Mainstream media alert: Ron Paul news assault starts

It's a shocking political development, to be sure, but news about Ron Paul and what his determined, fervent bands of supporters call the Ron Paul Revolution is beginning to spread like some kind of wildfire before strong primary winds.

First, there was this.

Then, there was this.

And that produced so many hundreds of Comments on this blog that it caused this later item on the Comments. Which produced even more Comments.

And, in turn,that led to this item on the previous item on another blog.

Supporters of the 72-year-old 10-term libertarian representative from Texas think he has a real shot at shocking the political establishment and snatching the Republican presidential nomination away from all those presidential pretenders like Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, John McCain, and Fred Thompson with higher numbers in what must be obviously fraudulent polls.

But now comes news that news about Paul is creeping onto television, that great Satan that ....

reaches so many potential voters but normally ignores quiet-spoken grandfathers with radically simple political views such as political power belongs to the people and America should return to following the Constitution. That makes no sense in an age of proliferating political promises.

Now, believe it or not, John Stossel of ABC is interviewing the old guy and giving him more exposure, which is all his supporters ever sought because they think his ideas are so powerful they cast a spell. "With politicians from both sides of the political fence touting their new plans to fix America's problems, Paul, R-Tex., believes that the most effective way that a president can lead is by protecting basic freedoms, and relying on the collective power of citizens to sort out the rest," Stossel writes.

Paul tells him as president he'd eliminate the Departments of Education, Energy, Agriculture, Commerce, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Homeland Security and FEMA. Does that get your attention?  

The trouble with discrediting polls and the mainstream media so much over many months is what do Paulites do when their man's poll numbers start climbing and the same ignorant media start paying attention. Are the polls still frauds and the dim mainstream media still manipulated by evil corporate influences?

All just because Paul supporters gave $4.2 million in one day to enable advertising in New Hampshire. And now with their fundraising guru, Trevor Lyman at the helm of a Ron Paul advertising blimp (really!), the Paul rebels are planning an even bigger fundraising day this coming weekend to mark the Boston Tea Party.

The media will have to pay even more attention if Paul's people set a new one-day online fundraising record Dec. 16. Or, heaven forbid, raise more money in the fourth quarter than any other better-known Republican candidate. Wouldn't that rock some boats? The implausible campaign has a website where the total so far is coming up on $11-million even before Sunday.

With all this mounting attention and success what in the world are Ron Paul's supporters going to rail against now? They'll find something. They have to. Can underdogs still succeed when they're no longer under?

--Andrew Malcolm

Comments

[Matt Ritsman]

There is quite a bit of concern about poll results, but I am bothered by the idea in general. I wish people would research candidates and vote for the candidate who they believe has well thought out positions, a consistent record, and the ability to lead the country. Unfortunately, many people spend more time analyzing the polls and a candidate's projected chances of winning.

One of the main things I find appealing about Ron Paul is that I can actually figure out his stances on issues, because he doesn't try to hide them or mask them in rhetoric. It would be great to see each of the candidates have to write several pages about their positions, and then have them published side by side. I would find this quite a bit more productive than a television debate. I can't think of much positive that the medium of television has contributed to political discourse.

I read that the whole "I rule the frigging world" thing was viral to fundraise for RP, but then I see where it's also on rapper sites. What gives?

[Max]

"what do Paulites do when their man's poll numbers start climbing and the same ignorant media start paying attention. Are the polls still frauds and the dim mainstream media still manipulated by evil corporate influences?"

The polls will never mean anything and I seriously doubt his numbers will rise. These are merely historical data that cannot predict future actions of people. Taken into account that only registered likely Republican primary voters with land-lines are polled the data is even more skewed. The good doctor is crossing the political divide to capture the imagination of the hopeful which doesn't include many of the people who voted in the last two primaries.

[George Belden]

I have never felt this way about a candidate. I am going to do everything I can to ensure Ron Paul gets the nomination. He is the ONLY person that can bring this country back to being the great country it is.

Integrity, Freedom, Peace...I pray more people find out who this man is. GO RON PAUL!!!

[underground]

You say we bash the media because they won't cover Ron Paul, but we're not praising them when they do start to cover him (yeah, a whole month before the elections start).

