>Unfortunately in this country money is the only thing that gets you close to presidency and 2.5 mil "in the bank" wont do it.

Good thing Ron Paul raised more than 18 million this quarter! Yup! He's going to win. Why don't you look at his website and see for yourself.

Vote on the issues people, not who people tell you "can win". The person with the most votes wins.

Yeah, this is really someone we could have confidence in if he were President. When he has to rebuild his entire campaign from scratch multiple times and spent far more than he had, I have very little confidence that he could ever be an effective leader.

Honestly, he'd be great in a cabinet position, but certainly not as the Commander-in-Chief.

A Soldier Reflects

A marvelous letter in the July 16, 2007 American Conservative:

Regarding Kara Hopkins's "Stupid Party" (June 18), I too have been thinking about the exchange between Rudy Giuliani and Ron Paul about 9/11. I have been a lifelong Republican and have been a supporter of the war, which I can back up with a Department of Defense DD Form 214 showing my service in Iraq. After quite a lot of reflection, I still hold the same beliefs about why we are at war. However, my sense of how we should be fighting it has changed.

I voted for Bush in 2004 because I couldn't vote for a guy who openly admitted to comitting atrocities in Vietnam while he was an officer and should have had the leadership and moral courage to stop. And I supported the war because both Clinton and Bush told us there were WMD. God help our civil liberties if Saddam drops one of those on an American city, I thought, though I was not of an interventionist mindset. (I believe that all of our soldiers should have returned to within the U.S. borders after the end of the Cold War.)

I served my tour in Iraq after it was clear the WMD would never be found and stood by my helicopter and saluted with tears in my eyes as the body bags containing the remains of my fellow GI's (some weighing less than 30 pounds) were loaded.

As I crisscrossed thousands of square miles of Iraq, I had high expectations about the country becoming free and prosperous. I was there for the first two elections and hoped with all my soul that they would quit killing each other and, of course, us. After I got out of the country, I followed the news every day, searching for some hint that the violence was abating. I listened in vain. We cannot install a democracy there. The hatred is so deep that we would have as much luck invading Lebanon, Palestine, and Israel, combining them into one country, and having them vote in one democracy.

Every great general in history knew when he had lost a battle and had sense enough to withdraw, regroup, and rethink his strategy. Once soldiers see that they are dying in vain, a general rapidly loses the support of his men—and even more so when he is giving orders from the rear. It doesn't help when they know he didn't spend time in the foxholes in his youth.

If Americans believe we are at war with all of Islam or we are at war to keep the oil flowing, then we had better buckle down and fight all out like WWII. Quit trying to pretend that we can go on enjoying peacetime lives while tossing a few sons and daughters toward a far-off battle. It is going to take a lot of bodies to kill 1.5 billion Muslims.

If, however, as I believe, we are at war with a radical few, then we need to get out of the Middle East and deprive al-Qaeda of the rallying and recruitment point American occupation provides. Those thinking I have become an appeaser and pacifict could not be more wrong. It is my firm belief that all things in this universe are about force and counterforce and the struggle to survive. Terrorism will always be with us, and I will fight without hesitation for my freedom and right to live, but war is a ghastly thing that brings out the worst elements of human nature. If we can find different strategies that cost fewer lives and defuse the constant human struggles wherever possible, we must go that route.

I was wrong about the war and have to admit my mistake. As I look around for a leader to replace Bush, I have to go back and see who was making sounder judgments than I during the time of 9/11 hysteria. It wasn't any of the "top tier candidates," Democrat or Republican. That person was Ron Paul.

JOEL (LAST NAME WITHHELD)

Senator McCain is a true patriot that has served his country well…but his time as a viable presidential candidate has passed. Someone, perhaps his wife, should tell him to bow out gracefully.

The best candidate out there is Dr. Paul. The rest are all jokes and are bought and paid for, take from special interest groups, and so on and so on.

The Bush regimes needs to be wiped out permanently. Impeach Cheney and throw his ass in prison before he has another heart attack.

Partial text of a letter I faxed to McCain this morning: "There's no fool like an old fool. Give it up, old man. I'm nearly seventy years old; I know whereof I speak."

"no one cares about McCain or RON PAUL. CNN stop telling us about a fate that is already determined. And DR. Paul supports stop pushing a man who we all know has no chance."

Woohoo! That's the voice of democracy!

Jay, how do you explain the 20,000+ volunteers in Ron Paul's grass roots campaign?

This revolution is very real.

http://ronpaul.meetup.com

Well, make that 4 Ron Paul supporters. I have number 5 sitting next to me in my office. Ron Paul's only drawback right now is a lack of name recognition. I'm not trying to spam, but I ask that those of you who disregard Paul please just visit his website ronpaul2008.com and watch the 'freedom is popular' video. If you do that and come back with complaints, works for me. I think many are writing him off without even finding out who he is firsthand.

no one cares about McCain or RON PAUL. CNN stop telling us about a fate that is already determined. And DR. Paul supports stop pushing a man who we all know has no chance.

Unfortunately in this country money is the only thing that gets you close to presidency and 2.5 mil "in the bank" wont do it. We are tired of hearing about this guy in every story that has nothing to do with him.

