A shocking report: Inside the Ron Paul conspiracy

Maybe you've heard rumors about an explosive newspaper expose on a major political figure that would rock the political world just as the presidential voting is about to begin.

We haven't either.

But we do know that today is when this newspaper blows the top off of the Ron Paul Conspiracy, that vast unorganized protest movement that has silently become one of the more interesting political phenomena of the current election season.

A Times reporter -- we'll call him James Rainey to protect his identity -- has managed to penetrate the Paul presidium.

In his story he recounts for the very first time the shockingly ordinary details of a movement of thousands of disparate, dissatisfied people, some of whom want an end to the Iraq war, an end to gun controls and the IRS, an end to laws banning marijuana and a return to the gold standard, whatever that means.

These Paulites believe the government has been hijacked by a bevy of big interests that threaten the freedoms of ordinary Americans. They're not going to take it anymore. Locally, they're even organizing a re-enactment of a brazenly defiant act, the BostonTea Party, except it'll be in Santa Monica and won't involve tea or white people dressed as Indians. And the protestors promise not to leave anything foreign floating in the water.

These committed partisans, bonded by their suspicion of authority and venal influences like the mainstream media that ignored them until they did something, have united behind a 72-year-old...

Air Force vet and ob-gyn from Texas who has managed to win 10 elections to the House of Representatives as a Republican with two first names and strongly libertarian leanings.

This man believes that U.S. sovereignity is threatened by many things, especially including consistently ignoring the Constitution and by a planned mystery superhighway that would unite with a ribbon of inexorable cement all three North American countries--Mexico, the United States and that other larger one on top that can only afford to have three downs in its football games.

Apparently he's not talking about I-15, which already does that.

"Rainey's" account describes how this man's followers appear to be ordinary citizens with jobs and family by day. But at night they gather openly in chat rooms and living rooms to plot how to promote a tiny unassuming man whom they call reverently Dr. Paul. With little central direction but tons of commitment, idealism and passion, Dr. Paul's followers do everything they can think of to mobilize voter support.

They patrol the internet day and night seeking Paul slights to right. They stand on windy interstate bridges holding inflammatory signs saying: RonPaul2008.com.

Even as you sleep at night some of the 1,200 Paul meet-up groups are handwriting letters to all 700,000 independent Iowa voters urging them to consider their long-shot leader. A couple of weeks ago Paulites raised $4.2 million on the internet in one day, a near-record, and a sum they intend to more than double on Dec. 16, the anniversary of that rebellious tea party. How's that for insignificance?

As one result, the ultra-lean Paul organization has been able to buy advertising in New Hampshire and to pump its poll numbers up near double-digits in some places. Rainey's story describes the commitment of one Ron Paul meet-up group in Southern California and the regular folks who drive it with their political beliefs and energies.

Few professionals -- well, to tell the truth, no one -- actually gives Paul any chance of winning the Republican nomination. But then up until Yorktown back in the 1700s, all the smart Vegas money was on the British.

--Andrew Malcolm

Comments

[Paul Head]

WOW, GREAT ARTICLE. I LIKE YOU. AN HONEST JOURNALIST. FAIR AND BALANCED

[Cliff]

OMG!!!!
How can this possibly be true? Aren't we supposed to be completely insane terrorists? I mean i heard it so much from the major news media that i was starting to believe it. So what now, are you saying i can't trust the major news outlets to tell me the truth anymore? My reality is shattered.

[Pete]

I won't repeat everything said above outside of this;

I appreciate your humor. What a good article; I really needed a good laugh after have been called every name in the book for the last year just for supporting a principled candidate.

Thanks!

Pete

Ron Paul 2008

[Vote 4 Dr.No]

Looking forward to the read! :)

[michelle]

i live along the Nafta Superhighway and I see federal agents out here all the time...why would a federal agent be "reviewing a state highway"? You known its really interesting that they would ask that question of Dr Paul only since he isn't even on the board of the CFR like the rest of them are. This country is a shame right now and Dr. Paul is the only one that can help

WWW.CANAMEX.ORG WWW.CANAMEX.ORG WWW.CANAMEX.ORG

IT IS REAL AND IN MY BACKYARD!!!!!

