This article originally appears in The American Thinker
What is it about the candidacy of Ron Paul that has attracted the paranoid fringe of American politics?
Clearly, there are Ron Paul supporters who are rational and grounded, not given to spouting conspiracies or blaming “neocons” for everything bad that happens in the world (neocons being a blind for anti-Semitism). For all we know, they may be the majority of his voters.
But just as clearly, there is a dark underbelly to the Paul campaign – a ruthless, mob of internet ruffians who seek to intimidate those who would dare criticize them, the Paul candidacy, or most especially, one of their pet conspiracy theories about 9/11, the “New World Order” (an amorphous term that generally means the imposition of a one world government), or something as mundane and silly as planting a computer chip in every new born in America.
The question isn’t whether Ron Paul believes in any of these conspiracy theories, although he has said on at least two occassions that he believes the investigation into 9/11 must be reopened to explore “unanswered questions” about the tragedy. It is his apparent pandering to this lunatic fringe that must be explored and reasons for it demanded from the campaign.
I say “apparent” pandering because there is the possibility that Paul is completely clueless that his anti-government rants (a subjective word but apt if you listen to his speeches or watch him in the debates) full of dark hints of conspiracy and wrongdoing by the highest officials in the land, actually ring a Pavlovian bell for the paranoid conspiracy freaks causing them to flock to his banner.
A lot of times they think subsidies and welfare goes to poor people. Now there’s some welfare that goes to poor people, but sometimes I think they’re crumbs. The real big welfare in the system that we have goes to the military-industrial complex and the big banks, that’s where it goes. [applause]
Speak to a crowd of conspiracists and mention the “military-industrial complex” and visions of sinister men meeting at Bretton Woods and the Council on Foreign Relations are immediately conjured up. And the inclusion of banks as a beneficiary of government “welfare” may be true but is a curious choice nonetheless. Banks get nowhere near the federal dollars that defense contractors get. Why include them?
Every anti-Semite worth his salt knows exactly what Paul is talking about when he mentions banks in the same breath as the military-industrial complex conspiracy – Jewish control of the financial destiny of this country.
Paul is no anti-Semite. But is he pandering to the fringe by speaking like this? When he talks about “neocons” – which for some in this country is a codeword for the Jewish conspiracy and Jewish power in Washington – is he aware of the effect on his more bigoted supporters?
In fact, Paul’s rants against “neocons” have been so vicious and full of deceitful half truths that National Review columnist Michael Ledeen thought of suing Paul for libel:
On July 10, Ron Paul, a congressman from Texas, delivered a tirade against his version of neoconservatism. He called it “Neo-Conned!” and he posted it on his website and had it distributed as best he could. A considerable part of it is devoted to his version of my writings, and is so inaccurate, so distorted, and so nasty, as to make me wish once again that this country had a decent libel law so that I could at least get some money from him and give him a healthy dose of the public humiliation he deserves.[snip]
A final point: Paul’s accusations are not simply political disagreements, and his language is not merely critical. He is trying to demonize an entire group of people. He says we are not only wrong, but morally evil and an active danger to American society and the peace of the world. His attack, like those coming from the likes of Pat Buchanan and extremists on the other end of the political spectrum (look at David Frum’s recent encounter with some of my leftist attackers), are incitements to personal violence.
It once again begs the question; are Paul’s speeches against neocons designed to attract that segment of the population that believes neoconservatives have an agenda created in Tel Aviv and are nothing more than tools of Israel? Or is he just a crank who is oblivious to the impact his words have on the fringes of American politics? I am not one who believes that everyone who criticizes neoconservatives is an anti-Semite. But in Ron Paul’s case, he has attracted the support of white supremacists largely because they believe that his attacks on neocons validate their view (link goes to hate site) that the neoconservatives are agents of Israel and part of the worldwide Jewish conspiracy to destroy America and the white race.
At the risk of repeating myself, I do not believe the majority of Ron Paul supporters are haters. But reading my emails over the last 72 hours following my postings about some of the supporters of Ron Paul’s candidacy as well as my experiences on my own personal blog and the experiences I’ve read about from numerous bloggers, writers, pundits, and media outlets, I have no doubt that the haters, the paranoid conspiracists, and even some anti-globalist anarchists are the most committed and most visible of his campaign volunteers.
