsman) adopted a Chinese baby needs a good, fast, hard dickpunch.

OWB

Actually, all he can claim is that he has more donors who SAY they are military.

Marine 83

I have been surpised at the lack of Paulbot trafic on this site lately. Not to long ago every RP post brought out his supporters. Now it they hardly bother to comment at all.

Sparky, ever since I became aware of Paul I have thought he is a democrat. He has one or two conservative planks in his platform but in every other aspect he is in lock step with the democrats. The dems want Paul to be the republican candidate because he woudl be easy to destroy. As bad as the BHO is, he would crush RP, because Paul is a loon. So the support he is getting is understandable and temporary.

UpNorth

“The dems want Paul to be the republican candidate”, yep, because an Obama-Paul election would make it look like Reagan barely squeeked by Mondale, at least Mondull carried his home state, Paul wouldn’t carry any state.

Poohbah, Lord High Everything Else

What’s worrying me about the Paulbots is that a lot of them are cheering the idea of a military coup.

I guess they “love America,” at least an America that will let them shoot their political enemies.

CI

@4 – Sure….liberals are really down with Pails ideas on economics, government programs and abortion.

But it is odd how a Republican can look like a liberal, with supporting intrusive government regulation in peoples personal lives, ala Santorum.

DaveO

My usual question: how valid are Open Secret’s numbers? Are these folk actually IN uniform, or retirees and GS?

Considering taxpayers will be giving Obama roughly $1 billion (about $30,000 in Canadian money) either directly or indirectly, Paul’s fundraising is meh.

AverageNCO

So my son and I were on our way to Albuquerqe this morning on I-40. I had literally just finished reading this post on my phone when we passed a big rig with a giant Ron Paul poster on the back that stated he was “supported by more ACTIVE DUTY military than any other candidate. I tried to get my son to drive alongside so I could yell something at him. My son calmly stated I don’t need to start acting crazy like Paul’s minions.

S.G.

There is nothing stopping me from claiming I’m an Astronaut porn star Maj Pocket Rocket, USAF when donating either, as no one verifies it from the campaign or the government.

UpNorth

I thought this was about Ronpaul and his “military” supporters, not Santorum.

CI

Looks like the tangent was already taken. I thought it was about what defines conservatives and liberals….since many are so fond of defining Paul as a liberal based on a fast and loose interpretation of one policy area.

I just pointed out that the standards can apply to other untenable candidates as well.

OWB

“On military donors supporting Ron Paul.” Yeah, really easy to see how someone could mistake that to mean something about the definitions of conservatives and liberals. And interpretations of policy areas.

Or maybe not.

CI

Sure…because posts 2, 4 and 5 don’t mention a word of what I mentioned.

Or maybe not.

melony

I think I read this am over on Canada Free Press that the total military vote that Ron Paul gets is about 4.4% – I do believe that is how they had it calculated out…
here’s the link to that story:
http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/43742

ROS

I’m not surprised at shit anymore after the little exchange I had over on Ranger Coffee’s FB page a couple of nights ago. Apparently, the RP lunacy is contagious and teh stoopid eats brains rather expeditiously.

Now, considering the type of veteran (Cpl. Kumqwat) Paul chooses as his representative sample, I’m convinced even more that these numbers are skewed and irrelevant.

streetsweeper

Okay…So 4.4% of the “military” donates to Ron Paul. That’s a tiny slice of the pie based upon his 2008 financial filings. THE majority of Paul’s donors are from (not in any order) Europe, Asia, Middle East, South America, Continent of Africa…..Pretty much the same places Obama got his 2008 donations. Go figure!

streetsweeper

You’d be correct, ROS.

Dave Thul

I’d be curious to cross reference ‘military’ donations to Paul with all the phonies exposed here at TAH and POWnet over the last year. I bet a lot of names might appear on both lists.

bex

Yup, and new immigrants to this country only have to “say” they have renounced their former citizenship. The majority don’t and no one checks. We are idiots. Verification is everything. Did I mention I am the Queen of England and donated lots of money to President Obama because I want more tasteful gifts from him?

Yat Yas 1833

Bex, I thought I recognized you! Weren’t you at my inauguration as Mayor of Munchkin City?

Cedo Alteram

“So, at this point, Ron Paul can say truthfully that he receives more in donations from the military than any other candidate, but we can also remain skeptical…” I agree I’m skeptical too.

Some Paul supporter on a previous thread left a few links. After dismissing Lew Rockwell, Antiwar.com, “any conservative who doesn’t support Ron, is a Neocon and not a conservative” conservative sites, the only credible link I saw went to an ABC news report. That report just gave raw numbers and no additional background, so we’re back to chasing our tail again.

