Unlikely Marriage: Ron Paul Courting Huckabee’s Family Values Voters

With former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee now out of the Presidential race, the chase is on for the Christian conservatives who gave him a win in the 2004 Iowa Republican caucuses.

One candidate interested in scooping up those pro-life, pro-family voters is Texas Congressman Ron Paul.

“I think that [Huckabee’s departure] opens up the door for us because he is one that stood for family values and it’s something that we’ve been pushing real hard,” Paul said last week during a news conference in Iowa. “And I think there’s a chance that we will be able to capture a lot of those votes.”

Paul’s libertarian views seem like an unlikely fit for the Huckabee crowd.

The Congressman opposes all federal efforts to define marriage, whether defined as a union between one man and one woman, or defined as including anything else as well. He believes that recognizing or legislating marriages should be left to the states. However, in a 2007 interview, Paul stated that he supported the right of gay couples to marry, so long as they didn’t “impose” their relationship on anyone else.

Surprisingly, Paul did manage to secure the recent endorsement of Iowa state representative Glen Massie, whose signature issue has been attempting to impeach the four Iowa Supreme Court justices who helped pave the way for gay marriage in the Hawkeye state.

“It is a distinct privilege and honor to endorse Ron Paul for President of the United States,” said Massie. “I have admired Ron Paul for a number of years for being a principled statesman who has faithfully kept his word to uphold the Constitution of this great country.”

It is still hard for many to imagine the majority of conservative Iowa farmers and school teachers buying into the Texan’s longshot bid considering some of his less “family friendly” positions. During his last campaign for the White House, Paul repeatedly stated that prostitution should be legalized and that “marijuana prohibition” has failed and should be repealed.

9 Comments

  1. Ron Paul is the most conservative in the Republican Party. This fails to mention he is a advocate for the repeal of roe vs wade. Had never voted to raise taxes or the debt ceiling. He wants a strong dollar. A strong national defense not nation building. But this writer reduces him to him common sense appeal to the use of common law as described in the consitution. The Federal goverment does’nt have a right to regulate drugs and prositution that is a job that should be decided by states since it is not included in the consitution. State compacts could be formed to prevent cross state drug use in areas of the bible belt if they wanted to continue to waste money and resources fighting a persons right to choice what to put into their body. The consitution also does not define marrige so it should be left as a religious insitution and if a state chooses to honor that marrige so be it, That is a states right. I don’t see why you writers insist on casting a bad light on the most hopefull candidate in 2012. Honest reporting would do your paper some good.

  2. I believe Ron Paul to be the most Christian candidate to pick from. “Thou shall not lie” is a pretty good commandment to me and he seems to be the only one that holds up to that. If marijuana and prostitution is so bad then people should not practice them if they chose… and if they did, what would it effect me? Seems like Jesus told the sinners of the opportunity awaiting them if they turned from their sins… not pushing for their arrest. I’m sick of the trigger happy, pro war candidates. Keep asking yourselves, “WWJD” whenever candidates or the president (past & present) justify their bombing of other countries. So What Would Jesus Do?…More air raids or put troops on the ground?…. water-board? sleep deprivation? keep people in prison when there is no proof of their wrongdoing?

  3. I’m tired of these sites bashing Dr Ron Paul. This man is a great American who deserves this countries respect. I’m going to be voting for this man whether he is a Republican or Independant. The media bias is too obvious and they cant hide the fact that Dr Ron Paul fever has taken hold across this great country. A change is coming! RON PAUL 2012!

  4. Austin F. Cassidy a first-rate, second-rate reporter,

    “Surprisingly, Paul did manage to secure the recent endorsement of Iowa state representative Glen Massie…”

    Your surprise shows that you our of touch with the ground-swell of support brewing all around you. Your “narrative” in this article is dismiss Ron Paul’s appeal, and your message has fallen short; in fact “not making it to the starting line” would be a better description.

    “During his last campaign for the White House, Paul repeatedly stated that prostitution should be legalized and that “marijuana prohibition” has failed and should be repealed.”

    Point of fact, Ron Paul is not in favour of prostitution or the legalization of marijuana, but he is in favour of the individual liberties.

    I guess this is hard for you to understand Mr. Cassidy, so I will sum up Ron Paul’s theory for you:

    A person should be able to do anything he or she wants as long as it does not violate the civil liberties of another person. If you want to smoke, smoke. Don’t smoke and drive, don’t buy it for minors etc… If you want to sell you body for an hour, do so. If you want to buy some fun for an hour, do so… It’s called choice.

    People are afraid to be free, and you are one of those people.

  5. Your Comments

    family values?
    there are not many things that are more valuable than personal freedom

  6. Ron Paul is not in favor of forcing any kind of ‘legalization’ on the states, his position is that he would allow the states to choose what is best for them. That way you can ‘vote with your feet’ as Reagan put it, and as the 10th amendment mandates.

    Oh yes, you support the parts of the constitution you like, just not the parts that are inconvenient for your agenda.

    Jesus didn’t have the prostitute arrested. He told them “Let he who hath not sinned cast the first stone.” Yet you are more qualified than Jesus to do so? Your hypocrisy is what turns people away from Christianity. Live with that one, if you do in fact have any conscience at all.

  7. People have to keep a few things in mind:

    First – Paul doesn’t endorse people making morally repugnant choices – he just believes they should be free to do so.

    Next – when a person’s moral behavior doesn’t interfere another’s liberty – then it is up to God to deliver any punishment. To do otherwise sounds like Sharia law. Think about that for a minute.

    Finally – when all ‘solutions’ come from government, the community (including the church) become less and less ‘important’ to people. Consider the past – when people needed help – who did they turn to? Their neighbors, community, family and church. But, now, with big government ‘taking care’ of so many people – they no longer need to maintain those bridges.

    You want to fight the moral decay in this country – start with big gov and consider Ron Paul – his philosophy is pretty much ‘Do unto others’ (hence, to have our freedoms, we have to allow others theirs).

  8. Outer Limits says:

    Hah! Wasting your time is not a viable campaigning strategy. Huckabee’s block would NEVER vote for Ron Paul, especially with Bachmann, Santorum, Pawlenty, Roemer, and Cain in the race. It’s a shame Johnson and Huntsman seem to be in this race – it’s leaving Ron Paul SHAFTED.

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