Does anyone else get the feeling that there are like 3 actual ron paul supporters on here just using different names? Seriously, very, very few people are interested in him. Most of us like to live within the realms of possibility.

He gave in to the "Bush" way and it's cost him independent votes.

McCain would have issued a Press Release about this, but there's nobody left in his Press Office…

I would say that the "Straight Talk Express" has come off the rails and its boiler is ready to go….

it is fatal that Titanic will sink since he stepped on the same boat with Bush.

If he can not appoint responsible people to manage his campaign and finances, it is a foreshadowing to his leadership capability and outsourcing of responsibility to the people he surrounds himself with. Pointing fingers and shifting blame is what we are dealing with in this current administration. We are looking for a strong responsible leader that reflects it in his/her current position, and the quality of people he/she appoints. I hope more candidates will weed themselves out with such blatancy.

McCain has less cash than Ron Paul.
McCain's on the downswing.
Ron Paul is on the upswing.

Oh, I guess it is someone else's fault. Nobody in the party wants McCann. He's a liberal pretending to be a Republican.

sorry for the bad news McCain supporters, come check out Ron Paul.

RonPaul2008.com

So let's see, Mccain is Broke
and has lost his team.

Ron Paul ~ 2.5 million in the bank
and gaining steam.

so will CNN call him a top-tier candidate now????

Here's is a media darling frontrunner so we are told that has somewhere near 20 percent of those polls in NH and he is broke? It goes to show you the polls are a fraud.

He probably had 20 percent of a 300 person chamber of commerce poll. Thats why he is broke. The charlatans are being exposed.

Of couse they will somehow allow him stay in the debates, and even pay his airfaree, so he can take time away from Ron Paul and help gang up on him in the debates. Rudy will probably loan or give McCain the cash. The first debate question should be why does a candidate who is dead broke get the front and center position on the stage?

Second debate question should be: who paid your airfare?

What a hoax, at least people now can see it with open eyes.

Go Ron Paul 2008!!!

http://www.RonPaul2008.com

Once a man of integrity, but then stooped to embrace and support the most corrupt President in our history… birds of a feather, flock togeter… McCain deserves this ending.

Dear CNN,

Why do you keep publicizing McCain? His pro-Bush, pro-Iraq war rhetoric is becoming increasing out of touch with reality.

I, for one, would like to see CNN provide less about McCain and more about Ron Paul. Paul is a Republican candidate whose views and proposed solutions contrast sharply with both the other Republicans and with the Democrats. The country needs to hear about Dr. Paul and what he has to say.

why doesn't this 70 something year old man give up He doen't have a chance to be the # 1 on the GOP ticket does he? Would he accept #2 VP spot ?

John McCain is done. Please drop out Senator, and do not waste our time by participating in another debate. You have no chance at winning. You are not a legitimate candidate any longer.

Maybe that amnesty bill didn't go over so well with the American people?

This is the second news item concerning the faltering McCain campaign, and not a SINGLE word investigating why. I think it's time you improved your analysis and began examining the nature of this campaign more closely.

I think the mainstream media has not done a great job so far of telling us who the so-called "top tier" candidates are versus the so-called "second tier" candidates are.

It turns out that Republican Presidential Candidate Ron Paul has a lot going for him even though the mainstream media continues to try to ignore the facts:

1. Ron Paul more cash on hand than McCain and any of the other so-called "second-tier candidates."

2. Ron Paul has almost as much net cash on hand as Mitt Romney (to get that number, you deduct the $9 million of debt that the Romney campaign owes).

3. Ron Paul has been the number one most searched person on the entire blogosphere for the last three months straight per http://www.technorati.com

4. Ron Paul has more than 4 times as many volunteers as Obama, 22 times more volunteers than Hillary, and hundreds of times more volunteers than Giuliani or Romney, per Meetup.com. In addition, new Ron Paul volunteers is growing at a rate of 36 times faster than Obama, and 96 times faster than Hillary as documented at:

http://www.meetup.com/topics/polact/cand/pres/

5. Liberty is popular and honesty is popular. Ron Paul leads in polls of people who have heard him speak. And it is still 5 months before the primaries, so there is still plenty of time for Ron Paul's message to grow.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig8/haman1.html

Go Ron Paul Revolution 2008!!!

http://www.RonPaul2008.com

Another one bites the dust. Guess its time to once again mention Ron Paul and his "long shot" campaign….thats still gaining momentum…still raised more than McCain… but yet the MSM ignores him… their treason will be dealt with.

well gee, i guess if you can't PAY people to support you - then you won't have much support…

is that how this works? well, for MOST of the candidates that is… SOME of them that is…

Please just quit- The old tired lines serve no purpose anymore. Bankrupting the nation and inflating 3/4 of the population out of existence is not an answer. Go Home, please!

I feel sorry for the people who donated to his campaign.

I've supported him in the past but he is too tied to the current situation in Iraq. Give us some alternatives to the status quo and I'll consider him again.

The one trick pony needs to take a hint.

McCain's Titanic is sinking…

Let me guess — McCain is still "confident!" about his campaign.

Anytime a politian says they are "confident" about something, that's when you know whatever follows is 100% pure BS.