Here's what you have to ask: What did Giuliani do to earn the coverage he got? What did Romney do to win the hearts and minds? Where is Clinton's support coming from, and why can't I find any of her supporters who like her policies beyond "She's not another Republican" or "Anything would be better than Bush"

With all the mainstream candidates, their lead is pre-determined and its the full year of media coverage that is used in a weak attempt to build grass-roots support (that doesn't seem to materialize). This is the very definition of a top-down candidacy and its what the voters are sick of because it doesn't represent our interests.

For Ron Paul to get some coverage, he had to break fund-raising records, meet-up group records, and YouTube records. His supporters had to work diligently on internet chat forums to undo the misconceptions promoted by the press. What candidate has that kind of activist backing? As a reward, he may now get 1 article for every 5 that mentions Giuliani or Clinton.

How is that "fair" in any sense of the word?

[cfountain72]

Thank you for your comments Mr. Malcolm. Your points about media coverage and polls are well-taken: those of us who were so critical of it for so long, must now admit that the Revolution (at least part of it) will be televised. To deserve substantially more coverage, Dr. Paul will need to garner at least 3rd place in Iowa and/or NH.

Ironically, the biggest factor holding Dr. Paul back is not TV or print media, but conservative talk radio. They showed what they are capable of during the recent immigration struggle, and there's no doubt they will have a substantial impact on who gets the GOP nod. Sadly, most of them are, at best ambivalent, and at worst, hostile to tDr. Paul and his 'radical' views of freedom, responsibility, and a foreign policy that excludes pre-emptive war. For him to succeed, he will need at least some support from them.

Peace be with you.

[Ike Hall]

That's a good question. What will the grassroots do when the Good Doctor is no longer a cult phenomenon, but is embraced by tens of millions of Americans fed up with politics as usual, sick of war, inflation, and corruption? In one way it might make our job easier, since no supporter of Ron Paul doesn't become an evangelist for liberty to some extent, but then we have to begin the real work of taking our country back from the neocons of both parties and helping people understand what real patriotism is. And that's going to take a long time and dedicated effort. I'm up for it. How about you?

[CD]

I hope we find out what we do. By watching the TV this week, it seems they (MSM) have gone back to the ignore phase. Thank God I have the internet to keep up my spirits. There are just a few weeks left before the shock hits. Congratulations to you -- you see it coming.

[glenneroo]

Woohoo! Go Ronny! Finally someone who really truly believes in the people! I tried to donate $100 but it won't take donations from over-seas paypal accounts :( very very sad...

[1951Patriot]

I would say that using deliberate trigger words to belittle the message of Ron Paul or those who believe he is the best candidate to address the myriad of complex issues facing the country is essentially insulting to the core American values that both have in common.
The concerns of normal citizens have been ignored to the point that most eligible voters feel it is obviously pointless to participate in such a farce as what has passed as politics as usual for the past century. I know I had no intent of ever voting again as I, like many, had totally lost faith in the political process. That all changed when I stumbled on Ron Paul and his simple message of peace and prosperity being clearly articulate by the man himself. Ron Paul promotes those exact same principles that our Constitution was deliberately written to insure. It is no wonder that he has been called by his own colleagues in Washington "Founding Father material". His integrity has never been challenged. No one dares.
My question to all the Ron Paul detractors and critics is: How did we get so far away from the Constitution that many now feel that historically unequaled document has become almost irrelevant in our wonderful modern socialist inclined, politically correct global community? The things that were paid for in blood by the American Revolution are all but forgotten now, as if Liberty is somehow less desirable now than it was in 1776. We have been told (by those who operate mostly in secret) that it is now critically necessary to quietly give up our Liberty in small degrees in order to insure our safety from those who wish to do us harm. They fail to mention that the reason so many around the world are angry is because of what our "leaders" have been doing in secret for decades using covert operations that benefit only corporations but not citizens. We should believe that a future of endless wars is our only hope for survival? It may well be the only hope for the plutocracy that has hijacked our government but it is the worst world imaginable for the average working American family.
The lines are being drawn. Our survival is at stake as a republic but not for the reasons we are given. We can either slide passively into socialistic servitude or we can fight with the tools our Founding Fathers bequeathed to us. 1984 is already behind us. We now need to decide if we want to be herded into Armageddon next or whether we have the power or right to resist. It really is that simple.
I encourage everyone in America who cherishes our freedom and the nation that has made it possible to take the time to listen carefully to what Ron Paul has to say. Try to ignore what the spin-master servile media tries to project about the man and his message. His popularity is not based on nothing.
Register and vote. We can take our country back. We can enjoy our rightful heritage. We can be free, secure and prosperous but only if we demand it.
Support RON PAUL 2008

[Keith L]

You forgot the biggest cut Ron Paul will TRY (probably not succeed) to abolish the Federal Reserve.

