Do Ron Paul supporters actually exist?

A massive “A-HA!” raced across the Internet when Wired broke a story that someone was using bots to push a pro-Ron message. So that’s where all this has come from. There is no Ron Paul Revolution… it really is just a few hackers causing all this ruckus.

Of course there is no evidence to suggest that a Ron Paul supporter is behind the activity, let alone the Ron Paul campaign. Anyone with the expertise on how to launch this bot-net attack would have known that it would be relatively easy to identify the email as spam. I would also imagine that if the person or persons behind the spam were smart enough to launch the attack, he/she/they would also be smart enough to know that this would cause a lot of negative publicity for the campaign. Personally, I would give at least even odds that this activity was done to attack the Ron Paul campaign.

But lets ignore that relatively simple chain of logic. If it has Ron Paul’s name on it, on a secure and well ordered media like the Internet, then Ron Paul must surely know about it and approve it….. right? (And people bash Ron Paul supporters for being conspiracy theorists.) Lets ignore that the Wired article declines to state how long the spam has being going on for. It does not say if it has being going on a day, a week, a month, or if they have no idea. The article just ignores that relatively important detail and lets the matter hang. By leaving it out the article creates the impression that the entire Ron Paul campaign originated from the spam. A-HA! There is no Ron Paul Revolution. It is all just a few hackers in their mothers` basements.

Personally I find this, and other hatchet-job blogs and articles that are floating around with more and more frequency to be comforting. Why? I think it is the biggest proof that the Ron Paul campaign is gaining traction. Spammers are using Ron Pauls name in their emails to get people to look at their ads for Viagra. Adult websites are using Ron Paul’s name to drive traffic towards their site. Why? because using Ron Paul’s name brings people in. Either there are many people who are interested in Ron Paul or the handful of spammers in their mothers basement are very, very busy people.

Do I think there is some sort of conspiracy against Ron Paul? No I do not. I do think that because he draws his support from all across the political spectrum, because he is still largely based in the wild new frontier that we call the Internet, that his campaign is hard to get a handle on.

Does Ron Paul have a good chance of winning? Again, I do not think so. Not yet. The backlash against Ron Pauls growing popularity is only getting started. (For every new fad there is always a backlash. You do remember disco, don’t you?) There are also alot of middle-men Ron Paul would like to cut out of government and needless to say, those middle men are very interested in maintaining the status-quo. Regardless of weather the spammer sought to promote or hurt the Paul campaign, there will be increasing attacks on the Ron Paul revolution in the future.

With an army of 56,000 activists registered on meetup.com, $2.5 million raised just in the month of October and 16,336 people registered to donate $100 on this november 5th you better believe the campaign is just getting started.

Say it aint so, Dr. Paul!

So, as an avid Ron Paul fan, after returning from Europe I eagerly awaited the unveiling of his first TV spot. You can watch it  here.  Take a look- it is only 30 seconds long.  Go ahead, Ill wait.

My question is, why Dr. Paul? WHY did you approve of that message?

Wow.  I mean wow.  I can hardly imagine a worse TV spot.  (Well I can, I just cannot imagine a worse one actually being aired.) It has the production value of an after school special from the early eighties.  Now I know a lot of Dr. Paul supporters want something that mirrors their kind of passion, where the campaign wants to start attracting mom and pop I-don’t-like-to-think-too-much-about-politics-types.  But still, starting a commercial with “Well, I don’t always agree with Ron Paul…” that is not the way to grab peoples attention.  They then follow that up with a guy who says “Actually, I agree with him most of the time.  I really do.”  Well if that doesn’t inspire confidence and passion, I don’t know what will.  Also the way he says it is more like “Actually….(wait, wait, I need to re-read the cue card…) I agree with him…”  I know the actor was just reading the lines he was given, and I know he probably has a family that loves him.  Still doesn’t change the fact that the way he delivers that line makes me want to punch him in the uvula.

The whole thing reminds me of the movie “The American President” where the Presidents re-election slogan is “Dont change horses mid-stream.”  Dr. P`s commercial also sounds wishy-washy and weak and it is not a good choice for someone who attracts support because of his honesty, passion, and enthusiasm.

To give Dr. P`s campaign a break, they do have an incredibly difficult task.  The Dr. Paul message is not an easy one to grasp, as people have been trained for so long that the government is responsible for their lives.  (wait… wait… you mean the solution to everything isn’t passing more laws?) 

They also have to explain that Dr. Paul`s positions are not just pie-in-the-sky daydreams.  While at the same time re-assuring people that Dr. Paul will not take away the entitlements they have already earned.   The fact is, old people vote.  They also tend to be registered Republican, and vote with much more frequency in the primaries.  Obviously if they have the slightest fear that Paul would stop their social security checks, they aren’t going to vote for him. (Not that I blame them, after paying into the system my whole life and being heavily reliant on those checks to survive, I would be a mite protective too.)

And don’t think for a second that the main-stream media hasn’t picked up on this.  Almost every news clip I have watched on youtube about Ron Paul begins with  “Dr. Paul, who wants to end social security….”  Even though he has said repeatedly that he would not strip entitlements from people who depend on them. 

If I were to write a Ron Paul commercial it would involve him slaying Romney and Clinton lookalikes with a samurai sword, then writing the pre-amble to the Constitution on the wall in their blood.  I don’t think it would play well in Peoria though.