Ron Paul Openly Courting the Muslim Vote

Photoshopped caricature*

Ron Paul has for some time been rolling up the anti-Semitic vote with his libertarian flavored stance on Israel. Dr. Paul states clearly that he is not anti-Semitic and I believe him, even though he has done a fairly poor job of distancing himself from his overtly anti-Semitic supporters. I don't think he's an actual anti-Semitic. I just think he's wrong on Israel.  Dr. Paul has kept his chastisement of his lunatic fringe following to the gentle side. He is careful not to offend the conspiracy theorists and anti-Semitic in his legions lest his poll numbers drop by half. What politician would bite the hand that feeds him after all?

And Dr. Paul is, after all, a politician. Paul's actual vote-getting numbers in the primaries so far have puttered along in the 9% range no matter what the polls or Paulestinians might say. He's done better than Newt Gingrich in a few places, but unlike Gingrich has not won a single state.

Now Ron Paul supporters are actively courting the Muslim vote.  The talking points to Muslim Voters are:

1. Ron Paul supports a non-interventionist stance in the Middle East
2. Ron Paul wants to remove US support for Israel

I am puzzled as to why this makes sense to ANYBODY, but then, I have a bad habit of reading history. The wave of Muslim immigration to this country has been largely from areas threatened, not by evil western imperialists, but by brutal middle-eastern regimes like those of such lovable tyrants as Assad, Quaddafi, Saddam Hussein, the Taliban and their ilk. It really doesn't make sense for a refugee, after he or she escapes persecution, poverty or whatever else drove them to leave their homeland, to come to the US and then turn around and oppose efforts by the United States and its allies to stop the very people who committed violence and oppression against them in the first place. It seems illogical at the very least and wondrously selfish at worst to say, "I got out, but screw the rest of you people back home."

If the Ron Paul people are counting on some level of Muslim antisemitism to drive the Muslim vote to Dr. Paul, that's just shameful.  Ronald Reagan showed that you win presidential elections by appealing to the best in people and not the worst. Unfortunately, that's precisely what some Paulestinians are doing in the Muslim community - poking the antisemitism beast hoping to garner votes for their boy and again confirming my opinion that there are a lot of folk in the Ron Paul camp who are only in it for the legalized pot.

Me, I'm looking for a candidate that would like to see a peace in the middle-east that doesn't involve one side killing everybody on the other side. That does NOT look very much like the Ron Paul plan to me. I don't think stepping back and letting radical Muslim nations drive Israelis into the sea is going to give us peace - only a little quiet before the storm.

I keep hearing that we shouldn't be the world's policemen. Is that so? Well then tell me. Who SHOULD be the world's policemen?  Somebody's going to do it if we don't and I can tell you a couple of groups that would like the job that I'd rather not hand it over to.

How about you?  Scream at me from the comments box.  I can take it.

Tom King

(that's my real name and I don't care who knows it)

* The photo above is a Photoshopped caricature (I can't draw worth shucks) - as far as I know Dr. Paul never wears a turban, even while campaigning in Detroit!