"I warned them," the Little Green Footballs website explains. "I'm going to be removing Ron Paul’s name from any further LGF straw polls, because his supporters are deliberately spamming our polls to make it appear as if Paul has more support than he does." How does the writer know this? Because Paul wins in his poll, therefore, it's not fair. Waaaaaaa! Waaaaaaa! "They aren't 'cheating,' as in voting multiple times, but they have sent out emails and posted the link to our poll at several spots on the web, urging people to go vote for Paul. The end result is the same--the poll results are skewed, and it's not an accurate measure." But doesn't every other campaign do the same thing? They do, but the Ron Paul rule only applies to Ron Paul. Thus, he's been airbrushed out of the Little Green Footballs poll as if his candidacy does not exist. Alas, his candidacy, the bane of the Republican establishment, not only exists, it's thriving.

The chairman of the Michigan Republican Party is circulating a petition to broadcasters and sponsors seeking to ban Ron Paul from the Republican debates. Saul Anuzis explained, "I think that he is a distraction in the Republican primary and he does not represent the base and he does not represent the party." So much for the big tent!

Hugh Hewitt wants Paul out of the debates too. Sean Hannity threw a brat fit when Dr. Paul appeared on his FoxNews program. John Hawkins of RightWingNews wants Paul out of the Republican Party. Some Republican hack named Eric Dondero declared a primary challenge against Congressman Paul, promising to run "a balls-to-the-wall campaign for Congress in Texas CD 14."

There's safety in numbers. When you say the same thing as the other nine men on the stage, no one will threaten to ban you from debates for being boring. No one will primary you for following the pack. No one will call for your expulsion from your party. But say that the emperor has no clothes--that serial interventionism has unintended consequences, the George W. Bush is a big-government liberal who has been a disaster for conservatives, that whole departments of the federal government and not just "waste, fraud, and abuse" should be abolished, that launching a war on Iraq has been horrible for America--and the weight of the GOP's biggest elephants comes crashing down on you.

This is the most appealing thing to me about the candidacy of Ron Paul. He is a leader. When nine guys on a stage make salaams to a failed policy, Ron Paul dissents. When 434 colleagues seek to honor Mother Teresa and Rosa Parks (and, in effect, to cynically honor themselves) with taxdollars and without Constitutional mandate, Dr. Paul votes the other way. His compass is not party shibboleths or opinion polls, but principle. This makes him a dangerous man. Ron Paul will actually do the things the GOP says it will do at election time but refuses to do once elected.

Is it any wonder GOP hacks fear Ron Paul's presence in the debate and exclude him from candidate polls?

This does indicate how hopelessly out of touch with the American voters that the leading Republicans are. If they continue along this path, the Democrats will probably gain a large number of seats in the House and they will get likely get a filibuster proof majority in the Senate.

I don't see how Ron Paul's team could spam anyone's poll better than other candidates could. His campaign has fewer resources than all of the others. The Republicans would do themselves a great disservice if they don't invite Dr. Paul back to future debates. The issues he brings up need to be debated. Just to properly an-alyze what he brought up could well be a discussion that would take several hours but it would be well worth it.

One of the great strengths of America has always been its capacity for self examination and self correction. Lets not change this now. If the Republicans don't invite Dr. Paul back for future debates, they will be doing the country a great disservice.

We know that the ideology of our enemies is among closest things to pure evil that has ever existed on planet earth, however, errors in our foreign policy have made it easier for them to recuit people to their cause. I think, if we implemented the type of foreign policy that Dr. Paul suggests, the leaders of our enemies would find it more difficult to enlist people to their cause. I hope Dr. Paul gets the nomination, however, I'm not holding my breath waiting for this to happen.

I'll be voting on basis of the Border / Illegal Immigration issue and any candidate that supports the abomination that the Senate just put their stamp of approval on or who is pro illegal immigration in any way, shape or form, I will not support them. Don't care whatever other "positives" they have.

There are a few of the Republican candidates who have strong stances on this issue, Paul being one of them, so I say he stays.

Why is the GOP turning away from a candidate that is closest to the constitutionalist and original values of the party?

Ron Paul sounds like a 9/11 goof.

Apparently there are a lot of 9/11 goofs in the CIA, in that case, since they have somehow been drawn into this kooky view.

So is Michael Scheuer, the world's leading Bin Laden expert: http://www.antiwar.com/blog/2007/05/19/former-head-of-cias-osama-unit-backs-up-rep-ron-paul/