This is an incredibly touchy subject, and most news papers, magazines, tv stations are owned by Hearst era giants, who also have large sums of money invested in the Federal Reserve.

His initiative to Abolish the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 is the main reason I'm voting for him. Why are we letting a private organization (The Fed) control the printing as well as interest rates and inflation? Ron Paul wants return the control of our nations money to the Treasury, where it should be.

Although it probably will never happen, since it would require a massive overhaul of our nations financial infrastructure and heavy inflation in the onset.

The Fed is primarily responsible our wars, recessions and even the great depression. How convenient is it that since the Fed was created we've been in two world wars, the Korean war, the Vietnam war, and two wars in Iraq no including smaller one?

The Fed is also part of a global banking scheme, which will come into effect soon, where nations economies are at stake. In fact 53% of the Federal reserve is from foreign investors!!!!. Ron Paul has been around for a while, he knows that this is bull and that if we want to be a step ahead in this world, we have to keep ourselves independent.

Our founding fathers including Jefferson, Jackson, Adams and even Lincoln all knew about the dangers of a government not directly controlling its money. You do know that the Bank of England (similar to the fed) and their interest rates is the reason we decided to become our own country.

Guiliani, McCain, Clinton, Obama ect. are all poster childs that will agree with the current system. Ron Paul is the only one for change

[Al]

I'm a newly registered Republican and I will vote for Ron Paul. Its time to re-instate the constitution.

[tom]

We will continue to call the main stream media out on its bias when it continues to avert coverage from obvious news of hundreds to thousands of Paul supporters showing up to debates to support their candidte in favor of nothing.
The main stream media does not have to cover Dr Paul, Dr Paul has the people. Though one cannot deny the obvious impact of television on US culture, these revolutionary ideas of constitutional law resonate with the people. Thomas Jefferson spoke about it, but who would have guessed it would take over 230 yrs just to eneact a true representative republic where the rule of law was held above all else.

[Anthony Coralluzzo]

Ron will most likely raise more money than any of the other GOP candidates this quarter. That is significant when you consider the unfairness of the media coverage and lack of corporate support he gets. It's all grassroots support. GIVE HIM SOME COVERAGE NOW. HE DESERVES IT. WE ALL DESERVE IT.

(Well, at least you now know where you'll get some coverage--right here.)

[Thanks MSM]

Thanks, for supporting the cause. The revolution will not be televised.

[Rick]

Mainstream Media Acceptance Stage 1 - Virtual Acceptance - There is an increase of mainstream media paying Online lip service to Ron Paul, as opposed to television and print media. Right now some of the media are paying ONLINE lip-service to appease Ron Paul supporters. Just because you see an online article like this, from the LA Times, doesn't mean it actually gets into the newspaper. Hopefully that will change soon.

(FYI, this is an online blog intended for internet users. However, once a week on Sunday the newspaper does publish excerpts of some blog items including, last week, a Ron Paul item. In addition, our past blog items contain links to the newspaper's Ron Paul stories, which also appear on the website's politics pages.

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-ticket9dec09,1,6220311.story?coll=la-politics-campaign

[Andrew]

Hopefully the media coverage will start to pour in, and i hope that it doesn't get skewed and edited to achieve any goals of any news organization. Get him up there, let him talk the truth.

[george]

It is about time. I commend the LA Times for more balanced and fair coverage of the '08 elections than most major media entities.

