Topic: Social and Cultural Issues
Is Ron Paul To Blame For His Supporters' Every Action? Direct attacks failing, FOX implicates Ron Paul in the actions of a few supporters. Who is really to blame?by creator
(libertarian)
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Brit Hume, a managing editor of FOX News, yesterday reported a truly regrettable circumstance surrounding the recent primary elections in New Hampshire. His story was the lead in a "Special Report" video article called "Did Ron Paul Supporters Cross the Line?."
Hume relates that Jennifer Call, town clerk of Sutton, New Hampshire, received about 40 calls from Ron Paul supporters, several of them abusive. He then reports Ms. Call's remark that "most of these people are not rational."
Was the abusive treatment of this town clerk by a few justified? No. Those few Ron Paul supporters clearly "crossed the line" inexcusibly in this instance. The matter is of such obvious concern and interest that it has remained at the top of a Google news "relevance search" most of the day. But I have some questions of my own for Mr. Hume:
Is Ron Paul responsible for the actions of his supporters? And is there not a larger context within which even these few despicable actions might be understood?
The Ron Paul 2008 Campaign has explicitly chosen not to pursue any allegations of vote fraud, opting rather to concentrate on winning primaries in other states. This sets a clear tone of leadership by example to all of his followers.
It is unreasonable to blame Ron Paul, even implicitly, for the emotional behavior of a small number of his supporters. Reports like Hume's are nothing more than thinly veiled attempts to take Dr. Paul to task as though he had somehow instigated the actions of these few. Blaming Ron Paul for the supporters that mistreated Jennifer Call is pure nonsense! You might as well blame Jodie Foster for making John W. Hinkley shoot Ronald Reagan!
In a similar way, Ron Paul has been accused of "blaming the victims" for terrorist attacks. He has however made it crystal clear that he does not blame Americans for terrorist attacks, he blames the terrorists.
Mr. Hume, why don't you follow Dr. Paul's example? Rather than imply he is to blame for the behavior of an absolutely minuscule percentage of his supporters, why not act like a journalist, investigate and uncover the identity of the one or two supporters who caused the problem?
Better yet, why not report with equal fervor on the spectacular accomplishments of the hundreds of thousands of Ron Paul supporters who have created new ventures, donated tens of millions of dollars by fifties and hundreds, invented slogans, and launched advertising blimps to do the job that you and your colleagues refuse to do? What? That wouldn't further your agenda?
It is you, sir, and your gang of yellow "journalists" who are not behaving rationally. But in your case, the percentages are completely inverted, with only a tiny few of you according Dr. Paul the honor he has earned and so richly deserves.
It is also appropriate to raise, as does Ron Paul, the question of motives. Why don't you ask what could motivate such a strong emotional reaction in these few miscreant Ron Paul followers?
Could it be that the abysmal behavior of an oppressive and out of touch federal government has created a huge backlog of pent-up emotion and anger in America? Tyrannical laws, regulations, and restrictions implemented by the current administration have straight-jacketed the common man to the point of severe pain.
So, Mr. Hume, do unto Ron Paul as he has done unto others. Put the blame squarely where it belongs, on the few misguided and angry supporters, not on Dr. Paul. Consider also the craven and unlawful oppression promulgated by the federal government as the intolerable pressure driving a few to overreact in this fashion.
But please give credit where credit is due as well -- credit Ron Paul for inspiring a vast and growing army of patriots who are working vigorously and creatively to restore Liberty to our once great nation.
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For him to report as an honest journalist would take honesty and integrity. Both qualities seem to be absent in the case of Mr. Hume. All Mr. Hume sees is the dollars rolling into his bank account for furthering the agenda of the 'establishment'. He's entitled to his own opinion, of course, but he is not 'fair and unbiased' in any kind of way, and I cannot understand why anyone but he and his band of fellow crooks would think the way he does.
Brit Scum(Hume)is now a part of the lowest form of TV, Fox. Fox caters to the White House, because the Whitehouse approves Drugs, then tells the Drug Companies to advertise on Fox. Recently, the President of NBC said, it is much more profitable to have a Fox format, and that's the direction they're heading. NBC is owned by General Electric, on of the largest government contractors, same thing, the White House will push more contracts GE's way, if they do what the White House tells them to, the fix is SO BIG, the fix is SO IN. Fox can't wait to scare the hell out of every American Senior Citizen, and get the show, 24, back on the air, so they can promote the "boogeyman". Americans are too stupid to hire the right guy to run their country, but will hire the most qualified man to fix their roof. No American will hire a smooth talker who evades clear answers, or a religious person, when they want the very best person to fix their roof, but it's OK to hire a moron or liar to run the country. The Dems will eat every war-mongering republican for breakfast, the only true hope the Republicans have is Ron Paul, but there's not incentive to back him, because his plan would eliminate corruption by just taking away the pork projects.
If that is all FOX can find, that is what they will report. The big smear is on.
People are stressed out with economic issues, a great majority do NOT trust the government and that mistrust goes all the way down to town clerks. People who knew they had voted for Ron Paul reported that their town was showing zero votes when there should have been at least some votes recorded.
Miss Call got 40 phone calls over 31 votes cast that were not showing up on the final tallies. Whoopee! Sounds like everyone who had cast a vote for Paul called and maybe a spouse or two. This is hardly a "campaign of terror".