[DrKibble]

Nice story. It looks like the author has 2 first names as well.

[Chad Blessinger]

Wonderful article. Entertaining and informative. Those were not sentences (I am a rebel). Go Dr. Ron Paul.

[Torchbearer]

I actually read all of these post.... insomnia.

[Kevin]

Best Ron Paul speech to date. Go watch and learn. Was the Rally after the GOP debate on 11 28 07
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8oJAm-06oQ

In a conversation after the GOP debate Rudy making smalltalk says-"Boy you sure do have alot of supporters outside."
Ron Paul answers-"Rudy, did you know, that's only the begining?"

[/////ANDRE]

Re: NAFTA Highway...

I-35 is FREE to drive on and is owned by "the people".
The Trans-Texas Corridor will be a TOLL road owned
by a Spanish company largely owned by the King of Spain.

How do you feel about paying tribute to the King of Spain
for the privilege of driving in the USA?

[leigh]

You have done a good thing. Who knows, it may even start legions of wayward presstitutes on the road to Damascus.

[C. F. Kane]

Andrew, a PaulPod? Rosebud.

[Daniel]

"return to the gold standard, whatever that means."

Not necessarily the gold standard. But as long as a country can continue to increase the money supply causing all the inflation we should think, fight, and vote for a change for the better.

There's a reason our US Dollar is losing much value. Our government is spending great sums of money we don't have. I applaud Congressman Paul's effort to educate the public that our own government is causing all the inflation because of our irresponsible monetary policies and the resulting creation of more and more money "out of thin air". There is no backing to our dollar, it's only as good as people "trust" its value and a look at a 5 year US Dollar chart strongly indicates that the world is losing trust in our monetary system.

That's not good. Although we do produce some goods here in the US, we cannot ignore the fact that the US has transformed itself to an "Importer" Nation. Think of all the consumer goods you buy. A great amount of those are produced in foreign countries. And the oil is imported as well. While some might say that they don't care if our currency loses value on international markets, we should be very concerned about this. A total collapse in our monetary system could drastically change the quality of life we are living in this country for the worst. Don't take my word for it, rather I suggest to you to take a look at financial history...

Not to forget to mention how inflation is a hidden tax. It reduces the purchasing power of your savings. It also puts additional burdens on the lower income families as food and energy become increasingly more expensive as well. (Did you know that our Government and the Fed actually ignore "Food" and "Energy" from their Inflation calculation?!!) Inflation is therefore a lose-lose situation for the American People. The only ones profiting from it are the wealthy Bankers of the Federal Reserve.

Ron Paul is the only Presidential Candidate that understands that unless we change our monetary, foreign, and fiscal policies we could be in for a big surprise. A negative surprise that is. On top of that he is very educated on foreign policies and has actually read the 911 Commission report. He also has a 30 year voting record that supports his current position.

That's why Ron Paul has earned my vote.

[Vinny]

Great blog posting. And the previous comment about "chip on the shoulder" was spot on. I just hope that people realize the blogger, usually AM, is just trying to be funny and write things with tongue in cheek. You might not think he is funny -- that's your right and opinion. But he probably means no harm and just want to poke fun at the super, duper serious partisans, whoever they might support in the primaries. I mean, what's life if you cannot laugh at yourself, right?

[Dan]

Just Great! ...a positive article about Ron Paul supporters,
now what will we have to bitch about while making signs?
Thanks a lot Andrew.......and thank James Rainey too.
Dan

[Darren D.]

Andrew writes:

"Few professionals -- well, to tell the truth, no one -- actually gives Paul any chance of winning the Republican nomination. "

Hmm, if I was looking for odds from a professional on Ron Pauls chances of winning where would I go??? Hmm.

How about a gambling website? How about the biggest gambling website?

Ron Paul's odds to win the Republican nomination at Bodog.dot.com are 5-2.
The only other candidate with lower odds is Giuliani.

What "professionals" are you talking about?

[Dean]

Sound money, peace, and personal freedom.. I dont like those things. Is it possible to vote for Hillary and Giuliani simultaneously?

