Ron Paul scales back hopeless effort, refuses to back McCain

He's not really quitting. He's not really suspending his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. He's not promising victory, just to keep on keeping on. But, in effect, Rep. Ron Paul, at 72 the oldest candidate for president and the only GOP candidate to oppose the Iraq war, is facing reality.

In a statement to supporters on his website, first mentioned here early Saturday, Paul admits, "With Romney gone, the chances of a brokered convention are nearly zero. But that does not affect my determination to fight on, in every caucus and primary remaining and at the convention for our ideas, with just as many delegates as I can get." In a new 14-minute campaign video, Paul says he wants to clarify some confusion

His campaign currently claims a total of 42, 1,149 shy of the total to win and some 650 behind the GOP leader, though other estimates give him only 16. He took third in Washington over the weekend and fourth in Kansas behind even Mitt Romney, who'd dropped out. Even if he won every delegate still available, Paul could not capture the party's nomination in September in St. Paul, which is no relation.

Despite ridicule by other GOP candidates, despite getting significantly less time to speak during debates and, in one instance, even being barred from a GOP debate by Fox News although....

he'd collected more votes than those included, Paul repeated his vow not to attempt a third-party bid, which would drain priceless conservative votes from the party's nominee. "I am a Republican," he said, "and I remain a Republican." He did say he'd be reducing staff and offices.

Now, whether the 10-term congressman with the libertarian ideals, actually endorses Sen. John McCain is something else. Paul has said we should bring overseas troops home and invest the saved money in fixing America; McCain has vowed to stay overseas, especially Iraq, as long as it takes for success.

This morning Paul told one of our sister newspapers, "I cannot support anybody with the foreign policy he advocates, you know, perpetual war," said Paul. "That is just so disturbing to me."

In his website statement, Paul then alludes to probably the largest factor for his refocused campaign: He's trying to run simultaneously for president and his House seat in Texas' 14th Congressional District and faces a challenger in the March 4 primary, Chris Peden, a city councilmen from Friendswood. So Paul will be on two ballots that day.

"If I were to lose the primary for my congressional seat," he said, "all our opponents would react with glee, and pretend it was a rejection of our ideas. I cannot and will not let that happen." In a new 14-minute campaign video, Paul says he needs to clarify confusion over his dropping out, that he is just altering his schedule to allow primary campaigning in his home district and he intends to compete fully in all remaining primaries and on to the convention.

Although largely ignored as irrelevant by many media outlets, though not The Ticket, the story of Ron Paul and his thousands of determined, sometimes aggressive, usually good-natured followers is one of the more interesting of the current election season.

Virtually spontaneously, disaffected Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians and newcomers to the political process began gathering around the plain-spoken Paul last summer and with their nearly $20 million in smaller donations turned him into the most successful GOP fundraiser in the last quarter. On one day he raised $6 million online and was the only Republican to increase his contributions in every quarter of 2007.

With some 1,400 meet-up groups across the country, letter-writing and sign-waving campaigns and creative publicity stunts, they helped Paul to some second, fourth and fifth place finishes in states such as Nevada, Montana and Maine. He beat Rudy Giuliani in Iowa and Fred Thompson in New Hampshire and financed an eight-state advertising campaign.

His boosters, who worked the Internet assiduously to right wrongs and make Paul's case, maintain that a corporate-media conspiracy to ignore him prevented the former ob-gyn from getting his less-government message out to most Americans. He certainly was ignored and, only recently, included when providing poll results on TV. But additionally, his strict constitutionalist ideas for reducing the federal government and abolishing the IRS and Federal Reserve Bank and returning to the gold standard may be just too radical for a country today facing international terrorist threats and the current economic uncertainty.

Even the tone of hundreds of comments left here by Paul supporters changed in recent days from aggressive advocacy to reluctant acceptance of the disappointing reality of continued single-digit poll results.

It would be interesting if those supporters took the time here now to leave comments explaining why they think Paul never caught on to a wider audience (we already know about the media conspiracy) and what they think about his refocused campaign and their spent donations.

--Andrew Malcolm

Comments

[Diego Montalvo]

Andrew Malcolm it seems that you write the same ole sorry stories every other mainstream writer expels. Why write something positive about Ron Paul, when you can sell out like everyone else and write about Obama or Mccain. Never have read the L.A. Times but if it is anything like Hollywood, why not focus your energy on some Britney stories. Ron Paul Revolution 2008!

