After taking a call from an active Tea Party member in New Hampshire torn between Rick Santorum, Michele Bachmann, and Ron Paul for her primary vote, Glenn took on a subject that is guaranteed to stir some feathers, Ron Paul.
Glenn has said many times he agrees with Ron Paul on a lot of issues, especially his domestic monetary policy. However, like many conservatives who like Ron Paul’s stance on The Fed and diminishing the size of the federal government, Israel and foreign policy is where Glenn draws his line of separation. Today, like Glenn has with all of the candidates, Glenn went in depth into Ron Paul’s political history. Like this caller, a large percentage of primary voters haven’t decided how to cast their vote. There is no perfect candidate, so voters have to decide which candidate agrees with them on the issues that are most important to them, and obviously, which candidate they can trust.
Glenn doesn’t play favorites in politics, and knows it’s not just where a politician stands on an issue, but the policies and paths they take to support that stance. Glenn brought up the subject of the military, saying “I am so done with being the policeman of the world.” A position many would equate with Ron Paul, the caller pointed out. But, Glenn backed his statement up with, “However, there is a logical way of doing things and then a strange way of doing things. Do you know at all about the committee that he co chaired with Barney Frank?” The caller hadn’t.
Glenn: “He co chaired a committee with Barney Frank. I'm looking for the information. Here it is. Co chaired with Barney Frank in 2010 and he was he had to put a committee together of 14 different people. He and Barney Frank put a committee together. I believe it was eleven of them were directly George Soros people. Now, I look at Ron Paul and I say, "Well, wait a minute. How did Ron Paul miss the George Soros connection?" How did a guy who is, as this article that I read this morning said, you know, many people that support Ron Paul can find a conspiracy in a glass of water. How can you miss eleven out of fourteen people being directly connected to George Soros and having his defense plan, the George Soros defense plan being the thing that he says, yeah, we're going to we're going to have these guys look into the military of tomorrow. That doesn't sound healthy. “
Stu also pointed out that, “It's difficult to have a position to the left of Barack Obama on national defense during a Republican primary. He's standing up for what he believes in. It's just so far George Soros and him on foreign on foreign affairs? Is there separation?”
Glenn: “There isn't a separation.”
While Glenn too is very sick of being the world’s “police man,” it’s hard to understand how anyone, much less a political leader, can say America shouldn’t have been involved in WWII. Glenn questioned that, “If he says we shouldn't have fought in World War II, then what should we have done? It’s not about going after the Nazis. He says, "Well, Europe is their own business and they should have taken care of themselves." Well, all right, that's cool and everything. But Japan declared war on us and then Germany declared war on the United States, and that's when we got involved”
With our politicians, there has to be a connection between their policies and their principals. There are a lot of issues that Ron Paul is great on at face value, but after looking at his actions that support them may make a voter change their mind. The example Glenn, Pat, and Stu used next was Ron Paul’s stance on pork.
Pat: “But if his principle is no pork, then the 14th Congressional District in Texas, Galveston and part of Houston, should have received not one penny in federal money, right? Not a penny.”
STU: “In theory, yeah. In theory.”
GLENN: “He'll put the pork into the bill.”
PAT: Yes.
GLENN: But then he'll vote against the bill
PAT: Knowing it's going to pass.
To a conservative voter looking for a candidate with more principals and sound policy, this may be a red flag. Ron Paul may have never voted for a bill with pork in it, but does that really hold water if he put the pork in the bill he voted against? How can he defend that to his supporters?
Pat: “And his answer to that, at least that I've heard is that's how the game is played. Well, I'm sorry, I don't want a game player. If your principle is one thing but you're doing another, you're not as principled as everybody thinks you are. “
