Friday, October 05, 2007
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Are They Always Out to Get Ron Paul?
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Posted by:
Mary Katharine Ham at
1:48 PM
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I love how every time Ron Paul speaks anywhere, and no matter how well he's received, there's always a rumor about him being in some way silenced by The Man. Last time, I was in Dallas and the straw poll had surely been rigged, given that Paul only came in third.
This time, the word on the street is that Paul was music-ed off the stage during his speech, Oscars-style. Silenced by the establishment! As with most sorta-kinda-conspiracy theories, the truth is somewhat less dastardly. I've asked around and it seems Paul was allotted a certain amount of time, politely received by some, enthusiastically received by plenty. He spoke past his allotted time by a a decent amount and was reminded by the music, so the event could stay on-schedule. He then came to the press room and spent about 15-20 minutes talking with reporters, so his message was not blocked by any stretch of the imagination.
Paul always shows great support at these things, says his piece, is cheered by many, and gets a ton of press for it all. The post-event conspiracy-theory spin is tiresome.
Paul again today said he has no intention of running as a third-party candidate, and is banking on the other guys spending their campaign funds big-government style, so that he ends up on top by being frugal and using his army of volunteers. He may have a point...
I'll try to get up my Paul video if the audio is decent, so I'm not accused of silencing him unnecessarily.
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How much time was allotted to each one of speakers? (not just a comparsion between Guiliani and Dr. Paul)
Was this disparity just between Guiliani and Dr. Paul?
When was it determined, how much time each speaker was allowed to talk, was it that day
or a month ago?
If the speech was based on experience and knowledge of the subject, Dr. Paul does have more to offer this subject than does Guiliani.
If the speech was just based on name recognition thats why Guiliani received more time.
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This thread is a perfect example of why it’s past time the Paul supporters changed their focus. Stop wasting time arguing on the internet with people that are never going to see things differently until the horrible consequences of our current failed policies are shoved in their faces. An outcome they will hopefully never have to face if the rest of us reach our goals. Get out, hit the streets, put up a sign, talk to people, knock on doors, be friendly and polite, be informed and above all encourage others to do the same. Make a difference that will show on the ballots. Re-read this thread and wonder why you’re doing this instead of making a real difference. Time is running out. I can make more of a difference if I can convince a dozen Paul supporters to go out and get busy than I can trying to convince one intractable nit-wit on the internet to change his stubborn mind. Now, go. |
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"As with most sorta-kinda-conspiracy theories, the truth is somewhat less dastardly. I've asked around..."
Stop right there. Sigh.
"The post-event conspiracy-theory spin is tiresome."
I agree...but is there any validity to the 25min vs 10min time discrepancy? |
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Thirdly, there was a noticeable confusion in the room, the attendees did NOT like that music was being played and a speaker was being cut off and were confused by it. I underestimated Giuliani's time (his speech was that lacking in substance) and overestimated Dr. Paul's time, to where I thought that they both spoke for 15 minutes. If MSNBC is right, the gross difference in speaking is a shame. Even Tom Coburn, a fan favorite, only got about 5 minutes, and the crowd wasn't too receptive to Giuliani (only clapping for him because he was making anti-Hillary jokes) and liked Coburn, so that's a shame.
I would also add that Ron Paul got big applause for not only ending the income tax, but for "no nation building" and "no policing the world" and ending the private Federal Reserve! I thought he got a very nice reception from the crowd, and I heard a few elderly people after the conference who thought he made the most sense of all the speakers, along with a CEO who said he thought Dr. Paul was spot-on in all his points. People responded with smiles when they saw my Ron Paul sticker. |
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Thirdly, there was a noticeable confusion in the room, the attendees did NOT like that music was being played and a speaker was being cut off and were confused by it. I underestimated Giuliani's time (his speech was that lacking in substance) and overestimated Dr. Paul's time, to where I thought that they both spoke for 15 minutes. If MSNBC is right, the gross difference in speaking is a shame. Even Tom Coburn, a fan favorite, only got about 5 minutes, and the crowd wasn't too receptive to Giuliani (only clapping for him because he was making anti-Hillary jokes) and liked Coburn, so that's a shame.