[catfish182]

Why not support Ron Paul, Stormfront does! Thats right kids one of the biggest hate groups in the world support paul with money and online polls. why shouldn't they? Paul himself has said in his report that 95% of black males in Washington are or will be criminals someday and Paul even was the lone nay vote when congress voted to give rosa parks, the brave civil rights fighter, a medal. Paul did not want to spend 30,000 of the tax payers money on her and said "i will pay for it myself" Well he didn't pay for it himself but he did was 8 million for a wildlife shrimp association in his district that would only benefit the people in his district.
google ron paul White supremacy and see what you get. or image google the same thing and see who Paul has had his picture taken with.

Well i could go on but thats ok. Hey Paulites. you can not digg me down here can you?

[maxwell105]

I have been watching this scene unfold. I have never before seen such an orchestrated campaign on the part of the media to ignore, ridicule, and marginalize a presidential candidate. All the major networks and cable new channels are involved. They are jointly trying to make Ron Paul fade into oblivion. One thing has thrown a monkey wrench into their plans: money. You simply cannot ignore the massive amount of cash that Ron Paul has collected. This leads the average person to ask: If he has raised so much money, why have I not heard about him? More and more people are waking up and seeing that these media outlets are not there to give us information. They are there to manipulate information in order for us to accept their pre-conceived worldview. Whatever their motives are, it is very clear that the mainstream media hates Ron Paul. They don't include his name on polls. They continually misrepresent his positions. They try to cast him as a lunatic. They say he has no chance of winning. But they have made a serious mistake. They have forgotten that it is the people who choose their leaders, not a bunch of fat cat elitists. God Bless Ron Paul!

(Glad you found something here. And a forum to vent.)

[Strother]

Big Change is coming.

[Greg Butko]

What the Ron Paul supporters are annoyed at is the fact that the media continued to ignore Ron Paul as long as they could in order to prevent his message from reaching the millions of Americans who really didn't know who he was. I think that it has been obvious for several months that Ron Paul has a much larger approval than the 1 or 2 % the media were reporting.

The media were reporting the results of polls that filed to list Ron Paul. This is a truly contemptable act for an industry that purports to be reporting the news. The truth is that the management of the major media are in be with the executives who are making billions of dollars on our undeclared wars. In this same bed we find the other candidates for president, as well as the current regime in Washington. Ron Paul was exposing their agenda. Ron Paul was pointing out the obvious. That it is our foreign policy that brought terrorism to our shores.

Ron Paul was exposing the greatest fraud ever perpetuated on the American people, the Federal Reserve. He was exposing the income tax, and the fact that most of the income of the federal government came from other sources.

Ron Paul was showing how 96 cents of every 1913 dollar has been stolen from the American people by our own politicians and their creation, the Federal Reserve.

Ron Paul was showing the American people how the phony "War on Drugs" did little to stop the use of illegal drugs. Rather, it empowered government to create a gestapo to kick in doors, to snoop into people's personal finances and affairs. At the same time, it made these drugs more expensive, creating more crime as addicts turned to crime to obtain the money to buy the drugs. It also made drugs pushers so wealthy that they regularly shot it out with each other over turf wars.

Yes, Ron Paul supporters have a lot to be angry about. Our criminal politicians and their lap dogs in the media.

[John L]

I have to say, maybe the MSM is coming over a tiny bit, but only the smallest amount they can get away with.

Seriously, as many others have pointed out, the exclusions are still egregious. The CNN/youtube "debate" was a farce, and a spit in the eye to acutal YouTube users. Regularly he is completely excluded from polls, or grouped among "other". As he gains in popularity and money, the ommisions only become more offensive and brazen.

[Chris]

I haven't seen anything like this since the "little old ladies in tennis shoes" (all Goldwater supporters were included, and the leftists loved to make fun of us -- until we changed history. Llttle kids it tennis shoes, take note!)

The Ron Paul people are really grass roots. No DC lobbyist in the hot tub dare support him. He'd shut their water off!

My local Ron Paul coordinator is in his 40's, is a mechanic, and hated politics until he saw RP's name two months ago and Googled him.

"I haven't sat down since," he told me, as we hung two huge Ron Paul Revolution signs on my farm fence here in rural Virginia.

Take the tongue out of your cheek, Andy, this is for real.

Merry Christmas,

Chris

[Robert M.]

Once the MSM finally starts giving the warranted amount of attention to Ron Paul after defies all the "respected" polls with top 3 finishes in both Iowa and New Hampshire, the "railing" of his supporters will turn into, "See, I told you so."