Singer Kelly Clarkson tweeted that she supported Republican/Libertarian Ron Paul for the GOP nomination. After some push back she clarified that she didn’t support his more homophobic, anti-woman, anti-poor, anti-minority views. Clarkson is entitled to her views but her love of Ron Paul while seeming to ignore the extreme side of him, is troubling.
Clarkson wrote:
As Benjy Sarlin at TPM noted:
Clarkson’s conundrum highlights a recurring issue for Paul — his libertarian message has appeal to both the left (civil rights, gay rights, anti-war), right (slashing social programs, neo-Confederate view of states rights), and beyond (assorted conspiracy theories). It was easier to paper over the differences between these groups when he was seen as a protest vote, but his surge in Iowa and the increased scrutiny that comes with it is making the contrasts between his various supporters more uncomfortable.
Ron Paul and I share some common views like being against the Iraq War and wanting a limited government intrusion into my right to do what I want as long as I don’t do any harm. But Paul supports limited government to allow businesses to discriminate, force women to carry babies to term that either were not wanted or a result of rape or incest, and letting sick people without insurance be beholden on resource limited charity groups.
There are too many “Cons” on my list for Ron Paul. I can’t support him and it’s a shame that people like Clarkson don’t appear to vet the candidate completely before supporting them. It is especially troubling for a woman to support any of the GOP candidates. That would be like if slaves supported the Confederacy during the Civil War.
In a democracy, the most dangerous voter is the uninformed voter.
*Update* The following was posted after this post was published:
Meteor Blades at Daily Kos writes:
But only by ignoring all his other odious points of view, offensive, disgusting, hate-filled points of view, can Ron Paul be defended. To ignore those is to condone racism, homophobia, anti-semitism, 1%erism, anti-environmentalism, victim-blaming, social safety net-shredding and conspiracy-mongering. If he makes it tougher for the Republicans to focus on their final choice for a presidential nominee, if he becomes a spoiler, huzzah to that. But anybody on the left who thinks he would be a worthy candidate for our side is afflicted with a serious case of tunnel vision.
Got AIDs? Your fault, says Ron Paul. Boss can’t keep his hands off you? Switch jobs, says Ron Paul
Kenneth Quinnell writes on “Crooks and Liars” on 12/29:
Yes, even on war and foreign policy, Paul still votes the wrong way more than half the time. He does have a better record than most Republicans on these issues, but even the most conservative of Democrats do better than Paul on almost every issue. Everyone’s most hated retiring Democrat, Ben Nelson votes more progressively than Paul on every one of these issues, usually by a factor of three or more. For instance, Nelson beats paul 55.02 to 12.62 percent — and remember that Nelson was one of the people who killed the public option. On making government work for everyone, not just the rich, Nelson beats Paul 58.59 to 15.88 percent. Progressives rightfully hate Nelson, but Nelson is way, way better than Paul.