I would also add that Ron Paul got big applause for not only ending the income tax, but for "no nation building" and "no policing the world" and ending the private Federal Reserve! I thought he got a very nice reception from the crowd, and I heard a few elderly people after the conference who thought he made the most sense of all the speakers, along with a CEO who said he thought Dr. Paul was spot-on in all his points. People responded with smiles when they saw my Ron Paul sticker. |
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I was at the conference this morning. There are a few corrections that need to be made. First of all, Ron Paul was in the press room for well over an hour, more like an hour and a half. I know because I stood outside it waiting to meet him, along with a solid group of Ron Paul supporters! He was in there apparently conducting media interviews for a LONG time.
Secondly, there's no way Ron Paul could have gone "well over" the time allotted, because according to MSNBC, he only spoke for 10 minutes in the first place. Giuliani had just spoken for 25 minutes. Did they really only want Ron Paul to speak for five minutes at this conference? I really don't think so. I emailed them quite a while ago asking if he would be a speaker, and they said they really wanted him to come and were waiting for his response. I can't imagine they'd do that in hopes of only getting a five-minute speech. Then again, they did cut him off. It was rude and unnecessary-- they had a succession of three people introducing him beforehand, who are perhaps the ones who went over time allotted. |
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I don't even think Hannity is that stupid. I think he simply blurted out the first thing that came to his mind when confronted by that poll. |
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You're right. She does seem a tad confused. |
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When it comes time to elect any politician (statesman in RPs case) everybody gets into their little special interest groups and wants to know "what are you going to do for us?" On RPs side you have people from every party, different kinds of people, but just plain Americans. We're not a special interest group; the only thing we want is to be left alone. We don't want anyone else's money, or to have our own money extorted from special interest groups. So you have almost every writer, certainly every TV station, and everybody in government who hates RP. They want something, if nothing but another 100 years war or Big Government.
And RPs foreign support! Have you ever seen anything like that? No. And why? They know we will stay out of their country and maybe we won't bomb them when we need a country to bomb should the war slow down. Look at these headlines: "Bush Issues Stern Warning to Country A. . ." "Rice Demands that Country B stop. . . " "Bush Threatens to Impose Sanctions if Country C . . ." "Take Down That Wall! Rice orders Putin. . ." "Putin to Rice: It's Down!" "Rice to Putin: Put it up Again!"
I mean I feel sorry for the countries they think they can boss around, but it gives up about a days respite before he or she lectures us about our "baggage of bigotry," and on and on. Besides I took RPs advice and read "Blowback." Everyone should read it, you won't believe what our gov't has done. This is not the subject, but I thought you needed a break. |
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Maybe whatever warmongering candidate you support, you'll get the Religious Right. Won't that be fun? They don't line Ron because he doesn't pander to them. Since all the rest of them will, yours is bound to be in there. |
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Mary,
You and Hannity. I supposed you've forgotten how every poll he wins online is because someone is constantly voting over and over again. Since they are all over the Internet, I'm not quite sure how that works. Hannity gets apoplectic when Ron wins on Faux News debate. Before the results are announced, it's important. When he sees the results, he blows his stack (I mean if Ron is there) and the results are suddenly unimportant.
How often does a Thomas Jefferson come along? (Well, once) How often does a TJ clone come along? This is it. What is it? |
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No one's blaming Mary in anyway. I don't think her view is accurate however. There was a wide spread percieved bias, and the blame goes to the forum's president Tim Phillips.
I think Mr. Phillips owes the attendees an apology for not allowing equal time for all the candidates.
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I will personally vouch for the fact that MKH did not have anything to do with how much or little time a particulary candidate had with the main audience.
