Topic: Ron Paul
The Ron Paul Factor A look back at the manipulation of public opinion polls after Reagan Library and South Carolina GOP debates and how they distorted Ron Paul's affect on the 2008 presidential election.by Aaron Wolfe
(Libertarian)
Friday, July 18, 2008
Something wasn't adding up.
All indications were that Ron Paul had won the GOP debate at the Reagan Library May of last year. Poll after poll had the Texas congressman thousands of votes ahead of any other candidate, yet major news networks weren't giving him the time of day - much as they refuse to do so today.
What should have been the story of the hour - an obscure candidate winning the hearts of Americans across the country - was either dismissed as a fluke or completely ignored.
I was incensed, but also willing to listen to reason. Online polling is not, of course, a very scientific or proper way to gauge public opinion. Multiple voting usually runs rampant, especially if a group is particularly enamored with their candidate.
It is this dedicated following that has kept Ron Paul's candidacy alive, after all. His campaign earned more than $5.3 million in the third quarter of 2007, 70 percent of which came from online donations - to say nothing of a string of successful "money bomb" campaigns that came afterward.
But I just couldn't leave the subject alone. I could not justify writing off Ron Paul's success to a group of loyal supporters fervently clicking away at an online poll. And to make sure I wasn't becoming rather senile myself, I began looking into media coverage of the congressman.
Then something strange began to happen.
As I shifted through various polls and debate footage, I began arriving at conclusions that made me feel like a paranoid conspiracy theorist. It was becoming very clear that television producers had blatantly and systematically attempted to derail Ron Paul's campaign.
The story begins with the GOP debate held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. ABC News conducted a poll after the event that asked, "Which Republican came out on top?" After just more than 18,000 votes had been collected, 15,568 Americans had voted for Ron Paul. The closest candidate to the congressman was Mitt Romney with a grand total of 221.
ABC News contributed Rep. Paul's popularity to Internet activism, but this is problematic since he also won several polls that only allowed one vote per IP address.
The GOP debate at South Carolina followed the same trend, but this time the media was out for blood. The congressman's views on foreign policy had stirred controversy and FOX News was ready to pounce.
Imagine their surprise when this "second-tier" candidate led their text-message poll for the majority of the night, slipping behind Mitt Romney by only 1 percent to finish in second place.
In his own words, Sean Hannity asserted that Ron Paul "did not win that debate." But not only was this an inappropriate assertion for a network that claims to be "fair and balanced," it was also completely neglectful of the national mood. It is not responsible journalism to ignore such a sweeping level of support, especially since Rep. Paul also won the MSNBC debate poll by a margin of nearly 60 percent.
He went on to win 14 out of 30 straw polls, collect more donations from active and veteran military than any other candidate, and begin the Campaign for Liberty upon withdrawing from the presidential race.
Ron Paul's popularity is, clearly, due to more than online activism. He has struck a chord with an America that is desperate for change, and if he was not a factor in this election, a part of me doesn't want to know who is.
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2008 Aaron Wolfe, all rights reserved.
Published: Friday, July 18, 2008
Last modified: Friday, July 18, 2008
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Great article. Its a shame that We the People don't get to vote: I mean ACTUALLY vote. The election is still weeks away, and not one vote has been cast. Yet, through whatever reason, our chance to vote for who we want has already limited. Thank you for writing this.
Oh, come on. This is very very very old news. The media crucified Ron Paul and his supporters. No other candidates had his backers called lunatics and fanatics and insane and my personal favorite - non-existent bots.
I am glad you finally figured out what happened, but there are so many stories on this and yours is short and does not begin to tell the whole picture. Go back and see what they call Ron Paul - erstwhile, quirky, nutty, insane, lost, out of touch, quixiotic, etc. The treatment by Fox was the type of treatment that if we really have a working FCC should have gotten their license yanked (of course I would prefer a world without the FCC completely).
Now, the Nevada GOP is effectively silencing all Ron Paul supporters by changing its entire democratically supported voting process in that state.
