Pat Lang sees a conspiracy afoot in Fox News’ decision to keep Ron Paul out of last night’s debate:
The supposedly conservative Fox News organization did not invite to their debate ,Dr. Paul, a true blue Libertarian Conservative who is rising steadily in funding and in the polls.
Why would they do that? Easy. Paul really IS a conservative as opposed to the brand of neocon, Jacobin rightist so dear to the hearts of people like Murdoch.
Giuliani is on his way to the discard pile of history, weighed down with his foreign policy advisors (refugees from the first Bush ’41 term), Bernie Kerik, other friends, and a cell phone that rang too often. Nevertheless, HE had a seat at the table at the Faux News extravaganza.
Brent Budowsky agrees:
In Iowa, the only real state that has voted so far, Ron Paul kicked Rudy’s butt in the voting. In campaign fundraising, Ron Paul appears set to kick Rudy’s butt again.
While I think Paul should have been included in the Fox forum, as he was the previous night on ABC, that’s a judgment as to where to draw a line rather than an assessment that he has any chance of winning the Republican nomination.
It may well be true that, as Steven Taylor suggests, Giuliani is “toast and getting darker” owing to a flawed “late state strategy.” He came in sixth — behind Paul — in Iowa and it would not be the greatest upset in the world if Paul surged ahead of him to take fourth place in New Hampshire.
Still, the fact remains that Giuliani remains in a statistical tie with John McCain for first place nationally, attracting 19.0 percent to Paul’s 3.3 percent support among likely Republican primary voters. He’s easily got more cash on hand than any of his challengers. He’s got three times Paul’s support in Michigan (12.5 to 4.3); is leading in Nevada (23.7) to Paul’s sixth (5.0); has twice Paul’s support in South Carolina (12.8 to 6.3); first in Florida (25.3) to Paul’s sixth (3.3); first (25.7) in California to Paul’s “no total;” and so on and so forth.
No doubt, Paul’s supporters are much, much more enthusiastic than Giuliani’s. But they’re much fewer in number.
While it’s an uphill fight, it’s not inconceivable that Giuliani could win the nomination. Until a couple months ago, he was the odds-on favorite. By contrast, Paul’s only plausible road to the White House involves nuclear holocaust, invasion from outer space, or something else out of a science fiction movie.
Photo Credit: East Valley Tribune
