Ron Paul's 'Mini-Convention'

Ron Paul's 'Mini-Convention'
Wednesday, June 11, 2008

This is a rush transcript from "Your World with Neil Cavuto," June 10, 2008. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

NEIL CAVUTO, HOST: Well, the Republican National Convention just got some competition, not from the Democrats, but from another Republican — Ron Paul just announcing he's holding a convention of his own. It will be the same day and in the same city as the RNC Convention.

Presidential candidate Ron Paul joins me now.

What are you — what are you up to, Congressman?

REP. RON PAUL (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I don't know whether we'll call it a convention. We're certainly going to have a meeting.

• Video: Watch Neil's interview with Ron Paul

But we're sort of following up on what happened early in the presidential primary races. As you recall, early on, I was excluded from a forum out in Iowa. It happened to be a tax group. And I have no idea why I was singled out and excluded. But we went and had a rally next door. We didn't crash the party. We didn't try to cause any problems. We just went next door. And our rally was a lot bigger than the presidential forum was.

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Neil Cavuto's Bio E-mail the Show: cavuto@foxnews.com Common Sense Archive Interview Archive So, at the national convention, we believe, since we won't have very much of a role to play there, that we will see what kind of numbers that we have, where Republicans could come together to remind the party of its promises for limited government.

That's the roots of the Republican Party, and I still think there are still a lot of Republicans that believe that government ought to be small and balanced budgets and free markets and all these principles that, for so long now, we have been neglecting.

CAVUTO: Now, how much of this is your anger at the way you were treated?

PAUL: Oh, I don't think — I don't look like an angry person. I'm not an angry person, because I deal in philosophy. It's a challenge in philosophy. I am determined, but it's all philosophic. It's all philosophic.

And I think that we've lost our way. Our party is weak. We're losing our numbers. We're losing the election. And I think it's because we've lost our way.

I mean, we've changed our foreign policy. We essentially act like Democrats. So, no, I'm not driven in any way by anger, as much as frustration out of the fact that I think the Republican Party doesn't even live up to its platform. If you look at what I stand for and how I vote, I really am pretty darn close to the Republican platform and what they profess they believe in.

CAVUTO: So, philosophically, the argument is, you're going to be hurting John McCain doing this. Do you care?

PAUL: Yes, but we're not going to hurt our philosophy. I mean, we're going to be asking them to reconsider their positions on taxes, on the environment, on immigration, and all these positions that the party has drifted from.

And, certainly, I have always challenged the foreign policy of the last several years. I'm still defending George Bush's foreign policy of the year 2000, where he wanted a humble foreign policy and no nation- building and no policing the world.

So, all I'm asking is for people, the Republicans and conservatives, to look at what we are saying and ask our party to come back to its roots.

CAVUTO: Well, Congressman, you're closer to these guys than I am, but I don't think they're going to do that. And, so, they're going to nominate a candidate who is diametrically opposed to you on a lot of these issues.

What are you going to do?

PAUL: But they're secondary to the people. I mean, when you deal in ideas and philosophy, you appeal to the people. And when the attitude of the people changes, the governments will be forced to. Whether we can be successful at the convention and have them change their platform, you're exactly right. It might not occur that quickly.

But, if our movement is for real, which I believe it is, this is going to continue. And the precinct organizations will continue. And, as time goes on, we will have an influence on the Republican Party. Otherwise...

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: Would you run — would you run, Congressman, as a third- party candidate — I guess now, with Barr in the race, a fourth-party candidate?

PAUL: No, I have never planned to do that, never intended to do that. And the democratic process in this country is very biased against that. So, no, I still think...

CAVUTO: Well, I don't know, Congressman. I got a lot of e-mail. We've been, you know, promoting that you're going to be on our show. You're — you're very good for ratings, Congressman.

And, not kidding, but a lot of the people say, "Tell him we want him to run. We want him to run."

(LAUGHTER)

CAVUTO: What do you say?

PAUL: Well, I think that's encouraging, and it's flattering, but I also know that it's hard to get on ballots. If I had not run in the Republican primary, you wouldn't be talking to me today, most likely, and I wouldn't have ever gotten into the debates.

So, there's a lot of exclusion of the third parties.

Bob Barr, I'm hopeful, will do a better job as a third-party candidate than average, but he's going to have a tough time.

CAVUTO: But your basic premise — and the reason why you don't like what the Democrats are saying, why you don't like what the Republicans are saying, leaving foreign policy out for the time being — it's just that the role of government, they're both bigger on bigger government, right?

PAUL: Sure. Sure, bigger spending. They compromise down here. And everybody is supposed to compromise. But, you know, the Democrats want to spend on one area and the Republicans on another area.

So, when they come up with a bill, like this week on the supplemental, they will come up, they will raise military spending and all the foreign aid expenditures. At the same time, they're going to raise domestic spending. So, that's the compromise.