(Hmm, it would seem numerous other commenters here disagree with you.)

[AmericanCitizen]

We as Ron Paul supporters and American Citzens determined to get America on a track towards success and restoration of the Constitution are more energized and optimistic than ever that we are making progress in winning this war again the criminal terrorists in charge. It will take time and it will be difficult but just like the American Revolution we will win and we will get America restored to a country of good versus evil. Ron Paul is a galvanizing force in this but with or without Ron Paul the desire and drive by many of us in America to get America out of criminal wars against other countries like Afghanistan and Iraq - and keeping America from unilaterally attacking others like Syria, Pakistan, and Iran - will prevail. The candidates now offered by the corporatist gang - Hillary, Obama, Huckabee, and McCain - are not worthy of any honest consideration for president of the US at all. The crimes of the Clintons are well-known and growing by the day. McCain sold out America with his plans to legalize the illegal invasion of America proving he doesn't care a whit about protecting America at all from alleged terrorists or other invaders. Obama seems a nice fellow, but look at who backs him within the corporatist elite and any hope for change fades fast. As to Huckabee, you've just plain got to be kidding. None of these people are even remotely capable of doing for America what needs to be done. Many of us have long ago realized that real CHANGE must take place, and we are working every day on making this change real. No matter what the success of Ron Paul - and I wish him the very best - we will CHANGE America for the best. Many thanks go to Ron for standing up and acting as a unifying force for all of us!

[James Golff]

I contributed to Dr. Paul's campaign and I was genuinely excited by his message. I worked for Dick Gephardt, Fred Harris and George McGovern. Dr. Paul's supporters truly represent a "rainbow coalition" that cannot be stereotyped. Perhaps you can speculate as to why this candidate was virtually ignored by the media - especially in the caucus and primary results - when you continually leave a candidate who is still running off of almost every results list - what do you call it? A coincidence perhaps? We as a nation should be outraged and take heed....

[Spencer]

The media would rather cover candidates full of hot air that say things that only pander to what Americans want to hear. Ron Paul's message is painful because it is true. People are just so brainwashed into thinking that we are the greatest, most prosperous country in the world when in reality we are THE POOREST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD. Our government is over nine trillion dollars in debt, Americans alone hold 1.5 trillion dollars in unpaid debt for credit cards and loans. We as a nation are going BANKRUPT and our only solution seems to be to print out more money when we need it with absolutely nothing backing it!

Dr. Paul has made his diagnosis, and unless we follow his prescription, our country will continue to grow sicker and sicker with each day that passes.

[Rhys]

Here's another thing Andrew:

It's not like McCain is acceptable, the media just says he is. If they actually admit he's a racist, angry old crank with no clue on economy, and his military experience is as a prisoner, then no one would vote for him.

I just watch Lions for Lambs last night. I like how, just like the media, the movie stops just short of actually calling shenanigans on the whole system. Also, I like how the reporter fesses up that she's a sell out who sold the war without bothering to report or investigate... she just did what you all do, pass on the BS from Washington.

Do you honestly think, Andrew, that the system we have now isn't the insanity, that Ron Paul is? Every thing's so broke, and you act like McCain or Obama are serious. They don't even know why it's broke, all they have are big ideas on how to spend our way out of it. Well, if anyone in the media would bother to listen to Ron Paul, yes, even you, Andrew, would be able to understand why we're in the mess we're in.

Ron Paul said, "everyone likes to talk about how we're the greatest nation on Earth, but no one likes to talk about how we got that way. Then, everyone wants to talk about how we're going down the tube, but no one wants to understand how we got that way."

The very sad truth is, the media is a mouthpiece for power. The media should speak Truth to Power, not prop up it's misdeeds and undeserved trust.

Will things get so bad that the media aids in our total collapse, followed by aiding in our takeover by a strong man? What makes you journalists think we're so great anymore that this sort of thing can't happen to us? It happened to Rome, and they had the good sense to pay for their conquest. History's not so ancient to the people it happened to, you just weren't around to meet them.

On every statistic down the line, save for most military and debt, USA is slipping. The reason isn't because we don't have enough government, foreign bases, or socialism, it's because we have too much.