About four years ago the origional argument was Paul got more support of Veterans then any other candidate, then it became from those still serving in the military. I don’t doubt there are a few, there are outlier Democrats too (I actually know a couple), those people are just few and far between.

Knowing how the Paulites behave, thisn’t wouldn’t surprise me if this just another one of there antics to skew something in Paul’s favor. Hey Jonn, out of sheer curiosity, could IVAW or some other entity have something to do with his donations?

Cedo Alteram

#15 Thanks for the link.

Doc Bailey

You know what really gets me, is that Paulbots get absolutely passionate that the “military supports us” I have yet to see a session of round robin where we all talked about how we wished Ron Paul were president.

You know come to think of it most of the people I know that are or have been in the military think a Paul presidency is a really bad bad thing. but hey, lets let Truth get in the way of our opinions.

AW1 Tim

The last election there was a couple Ronulans who set up a table and a banner on the sidewalk in our downtown shopping area, and were handing out pamphlets, signing up folks, etc. I tried to get past, but one of the fellows there semi-blocked my route and asked what I knew about Ron Paul. I said that I was convinced Ron Paul was a moron and a danger to our nation.

The fellow insisted that Paul was a veteran and that he (this fellow) was also a veteran and was supporting Paul like most veterans were. “Oh really?” I responded. I asked him if he was really a veteran and the guy insisted that he was. I asked him then what branch he served in, and he said that, and I quote: “I was in the Vietnam engineer company.”

“Really?” I asked. He responded that, yes, he was in the “Vietnam engineer company” and then went into the typical long yarn about how they helped to build all these secret airbases for “Army Special Aviation Forces”, etc. Of course, his records are sealed, but I should trust him, he was there, yadda yadda yadda.

I swear, it’s the same sort of response from everyone of his “veteran” supporters that I meet, and there are far too many around where I live.

I guess Ron Paul attracts all the secret squirrels because he’s nuts.

BohicaTwentyTwo

I don’t know if CNN still has it up, but during the 2008 primaries, they had all the exit poll stats. I specifically remember that Ron Paul received 3% of the veteran vote in Texas.

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[…] military support January 9th, 2012 Someone dropped off this link in the comments the other day of my post about Ron Paul’s claim that based on his donations from the military, he enjoys massive support from active duty military […]

melony

#22..Most welcome

A.Frog

It’s always amusing to me to see people argue about Dems vs. Reps and still convince themselves that they actually have a sound understanding of how politics in America actually operates. These same individuals, many of which have posted above, vote election after election for the same cookie cutter type, rhetoric spewing candidates funded by “the Establishment” and wonder why 4 or 8 years later that the overall situation of our county has not progressed. If you fall into this category, I beg you to please educate yourself on the real political environment in America today and refresh your memory on the lessons of Thomas Jefferson and the Constitutional ideals that he, Dr. Ron Paul, and the Founding Fathers share. “I am not among those who fear the people. They, and not the rich, are our dependence for continued freedom. And to preserve their independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude.” –Thomas Jefferson “If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered…I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies… The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.” -Thomas Jefferson “I wish it were possible to obtain a single amendment to our Constitution. I would be willing to depend on that alone for the reduction of the administration of our government; I mean an additional article taking from the Federal Government the power of borrowing. I now deny their power of making paper money or anything else a legal tender.” -Thomas Jefferson Otherwise, continue along the same path as the ignorant until this country and the American empire collapse as we fail to learn from the lessons of history. If you don’t know what mistakes… Read more »

UpNorth

Repeating my self, if Ronpaul is the answer, it’s a stupid question.

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[…] […]

DR_BRETT

No. 15 melony :
I read that, too.

DR_BRETT

No. 25:
“THE Vietnam engineer company.”

WHICH ONE ??
The one which drove the railroad trains ??

DR_BRETT

No. 29 :
All true, EXCEPT, the part “. . . he, Dr. Ron Paul, and the Founding Fathers share.”

No, Ron Paul, M.D., does NOT share most of The Founding Fathers’ concepts .
Which makes a BIG difference.

You, No. 29, had better read, also, George Washington and others
regarding the American Military, and
regarding proper Foreign Policy requires the stronest Military Force in readiness
(plus a bunch of other subjects).

You are correct about banks in bed with Washington City,
including the Fed. Res. BANK
(See President Jackson and The Second Bank Of The United States.)

DR_BRETT

Oh no — you got me !!
(strongest spelled wrong)