Thursday during the 3rd hour of his show (5PM hour @ the 30 min mark) Leland had Presidential Candidate Congressman Ron Paul on his show. This was one of the better interviews I have heard with Dr. Paul. Leland starts out interviewing the Congressman where there might be some differences between their two stances on foreign policy, as Leland had received some “friendly fire” over earlier in the week. When listening to the interview Leland gives Ron Paul a chance to clarify his views and in actuality seems to be little if any disagreement between them on foreign policy. Ron when given the opportunity was quick to point out that it was not America’s fault for 9/11 but that of the terrorists, but did recognize that bad policy does not help matters. I don’t think neither deny that there is a threat to our nation from radical Islam, it’s just recognizing all the factors which will better help us deal with keeping the U.S. secure. In fact Ron Paul does a good job of paralleling his concerns in the past about our foreign policy to the Republicans concerns over our involvement in Libya now.
The next series of questioning revolved around the economy an area where there is no doubt Leland and Paul are in agreement. They pretty much discussed the bad monetary policies and bad economic policies that have gotten us in our current troubles and how we go about fixing that. Then Leland asked Paul the question about “how much of every dollar I earn do I deserve to keep?” that Paul was not asked during the debate and that Mitt Romney sidestepped. Ron Paul’s answer was essentially all of it, it’s property, it’s an extension of your life. They then went on to discuss getting rid of the income tax other revenue generation avenues and the fair tax which as a first step corrective method Ron Paul would support.
Healthcare was the next line of questioning in which a lot was made of Ron’s response and and the crowd’s reaction, and latter MSNBC’s Chris Mathews blatantly and falsely criticizing Ron Paul for saying he would let people without healthcare die, when in fact he did not (Leland covered this also shortly before Ron Paul came on the show). Fortunately there are people out there like Leland that will catch people like Mathews in these premeditated acts of deception and correct it, and why we must remember that Leland, while he made some gross misstatements about Paul earlier in the week based on the emotion of the moment and while he should be held accountable like anyone in media, he is not in the same category as Mathews.
What Paul and Leland advocate for is more personal responsibility and more localized human compassion for your fellowman. Because when you add the federal government to the mix both are gone and we are left with a bureaucracy that makes everyone a faceless number.
The final issue of discussion was Ron Paul’s advocacy against the The Federal Reserve and how he was skipped over on that issue during the debate and was not allowed to contrast himself with some of the more friendly positions to The Fed.
This was a very good interview and I encourage everyone to click on the link above and listen to it in it’s entirety.