The compromise has to be, we have to cut back, balance the budget, strengthen the dollar, stop the inflation, and get back to a market economy.

Otherwise, you know, all we're going to have is trying to survive from the breaking up and the — of these bubbles. And now we're suffering through the housing bubble collapse.

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: So, I assume with these collapses and, real quickly, on the oil companies, you would not be for windfall profits taxes, as Democrats were shot down today, or federal bailout programs of any sort, right?

PAUL: Absolutely not.

CAVUTO: OK.

PAUL: And, hopefully that's one area where we may influence John McCain, is to be a little bit better on taxes.

CAVUTO: OK.

PAUL: But, in the past, he hasn't been that good on taxes.

CAVUTO: Alrighty.

Congressman, always a pleasure having you. Thank you for joining us again.

PAUL: Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

CAVUTO: Ron Paul, who could cause a dustup this summer. We shall see.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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Texas State GOP worry grouchy voters won't go to polls

June 8, 2008, 11:16PM
State GOP worry grouchy voters won't go to polls
Convention opens here amid some discontent within the party


By R.G. RATCLIFFE
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau

AUSTIN — After a decade of political dominance, the Texas GOP is opening its party convention in Houston this week with a troubling prospect: Grumpy Republicans may not turn out to vote this fall.

Many of the grass-roots Texas Republicans see presumptive presidential nominee John McCain as not conservative enough. Others still support presidential candidate Ron Paul. Some are unhappy over immigration, high federal spending, a sagging national economy and rising gasoline prices.

"A lot of them, and rightly so in many cases, are mad. They're concerned," said Roger Williams, chairman of the Texas GOP's voter turnout efforts this year. "What we've got to do is alleviate those concerns and get them to vote."

"We're the underdogs, and anybody who tells you we're not hasn't been out and about," Williams said.

The convention runs from Wednesday to Saturday at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston.

Against this backdrop of discontent, the convention will feature speeches by Gov. Rick Perry, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, all of whom are considering runs for governor in 2010.

The convention also will feature U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, who faces a re-election challenge this year from Democratic nominee Rick Noriega of Houston.

Delegates on Friday will hear from former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former presidential contenders Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney. Romney is McCain's designated surrogate speaker at the convention.

Cathie Adams, president of the Texas Eagle Forum, said McCain is not building bridges with the grass roots by sending Romney to speak to the Texas convention in his place.

"It would have been better if he had come himself," Adams said.

Adams said many delegates to the convention will want to be reassured about McCain on immigration. She said many are upset that he supports a process of granting citizenship to those who entered the country illegally.

Adams said McCain cannot win just by telling voters the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is bad.

"Everyone I know is unhappy with the prospects of Obama," Adams said. "But they'll stay home rather than just go out and vote against someone."

Similarly, some of Paul's supporters are upset with McCain and how the state convention is run. Some sued the Texas GOP last week in an effort to block the seating of some non-Paul delegates.

Don Zimmerman, a Paul activist and candidate for Travis County tax assessor-collector, is vying to be a national delegate, even though that means supporting McCain, whom he does not like.

Zimmerman said many new delegates to the convention this year will be Paul supporters. He said he wants to get them focused on winning local races.

"Get over the McCain thing and work for your local Republican who you like," Zimmerman said.

Republican leadership is less worried about the elections of McCain and Cornyn than they are about the effect party disgruntlement may have on congressional and legislative races.

Republican pollster Mike Baselice said half the Republican voters in Texas say the state and nation are on the "wrong track." He calls them "grumpy Republicans" who cannot be counted on to turn out to vote against presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.

"I'm concerned about the wrong-track Republicans opting not to vote," Baselice said.

Baselice said Republicans in 2002 had a 6 percentage point advantage in Dallas County voting and an 8 percentage point advantage in Harris County. He said neither party now has an advantage in Dallas, and the GOP holds an advantage of about 1.5 percentage points in Harris County.

He said that partisan shift could give Democrats a great boost if a large percentage of Republicans don't vote.

Baselice said Republicans who vote can be counted on to vote up and down the ballot, but he said the GOP stands to lose ground if the "grumpy" Republicans stay home.

Former Republican Chairman Tom Pauken said politicians and party leaders need to reassure the Republican grass-roots workers that their efforts matter for conservative causes.

"The grass roots has withered up and died," Pauken said.

But current state Chairwoman Tina Benkiser said she believes most of the discontent is directed toward Washington. She said the 2006 elections were bad for Republicans nationally but that the Texas GOP picked up more than 200 offices held by Democrats that year.

Benkiser said the goal of this week's convention will be to excite the delegates and make them feel like a conservative agenda is worth working for in the general election.

"At the end of the day, things bode well for us," Benkiser said.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5826424.html