Also:

Republicans are happy to “regulate the content of the Internet”.

Really? I seemed to have missed that.

I have a real problem with people constantly stating that someone ‘doesn’t have a chance’.

In these political times, the doors are open to just about anything.

Your arguments are sound (I must confess), however I still think that you are writing off someone before the real polls start …

I think Paul has a chance to start creating some upset in the Republican Party and may actually be a major part of the guiding force to create the change which my party needs to continue into the future.

Regardless of winning or losing the nomination, I truly believe he may show strength that causes the bosses of the party to take pause and listen carefully.

The biggest question that is truly out there is …

Will the party bosses listen or will they be deaf like so many of those in charge of Republican organizations are?

I’m just being a realist, Paul will not win the nomination. And even if he did, Hillary would do a bang-up job of painting him as an extremist. He’d be lucky to carry 4 or 5 states. Too bad …

Maybe that is why politcal change comes so hard. If we put all of the politicians in sports uniforms, then folks would become interested in the future of our nation and world.

As for your continued ‘he does not have a chance’ (Congressman Paul) … I sure wish you would stop that!

He has as much of a chance of taking the nomination of the Republican Party as any of those othere clowns on the stage.

You’re right, this could be the subject of a long debate, but there are stalwart two-party types who insist it is the best platform from which to govern and if you don’t like either of the two parties, then you should work to change them from the inside out.

Many of these people (typically Republicans) say competition makes people perform better, but they insist that the duopoly is best for America. Go figure … I say sometimes you have to blow out the carbons and start fresh.

Steve,

For the uninitiated and in the interests of disclosure, you and I go back about 10 years when you were editor of The Millerton News and I was your reporter. And also for the record, you are the best editor I ever worked for.

Randy Levine, who is now the Yankees president (or was last time I checked), was at that time one of Rudy Giuliani’s deputy mayors and he had a part home in Amenia. One of his neighbors on Leedsville Road (a McEnroe whose first name escapes me) was building a McMansion next door to Randy.

Levine and his wife, Mindy Franklin, sued the town of Amenia, alleging McEnroe’s building permit was issued in violation of the town’s own building code. Evidently Levine complained so loudly as to attract the attention of the New York Department of State, which descended one afternoon on Amenia town hall and seized its building department for about a year.

It became a circus, with high-priced lawyers parading in and out of town hall and accusing the town’s attorney of a conflict of interest, and a scathing report from Albany about the Amenia building department, which (truth be told) probably wasn’t any more disorganized than any other small town in the state.

I interviewed Levine a couple of times and he seemed like a nice enough guy, but he also struck me as someone who could be a really tough customer if you crossed him. The town of Amenia saw what happened if you crossed him.

I haven’t seen Levine’s name mentioned in any media reports about Torre, but I haven’t followed the situation that closely either. I do think it’s too bad the Yanks threw Torre under the bus. He has been one of the best managers in Yankee history, but they’re in a rebuilding year. So what does the demented Steinbrenner do? Instead of firing Torre outright (like he used to do with Billy Martin), he offers him a contract that includes a pay cut, knowing all along Torre would be so humiliated as to quit. Sounds like a political split-the-difference move to me. A real class act …

Terry2,

Hope you’re enjoying SC. Go Red Sox!

P.S. Steve, Levine left Amenia several years ago. Last I heard he had rented a part-time residence in Dover Plains.

Phiospohically, I think there are wonderful ideas within their manifesto; of their many problems I think the foremost is that they have never produced a candidate in any election capable of developing a following and implementing a few ideas.

Methinks Americans secretly really like their Big Brothers.

I hope this post of yours generates a lengthy discussion…it’s one worth having.