It's kinda nice to see more anti-paul stuff. Those who disagree with him are beginning to get defensive.. even offensive. If we didn't matter, they wouldn't waste their energy.

[Hope]

Thank you Andrew Malcolm for an excellent, enjoyable, tongue-in-cheek blog post.

I am also thrilled by this new Los Angeles Times article below:

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-ronpaul1dec01,0,678486.story?coll=la-home-center

This is one of the best, well written articles I’ve ever seen from the MSM. The LA Times, they are a a-changin' (in a good way)!

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.

--Bob Dylan

Ron Paul can win!

70% of American citizens want us out of Iraq.

Dr. Paul was one of the very few in Washington to realized the folly of invading Iraq and had the courage to speak out. So maybe we should be listening to him now.

Video a Liberal Re-Thinks Ron Paul:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DueIGWpXjrU

[tom]

The fact of the matter here people, is that unless we are favored by some miraculous event, Dr. Paul will not become the next president.

I love the feel of unbridled enthusiasm as much as the next guy, but the sad reality is that all of this is pre-decided and mostly scripted and we can look forward to even more horrific was mongering and coporate control of this country and the world. I guess I'm still hurting over the last two elections, when I thought, ideally that Gore or Kerry might triumph.

I can't handle that much defeat. So if by some wonderful chance, I am fully wrong, then I'll stand in front of the class and admit my mistake and then pitch in with the Revolution. But if I'm right..god help us.

RON PAUL 2008!

[Less Antman]

I WON'T HAVE IT! A well-researched article that accurately and honestly described Ron Paul's supporters could destroy our momentum. I'm convinced the article by James Rainey is a joint plot of the Council on Foreign Relations and the United Federation of Planets to co-opt our members and install the Romulan officials who were behind 9/11.

Seriously, it isn't just the fairmindedness of the article, but the obvious hard work of evidence-gathering behind it, that deserves the praise of those of us working hard for the important ideas behind Ron Paul's candidacy. This is journalism backed by shoe leather, and told me things I didn't know about the campaign, even though I've been following it closely and offering some modest contributions of my own. My wife and I now plan to join the Santa Monica Tea Party march after honoring the online contribution pledge for that day which we made.

Props to both Rainey and Malcolm.

[Sam]

Good article.. But I am just sick of reading Dr.Paul being described constantly as "Long Shot" or "Fringe" - In whose wisdom is he long shot or fringe.. Give me a break..!! We are dealing with a national election based upon a secret ballot, It will be the people who would have decided who was a "long shot" once the results will be out.. It is criminal for any writer, columninst or TV host to add such adjectives for ANY candidate.. We have lived and cherished a democracy for over 200 years - Lets keep out this opiniated jargon..!!

[Alan]

Thanks, your blog is performing a great service! The American dream has become to game the system. If we stopped looking for the quick and easy schemes (raunchy stories) and started focusing on services and solutions for our comunties, like Ron Paul does, we would see other people who care rising up with us too.

[mookrit]

Paul keeps talking about the link between the money supply and inflation. This was demonstrated by Nobel Prize winning economist Milton Friedman.

Paul wants to legalise competing currencies. This was advocated by Nobel Prize winning economist Friedrich Hayek.

Anyone who doubts the accuracy of Paul's monetary views should read the works of these two great economists.

[B. Chen]

Thank you, LA Times for two objective articles. "There's a Revolution going on in this country. I'm just glad I'm part of it." - Ron Paul

[Hope]

At the risk of being pedantic..

Come writers and critics (Andrew Malcolm)
Who prophesize with your pen (blogs)
And keep your eyes wide (YouTube)
The chance won't come again (2008 freedom election or slide into fascism)
And don't speak too soon (watch this video first http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWfIhFhelm8 )
For the wheel's still in spin (right to left to liberty!)
And there's no tellin' who (learn more)
That it's namin'. (guess who)
For the loser now (guess who)
Will be later to win (Ron Paul)
For the times they are a-changin'. (LATimes, MSM, and America)
--Bob Dylan