OK, they blame it on human errors. How many of these errors occur in any election? Would it ever have been corrected if people hadn't called? Why don't people in Sutton have any more trust in their home-grown town clerk? We only seem to have her word that callers were "irrational".
If I see discrepancies on my credit card statement, I am going to call the company and raise questions. It is that simple. I assume that the callers felt the same.
People need to remember that it never pays to start off acting in an ugly manner, though. And remember that anything outside of civility will stick to Paul and be reported on ad nauseum. Reporters are looking for any dirt right now. This is lame but they will use it.
Whats going to happen when the government declares an emergency and rounds up peoples guns? Will Ron Paul be blamed for people getting shot too?
I keep wondering at what point will Americans stand up and demand the rights this government has taken away. There will be a point.. I dont know when or how, but something is going to happen. Just because the government doesnt abuse us now, does not mean it wont happen in the future. Could you imagine going to jail for fighting for the rights that were granted to us in the first place?
Having lived in Biloxi, where Katrina hit full force, once the government showed up and rounded up guns from homeowners is when I saw the Patriot Act for what it is. Thomas Jefferson said we wouldnt miss the second amendment until we needed it. What protected homeowners from criminals? The cops??? Its sickening to watch our rights ever so slowly be stripped from us in the name of security. Id much rather die protecting my home than live under a government I fear.
Thanks again for exposing the media bias and speaking encouragement to the ranks of Ron Paul supporters. BUT TAKE NOTE: whether it's fair or not, our actions will be used by the media to make Ron Paul look bad whenever possible. Jumping to conclusions, over-emotionalism, rage, and scathing allegations on our part will only discredit the movement. Anyone who wants to confront the evils of our day and overcome them must have virtuous character that has been forged in the fire. Otherwise, we will be consumed by that very evil that we are confronting.
Maybe someone has an answer to this question? If the 31 votes out of 920 that were cast, were then placed in Dr. Paul's name, were they taken away from another candidate?
Of course Ron Paul is to blame for what his supporters do. If he cannot control the actions of a few of the hundreds of thousands of supporters then just what can we expect from him? After all, MLK Jr was to blame for all the riots. Its not people's fault they act like fools, its the leaders of these people and, as you point out, it is Jodie Foster's fault Reagan got shot...NOT!!
Good article and yet another reminder to RP supporters everywhere...beware your actions. I say it again, the message of liberty must be liberating not irritating. It is OK to not agree with something, it is fine to voice disapproval yet it must be done with tact and diplomacy. In this revolution we must take the higher ground and disarm the Hume's of the world by showing we are strong and we are clearly right. Please lets stop fueling the fools fire for it is only our candidate and our cause that gets burned.
FOX is clearly trying to draw Ron Paul supporters out into battle grounds that they create. They will continue to use tactics of provocation and probably, if they haven't already, plant Ron Paul "supporters" to smear his campaign.
This is why it is extremely important not to lose your cool. The message is powerful enough. Let FOX lose their composer trying to stop it, but don't fall for their gutter tactics.
When freedom and liberty is stolen from people... when the main stream media crosses way over the dirty tricks line and actually manipulates the outcome of a presidential election... when educated, enlightened people join the cause to restore Constitutional government, the gravity of the situation can cause some to go overboard. Should we be surprised? As things get worse in this country, we'd better prepare for an increase in such responses because people are being pushed by fear and disparity.
While I don't condone things that some RP supporters have done, this happens in every grass roots organization. And, of course, the MSM is there to spin it against Ron Paul. If he had beans for lunch, I'm sure the MSM will be there to blame him for his eventual "personal contribution" to global warming! ...anything to smear the good Doctor.
Again, while I don't condone the "alleged" actions against Mrs. Call, I, too, am mad as Hell and I'm tired of taking it!!! However, I know that far more progress can be made toward a solution by keeping our heads and, if necessary, using peaceful civil disobedience. I hope my fellow Ron Paul supporters will follow my lead. We have too much to lose if we succumb to the urge to act out of anger as opposed to calculated foresight.
Since when does anyone in government--especially a local bureaucrat who can't seem to read or count and therefore must be a kindergarten dropout--know what is rational?
First, the 920 votes the MSM is using to marginalize the 31 votes is question are the TOTAL of Democrat and Republican votes in that precinct. Actually, the 31 votes represent about 10% of the Republican votes cast there. I believe the 31 votes were not taken away from another candidate. They were just not reported at all until the "discrepancy" was identified.
The fact that Mr. Hume focused on the phone calls that Mrs. Call received, rather than the fact that there was an obvious case of vote miscount is very telling. It really shows where his priorities are and unfortunately they are not in line with the interests of fairness and justice.
I call out to my fellow supporters of Dr. Paul to please stop the excessive confrontational attitude that are being shown and written about in the media.
The person we support is a man of integrity and an absolute gentleman. We are not rabid dogs of his that we can act like animals while campaigning in his name because in the end we cause dirtying his reputation.
We must act accordingly and respect other people even to those candidates or media presenters that we dislike.
Respect goes along way. Humility in our action is paramount.
Why do you assume these are 'Ron Paul supporters'?
1. Do you believe everything you hear on Faux Noise? Especially about Ron Paul?
2. Do you believe Call is telling the truth? This is the woman who trashed 100% of one candidate's votes - for the Presidency of the US!. Caught out, she lashed out at that candidate's supporters. Whether neglect or purpose-full, she was totally incompetent in her job. If she had any respect, she would have quit her position immediately. She didn't.
This report is just more slander against Ron Paul.
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