Wise up for God's sake. Isn't it bad enough CNN never flinched when Colin Powell said Iraq had nukes? I listened live on NPR and said, "well, Colin Powell said it and NPR agreed so I guess we gotta go."

Fuck.

[angel]

What an obvious attempt at a hatchet job. Nice try Andrew, but Ron Paul supporters have read his statement and as he said the other day, "There are sometimes surprises." Ron Paul born 8/20/35. John McCain born 8/29/36. Ron Paul-healthy. John McCain-cancer survivor (so far), battered and debilitated. So don't pull the age card. Ron Paul is likely to outlive YOU! We all know that John McCain is the man the media wants for the GOP nominee because he can't beat either Obama or Hillary. We know he can't win the general election. So, let's see how the two candidates stack up. John McCain has only the permanently blindfolded party loyalists and party leaders voting for him who will vote a straight party ticket if Osama Bin Laden was running as a Republican. Huckabee has the voters who actually want to try to pick a winner, and who don't want to see their party lose, but they don't want McCain either. He also has the religious vote and that means Texas. 194 delegates are up for grabs. But, Ron Paul is from Texas and Texans like to put other Texans in the White House. Ron Paul has a huge movement. He has Republicans who have never bothered to vote before. He has democrats who don't like Hillary or Obama, or the socialist movement within that party. Ron Paul has independents, Constitutionalists, many Liberitarians, and every Republican who knows what the REAL Republican platform has always been. If the GOP nominates John McCain, they know, they get only the Neo-Con vote. If the Democrats nominate Hillary, they get only the Neo-Com vote. But, if the GOP selects Ron Paul or Huckabee and puts them on the same ticket, here is what they get. They get all the blindfolded party loyalists who would vote for Osama Bin Laden if he were running as a Republican. They get the Republicans who want to pick a winner, but don't want to see their party lose, and who don't want McCain. They get the religious vote. They also get Ron Paul's loyal supporters, the independents, the Democrats who don't like Hillary or Obama, the Constitutionalists, the Liberitarians, Republicans who have never voted before, and every Republican who knows what the REAL Republican platform has always been. Add to that about 2/3 of the undecided voters and you have a President and Vice President EVERYONE can support. Ron Paul and Huckabee would mop the floor with Obama or Hillary. So, what do you really think the GOP will do at the Convention. This is not the general election. These are the primaries. We'll see you at the RNC. Oh, that's right, you're media, so you are a Democrat. That's why you want Ron Paul to drop out and you want to try to convince his supporters he can't win so it's not worth voting for him. Sorry, Andrew, but most people know that the primaries are only a popularity contest. We will pick the GOP nominee at the RNC and I really can't imagine that the Republican Party leadership is so stupid they would give the White House away without a fight. If John McCain is the GOP candidate, everyone knows, the Republicans will never see the inside of the White House again. VOTE RON PAUL!

[So Cal Native]

Comments like your and the rest of the editorial staff at the LA Times is why I dropped my subscription years ago.

You should apply at Pravda.

FREEDOM

(Well, I'm glad you came here to give us some clicks. Really appreciate it, Bob.)

[Thomas A. O'Brien]

Dear Mr. Malcolm,

As always – nice to read your perspectives -, but you are missing the point. Ron Paul is far from out the race and I don’t know a single Ron Paul supporter who is throwing in the towel! RP for president is a key aspect of this movement – but not the whole deal. We are just getting warmed up!

I do think what you have picked up on is a pervasive melancholy in the ranks in that countless thousands of us hoped that our countrymen were made of stronger stuff and disturbingly they appear completely clueless and this makes us sad for the general welfare of the nation– but despite this disappointment for the millions of our fellow citizen’s ignorance of their constitutional libertarian heritage our spirits are picking up by the hour. You can lead a serf to water – but you can’t make him think.

We knew things were getting pretty weird after this seven years war and complete national deterioration under King George II – but we didn’t realize just how bad things were with the big brother control issues until mainstream media showed us loud and clear and blacked out Ron Paul and then there was so much funny business with the vote counts, polls and media calling the elections with 1% to 5% counted. MSM did such a transparent attempt at election control with the orchestration and jockeying of the top tier democrats and the original GOP gang of eleven – ultimately anointing McCain as King George III to do battle with Hilary or perhaps they will be content to pit him against Obama and of course either will beat pants off McCain in the general election – and this was their whole intent. Many of us called this play a year ago and so no surprises there.

