The GOP's Struggle for Identity in 2012

[jonescomplete]

@ConorJNixon They do not pick based on religious views. If they did, they would not distinguish Paul and Santorum - both are Christian. I would argue that Paul is the better of the two.

they differentiate based on their "social conservatism".

I understand the moral stance against abortion and homosexuality, but I do not know how the first contributes to their disdain for Ron Paul, as he is politically opposed to abortion...

I think they should try changing culture not law but who asked me ;P

[ThePythagoran]

what's worth mentioning: cato is 501c3. translation: they cannot out and out support a candidate. I cannot say for sure that's why they say Ron has "peaked", it's clearly not obviously true as Paul has come with double the support in Iowa and tripled support and beat expectations in New Hampshire.

[Shonenut213]

Correction

They are competing for Bush's 4th term. Obama was the 3rd.

[timkoren13]

Crapcannons is 100% correct. Cmon CATO...

[duhg599]

*everything they want

[duhg599]

Ron Paul stands for everything that Cato stands for - limited government, free markets, individual liberty, and peace. The only reason they're not throwing their full support behind him is because they're wary of that racist newsletter BS from over twenty years ago that Paul didn't write. They're failing to support someone who's offering everything they way for such an inconsequential thing. I'm very disappointed in the guys at Cato who made this video right now.

[flyinbry]

Did that guy just say Ron Paul has peaked??? WTF CATO?

[TheAlaric89]

Obama was Bush's third term.

[zoticus1]

The party system is a complete joke and so is REGAN,

Get your head out of the sand CATO!

[hayesism]

@zoticus1 *Reagan.

[pablocoon]

I am surprised how luke warm cato is about Ron Paul, I really am. He is the only hope we have left as far as i am concerned.

[HappyBruiser]

Quiz Bowl Rick FTW!

He might as well make his stump speeches two sentences long. "I love big government, hate Muslims and gays. Vote for me."

[drshlotzkin]

Hey... PSST! Your "State"o is showing!

[angpetru]

I agree with many other posters here. This is a VERY disappointing video from the Cato Institute. I was noticing a slightly different tone in their pod casts as of last year but didn't think much of it as I haven't been keeping up with them for the past few months. Now I'm almost glad I didn't. Still I will thank them for keeping up the free podcast of Human Action

[ForTehNguyen]

Ron Paul has his own personal views. But the huge difference is he places the Constitution above his own personal beliefs and doesnt try to insert his own words into the Constitution. He is pro life, defines marriage as man+woman, but he wont use the power of govt to impose this view onto people.

Unlike Santorum

[murkythreat]

I can't stop looking at the one guys eyes... they creep me out. They look like anime eyes. I believe in the principle of supporting the candidate you believe in and not who he think can win, that's why ron paul still has my vote.

[chevydriver1123]

They need to stop trying to make a distinction between "small" government conservatives and big government ones. Conservatism IS big government, regardless if its a theocon, paleocon or neocon. They only talk small government when their gang of scumbags aren't running the show.

[Redfingers]

The only identity crisis is among Republican voters, who are split among those poorly educated neanderthals living in Alabama et al and the Republicans that love freedom and classical liberalism in the fashion of the founding fathers or a Dwight Eisenhower.

I mean, look at all of this Ronald Reagan fetishism. Honestly, can you name one thing about Ronald Reagan that was different from any other conservative on the ticket apart from Ron Paul?

[Redfingers]

Ron Paul is only nominally part of the Republican party. The Republican party hates his guts. Name one other Libertarian running under the GOP ticket? Rand Paul and Gary Johnson, those are the only two I can think of. One already was forced out of the race for not being vanilla enough, that would be Gary Johnson, the other is Ron Paul's son.

[Redfingers]

The GOP isn't struggling for identity in 2012. They have solidly decided to square in favor of looking like a bunch of batshit, pent up, aggressive assheads.

[032125]

Cato has been a deeply confused institute since they pushed out Murray Rothbard, for whom the institute was originally conceived. Once they lost their Misesian compass, they began a sort of odd dualism where they see all of the points of data that should point them in the right direction, but the tentacles of the Kochtopus drag them inexorably off course.

[RightWingTV]

Thumbs up if you are unsubscribing from this hyprocrite channel.

[RightWingTV]

You would think organizations like the Cato Institutue would be jumping for joy for the likes of Ron Paul. What is it about obeying the Constitution that the Cato Institutue is against ? Ron Paul has not peaked and his rise to the top of the polls has been steady and climbing, so please stop trying to marginalize Ron Paul and the millions of patriotic Americans who support him. Get a clue Cato. No Republican can win the Presidency without us. Just ask the RINO John McCain.

[666sigma]

Ron Paul or Obama. Romney will not hold the party together, just as Dole or McCain could not. The damage that the Bushes have caused still lingers.

[selfrealizedexile]

Canceling my sub. Cato is always 5 years behind the Austrians and their starting to sound more and more like the Heritage Foundation. Why give them anymore of my time? Rothbard was right to leave them.

