Year: 2008

According to Thirdpower, there was a march for Ron Paul inside World of Warcraft. He ponders:

I have to admit, that’s pretty inventive. Wonder if the various other politicos are going to try and start organizing cyberspace rallies now.

Inventive, yes. Effective? Probably not. What do you think a WoW player would rather do? Play World of Warcraft? Or go vote? His supporters are to be commended for their dedication, but if there’s one thing we’ve seen in this election and in past ones, buzz online doesn’t translate well into electoral success. Traditional campaign methods still rule the day.

The Ronulans predicted time and time again that Ron Paul was going to win Iowa, and win big; they were going to show us all that the Ron Paul revolution was huge, and would not be stopped.  Well, it didn’t turn out that way, but I don’t think Paul supporters should feel disappointed.

I am not a casual observer of politics.  Some people like hockey, some like baseball, others are football fans.  My sport is politics, and I’ve followed it with an intense interest since I was a wee one.  If there had been Senator trading cards, I probably would have collected them.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in years of observing politics, is that candidates like Ron Paul not only seldom win, but seldom draw more than a few percent of the vote.  If someone had asked me a few months ago what I thought Paul would do in Iowa, I would have said 5%, tops.  The actual number was 10%, which in my mind is incredible.  I don’t think that’s so much a testament to Ron Paul, who I think is a quite imperfect vehicle for advancing liberty, as much as it is a testament to how awful and uninspiring party politics in this country has become.

I’m honestly not sure what’s driving the Ron Paul machine.  I’d like to think it’s a love of liberty, but I think he’s become a vehicle for a lot of quite disparate people who have just become disillusioned and upset at the whole political process, and that allows a lot of different groups to attach themselves enthusiastically to his message, which is fundamentally anti-establishment, and about as far away form status-quo as you can get.

Ron Paul’s 10% should be a shot across the bow to both parties that people are fed up.  Even the Democrat who won, Obama, ran as an agent of change.  If Paul wasn’t such an imperfect vehicle, I would argue that this 10% could be the beginning of something larger, but I don’t think Paul has the political acumen to turn his strong showing in Iowa into a real political movement that’s going affect lasting change on the Republican Party.  It’s a pity, because the end result is going to be the folks that pushed Huckabee over the top having all the political power, and liberty minded people having nowhere to turn.

Shoot me now!  Please.  The sadder part is that there are probably at least a dozen other permutations that would cause me to say the same thing.  The only real hope in this whole sad affair is that Iowa often has a habit of not predicting the overall winner.

All the major networks seem to have conceded that Mike Huckabee has won the Republican caucus in Iowa.  All I have to say is this:

What the hell are they putting into the corn in Iowa?  Are you people nuts?  This guy is a big government nanny stater!

Hopefully other states have better sense.  I really fear for the future of our country if Mike Huckabee is the best the Republicans can do.

Fred is apparently surging in Iowa.

Predicting the top three in Iowa.  Anyone falling under this is out of the race:

Democrats:

1. Hillary
2. Obama
3. Edwards

Reason for Hilly is that she does well among older demographics, who are going to be the ones showing up to the caucuses.  Young people have jobs, families, and don’t have time for that crap.  Hilly walks away with it.

Republicans:

1. Huckabee
2. Romney
3. John McCain

Expect old people to screw us here too.  They’ll like the big government preacher in Iowa.   Romney will be a close second.  I think McCain will do better than predicted.