As Ron Paul has risen in the polls, so also has criticism increased of the people who comprise the Ron Paul Revolution. by Walt Thiessen
(libertarian)
Friday, December 30, 2011
It has been an ongoing theme, and it continues to increase. The rise of Ron Paul in the polls and in the public eye is directly attributable to two things: a much better organized campaign, and a much more experienced group of supporters. I think of the supporters as the Ron Paul Revolution, but major media critics prefer diminutive and insulting terms like "Ronulans", "Paulbots", "Ronbots", and "Tinfoil Hats".
As an example, witness the latest diatribe of jibes from CNN's Micah Sifry. In an article published two days ago under the headline, "Will his 'Paulbots' torpedo Ron Paul in Iowa?", Sifry writes, "But there's a paradox buried inside Paul's rise in the Republican field, a time bomb ticking away. Call it the curse of the 'Paulbots.'" Later in the article, Sifry writes, "...the Paulbot base doesn't handle criticism very well."
Well, I know a different group that doesn't handle criticism very well. That group is CNN. How do I know? Simple. Unlike other news web sites that have embraced 21st century technology, CNN provides no mechanism for readers to criticize CNN's writers, such as a comment section on the article page. Talk about not being able to handle criticism!
I disagree with Sifry's evaluation of Ron Paul's supporters. Yes, four years ago, the average Ron Paul Revolutionary was likely to go ballistic at the slightest dig. However, people learn, and Paul's supporters have learned as well. This time around, you're much likely to see a deliberate hatchet job answered by Paul's millions in a more educated way. Sure, the rhetoric will be blunt in most cases, but frankly we need bluntness today.
One of the best aspects of Paul's rise to the top has been to see the blunt ways that his opponents criticize him. Gone are the curtains hiding the man pulling the levers. Now, we clearly see candidates like Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, and Michele Bachmann blatantly declaring that a Paul nomination would be bad for the U.S. They have clearly positioned themselves on the side of big government and big brother sticking its nose into the affairs of other countries at the expense of American taxpayers and by shedding the blood of American sons and daughters. Any doubt about the big money to which these fakirs owe their true allegiance disappears more and more with each passing day.
But perhaps the best part of Sifry's attack on Paul supporters is that it is so completely misguided. Worse of all, from Sifry's point-of-view, it will accomplish nothing, because in the long run, the only thing important in this race is the economy. That's a bare fact that none of the major media have embraced. Neither have the other candidates embraced it. They can complain all they want to about the endless list of relatively unimportant peripheral issues they bring up to try to drag support away from Paul, but in the end it won't do any good. The reason is that the voters know what the real focus is, because it's what they themselves focus on. They know that only Ron Paul has offered a clear path to ending the recession in his first year in office. None of the other candidates can claim that, because they're all borrow-and-spend candidates who don't dare hold the line on spending and put handcuffs on the Federal Reserve.
What's that you say? We're not in a recession? The recession ended in June 2009? Sure, if you measure a recession as GDP calculated in inflated dollars, the recession ended two years ago. However, average Americans measure the recession by what happens to their own pocketbooks and to their ability to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. They don't need to see an ivory tower definition of a recession to know that we're in one.
Bill Clinton may have been wrong about a lot of things, but he was right in 1992 about one key thing, and his campaign's theme still rings true today. "It's the economy, stupid!"
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