Through this perverse ordeal we have come to realize that mainstream media is potentially the most dangerous force acting in our lives with their pathetic political drama farce of the “making and breaking” of the candidates and the high jacking of the American election process. Therefore in the aftermath MSM will become the focus for the wrath of our indignation. MSM will get the majority of the “blowback” for the unethical role they played with selling out to their mogul’s selfish agendas. In a representative Republic it is essential that a free press operates ethically with objective and balanced election coverage to inform the citizen’s opinions and thereby allow for reasoned choice.

Eventually when the economy crumbles and the dollar crashes and the wars continue with a bi-gender draft, the entire nation will blame MSM– rest assured thousands of Ron Paul supporters have documented the entire sorry affair and we will be very happy to point out in the coming years how and under what conditions the American mainstream media did not do their jobs – nor even remotely fulfill those obligations. Andrew, you have been decent with Ron Paul – but most have not.

Trust me -this American 2008 election coverage will become an infamous world-class example of “media and control and the democratic election process” and used in future university text book case studies for comparative analysis with other notorious controlled elections such as in Russia, Venezuela or Pakistan to name a few.

It is a national disgrace and has actually served Ron Paul supporters as the catalyst for codifying our assumptions, hunches, fears… of the twisted abuse of a government corporatism unacceptably out of control.

Trust me Mr. Malcolm, we aren’t quitting – we have only just now begun to fight!! If you would now please pardon me - I must get back to honing my bayonet.

[gao xia en]

The main reason he didn't fare well is too many rentseekers are dependent on government handouts. The situation probably will never be reversed because government is it's own biggest special interest group. Another reason is that many people feel that morality should be legislated. This probably was liberty's last chance. Enjoy your police state. I've already moved out of the country.

[Paul]

"(we already know about the media conspiracy)"

Are you denying that *practically every* AP article uses the term long-shot when describing Ron Paul?

(This includes the rather amusing "Longshot Candidate Top GOP Fundraiser" headline.)

It isn't just with Ron Paul that there's a media bias. It's the celebrity-based beauty pageant race in the Democrats as well. Edwards, Hillary, and Obama are the least experienced of the three Democrats, yet somehow Hillary is portrayed as more experienced than either Dodd, Richardson, or Biden, and somehow Obama will bring more change than Kucinich or Gravel.

[Matt]

We'll all be annoying you, commenting you, and standing together on issues for years to come. Mr. Paul just got us organized, now we're just a massive group of people who want our country to go back to following the Constitution, respecting the civil liberties, and fighting for the government to stay out of our lives.

(Well, that's great. Where did you ever get the idea you were annoying? I invited all these comments in the item above. Thanks for coming. I learn a lot from some, like Patrick's above.)

[LA garbage]

Thanks for pointing out that Paul is the oldest candidate. He's a year older than Mcmonster you freakshow.

(Actually, he was born about six months before McCain, which makes him by my calculations still about six months older than McCain and, thus, the oldest in the entire field of either party. Holds up pretty well, doesn't he?)

[Joe Sheehy]

Funny how that works in a corporate run government. When you're no longer a threat, you finally get recognition, LOL. But guess what? Ron Paul's message is here to stay, and more and more Americans will be clamoring for a government our forefathers set forth...and understand why they risked everything to escape from the British Empire which is a replica of the one we now disdain!! This isn't the end of Ron Paul's message, IT'S ONLY THE BEGINNING!!!!

http://w3.newsmax.com/a/feb08/

[Kyle]