The blog RedState recently felt it necessary to ban the “Paulbots” as they’re called because of their personal attacks on commenters as well as their continuous spouting of outlandish conspiracy theories:
Effective immediately, new users may not shill for Ron Paul in any way shape, form or fashion. Not in comments, not in diaries, nada. If your account is less than 6 months old, you can talk about something else, you can participate in the other threads and be your zany libertarian self all you want, but you cannot pimp Ron Paul. Those with accounts more than six months old may proceed as normal.Now, I could offer a long-winded explanation for why this new policy is being instituted, but I’m guessing that most of you can probably guess. Unless you lack the self-awareness to understand just how annoying, time-consuming, and bandwidth-wasting responding to the same idiotic arguments from a bunch of liberals pretending to be Republicans can be.
For those not familiar with Paulbot tactics, the attacks are usually well coordinated with similar arguments used by most emailers. Hence, the euphemism “Paulbots” since it is almost like an attack by spam bots.
They have driven on line polls sponsored by bloggers out of existence thanks to their gaming the system. Apparently, some kind of sophisticated email campaign is at work because no sooner would a poll on a blog go up than the Paulbots would swarm to the site and vote for their man. Following the Fox News debate in Orlando, Paulbots inundated the online poll measuring the winner of the debate and Paul got 34% of that vote. Unfortunately for Paul, the focus group disagreed:
After the debate 34% of Fox News viewers said that Ron Paul won the debate with 27% saying that Mike Huckabee won the debate. That was in stark contrast to the Fox News focus group who when asked if Ron Paul won nobody raised their hands.
The focus group was chosen by pollster Frank Lunz and done according to accepted scientific methods. Tell that to the Paulbots and they’ll talk about a conspiracy to deny their candidate his debate “victory:”
Constant attention is paid to Technorati and other blog search engines so that the most minute negative mention of Paul will bring several commenters rushing to his defense. Some are indeed polite and accommodating. Most are not. Personal attacks are common as are charges that the blogger is part of a conspiracy against the candidate.
Most bloggers are sick of the attacks. And the fact that the Paulbots seem come out of nowhere is disconcerting. Most of us who blog know who our commenters are and are familiar with their positions. The Paul supporters are what are known as “Drive bys” – commenters who drop by specifically to comment on one topic only and have no desire to read anything else or visit the site again. It is obvious from many of their comments that they don’t even bother to read what is written about their candidate.
This was brought home last summer when Digg, the hugely popular social networking site, banned Ron Paul articles from being promoted to the front page of the website because of an organized “Digg” campaign to favorite any post mentioning Paul thus moving the article to prominence. Such gaming of the system was explained here:
When I say “Ron Paul supporters,†I mean that these people ONLY digg stories about Ron Paul, and many of them don’t read the actual content of submissions. My “history†post had Ron Paul’s name in the title (Digg Dirt: From the Digg Army to Ron Paul) but had only the minutest mention of him in the article – I referenced how a push from Digg may have resulted in him getting on the Daily show. The piece itself had NOTHING to do with Ron Paul!So why the Diggs? Who are these people? The “Ron Paul Army†has a very strong and unified presence on Digg, but no one calls them out on it – at least not on the individual level. Ron Paulers are organized and networked. They are “friends†on Digg. Their mission: Digg every story with even a slight mention of Ron Paul in order to keep his name in the public eye. How can I say that? RyanUnderdown.com has done a pretty good job of cataloging memos related to the planned Digg manipulation. Check them out here.
(Note the comments in this post from the blog on which I found the link to the above story for a good example of Paulbots in action.)
The link above goes to a site that lists 12 separate email lists that urge Ron Paul supporters to game Digg. Here’s an example:
I previously explained about Digg.com and how their recent addition of non-technology topics (e.g. Politics, Business & Finance) has opened an opportunity for pro-market/pro-liberty articles to get an airing at this very popular news site.Stories are “promoted†to the Digg.com front page by “digging†(voting) for a story. To coordinate efforts to promote free market and libertarian articles I have started a list of libertarian diggers. As I write this I already have 45 people on it. We have once again this morning been successful in promoting an article. In this case, today’s Mises.org Daily Article on inflation and the Fed. Head over to Digg and join the heated discussion about the article, (you will need to set up a free account).
If you want to join our merry band of libertarian diggers, here are the details…
E-mail me and send me your Digg Username (you login to Digg with this). I will add you to my list of Friends which is serving as our list of libertarian diggers.
