Ron Paul 2012: Campaign Gains Steam, So do Attacks

Ron Paul's 2012 campaign is beginning to gather some serious steam. He has polled first in some Iowa polls and third in national polls.

The Washington Post even declared that Paul is becoming [a] serious contender in [the] Republican presidential race.

As he rises in polls, attacks against him have also intensified.

The oldest attack against Paul is ironically that no one is attacking him because no one takes his candidacy seriously.

An article from Mother Jones said the fact that none of his presidential opponents have raised the issue of his racist newsletters means they simply don't take him seriously.

Mainstream media, however, has rehashed the issue. (For a comprehensive article on the issue, click here).

In an article titled Ron Paul's racist link, the Los Angeles Times demanded that Paul answer for these writings.

Paul has also been labeled a conspiracy theorist. The Weekly Standard accused him of running a lucrative and decades-long promotion of bigotry and conspiracy theories through his newsletters and that he continues to espouse extremist views.

Another criticism is that Ron Paul's foreign policy is unthinkable.

When you hear Ron Paul say that the United States screwed up everything and it's our fault that the Muslim jihadist are attacking us and that we should be friendly to Iran, [and] they don't really have a nuclear weapon. When you hear a guy like that, what goes through your mind? Bill O'Reilly, obviously not a fan of Paul, recently asked GOP contender Mitt Romney on the O'Reilly Factor.

In perhaps the strangest attack on Paul and his supporters to date, Politico claimed Paul's rise in Iowa poses an existential threat to the state's cherished kick-off status, say these Republicans, because he has little chance to win the GOP nomination and would offer the best evidence yet that the caucuses reward candidates who are unrepresentative of the broader party.

Moreover, Politico quoted Iowa Republicans who complained that Paul is perverting the process of the Iowa caucus by rallying self-identified independents and Democrats to support him.

Come 2012, Republicans quoted by Politico said Paul's non-Republican supporters in the Iowa caucus will all go back and vote for Obama.