Ron Paul narrowly lost the Iowa straw poll last week to Michele Bachmann by a few hundred votes.  He spent a fraction that Bachmann spent on advertising and campaigning throughout Iowa.  You would never know that seeing as how many in the media are already writing him off as an illegitimate candidate.  Like Rodney Dangerfield, Mr. Paul doesn’t get any respect, despite being immensely popular and performing well in the Iowa straw poll and the CPAC straw poll two years in a row.  Despite developing a solid foundation of support, which has grown consistently stronger over the last few years, few in the media are taking his campaign seriously.  Like it or not, Ron Paul is proving that he is here to stay and will be a solid fixture in the race for the GOP nomination.

The basis for Ron Paul’s appeal is his message, which is unique and consistent, something few other politicians can say.  It doesn’t matter if Paul is on MSNBC or Fox News; it doesn’t matter if you’re Democrat or Republican, Ron Paul never flip-flops and doesn’t sugar coat his message to appease the masses.  Paul often found himself at odds with his own party over several issues such as the war in Iraq and spending.  (FYI Mr. Paul was against the Iraq war from the start and voted against it, something many Democrats who ran against the war a few years ago can’t say such as Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and John Kerry.)  Paul has also spoken out and voted against military aid to nations such as Egypt, Israel, and Pakistan.  Along with that, he has long been an advocate of closing military bases throughout the world and bringing all our troops home to save money, an idea that once was unthinkable, but is now plausible.

Another reason Ron Paul is so appealing is his foresight, because if you look at his record, he has been sounding the alarm about our dangerous level of spending for over a decade.  Throughout the years, Paul has put his money where his mouth is on spending, voicing his support for a balanced budget amendment as far back as 2000.  He voted against the bogus bailout packages that GM and Chrysler got that will end up costing the tax payers billions of dollars when all is said and done.  Paul is a strong conservative who has a strong record of fighting for less government and more personal freedoms.

The mainstream media can try to ignore Ron Paul all they want, but he isn’t going anywhere anytime fast.  Even if he doesn’t get the GOP nod, he will be a strong candidate for the presidency even if he has to run as an independent.  I’m not saying that Ron Paul is going to be the next president; what I am saying is that Ron Paul is a serious contender and is here to stay, whether those in the media like it or not.    By: Tom O’Brien

My take: Thank you Tom O’Brien for that eloquent reminder that Ron Paul is here to stay. What is not covered in this piece is the facts about Paul’s refusal to name Shari’a a threat to the United States Constitution. Shari’a Law is the theo-political arm of Islam. Without it Islam ceases to be Islam. You can’t have one without the other. For those who don’t know what Shari’a Law is, it is according to Islamic followers the laws that govern the Islamic people. It is above man’s laws. Many Imams have publicly said the goal of Shari’a Law in America is to over come the U.S Constitution in the United States. If you don’t think it can happen just look at the UK. Everything that is happening in London, France, Norway, the Netherlands… and now it’s coming here too.  I need a president who sees that impending danger as well as all the other dangers. Islamist claim since it is above man’s made laws it is superior and that no Muslim will follow the U.S Constitution above Shari’a Law. Shari’a Law is what is practiced in Iran. You know the cutting off of hands when you are caught stealing, the stoning of women who are raped because it is her responsibility to cover her whole body since the male species has no control over his body, the honor killings…laws like that. I don’t know about you but Ron Paul does well to take a second look at that. If he is the Constitutionalist he says he is he should see the threat,, but he does not. He has famously said “we are not at war with Islam” Mr. Paul we may not be at war with Islam but they are at war with us; to ignore their own words is to ignore that fact, and to ignore that fact is to revert back to the policies in place on Sept 11,2001 when we were attacked by Saudi men on behalf of Allah. BY their own admission they did it for Allah and for the sake of Islam. On Aug 16,2011 while on Ron Paul on Fox News Ron Paul said if Iran got a nuke and fired it on Israel “the United States should do nothing.” That’s right. According to Ron Paul the U.S should do nothing to support our only ally in the Middle East. If Israel is gone that would mean the U.S would cease to have a friend in that region. If you think gas is expensive now wait until a President Ron Paul is in office. That is not even good economic sense. It is really too bad because I like Ron Paul on so many issues; for example his position on the border is right. His position on auditing the Fed is spot on, on debt, on even the war in Iraq was right. He had the foresight to see what many would not or could not see, but on this one issue he is so wrong . I can not defend his position, and I can not support him for president in 2012.