the fact is Malcolm, you could still ask many many people if they've heard of Ron Paul and they would say no. Either that or they'd say something vague like "Oh yeah, I heard something about him on FOX last night for a few seconds, something about 9/11 conspiricies, I'm not sure". Americans are outright lazy for the most part. Everyone knows that if you just sit in front of your TV and expect it to inform you on all the candidates and their positions on issues that you'd be wasting your time. There's a huge number, specifically of older Americans, who still don't use computers. Don't touch them, don't know how to work them, don't know what an e-mail is, don't realize that the internet can be an amazing research tool. Unfortunately they're just stubborn. They've voted a certain way since "1952" or whatever and they're sticking to it. They don't dig. They don't know that Hillary Clinton has accepted $800,000 from lobbyists or that McCain was completely wrong when he threw the term "isolationism" around, and that's most likely because they were too busy watching CSI to even watch a debate. The American public in general are not the sharpest knives in the drawer. We forget things immediately, we want fast food, fast cars, fast news, big televisions, lots of cash and aside from that nothing really holds our attention. More of us vote for the next American Idol than the US President and many of us couldn't pass a 3rd grade geography exam. We are a culture of stupidy. Of reality TV. Of celebrity gossip. Of trends. I truly believe if more Americans bothered to inform themselves about issues, which I feel is a civic duty, and if more Americans could've taken the time to learn about Ron Paul and his beliefs, that he'd enjoy much more support and success. Alas, the voters have spoken. The Republican Party wants to be the party of perpetual war and debt and the Democratic Party wants to the party of the welfare state and debt. More of the same...always more of the same. Long live bumper sticker politics. sigh...

(You know, the media is far from perfect just like politicians and other professions. But it's not really the media's job to publicize anyone in particular, though they do hope around on some. It's kind of up to the candidates to be doing/saying/creating events to make news in order to be noticed. Not very libertarian to sit back and blame some other large force for not noticing you. As I mentioned above, see how the Paul campaign ha ndled the record-breaking money bomb day last fall. A news release posted on a website at midnight Sunday. How not to get noticed by anyone--but me, who was looking for the numbers. But I'm weird. His press people could have scheduled a big ceremony the next day and have a big $6 million check to give him for all the cameras and the new world's record. But no. Do you think any of the other candidates would have forfeited such an opportunity? So while there was significant ignoring, it's not ALL the media's fault. And I say that as someone who has not been ignoring Dr. P all along.)

[Doug Moby]

In the 14 min video mentioned above, Ron Paul proposed a march on Washington.

Count me in!

[Davo]

The message lives and is getting louder.
Understand fractional reserve banking, treasury bonds and the income tax inter-relationships and you will be taking a step in the direction of Freedom rather than Sheepdom.

[DenisL]

Forgetting what they say they will do, would someone tell me what difference it will make in the real world actions of our next President, if Hillary or Obama are elected?....Or if McCain or Huckabee are elected? Then please tell me what it matters, if Obama or McCain are elected. What will they actually do differently?
I sincerely do not know. I know what they say. I just do not believe they will act differently. They are all hypocrites in my opinion, who could not tell the truth if our lives depended on it! If any of the top 4 are elected, then we will stay in Iraq and Afghanistan, we will go broke with deficit spending, inflation is going to go through the roof, and the Patriot Act will NOT be repealed. So what difference does it really make if any of the top 4 are elected?
Why is it so hard for people to see why Ron Paul supporters will not give up?
We simply have no other rational choice. It is all really quite simple if you look at it logically.

The recent endorsement of McCain by Bush is wild.
Bush is no more a conservative than his father and Richard Nixon were. That is the problem. People seem to think that if one is a GOP member that one is conservative. Hardly. Bush is a neocon Republican. Not a conservative.
Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater were conservatives.
Gosh I thought this was obvious.
It is laughable for Bush Jr. to judge anyone's conservative credentials. He does not understand economics or individual rights. He is a neocon. They like war, tax cuts and unlimited budget deficits so that the economy will be destroyed so that we need war to distract the average American from our domestic problems. And so that their rich military industrial complex buddies (ala Eisenhower's warning) can get richer. The next two years will be very dangerous for the world .....And for us! They will need a war VERY VERY badly. By the way this includes ALL the remaining top tier candidates in both parties. God help us all.

[Clay T]

Kuddos to the L.A. Times for the objectivity, tone and overall accuracy of this current article about the ongoing campaign of Dr. Ron Paul. The good doctor is offering America the right prescription to cure our ills. However, those who have been so successful in manipulating the GOP - with biased reporting and naysaying, are keeping my fellow Republicans from accepting the diagnosis and taking the medicine which our nation really needs.

It appears that the effort underway to annoint the tempermental old warrior, John McCain, is going to cost our party the election in the fall.

My hope now is that when Barack Obama was teaching law students courses in the Constitution that he really got it right, and appreciates, believes in every word, and directive of the supreme law of our republic. All we really need is a president - and a Congress - who will obey our Constitution.