[WillGerard5]

They're not going to be George W. Bush's third term - O'Bama has that in the bag.

[DNATS]

Does the koch support ron paul or not, that's the the question. My opinion is that they don't.

[freesk8]

@DNATS The Koch bros wanted Herman Caine. I don't know if they will get behind Ron Paul or not. I hope they do.

[Panpiper]

I have to agree with the general sentiment of the posters here. This is a sad video for Cato. Their dismissive attitude towards Ron Paul, culminating in the statement that "these candidates" have nothing much to contribute towards an evolved Republicanism, is a failure of both vision and leadership of the highest order. Not since Barry Goldwater has the Republican ticket had as much a shot at true freedom as it does now with Ron Paul. If you can't get behind it now, there is no hope for you.

[brscic]

RON PAUL OR BUST

[russle360]

Ron Paul 2012!

[TheVampirella]

Wow, very disappointed with CATO. Anyone not voting for Ron Paul is not paying attention to reality.

[tcbink]

this guy doesn't have a clue what he is talking about. he should check his facts before he puts out bad info.

[Eincrou]

0:43 And this is why it's inappropriate to place social conservatives on the right end of the political spectrum. They are leftists who want to socially engineer, only in a different direction than the various groups that run under the banner of progressivism and liberalism.

Leftist engineering forces states to allow abortions and discourages family creation. SoCon engineering is not supported by the side of the political spectrum where they rightly belong, and so they are complete failures.

[SanguineBullet667]

Santorum wants the power to stamp out any religious ideals he doesn't agree with. HELLO there's this little thing called THE 1ST AMENDMENT

[BillyThorton68]

Ron Paul started the Tea Party. Never thought I say cato is a jopke.

[a4finger]

Ron Paul for President 2012!

[tmcmillin17]

@ConorJNixon

I completely agree. Marriage, abortion, and religion should have nothing to do with politics in America and should not have any influence on the way somebody votes

[Alsadius]

For all that Reagan did a lot of good things, he was hardly a great shrinker of government. Spending went up almost 70% during his term, or about 20% after counting inflation and population growth.

[HaroldRehling]

2:05 "..in many ways what you see is three people campaigning for George Bush's third term."

Make that 7th term with Clinton having served the 2nd and 3rd, his son having served the 4th and 5th, and Obama having served the 6th.

That could arguably be 9th if we include the REALITY of the Reagan years following his assassination attempt.

[adamkajones]

So wait...if Ron Paul is president...doesn't that put the CATO Institute out of business?

[XlPackratlX]

@adamkajones No, that's not what they're saying. They're saying that they've been analyzing the Tea Party's Motives and Goals since it started. And, aside from Ron Paul, there's not one candidate for the Republican nominee that meets what the Tea Party wants. They're just a little pessimistic about Ron Paul's election.

[ThePythagoran]

Yeah, we've heard about peaking since the hard deck of 10% days. Ron's charisma deficit could prove too much, but we have started, and will finish, a runthat shows that small government is our future.

[ConorJNixon]

social conservatives are a joke. you honestly pick your president based on his religious views? so having a pro-life president is more important than one that will create small government and fix the debt? and having a president that's against gay marriage is more important than one who will fix the federal reserve and lower taxes. oh and I better vote for the candidate that will imprison marijuana users. give me a break as john stossel would say

how about we focus on the important issues

[ConorJNixon]

Romney is an Obama-progressive (statist). Go to his website.. he will leave taxes at the current rate! what a joke.

[jakeyw11]

Very sad, and very true. Outside of Ron Paul the Republican field is a disaster.

[AWalkinEden]

Ron Paul!

[H1TMANactual]

Thanks for CATO Koch :D

[CRAPCANNONS]

1:55

"...Ron Paul, who's probably peeked in terms of his vote possibilities..."

If that's true, it will be partly thanks to back-biting `conservative' institutions like this one.

You bemoan big government but expect to squeeze solutions for it from establishment big government candidates, which is like trying to milk a jackass and whining that it isn't a cow.

The guy you claim to want is right there. Show some balls and get behind him already. Or just keep losing credibility.

[adamkajones]

@CRAPCANNONS Very well said.

[Kenro200x]

@CRAPCANNONS You have no idea how non-profits work right?

[vts101]

@CRAPCANNONS Well said

[MrHamncheez]

@CRAPCANNONS They are trying to remain academically neutral. They are mostly economists, and they come to the conclusions the data gives them, not finding data that supports their conclusions. If their research honestly tells them that RP won't gain any more popularity, should they turn their back on that data?

[hayesism]

@CRAPCANNONS In 20 years, Cato will talk about Ron Paul and how America missed its chance in the same way that they talk about Barry Goldwater right now.

[luftwaffle]

@CRAPCANNONS Although I understand and agree with the nature of your reaction, I think that they were merely making a cold and honest calculation, as opposed to an attempt to degrade his platform.

[ZankDigiTrash]

also Ricky boy likes to lick Israeli asses