The country is going to the dogs and only Ron Paul or someone like him can save us. We have had the solution all along, but the MSM has treated us all with such disdain that the modern person who ignores all news unless it comes to them in tiny snippets came to believe that Ron Paul and his supporters were crazy. Well, enjoy your world run by the sane people. A world without banks or money or food or stuff or housing.
How many times does Ron Paul have to run screaming through the streets letting us know that a crisis is looming, being proven right time after time, with millions of us following him trying to shout it just as loud, before anyone will listen?
We are headed down the same road that Nazi Germany was, we are not there yet, but it is not far away. Wait until the people start starving. For those of you that do not want to repeat history, may I suggest reading the Road to Serfdom by Hayek. Mr. Hayek, a Nobel prize winner, was in Germany right before the Nazis came to power. He explains how and why this happened. It is eerily similar to the country in which we find ourself living these days.
As the economy worsens people will start turning to the one thing that is causing all their ills - the government. They will ask the fox for ever more troops to guide their hen houses. They will beg for more "protection". They will insist on more regulations and further strangulation of the markets which will delay any economic recovery. The next few decades in this country will not be fun for anyone.
But, if you want to know why, or what the solutions are, Ron Paul has the answers. Now, if only we could get the morons at the TV studios to read an actual book, we might get some real reporting. But don't hold your breath. They (the media) were raised in government run schools, they have been taught that big brother really is a term of endearment and should be welcomed as a savior, and they are handed out their licenses by the goverment. So, gee, I don't see them turning around anytime soon.
If you want the brainwashing to stop, may I suggest that you stop listening to, or reading any news from any mainstream newsource for at least a month. Get your news from fff.org or mises.org or lewrockwell.com, or all three. Then go back and try to watch the filth that passes for news. I surmise you will be shocked and dismayed and for once be able to see the real spin - not liberal or conservative, but statist. That is the real danger. (A statist is one who believes that the State, the government, is our protector and all our problems can be solved if only we turn over enough of our money to the entity. It is a form of Socialism, which as you should know were what the Nazis were. Go look up the acronym Nazi if you don't believe me.)
We live in a criminal society and it is not going to get any better unless we clean house.....the sooner the better....whatever it takes in order for our children and grandchildren to live in a free and just country...
Fortunatly we still have a chance to elect some one who is a like mind to Ron Paul By his own words Ron Paul is no longer running for President or even the chance to speak at the Republican convention.He will not be on the ballot. I would have stuck by him to the end if he'd kept campaigning. Now He needs to endorse Bob Barr and Wayne Root so we at least have a chance to have some one elected that has American's freedoms in mind. Only one other party,the Libertarians have chance of being on the ballot in at least 48 states. The Media also doesn't want you to know that fact either. We need your vote for princlple not who the news media want s you to elect. If all the Same Ron Paul supporters got behind his message and voted for a Constitution minded candidate, we'd have a good chance of winning. The Libertarians are not out campaigning to give you anything this election. They are campaigning to see that you continue to have the freedoms to live your life the way the founding fathers intended.
What the majority of Americans want is of no consequence if their desire is at odds with the lust of the biggest corporations. This fact presents itself over and over again in the American political discourse. We are ruled by corporations, private tyrannies, which may have started in America, but are now stateless, borderless megaliths. The big media candidates are merely fronts for the Fortune 100 elite. If you want to spend our outrageous tax burden on healthcare instead of corporate giveaways, then you're a communist. If you want to reduce the burden and spend less money on the corporate empire, you're an unmentionable maverick, a treasonous thought criminal. All corporate failures and costs will be socialized, however.
Haven't you seen what the Nevada GOP is doing to avoid a unbaised election of delegates. I only that America will awaken and he is nominated at the GOP Convention. If not Bob Barr has my vote
Sad thing is,it isn't ONLY Faux News... On July 12,at the Freedom walk,there were over 11,000 poeple in attendance,CNN reported that like 500 to 800 had shown....
The rEVOLution is happening right under peoples noses & the MSM does not show it...
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2008 Aaron Wolfe, all rights reserved.