Meet Ron Paul

On Monday, April 14th, I had the opportunity to attend a speech at Goucher College in Towson, Maryland given by Presidential candidate Ron Paul. Every Presidential quiz that I've taken says that I need to vote for Ron Paul because he most accurately reflects my views. And so I did. And now I actually had the opportunity to meet the person I voted for.

Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photographs in the auditorium. So here are the photographs that I took in the auditorium.

This one shows the enthusiastic crowd as he entered the stage (click on each image to see a larger image).

















Ron Paul, or Dr. Ron Paul as he should be called (he received his medical degree from Duke Medical School) has practiced as an OB/GYN for many years. His speech was much of what you would expect from a Libertarian Republican - get the government the hell out of our lives! Bring the troops home. Close some of those bases around the globe (we have over 700). He was well received, not to mention funny. He said that he has 18 grandchildren as is proud of the fact that he knows all of their names. He then introduced his wife and said she even knows their birthdays.

After a 45 minutes speech, he sat down with the President of Goucher College for a Q&A session from the Goucher students (it's only fair, we were told, since they are the ones that invited him and they are the ones paying tuition).

Here is a photo from the Q&A session:
















Some of the questions the students asked were quite delightful. Especially considering their naïveté and idealistic opinions. One girl asked if he could expand on his opinion about No Child Left Behind (NCLB). He replied, "What more do you want me to say other than I'm against it?"

Another young minion pointed out that he was speaking at a predominantly female college whose students are overwhelmingly pro-choice (pro-abortion) and wondered how he could consciously come and say that he's pro-life. He responded something to the effect of: 'What do you want me to say? Thats how I feel.' If someone has an opinion about the development of an unborn child, it would be an OB/GYN who would have the most credibility.

Finally, someone asked him who he thought was really going to win the election. His response? Barrack Obama.

After the Q&A, Ron Paul did a book signing for his new book, The Revolution A Manifesto. As the crowd wound its way out of the auditorium, it became apparent that the college staff was overwhelmed with the task of forming a 40 foot line for 1000 people. We were told to go downstairs and form a line that would wind upstairs.

























When we snaked our way back to the stairs, people were on both sides of the stairs with a line going up on the left and down on the right. People immediately began hollering that we were butting in line. The lady in front of me informed them that the staff instructed us to go through the auditorium through the basement back to the stairs. That's when one little princess fluffed out her feathers and stuck out her glittered speckled chin and declared with utmost confidence, "Well, they lied to you!!!"

After about 10 minutes, the grovelers were still groveling. I then said out loud, "You know, this line is actually a circle. Once you go upstairs, it snakes back downstairs." Finally, some people who didn't give a shit actually let us in the line and we eventually made our way upstairs to get our book signed.

Near 9:30 I got to Ron Paul, shook his hand and he signed my book.