Ron Paul takes the lead in Iowa.

[Dinner]

I'm sure we can get half lotus to give us the 9/11 was an inside job angle.

[HalfLotus]

Ron Paul Surging in New Hampshire Following Top-Tier Finish in Iowa

LAKE JACKSON, Texas--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--2012 Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul is in second place in the key early voting state of New Hampshire with a remarkable 24 percent of the vote, according to a new poll.

The Washington Times/Zogby Analytics Poll, taken after the Iowa Caucuses Iowa shows, Rick Santorum with just 11 percent, and Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman, and Rick Perry earned just 9, 8, and 1 percent, respectively.

Poll highlights include an acknowledgment that Paul has an opportunity for growth, and that about half of all single voters support the 12-term Congressman from Texas.

“On the heels of his close third place finish at the Iowa Caucus, Ron Paul is polling a strong second place in New Hampshire. From here on out, it is a two-man race between Ron Paul and Mitt Romney given that one of the tickets out of Iowa was a dead-end due to Rick Santorum’s glaring lack of viability,” said Ron Paul 2012 National Campaign Chairman Jesse Benton.

“There are only two campaigns that have the resources and infrastructure to win the Republican nomination – and one of those organizations belongs to Ron Paul,” added Mr. Benton.

The poll of 498 likely primary voters has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points and ten percent undecided, showing Dr. Paul with the potential to catch and surpass Gov. Romney and win the Granite State.

To review the poll, please click here.

[Dinner]

Paul is about 30 points behind Romney and the poll numbers in the state haven't really changed in two years.

[HalfLotus]

14 points, according to the latest Zogby poll. That's a big improvement since Iowa caucus.

[Dinner]

The two things I remember from Nate Silver's 538 web site during the 2008 campaign is that Rasmussen always skews things to the right and Zogby produces a lot more outliers then most other polling agencies. Unlike Rasmussen Zogby doesn't seem to skew results one way and instead if just seems to have a system which creates wider error bars so their results get spread out more in random directions.

[HalfLotus]

Yeah I don't even bother quoting Rasmussen, they're a joke. Zogby is best in the biz AFAIK.

[Dinner]

The latest news in the freak show is that Herman Cain wants to get back in the race. Apparently, he just wanted to take a month off to let the sex scandal(s) die.

The only one this will benefit is Romney who wants as many people as possible to stay in so they can divide up the "not Romney" vote.

[Zevico]

Thank you.

[HalfLotus]

Video: C-SPAN Caught On Tape: “See this room? Two-thirds of us laid-off when Ron Paul is president.”

[Zevico]

BUT, that doesn't mean all of his ideas are equally wackadoo. Dramatically slashing our so-called "defense" budget would be a wonderous, splendiferous, fantastic thing.

Look, lots of things would be great if they were possible. That doesn't mean they're desirable. US defence spending should be linked to US strategic goals.

[Guynemer]

How is invading every pissant country at the slightest--occasionally completely-imagined--provocation benefit the US strategically?

Defense should be exactly that--defense. The lion's share has been offense ever since I became capable of sentient critical thought, somewhere around 1990 or so.

If we made it actually inconvenient for us to invade and/or bomb other nations, maybe we'd stop ****ing doing it.

[Zevico]

How is invading every pissant country at the slightest--occasionally completely-imagined--provocation benefit the US strategically?

Did I ever say it was? Who ever did?

If we made it actually inconvenient for us to invade and/or bomb other nations, maybe we'd stop ****ing doing it.

For one thing, your deployment in Asia deters China from invading Taiwan and intimidating its neighbours. China's still ruled by "People's Committees", you know. The people at the top have the same basic priorities and goals as as they did before market reforms. That means acquiring over nations or territories by force is perfectly acceptable to them if it means an increase in their power and prestige. The only reason they won't is because they calculate that their losses would be unacceptable if they tried. And that's so because there happens to a large contingent of the US Navy, not to mention military bases, in the area. Not to mention the US Army. Fact is, Taiwan would either surrender to the PRC, or be invaded, if the US didn't support it. And from Taiwan, China would flex its muscles on the next available target. The Cold War may be over but the PRC is doing its darndest to introduce a new one.
I'm not saying the US should invade countries left and right. I am saying that the US and its allies enjoy a massive strategic advantage over many potential enemies worldwide, and that this strategic advantage makes enemy nations sit back and think twice. Of all these nations it's the US' investment in defence that puts everyone else over the top. It's the US that always has the next-generation air force, army and navy. I strongly suggest that you do not want your armed forces to ever enjoy technological parity with the PRC, or Iran, or any other nation, if you can help it. That doesn't mean you have to invade every country you see.

[Arrian]

This is what Ron Paul is good for. I'd love it if he was the GOP nominee (he won't be). If he was, I'd actually have to think about my vote, even though I'm vehemently opposed to about half of his agenda and am disgusted by is newsletters (and yes, they're HIS, no matter what his fanboys say. They were published under his name, with his signature, written in first-person style. And they were choc full of paranoid, racist, and/or just plain stupid crap).

-Arrian

[Zevico]

By the way,if you can find make an argument for cuts that don't affect your strategic needs then by all means do so. But cutting for the sake of it doesn't make sense.

[Dinner]

Please don't use "flavor" to describe Santorum. Ever.

But one could honestly say Santorum came from behind, right? I mean Santorum almost squeezed one out.