On this weekend’s podcast, Ivan asked me to name some things that Ron Paul actually voted “yes” on in congress. Since he is only known for voting “no” I said I had no idea without doing some research. Feeling obligated to follow up, here are the 10 most recent things Ron Paul voted “Yes” to in the House. (My source is here.) Note that the first couple directly contradict something I said in the podcast. Oops.

1. 2007 Jul 23 – Vote 689: H RES 519: Honoring the Life and Accomplishments of Tom Lea on the 100th Anniversary of His Birth
2. 2007 Jul 23 – Vote 688: H RES 553: Mourning the Passing of Lady Bird Johnson
3. 2007 Jul 23 – Vote 687: H R 404: Federal Customer Service Enhancement Act (To require the establishment of customer service standards for Federal agencies.)
4. 2007 Jul 19 – Vote 672: H R 3043 – Davis of Kentucky Amendment (An amendment to prohibit funds to be used to pay a bonus or other performance-based cash award to any employee of the Social Security Administration or the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services who holds a position to which such employee was appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, or a Senior Executive Service position.)
5. 2007 Jul 18 – Vote 668: H R 3043 – Flake of Arizona Amendment 15 (An amendment numbered 15 printed in the Congressional Record to prohibit the use of funds for the American Ballet Theatre, New York, New York, for educational activities.)
6. 2007 Jul 18 – Vote 666: H R 3043 – Barton of Texas Amendment (An amendment to strike the proviso on page 36, beginning at line 5 which states that within the amounts provided for part A of title XXVI of the Public Health Service Act, funds are included to ensure that the amount of any funding provided under such part to a metropolitan area for the program year beginning in 2007 is not reduced by an amount that is more than 8.4 percent, and the amount of any funding provided under subpart II of such part to a transitional area is not reduced by an amount that is more than 13.4 percent, relative to the amount of the total funding provided under such part to the metropolitan area or transitional area, respectively, for the program year beginning in fiscal year 2006.)
7. 2007 Jul 18 – Vote 665: H R 3043 – Dingell of Michigan Amendment (An amendment to prohibit the use of funds be used to pay the basic pay of any individual serving as Deputy Commissioner of Social Security, Social Security Administration, whose appointment to such position has not been confirmed by a vote of the Senate pursuant to section 702(b)(1) of the Social Security Act. )
8. 2007 Jul 18 – Vote 662: H R 3043 – Lamborn of Colorado Amendment (An amendment numbered 56 printed in the Congressional Record to strike line 7 and all that follows through the comma on page 104, line 12. )
9. 2007 Jul 18 – Vote 661: H R 3043 – Shadegg of Arizona Amendment No. 55 (An amendment numbered 17 printed in the Congressional Record reduce appropriations for the Corporation for National and Community Service. )
10. 2007 Jul 18 – Vote 660: H R 3043 – Price of Georgia Amendment (An amendment numbered 65 printed in the Congressional Record to reduce funding for the Student Financial Assistance account by $64,987,000. )

So that’s actually 10 yes votes in under a week.

The full total of Ron Paul votes in the last 7 full days (2007 Jul 17 to 2007 Jul 23) is:

• 28 – Yes
• 15 – No
• 14 – Not Voting

That gives a 26% no record, 35% if you don’t count the times he didn’t vote… but still not a 95% no record as I stated in the podcast… at least in the last week of votes. Oops again.

In my defense though, looking at the 10 listed above, you can see that even the Yes votes look like they are amendments which are actually against things. So even when voting yes, he is voting against something. But I guess that is always true in a way, so I’ll just shut up now.

Well, maybe not quite yet. One more set of stats from this last set of votes. Not counting the times he did not vote:

• 18 votes – Voted agreeing with Repub position against Dems
• 13 votes – Voted agreeing with position supported by both parties
• 9 votes – Voted opposite from position supported by both parties
• 3 votes – Voted agreeing with Dem position against Repubs

Interesting I guess. Note though that if you look at the list of “Important Votes” from Project Vote Smart instead of just the last week of all votes, you see a much larger percentage of “No” votes.

It should be no suprise to anybody who has followed me or my blog for awhile… for instance this post from February this year, but I am liking Ron Paul more and more as the campaign continues and I see more of him. Sure he has some views I disagree with, but so do all the candidates, and the percentage I disagree with seems by far the smallest with Paul.

The New York Times has a detailed profile (free login may be required) in this weekend’s magazine:

The Antiwar, Anti-Abortion, Anti-Drug-Enforcement-Administration, Anti-Medicare Candidacy of Dr. Ron Paul
(Chirstopher Caldwell, New York Times)

Paul represents a different Republican Party from the one that Iraq, deficits and corruption have soured the country on. In late June, despite a life of antitax agitation and churchgoing, he was excluded from a Republican forum sponsored by Iowa antitax and Christian groups. His school of Republicanism, which had its last serious national airing in the Goldwater campaign of 1964, stands for a certain idea of the Constitution — the idea that much of the power asserted by modern presidents has been usurped from Congress, and that much of the power asserted by Congress has been usurped from the states. Though Paul acknowledges flaws in both the Constitution (it included slavery) and the Bill of Rights (it doesn’t go far enough), he still thinks a comprehensive array of positions can be drawn from them: Against gun control. For the sovereignty of states. And against foreign-policy adventures. Paul was the Libertarian Party’s presidential candidate in 1988. But his is a less exuberant libertarianism than you find, say, in the pages of Reason magazine.

(via Andrew Sullivan)

He has no chance of winning the Republican nomination of course. That is unfortunate, but true. Despite all the hoopla on the Internet, his support remains solidly in the single digits amongst potential Republican Primary voters (see pollster.com down in the “others” section). But I still like him.

My normal view toward primaries is that I am not a member of any party, because I dislike them all equally, and a Primary is the time for a party to choose its candidate, and therefore out of principal I do not participate in primaries even if the state I am in allows one to do so without registering with a particular party. I am now seriously considering the possibility of voting in the Republican primaries when they come along, just so I can vote for Ron Paul.

As the time gets closer, I may even decide to donate something (small) to his campaign.

Would I put up a poster in my window or on my lawn? Nahhh… that would be going too far.

Depending on who the major candidates are in November 2008 though, I might consider voting for Paul anyway, even if I have to write him in. If he runs as a third party (Lib or otherwise) after he loses the Republican nomination, I’d be thrilled, and would almost certainly vote for him.

I just signed up for his mailing list on his website. He better send me real stuff and not spam stuff though, or I’m out! :-)