Pro Publica's Guide to the Best Coverage of Ron Paul and His Record

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by Lois Beckett
ProPublica, Aug. 23, 2011

This is the latest installment in a series of reading guides on 2012 presidential candidates. Here are the other guides.

Three-time presidential candidate Ron Paul is consistently disregarded by the media, a point made recently by comedian Jon Stewart and confirmed by a Pew Research Center analysis of news coverage.

But the 76-year-old Texas Republican congressman's tiny-government ideals have become increasingly relevant to the national debate. And despite some eye-rolling by television anchors, there's been plenty of substantive coverage of Paul's ideals and track record. Here's our guide to some of the best reading on Ron Paul.

The basics:

The best place to start is a 2001 Texas Monthly profile by Sam Gwynne, who explains why Paul remained such a viable Republican congressional candidate despite his refusal to toe the party line.

Paul, an obstetrician who has delivered an estimated 4,000 babies, is a pro-life Libertarian who believes that much of the federal government is unconstitutional. (His son, Kentucky Republican Rand Paul, is a U.S. senator and Tea Party favorite.)

Ron Paul's 2012 campaign website summarizes his policy views, which include abolishing the Federal Reserve and the IRS, eliminating income and capital-gains taxes and refusing to raise the debt ceiling.

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Perry’s Blunt Views in Books Get New Scrutiny as He Joins Race (New York Times)

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By MICHAEL D. SHEAR
September 2, 2011

WASHINGTON — Rick Perry, the governor of Texas, believes that climate change is a “contrived, phony mess.” The federal income tax was the “great milestone on the road to serfdom.” And the Boy Scouts of America are under attack by “a radical homosexual movement.”

Mr. Perry also thinks that senators should be chosen by legislatures, not the people. And he says that Social Security, the retirement program for the nation’s elderly, is a “failure” enacted during a power grab called the New Deal and is “something we have been forced to accept.”

Those blunt assertions are in two books Mr. Perry wrote while building a deep base of support in Texas among evangelical voters and Tea Party supporters. But the books have drawn new scrutiny now that Mr. Perry, a Republican, is running for president.

On Wednesday, Mr. Perry is likely to be asked about some of the statements he makes in the books when he takes the stage in his first nationally televised presidential debate. How he responds, and whether he defends the ideas or distances himself from them, will be an early test of his campaign.

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Joe Kaufman for Congress Reports: Obama and Wasserman Schultz sunning it up in Martha’s Vineyard

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This just in from the campaign of Florida Republican Joe Kaufman: the President of the United States took a week's vacation in late August and was visited by U.S. Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. That's important for Kaufman, because he's running against Wasserman Schultz in Florida’s Congressional District 20.

This past week, as America’s northeast got hit with an earthquake and readies itself for a potential hurricane, President Barack Obama and DNC Chair and U.S. Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz have been taking in the sun at Martha’s Vineyard.

While Obama has been hitting the golf course, Schultz, his number one cheerleader, has been heading up various fundraisers for the President, under the title ‘Voices for Obama.’

Republican candidate for United States Congress, Joe Kaufman, who is looking to unseat Wasserman Schultz in November 2012, stated “Americans and Floridians are suffering, jobs are scarce, food and gas prices are way too high, and the country is preparing to face another natural disaster. What’s the President and his assistant Debbie’s response? A Massachusetts vacation!”

Hard to believe the brass balls of Obama and Wasserman Schultz, taking time off while Congress is in session!

Wait... we're just getting breaking news from the crack researchers in the It's Political Bullshit newsroom...

This is shocking! Shocking!

Apparently the entire United States Congress -- the House of Representatives and the Senate -- is on vacation from August 8 through September 5!

We're also hearing that Obama ended his one-week vacation early this week to deal with the approach of Hurricane Irene along the Eastern Seaboard. The nerve of that man to go back to work after less than a week while Congress stays out an entire month till the end of Labor Day weekend!

For the benefit of Mr. Kaufman, to whom this will apparently also be news, here's a link to the 2011 vacation and holiday schedule for both houses of Congress, thanks to TheCapitol.net: http://www.thecapitol.net/FAQ/cong_schedule.html .



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