Students and Houstonians lined up outside Hofheinz to get into Ron Paul’s political rally Friday. The crowd filled half of the arena while chanting, “President Paul” and “End the Fed.” | Emily Chambers/The Daily Cougar
In front of a crowd of thousands, presidential hopeful Ron Paul said if elected, he would make it legal for Americans to once again drink raw milk.
The GOP candiate came to Hofheinz Pavilion Friday to tell his supporters he was in the race for the long haul.
“Every once and a while, we’ll notice the media will come out and say, ‘when are you going to quit?’ And, I say, ‘we are only getting going,’” he said.
“They say, ‘everyone else is dropping out,’ and I say, ‘yeah, they ran out of money, and they ran out of supporters, and nobody comes to their rallies.’”
Paul took to the podium dressed in a red polo and jeans that juxtaposed with the men in suits that introduced him and greeted the crowd with a thank you and “go coogs.”
His main talking points including decreasing the control of the federal government, ending the Federal Reserve Bank, his plan to fix the deficit in three years, ending the war on drugs and pulling out of wars.
“The message is of course the key issue and we can be very pleased that it is well received and of course we know that it’s well received by young people, but there are a lot of other people now, and all age groups and all kinds diversity that are enthusiastic about the liberty message,” he said.
Each point Paul made was met with chants from the crowd. One of the few comments met with “boos” was before Paul came to the podium when the CEO of UH’s Students for Ron Paul, who introduced the candidate, confessed he voted for Barack Obama in 2008.
The crowd went wild when Paul talked about ending the wars the U.S. is involved in and ,brining the troops home. An extra burst of applause came when a marine in the front row stood up to support his candidate.
“Accusations that have been thrown at me over the years, and probably at you as well, have been that if you don’t support the wars, somehow or another you don’t support the troops,” Paul said. “The question, if anybody asks about that, is ask them if that’s the truth, then why do the troops support Ron Paul more than any other candidate?”
John Beall, a mechanical engineering technology sophomore, said he was impressed by the rally.
“I wanted to see Ron Paul talk. I wanted to hear him defend his policies, and hopefully be inspired by his speech,” he said.
“He sounds like the only voice of reason amongst the presidential candidates.”
I was impressed with the UH campus and the young people that turned out for this event. Also the group that worked hard to make this happen did a great job. We're the reason Ron Paul is running, we put him up, with our hard earned wages and he's carrying the torch of individual liberty.
I wonder if the students at the rally know that Ron Paul wants to increase their tuition by about 100%.
that makes no sense at all.
but they wont have to pay income tax the rest of their like.. easy choice!
Don't fall for the lunacy that "govt. knows best" and that when they get involved it fixes things. It doesn't! It only sets up a govt. enforced monopoly in which all competitors are put out of business and costs are actually driven up. Evidence:
Or how about that Obama was surpassed Ron Paul in funds from members of the military.
Actually, I believe those are reported from an erroneous accounting from an article that was on Huffington post conerning Paul's campaign finances.
I plan on voting for Obama this November because let's face it, Ron Paul will not get the nomination. If he did get the nomination however, he would have my support over Obama. He is/was the only republican hopeful who would have a chance to beat Obama.
Have you actually seen the crowds that come to his rallies? UNBELIEVABLE!
If we voted for president based on the number of people that come to his crowds, where would we be? Obviously, either where we are now or down the drain with some demagogue football player.
Hey, yoyo! We where we are now IS down the drain. Or hadn't you noticed?
@casey Crittenden
Stop going with the "he cant win" excuse its people that think that who make it a reality the whole point of voting is standing by the thing you support! when did america get to the point that you only vote for things that have a higher success of happening?
Well, as many times as the media has, even before a single vote was cast, started with their "he can't win" mantra, if they'd replaced that phrase and those like it with "cluck like a chicken," not only would the whole country be noisy and stink to high heaven but we'd have people laying eggs EVERYWHERE! 😉
Yep, the average American, unfortunately, is that dumb!
I was most impressed by the fact that it wasn’t a room filled with old white guys (like a typical Republican rally) or hippie college students (like the MSM is touting)…every age, ethnicity, religion, and creed was represented. Ideas of individual liberty cross every boundary that society can construct, and I for one am proud to be part of this intellectual movement that is sweeping the nation.
could never support ron paul … and i am voting for obama (anyone but romney) !!!
1. Cancer patients without insurance should be allow to die.
2. End all foreign aid.
3. Recall all US currency. Replace with gold abs silver certificates.
4. Questions about anti-black racist leanings.