Voting With Their Dollars: G.I.s Support Ron Paul’s "Bring Them Home" Message

by William F. Jasper, JBS - Oct 11, 2007

Ron Paul wants to bring the troops home. Now, what should be made of the fact that Paul has received more donations from members of the military than other presidential contenders?

Follow this link to the original source: "Obama, Paul net most military workers' campaign donations"

COMMENTARY:

For his opposition to the Iraq War and his insistence on bringing our troops home, Republican presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) has had to endure charges by his political and media opponents that he is unpatriotic, soft on national security, soft on terror, and 'doesn’t support our troops." His more vicious accusers have even charged him with "taking his marching orders from al Qaeda," and being of the same ilk as MoveOn.org’s anti-war communists and militant leftists. However, Congressman Paul has responded that the Iraq war is an unconstitutional, undeclared war that did not have any connection to the 9/11 terrorist attacks and "was sold to us with false information."

The pundits and politicos attacking the congressman’s position are out of touch with the men and women who wear the uniform, who are voting overwhelmingly in favor of Dr. Paul, if their political contributions are an accurate barometer. The Federal Election Commission's recent release of quarterly contributions to presidential candidates revealed that Ron Paul topped all of the other candidates — Republican and Democrat — in contributions from active members of the military. In fact, Dr. Paul received as much from our military personnel as all of the other Republican candidates combined. His receipt of $24,965 amounted to 26.23 percent of all military contributions to presidential candidates of both parties. The next highest candidate was Sen. Barak Obama, with 24.02 percent, followed by: Sen. John McCain, 18.31 percent; Sen. Hillary Clinton, 11.08 percent; Gov. Bill Richardson, 5.59 percent: Mitt Romney, 4.05 percent; John Edwards, 2.63 percent; Rudy Giuliani, 2.44 percent; Mike Huckabee, 1.84 percent; Tom Tancredo, 1.63 percent; Duncan Hunter, 1.05 percent. The remaining candidates each received less than 1 percent.

The strong support Ron Paul is receiving from the military is not surprising in light of a mid-July survey by Military.com, a web site popular with military personnel. According to Military.com, fifty-nine percent of the poll participants "said the United States should withdraw its troops from Iraq now or by the end of 2008. More than 40 percent of the respondents agreed the pullout should begin immediately because 'we're wasting lives and resources there.'"