RON PAUL!!!!1!!! Flashback: Civil War Was Senseless

16 Jan, 2012 by William Teach

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An interesting article from Philly.com

Paul is in party of Lincoln, but rejects what he stood for

Can Ron Paul make Abe Lincoln a villain – in the Party of Lincoln?

Why would he try in the first place? And who would help him?

In all the attention that has surrounded the presidential candidacy of Ron Paul, one of the problems that has been bubbling just below the surface is the congressman’s special contempt for the man most Americans revere as the nation’s greatest president. The man who saved the Union, freed the slaves, and, not coincidentally, served as the first Republican president.

Saved the Union? Not so fast.

On Dec. 23, 2007, appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press, Paul told then-host Tim Russert that the Civil War was “senseless” and that “Abe Lincoln should never have gone to war.” Paul accused Lincoln of provoking the war to “get rid of the original intent of the Republic.”

The actual exchange is this

MR. RUSSERT: I was intrigued by your comments about Abe Lincoln. “According to Paul, Abe Lincoln should never have gone to war; there were better ways of getting rid of slavery.”

REP. PAUL: Absolutely. Six hundred thousand Americans died in a senseless civil war. No, he shouldn’t have gone, gone to war. He did this just to enhance and get rid of the original intent of the republic. I mean, it was the–that iron, iron fist..

MR. RUSSERT: We’d still have slavery.

REP. PAUL: Oh, come on, Tim. Slavery was phased out in every other country of the world. And the way I’m advising that it should have been done is do like the British empire did. You, you buy the slaves and release them. How much would that cost compared to killing 600,000 Americans and where it lingered for 100 years? I mean, the hatred and all that existed. So every other major country in the world got rid of slavery without a civil war. I mean, that doesn’t sound too radical to me. That sounds like a pretty reasonable approach.

So, in PaulWorld, slavery would just magically disappear and be replaced with unicorns and fairies. And Lincoln wanted the war for the same reason that Hitler wanted war, power. It also says something to the notion that Paul is kind of a racist. And bat guano crazy. Don’t forget bat guano crazy.

He also mentions the Constitution 17 times during the interview, yet, I don’t get the sense that he really understands what the hell it means and is about. It’s almost as if he throws the word in in the same fashion other people will add “like, you know.”