You see, it makes no difference at all if our president is a man or woman, black, white, brown or yellow, or even which party helps them get into office. What is vital now, at this crossroads in our nation's history, is that our government get back to precisely following the Constitution. The cure to what is truly hurting America, causing our economy to sour and our prestige worldwide to suffer - those can all be fixed by our elected officials following the Constitution.

Ron Paul has explained that it won't be a painless cure for all. There will be a period of re-adjustment, but that once Americans are free of the oppressive nature of the income tax and we return to having sound currency - the sweet jingle of real silver in our pockets, and our brave warriors are ordered back home and focused on defending our borders, America will become healed and our national prosperity will recover. Dr. Paul is a physician and physician means teacher. Dr. Paul is teaching us how to cure ourselves and God bless him for his lifelong effort.

[dave]

are we supposed to expect to see the end of the american republic before we see media ask, 'when did you stop raping liberty, mister president?'

[J. O'Brien]

ADMIT IT, you and Tim Cavanaugh have a bet going to see who can milk the most comments from Ron Paul supporters.

I wish Ron Paul supporters would stop wasting their time being made fools of like this by you and Tim (and the rest of main stream news media).

The LA Times has been declining every year for the past 5 years in a row. Making fun of people who are your customers will not help save your job.

[Charles Bentley]

Malcom... look at all these educated comments. You are being owned!
I became a strong Ron Paul supporter when I discovered him by LUCK in reading a user comment on a web site.
This is enough evidence of the media blackout for me. I was a sheep reading tidbits from the MSM and never heard of Ron Paul before.

[MIchael]

Mr. Malcomn, there IS no other reason that Mr. Paul did not catch on to a wider audience....it is the MEDIA - what else do YOU think it would be? You are asking everyone else for another answer, when there isn't one. Without media support, the American drones who are mesmerized by television (about 80% of them asleep and hypnotized, so to speak) have no other exposure to politics. They believe what they are fed by mainstream media. This includes the elderly, who often get their news EXCLUSIVELY from television. See, what people need to do is first - shut off their televisions...Americans generally are brainwashed by the media, and unintelligent. A slave who recognizes he is a slave will fight back - and these are your intelligent Americans; Ron Paul supporters who actually KNOW a thing or two about the economy, and the amount of corruption in the so called "democracy" - it's all an illusion forced down our throats.

[Adam]

I think most people just don't understand enough about the government to make an educated decision. I could talk to a lot of people about RP and his ideas, and they won't even recognize the worth of what I am saying. He's an intellectual's candidate, and that is apparently not what gets elected.

In order to win, you HAVE to compromise your principles and ideals. This is absurd, but it is the reality of the situation.

Face it, MOST of the people who vote do not know nearly enough about all if the different candidates or about economics or different political philosophies to make an educated decision.

[matt]

Andrew,

Your only reply that I read was to someone who said that he didn't think there was a media blackout. - this simply isn't true and Im sure your quite aware of the ongoing bias going on in the American media. you only have to look at the broad spectrum to see the slant the media started to put on him when the summer months were drawing in and then this went into overdrive when his money bomb days broke all records. "Maverick", "kook", "crazy", "Racist" these were all terms to describe an honest man runny for president - and you think you live in a democracy? - Get real mate.

its even so in your face as when he comes in second in Nevada they put up the results and have 1st, 3rd and 4th place on the dam screen!!!!

Go splash some cold water on your face and rethink your stance on your reporting (its not as bad as some ill give you that) and realise that if the people who are seemingly in control of your "free contrary" continue on this war path, I predict some terrible times ahead both in war and economic stability.

Just some words from the uk and all the best to the paul supports still fighting on!

[mystiker]

Dr. Ron Paul spoke the truth concerning our economic policy,foreign policy and our departure from the constitution.
He has led an exemplary life and is genuine. A statesman. not a politician. America has had years to get its' election process in order, but every election year there are "mistakes", changing of rules in the middle of voting, (Louisiana), use of machines proved to be open to fraud. It is evident that corruption is premeditated. Dr. Paul was obviously and blatantly ridiculed and ignored by pseudo-journalists, bordering on racketeering. It was a combination of his integrity,use of election fraud and media blackout that hampered his campaign,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ek2rXxFEzWI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4FPuLNjvAc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKeBwMuzKK0