Sunday, May 20, 2007

Educating Rudy

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fox News Bends Over Backwards to Discredit Themselves
Source

http://dbstovall.newsvine.com/_news/2007/05/16/721436-fox-news-bends-ov\
er-backwards-to-discredit-themselves

I watched portions of the GOP debate this evening and found it pretty interesting, if wholly unexciting with the exception of a few exchanges. However, the real fireworks started with the post debate coverage on Fox News. I left it on Fox rather than switch immediately to the NBA
Playoffs. I couldn't believe what I saw.

At the beginning Fox news was encouraging everyone to vote in their text messaging poll. Well, as would be expected, Ron Paul was the run away winner at first. This was terribly disconcerting to the Fox News talking heads that had spent the previous 30 minutes attacking Paul and the other 2nd tier candidates, stating it was time to start trimming the field. Hannity and the other "analysts" then spent the rest of the show reminding viewers how unscientific their own poll was. Claiming that it
meant nothing, and declaring that nobody pays attention to text or
Internet polls. It was about the funniest thing I had ever seen.

Now, most people know that Ron Paul is not the typical neo-con candidate that the powers that be in the GOP are trying to shove down our throats. I really like Ron Paul's ideas. He is probably the only candidate from either of the major parties that I would consider voting for (something I haven't done for years). I have been pretty skeptical of Ron Paul's support however. I believed that his enormous on-line following was
mostly sincere, but partially manufactured by a few over enthusiastic supporters. However, after watching the debates, and seeing the response from the mainstream press, I am starting to change my mind on the idea
of Paul's support.

Many people have been saying that the GOP needs to clean house. The
neo-con idealists that have run the party the last 15 years have clearly failed and the country is abandoning the party in droves. The cry for a return to true conservative values has been growing louder and louder in
recent years and I think we are witnessing the approaching crescendo. I think we are witnessing an internal battle in the GOP between the neo-con powers that be, and a true grass roots movement seeking to take
back their party and latching onto Paul as their chosen savior. I just
don't believe that a few hundred over enthusiastic supporters could
"game the system" for so long across so many different formats. I don't think that momentum like that could sustain itself without legitimate backing from real supporters.

As I watched the post debate analysis, absolute buffoonery of the likes of Hannity and Michael Steele, trying to downplay the results of their own poll they had been pimping just minutes earlier was some of the best unintentional comedy ever televised as news commentary. The absolute refusal of the talking heads on Fox, ABC, and other mainstream news organizations to recognize Ron Paul as a legitimate candidate, despite the overwhelming results of their own polls just amazes me. I am no statistician, but it seems to me that if Fox wanted a clear picture of the poll results it would be easy enough for them to spot people that
are gaming the system. If Pajamas Media and American Idol can do it,
surely Fox and ABC can.

I know that Ron Paul has almost no chance of winning the GOP nomination. That isn't what I am truly interested in anymore. However, I do believe that now may be the start of a purging that the GOP has needed for a long time. The GOP hasn't been a conservative party for years now. It seems that their base may finally be waking up to that fact.

Anonymous said...

http://www.freedomsphoenix.com/Feature-Article.htm?InfoNo=018856

Rudy Giuliani's Rant Raises Ron Paul - By Barry Hess

Ernest Hancock
Website: www.ernesthancock.com
Date: 05-17-2007
Subject: Presidential Campaigns for 2008 - United States

Rudy's Rant Raises Ron
By Barry Hess

We all owe the failed former Mayor of the Big Apple a hearty thanks for finally revealing himself as a desperate and incompetent opportunist.

Despite the repeated attempts by the propaganda wing of the
Republican/Democratic Party to categorize the candidates by something they call "tiers", Dr. Ron Paul keeps winning all of the debates.

Isn't it at least a little odd that even though he clearly and
decisively wins the forums and all of the polls, the media mouthpieces
still refer to him as a "second tier" candidate?

The mainstream media seem to be completely unaware their "sooo last
century" attempts to pick political winners just aren't working any
more and it is clearly frustrating them. Somehow, many in our
deliberately dumbed-down populace are actually paying attention and
making their own choices. People aren't buying the "second-tier" moniker for Dr. Paul and the propaganda press can't make it stick.

If the press had any real interest in simply reporting news events,
wouldn't they be clamoring to push Dr. Paul to their front pages
because he has won all but one of the many many polls and in the odd
one, came in a very close second? Polls are usually what the bad guys
rely on to exclude candidates who just want to serve honorably. His
campaign is already a phenomenon sparking a nationwide grassroots
effort the likes of which Ross Perot would have drooled for.

What's really behind the deception is the idea that the candidate with
the most money raised from special interests is supposed to win but
that's not what's happening. Obviously, the major media likes the candidate with the biggest pile of money because they are planning on getting a bunch of it through advertising sales. Paul's campaign
leaves them in a bit of a pickle. The media has to choose between
making money, and the candidate who has steadfastly forwarded the
founding values and principles of America itself.

We have a classic battle before us: The little honest man with a
strong message versus the well-funded Socialist leviathan represented by the Republican/Democrat Party.

Rudy blundered in trying to turn attention from his earlier flip flops and weaselings, by pulling the heartstrings of patriotic public emotion.

Tactically, in debate it is death to acknowledge the existence of
lesser candidates. They might respond with an overwhelmingly popular answer, which is exactly what Ron Paul did.

Paul supporter might say thanks to Rudy for giving Ron a couple of
million dollars worth of national ink and interest. While they're at
it, they might thank the Hannity/Colmes team for diminishing themselves by blatantly twisting what Dr. Paul actually said. Of course, they should also thank the debate panel members for their obvious sleights as well. By asking Dr. Paul if he was in the wrong party, they bring up, and Dr. Paul made clear what the public already knew the Republican Party itself is RINO. There was only one Republican on stage in South Carolina, and they called him a Libertarian. Odd
that.

Thus far, it is clear that Rudy's cheap, fake and desperate attempt to try to revive his well-funded flop of a candidacy by daring to joust with a man of principle backfired in a very big way. It is now clear that if Rudy can make elementary mistakes on stage he would make them in office.

Dr. Paul was right, it's not the Muslims who hate Americans and our
freedoms or pose the greatest and most immediate threat to America, it's the Republican/Democrat machine.

Were it me in Dr. Paul²s position, I know I would have found it
tempting to point out that while Rudy bills himself as a security
expert -- it was on his watch, and in the city he was charged with
protecting that the attacks occurred. How Alice-in-Wonderland of him to profit on his failures. I might even apply the word cheater to more than just his personal lack of matrimonial integrity. But that's just me.

The flummoxed press has tried to diminish Dr. Paul's winning every poll by stating that he's just better organized to orchestrate all the call-ins and Internet votes, even that his campaign is spamming to make it happen.

What the loser campaigns are missing is that this Ron Paul Revolution really is happening, and there's nothing they can do to stop it. Besides, simple logic tells us that if the less-funded guy can beat the big-money campaigns in the polls and organization he's probably the best candidate for President.

The traditional attempts to exclude candidates from debate in order to
diminish their exposure and effectiveness will not work this time around. The "Michigan moron" GOP leader who tried to pass around a petition to exclude Dr. Paul from future debate proves my point. What
the moron didn't count on was the rank and file actually wanting a real Republican, Ron Paul, to represent them. Dr. Paul should send him and Nancy Reagan a thank you as well. To the moron, for the new supporters, and to Nancy for once again having the class and integrity to invite him to the first debate.

If the media is going to categorize candidates, they would be smart to
describe the criteria they use to label the candidates as such.
Clearly, in this campaign, the tiers need to be reassessed on other than how much special interest money they can raise.

Ron Paul is winning. That should make him "top tier" by any standard.