No doubt there are Technorati email lists as well as others begun by Paul supporters. And then there’s this curious notion of below the radar email lists illuminated in this piece by The Nation that points to far right network that is fairly nebulous but effective. The spread of stories and rumors mimics uncannily the speed of response to postings by Ron Paul supporters. A legitimate question could be asked about whether or not this email network is also part of the Paul unofficial communications apparatus.
Finally, there is this email campaign we reported on earlier where Ron Paul spam from several different countries from around the world ends up in thousands and thousands of mailboxes.
No doubt Paul adherents will point to this networking with pride and boast how organized they are. And they would be correct. But with Ron Paul a blip in all the polls, garnering less than 2% from likely Republican voters nationally according to the latest Fox Poll, one wonders how they can make their grandiose claims of winning on line polls and having legions of supporters. Are Republican primary voters lying to pollsters? If not, Paul supporters must accept the fact that their candidate is a fringe candidate and has zero impact on the race for the nomination.
And if he is a fringe candidate, it is almost certainly partially a result of his curious relationship with perhaps the strangest radio host in the country.
Alex Jones has been positing conspiracies for more than a decade. Prior to 9/11, most of those conspiracy theories involved secret societies who had gotten control of the government and were plotting to rob us of our freedoms and sovereignty, folding us into a one world government run by rich, powerful men.
It’s “The New World Order” on steroids and there are literally dozens of conspiracies associated with it. For example, a perusal of Jones’ website reveals the following:
Hurricane Katrina: Katrina served as a testing ground and precedent setting case for the coming Police State, with forced gun confiscations and deliberate withholding of aid by FEMA.The Tsunami: Was the high death toll a result of incompetence, greed, deliberate weather warfare, a combination of all three or none?
Bohemian Grove: From Nixon to Clinton, Arnold to George W, all have been initiated into and are regular visitors to the Satanic hideout known as Bohemian Grove.
Bilderberg: Hundreds of high powered world figures, politicians to film directors meet every year to direct world events and formulate plans for the takeover.
Ron Paul has appeared on the Alex Jones show several times. He has accepted money from Jones and even appears in Jones new film “Endgame.” What’s it about?
Estulin explains that the Bilderberg Group control the world by means of a process called systemic methodology, where they carve up the globe into numerous different pieces and then place their designated frontmen in charge of the major institutions that govern each part of the world.By this method, Bilderberg were able to merge the nations of Europe into the EU under the guise of trade deals, and the same process is now unfolding with Canada, the U.S. and Mexico being conglomerated to form the North American Union – but not without committed resistance on behalf of the American people.
That resistance is being countered by the beefing of a brutal police state nationwide and the increasing use of U.S. troops in domestic law enforcement. Endgame exposes how the elite are trying to overcome opposition to their agenda by instituting the framework of martial law with executive orders that are designed to combat “domestic insurrection,” as President George Bush officially announces a fiat dictatorship.
Needless to say, Paul’s appearance in such a film calls into question his judgement, if not his sanity. And being interviewed on The Alex Jones Show several times raises a serious question I asked at the beginning of this piece.
Is Paul pandering to the conspiracy nuts in America, knowing their enthusiastic support for him will assist his campaign or is he unaware that by appealing to the basest emotions brought to the surface by his dark hints involving dark forces carrying out a campaign to take away our freedoms, he is giving the paranoid, the fearful, the ignorant haters a standard to rally around?
He is a foolish man if he believes he can control these forces. In the end, they can only destroy him.
UPDATE
Wired latches on to the UAB study of “criminal botnets” spamming Americans from overseas that AT had earlier in the week.
If Texas congressman Ron Paul is elected president in 2008, he may be the first leader of the free world put into power with the help of a global network of hacked PCs spewing spam, according to computer-security researchers who’ve analyzed a recent flurry of e-mail supporting the long-shot Republican candidate….
One e-mail was designed to look as if it came from within a major Silicon Valley corporation, he notes. But when the researchers looked up the IP address, the computer from which the note was sent was actually in South Korea. Another e-mail that was designed to look as if it came from Houston was sent from Italy.
That pattern led Warner to conclude that the messages had been laundered through a botnet—also a standard spammer practice, though a decidedly illegal one.
The body of a message examined by Wired News covered familiar Paul campaign themes, such as ending the war and eliminating the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Reserve. It also read:
Ron Paul is for the people, unless you want your children to have human implant RFID chips, a National ID card and create a North American Union and see an economic collapse far worse than the great depression. Vote for Ron Paul he speaks the truth and the media and government is afraid of him.
6:34 am
Let me see if I can sneak a “well done” in here before the Forces of Ron arrive to excoriate you.
6:36 am
Heh – I’ve got my tin foil hat and raincoat on and am fully prepared for the onslaught.
7:11 am
Your comments were deleted because you didn’t read the article:
I am not one who believes that everyone who criticizes neoconservatives is an anti-Semite. But in Ron Paul’s case, he has attracted the support of white supremacists largely because they believe that his attacks on neocons validate their view (link goes to hate site) that the neoconservatives are agents of Israel and part of the worldwide Jewish conspiracy to destroy America and the white race.
At the risk of repeating myself, I do not believe the majority of Ron Paul supporters are haters…
What part of that don’t you understand? Obviously, you didn’t bother to read what I wrote hence, your comment on what you never read will not appear.
7:21 am
I’ve been surprised by the Ron Paul phenomenon this year. I’ve known Ron for years as a libertarian congressman. In 1988, I met him and interviewed him for a half-hour TV show as he was the LP candidate for president. None of the nuttiness came through at that time. He adopted most of the standard Libertarian Party platform at the time, except that he did not support a right to abortion. And, IIRC, he did not support a total ban on the death penalty. In other words, he came across as a leaning-right small government libertarian. I will admit that I voted for him. I will not this year – but then as a resident of Florida my primary vote won’t be counted anyway unless a current lawsuit forces the parties to accept Florida delegates.
US politics have changed a great deal since 1988. They are much more shrill- it’s almost as though they believe that he who yells loudest and most wildly will win.
7:30 am
Obviously you crave attention. Neo-con.
8:38 am
While I understand you don’t believe all of us are the paranoid fringe, remember that Paul’s stance is essentially the same as the founding fathers; he believes that power has become too centralized, and as a result, the power that was originally placed in the hands of the people are now placed in the hands of those “in office.”
I don’t think anybody feels the brunt of that centralized power more than those whose beliefs are extreme and unpopular, such as the racists and conspiracy theorists… the racists have already become criminals by nature of their speech, and the conspiracy theorists, true to form, expect to be next.
Does that make their views correct? Probably not. Does this open the door to threaten other speech? Very likely. Is there a central conspiracy? I’d laugh at the idea that a massive group of people could coordinate that well AND remain hidden from the “general population.”
Perhaps we should stop focusing on who agrees with the message, and pay closer attention to the message itself?
8:41 am
Your entire piece can be dismissed out of hand based on your comment about Frank Luntz [please learn how to spell his name] alone.
You can’t do a focus group by “accepted scientific methods”. It’s a dog and pony show by definition. With a group that small, the selection process for the participants defines the outcome. Frank Luntz, a prominent Giuliani supporter who is quoted in this week’s Time as wanting to drive Paul supporters out of the Republican party before they spread like “crabgrass”, got to hand-pick the people who made up the focus group, and picked a collection of self-admitted Freerepublic.com members.
It would be helpful if you knew what you were talking about.
8:46 am
Also, with regard to singling out the banks as recipients of subsidy, this is a function of Paul’s criticism of the Federal Reserve system.
I do not agree with all aspects of Paul’s currency policy and the related claims that he makes about the Fed, but the existence of the Federal Reserve is effectively a subsidy. The Fed gets to print money and lend it to member banks at a rate they alone determine. The difference between the system liquidity that would exist in the absence of a Fed and the liquidity that exists as a result of the Fed’s privileges is a fairly large subsidy, since it directly impacts the cost of interbank credit.
9:02 am
[...] And I agree with Rick Moran. Paul may be oblivious to the negative actions of a few of his followers: The question isn’t whether Ron Paul believes in any of these conspiracy theories, although he has said on at least two occassions that he believes the investigation into 9/11 must be reopened to explore “unanswered questions†about the tragedy. It is his apparent pandering to this lunatic fringe that must be explored and reasons for it demanded from the campaign. [...]
9:21 am
con·spir·a·cy
noun, plural -cies.
1. the act of conspiring.
2. an evil, unlawful, treacherous, or surreptitious plan formulated in secret by two or more persons; plot.
9:25 am
“The focus group was chosen by pollster Frank Lunz and done according to accepted scientific methods. Tell that to the Paulbots and they’ll talk about a conspiracy to deny their candidate his debate “victory:—
Now that’s seriously funny. This guy is very well known for skewing poll results and his methods are anything but scientific. I find it ironic that you accuse RP supporters of stacking polls (without evidence) and then claim Lunz’s “polls” to be legitimate.But of course as you said this is a conspiracy and the majority of us are nut jobs to believe as such lol.
As for the spam attacks supposedly floating around the net. The only people who stand to gain from such actions are those against Ron Paul. Personally I’d like to see logs, ip addresses, time frames etc. This “proof” is shaky at best.But of course yes this is just another conspiracy.
9:27 am
Paulbots -> swarm, swarm, swarm! (sorry, couldn’t resist) I heard many of his fringe supporters, especially those with racist / militia-like attitudes like him because they feel his strict constitutionalist view would do away with firearm restrictions. They reason that the feds use federal firearm statues to bust up their organizations (which the feds do, especially with militias).
9:51 am
#7
Luntz…got to hand-pick the people who made up the focus group, and picked a collection of self-admitted Freerepublic.com members.
Proof?
9:55 am
Don’t waste your time, Chip. If they want to believe that a professional pollster would act so unprofessionally, let them stay with their little fantasy.
I wonder if Luntz is a Bilderberg?
10:10 am
[...] More at Right Wing Nuthouse, Blue Crab Boulevard, The American Mind, The Van Der Galiën Gazette Written by Ron ChusidLast 5 posts by Ron ChusidDropping the “Bat-Shit Crazy” Party – November 1st, 2007Dodd Wins Points, But Will It Help? – October 31st, 2007George Orwell U – October 31st, 2007More Hypocrisy from John Edwards on Fund Raising – October 30th, 2007Obama Controversy Bigger In Netroots Than in Real World – October 30th, 2007 [...]
10:12 am
You’re right,
Consider this another “drive by” as the only reason I paused to read your hit piece was because you mentioned Ron Paul. And you’re also correct that I won’t be returning to this site for any other disinformation because I’m already well aware of Bill O’Reilly’s narrow and reactionary world views.
I do love the irony of the giant conspiracy you’re attempting to construct however.
Good Luck
10:22 am
Well If thinking that Bush lied us into war with Iraq and that he wants war with Iran is crazy, then call me crazy. -A liberal for Ron Paul.
10:58 am
Oh, brother. They’re already busy descending into the comments sections of all the blogs with posts about the Wired News story.
11:24 am
Luntz is a fraud. I was in one of his groups and he manipulated it and poisoned the process.
Neocon is NOT a code word for anti-semitism…it’s a code word for RINO —Republican in Name Only. Stop pulling the race card…it’s a liberal trick.
Why don’t we see stories about Hillary pandering to racists or the nutcases on the street (drunkards) who support her, or the communist party endorsing her and Obama? Is this not news?
http://www.nohillaryclinton.com/2007/07/26/clinton-pandering-to-an-openly-racist-group-la-raza/
Finally, the religious right needs to get on board with a true conservative and dump any support they might have for Huckster or Tancredo. These two guys want biometric Real-ID cards, clearly dangerous.
The attacks are on par with those of other front-runners, Rudy and not so much Mitt. Paul has more substance to him than they do, for sure.
12:05 pm
When Paul refers to welfare for banks he is speaking of the fiat currency that the government gives them straight off the press to keep them safe from bad loans and investments. The price we all pay is inflation that destroys cash savings, destroying the poor’s ability to accumulate so they must depend on government handouts (first I take your money, then I pity your poverty and give you charity).
Some less sophisticated people might believe that banking practices in America have something to do with the Jewish religion, but, they would be sad to here that Jews are greedy like the rest of us and their in the banking business to make money like everyone else. Its not a fat conspiracy that the money is being debased to enrich certain people, its just simple human greed.
12:36 pm
Rick Moran Takes on the Paulbots with Predictable Results…
Rick Moran penned the longest and most thoughtful (and most forgiving frankly) piece questioning Ron Paul’s association with political fringe movements and their tactics which clearly reflect poorly on the man himself. As you would expect, it did…
12:37 pm
Neocon is NOT a code word for anti-semitism…it’s a code word for RINO —Republican in Name Only. Stop pulling the race card…it’s a liberal trick.
That is…not quite true. Is Norman Podhoretz, one of the ‘fathers’ of neo-conservatism a RINO? Paul consistently speaks out against ‘neocons’ because he disagrees with the fact that neoconservatism rejects his own retrograde isolationism.
Paul’s criticism of neoconservatives doesn’t bother me nearly as much as his statement that the goal of the “Zionist lobby” is to stifle criticism, and that the Israeli government is “by far the most powerful lobby in Washington of the bad sort”
12:39 pm
Here is the link to Luntz recruiting on Free republic.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1918289/posts
http://rocketshipfreedom.blogspot.com/2007/10/why-frank-luntzs-focus-groups-are.html
I find it funny how you protect those who are for war and torture and insult those who would protect the constitution. This talk about his supporters is old. He is getting all these supporters because they are tired of big government. Plus Americans are realizing that the economy is heading for a recession or is in one and Ron Paul is the only candidate who talks about and understands our economic problems. All these other idiots stand up there and say everything is fine, that the economy is great with no explanation of why dollar is at all time lows.
12:44 pm
“Don’t waste your time, Chip. If they want to believe that a professional pollster would act so unprofessionally, let them stay with their little fantasy.
I wonder if Luntz is a Bilderberg?”
Here is your professional pollster at work. He’s what you call a bs artist.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If9EWDB_zK4
12:45 pm
The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the – Web Reconnaissance for 11/01/2007 A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day…so check back often.
12:48 pm
Now that I think about it, there’s a much better case to be made that Ron Paul is a RINO than any neoconservative he criticizes.
Ron Paul was elected as a Republican, campaigns as a Republican, takes money from the Republican party and is given a platform for his message during Republican debates.
And yet he’s repeatedly stated that once the primary is over, he will not campaign on behalf of the Republican nominee, endorse the Republican nominee or vote for the Republican nominee.
What kind of man takes money and attention from a party when it helps him, then spits in their face after getting what he wants?
So…Ron Paul, RINO.
1:38 pm
Ron Paul is a nutter, as are many of his supporters. If any of you need proof read the comments in this post… Bush lied us into war… Tancredo and Huckabee want biometric ID Cards etc… Geez, there’s not enough tin foil to go around.
Jim C
1:49 pm
I think that a significant question is “Why are these people so Paranoid?” The simple answer is stress.
Mortgauge foreclosures are at an all time high, bankruptcies are on the rise, the fed cut rates yesterday to help Wall Street yet as of this writing the dow’s down 260 points, while commodities are skyrocketing. Our economy is clearly stagflating, while good working class jobs are getting cut and shipped over seas while the dollar index breaks 80 for the first time ever.
We are headed towards massive inflation, stockmarket retraction and eventually that is going to ripple into the jobs market and real people are going to get hurt by our reckless financial policies.
Why are these paranoid types so stressed, its the economy stupid! If you are working your ass off and still losing your house or declaring bankruptcy, then something is wrong in the world. A lot people are so stressed that they are looking at the socialist democrats. The smarter ones are looking at the only guy who will get rid of the real cause of the current economic hardship, Ron Paul, although there reasoning is wrong their conclusion is right.
2:13 pm
How to Whip This Ron Paul Character and All His Whacky Followers.
Ron Paul can be defeated by ignorance. Ignore him if you can.
By lies. Misrepresent his positions whenever possible.
By word gaming. As Lenin advised, “First, confuse the vocabulary.â€
By contempt. Dismiss him as amusing and pathetic.
By smearing his supporters. Find the worst and spotlight them. Call them a cult.
By consensus. Dismiss him with peer-pressure ridicule.
By false accusations. Spread them quickly and far.
By never discussing his policies. Change the subject to his person.
By the polls. Ask the right people the right questions and get the answer you want.
By reporting his most unpopular votes. But don’t report his reasoning.
By rudeness. Wreck any debate where his ideas are winning.
With all these tools, he can be easily defeated. Use them generously.
But Ron Paul cannot be defeated by refuting him in an honest and courteous technical debate. Avoid that.
– Moderno Machiavelli
2:27 pm
I thought this was a well-written article and found it very fair-minded. To be sure, Rick, you were kind in being careful to give both Paul and the majority of Paul supporters the benefit of the doubt. This begs the question though, what is the real problem you are trying to sensationalize?
In my point of view, knocking Paul because he dares talk to fringe media like Alex Jones is a bit elitist. To many, one of Paul’s most endearing qualities is his big tent, honest-to-goodness populism. The idea that nobody, perhaps, is beyond redeeming. Call it naievete if you will, but I find Paul refreshing.
I think I’m just one of a growing number of Republicans who are not comfortable with the rhetoric of over-the-top, impossibly dismissive, hypocritical elitism that seems to pervade programming like Hannity and Limbaugh (the face of the supposed Republican base) these days.
Paul comes across as the only Republican candidate that follows in the American tradition of Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, Franklin, Lincoln, and Reagan – all of whom seemed genuinely concerned about the potential conflicts of interest between the common citizen and ‘too much’ centralized power.
All of them made the hard choice to worry less about “controlling” individuals with “fringe” ideas [as you imply Paul should want to] and more about limiting centralized power [as you imply is somehow the definition of “paranoid” and “hateful”]
Just my 2 cents. But thanks again for a respectful, “non-hateful” article.
2:44 pm
Ron Paul is in ‘Endgame’ for a matter of seconds.
And it’s probably just some clip Alex Jones pulled off youtube.
This entire article is completely ridiculous.
3:28 pm
I guess this is supposed to re-enforce Lush Rimbaugh’s charge that Dr. Ron Paul only has a few spammers for supporters. I find it quite enlightening that Dr. Paul has been able to gain so much in donations, about five times what Mike Huckabee has raised!
3:56 pm
Ron Paul Loves Kucinich…
More proof that Ron Paul is not a Reagan Conservative, and is wrong for America. Certainly as a Republican. His love fest of Chuck Hagel and Dennis Kucinich, appalling.
Updating: Time has a gushy article on the Ronulans. Mostly. There are a few bits…
4:17 pm
For someone who stands almost no chance of getting elected he sure gets your goat.
5:48 pm
Rick, obviously I cant expect you to totally understand this but your very use of the word “conspiracy nuts” is cause enough for 1000 “paulbots” to chime in for some honest and candid commentary. “Paulbots” generally are on the defensive against those calling us names and using strawmen attacks of all shapes and sizes. It wouldnt happen if people could actually debate on the facts.
Yes the world is run on conspiracy. Most americans accept this reality. You apparently do not. How you can look at a video of the back of Kennedy’s head being blown off, and then look at autopsy photos where there is a tiny little entry hole in his forehead, and then NOT think its a conspiracy is what destroys your credibility. And how about the USS Liberty “conspiracy”? These are the events that shape our history. You can call people nuts all you want for believing it, but the facts require one to do so. I will never ever in a million years believe that a bullet to the back of the head can blow the back of a person’s head off and then leave a tiny exit wound in the forehead. And neither would any other free-thinking person.
10:48 pm
This drivel, and neocon pandering could’ve only been created by a spambot. Thank god it’s only a handful of right-wing nutbars churning out this anti-paul spam.
11:30 pm
This is a well thought out and insightful piece. Well done Rick Moran.
12:36 am
What’s with all the references to semitism. It’s almost as if your paranoid. But I think you might have a point about the vast Ron Paul conspiracy. I mean, when you’re trying to keep your eye on the ball, and the umpire yells strike, but you didn’t see the pitch, it’s hard not to blame someone else. Ron Paul sure did seem to come out of left field.
But wait, why are all your team-mates standing in left field with him. Then you realize the lonely truth – your in the wrong ballpark. Good luck with that.
4:01 am
Iconoclast, Oswald shot Kennedy from the 6th Floor of the Texas School Book Depository, you have must have no understanding of balastics if you think otherwise. Please when shilling for Ron Paul don’t mention conspiracy theories at all because Ron Paul does not believe in them, and neither do the majority of his supporters, but you give Ron Paul detractors ammo when you bring up such nonsense.
7:52 am
Johnnyb you are the one with no knowledge of “balastics” if you think a shot fired to the back of the head can create that kind of damage pattern. Hate to break it to ya but a bullet to the back of the head can not blow the back of a person’s head off and then leave a tiny exit wound in the forehead. You just cant grasp that can you? I dont need to give Ron Paul detractors any ammo, because they just make up whatever they want to hear. You’re basically saying oswald’s bullet did that damage, and that is just like saying the earth is flat. Havent you ever gone hunting?
10:26 am
I think this is a very poor blog.
For starters, the trick Frank Luntz pulled using pro-war Fox News voters was so transparent that anyone with half a brain could see through that. Fox News would obviously know that Ron Paul would win their text poll again so I saw that as a big setup. For you to quote that episode as proof that Ron Paul is a fringe candidate is foolish. I can almost guarantee that Ron Paul will finish in the top 3 in New Hampshire.
Being worried about Neocons has very little to do with being anti-Jewish. At least you gave one sentence out of 20 to that fact. The main concern is endless wars where a group of elites gets rich while the rest of us have our kids go to war for them. I have no problems with Jews but am very concerned about the Republicans in charge right now (and I voted for Bush twice). Ron Paul is the only candidate with integrity that will get us out of this mess.
Next, I don’t think their is anything fringe about being concerned with the loss of our national sovereignty to a bunch of internationalists. If Bush had his way, we would have 12 million illegal immigrants on their path to citizenship and another 20 million coming in. The Democrats are even worse. I guess I’m a conspiracist because I’m concerned that Texas is building a superhighway from Mexico that luckily is stopping at the borders of my home state. I guess I’m a conspiracist because I’ve noticed that Mexican trucks are now allowed to drive everywhere. Of course, Governor Perry is supporting Giuliani who would enforce illegal immigration very similarly to Bush.
Here’s a pretty good quote on conspiracies:
“Well there’s nothing wrong to adding to a conspiracy theory when there might be a conspiracy, in fact,” US House of Representative Dana Rohrabacher responded.
9:13 am
Man, those tin foil hat conspiracy theorist spambots sure have a lot of cash.
9:21 am
[...] On top of his being a Truther, an isolationist after the fashion of Pat Buchanan, a not terribly good friend of Jews or Israel, Ron Paul is entirely unlikable insofar as his main group of supporters tends to be criminals, high school students, paranoid imbeciles, and general idiots. He’s no Republican. Hell, he’s not even Ross Perot. [...]
1:16 am
Rick did a great job with this column. I can’t stand the Ron Paul spambots who act like he will correct every problem this country has. He’s not a Republican, and even if he wins the nomination, which is a longshot, he will not have my vote.
7:34 am
“”Now that’s seriously funny. This guy is very well known for skewing poll results and his methods are anything but scientific. I find it ironic that you accuse RP supporters of stacking polls (without evidence) and then claim Lunz’s “polls†to be legitimate.But of course as you said this is a conspiracy and the majority of us are nut jobs to believe as such lol.””
Isn’t it AMAZING that somehow Every single poll that isn’t in an easily hackable or spamable format shows Paul as a “Two percenter’? THe Democrats, republicans, and independants are all working together and conspiring against Ron Paul, as well as all of the pollsters?
Occam’s Razor – which is more likely – that Paul really is a “Two percenter’ – or that the entirity of the country and all media organizations from Fox News, to MSNBC, to Gallup, to Pew are conspiring against him?
7:41 am
#42. . .
It would rake 3000 people donating less than the maximum to give him his take from that organized event; It woudl take the organized efforts of .001% of the country’s population getting together and donating. That is hardly a sign of anything other than having a dedicated cult following – which is also why I think ANYONE’S cash contributions are not indicative of much. Even at only 2,000 a pop, a very small percentage of people can make a large dollarsign splash.
2:31 pm
Is the point of this article, then, to discredit Paul based on some of his supporters? Isn’t this a “fallacy of false cause”? E.g., Ron Paul is insane because a number of his supporters are insane? By this same logic, were Ron Paul to say the sky is blue, it would be false because “conspiracy theorists” happen to agree with him. Of course you admit that some (most, actually) Paul supporters are completely rational, but the article focuses on the fringe groups, cites one angry neoconservative’s response to Paul, cites the aggressive efforts to publicize Paul on the web (the only electronic media open to his supporters initially) and your own anecdotal evidence. What Exactly does this prove? That Paul attracts a wide variety of extremely passionate supporters?
And contrary to what is intimated here, Paul employs no underhanded tactics in his challenging of neoconservative ideas. We all know he speaks his mind in unequivocal terms at what is arguably neocon ground zero—Fox News.
Why don’t you attempt to discredit Paul’s views on free market economics, or on the role of government as defined by the Constitution, or even on what foreign policy would best safeguard our safety and liberty in the long term? Obviously I’m a Paul supporter, but I don’t object to your taking issue with the man’s views. I just don’t see this article as discussing anything, whatsoever, of substance.
4:20 pm
[...] He attacts ‘9/11 truthers’ like bees to honey, thanks to his comments suggesting the government was planning a terrorist attack on the US, in order to bring about martial law and a new fascism. [...]