I will further say for the record that after Paul left both the main podium and the Bloggers'/Media Row podium, he spent plenty of time on three different radio shows that were operating across the room from MKH and myself. |
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When one candidate is favored by allowing more time in a forum for expressing ideas, then their is bias. That Guiliani received more time and was not interrupted with music, and slighted that way, shows favoritism and, I am sorry to inform the writer, IS the result of conspiracies - perhaps just small ones with the need to limit the scope of ideas expressed to the audience. And, interestingly, in the case of Dr. Paul the result always seems to backfire. As We the People are aware of this tactic and still have the freedom to identify it publicly, and use forums like this one to bring such deeds to the attention of the entire world. And for those who don't believe in conspiracies view what is posted at brasschecktv.com/page/164.html
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/164.html |
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When one candidate is favored by allowing more time in a forum for expressing ideas, then their is bias. That Guiliani received more time and was not interrupted with music, and slighted that way, shows favoritism and, I am sorry to inform the writer, IS the result of conspiracies - perhaps just small ones with the need to limit the scope of ideas expressed to the audience. And, interestingly, in the case of Dr. Paul the result always seems to backfire. As We the People are aware of this tactic and still have the freedom to identify it publicly, and use forums like this one to bring such deeds to the attention of the entire world. And for those who don't believe in conspiracies view what is posted at brasschecktv.com/page/164.html
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/164.html |
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..rather than the root cause that generated the issue.
The issue isn't that he was "cut off", the issue is that there is a clear bias present for how much time each speaker is allotted.
Guiliani gets 25 minutes to talk. Ron Paul gets 10. Did Guiliani go over his allotted time? Was he allotted more time in the first place? If so, why?
Most people recognize it for what it is. It's favoritism in its most unvarnished form. Yet rather than speak to that, there is quibbling over the manner in which the allotted time was enforced.
The real spin is deflecting attention and debating the symptom, rather than the root cause. |
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Ron Paul's speech was cut off after 10 minutes today at AFP forum in DC. Read NBC blog:
From NBC's Andy Merten
Six GOP presidential candidates are taking their turns addressing the Americans for Prosperity "Defending the American Dream Summit" here in Washington, today. They are targeting government spending and taxation. Casually watching the forum from our offices, we at First Read noticed some unfair time allocations to different candidates.
After Giuliani spoke for nearly 25 minutes, Ron Paul, who may have earned his time to speak with this quarter's fund raising, took the stage. Speaking for just over 10 minutes, Paul was then cut off by the stage music -- a tactic usually reserved for an emotional Oscar-winning actress (or one that gets a little too political) to wrap it up.
We'll have more about the forum, later, but thought this was an interesting tidbit. |
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It was a bit chaotic at times, but right now it's quite quiet. Just a few of us left doing various blog-related material as well as Vicki McKenna doing the Madison half of her show. Now, if Giuliani or Thompson had shown up on Bloggers' Row,....
Honestly, I wasn't thinking about the '08 'Rat slogan. It was a reflection on how badly my audio recorder performed (yep; made in Red China like everything else under $1,000) |
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...but it fits them SOOOO perfectly.
BTW, if your ears can stand the poor quality, all of my audio (Paul, Huckabee and Brownback before Bloggers'/Media Row, and McCain and DeMint from last night) is now up at my main site (dunno how to get it up on TownHall). |
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I am a Ron Paul supporter. I agree with you that Ron Paul supporters need to quit with the conspiracy theories about a media black out. The lack of coverage that was seen in the past was not a part of some over-arching conspiracy. It was individuals making decisions. Most members of the media are lemmings. If no one else is covering Ron Paul, they don't want to look like the idiots for being the only one doing it. Now that there has been a small up tick in media coverage for Paul I think that coverage will continue to grow. Hopefully the fringe New World Order crowd will quit spewing their lunacy. When they do I think more people will be able to actually listen to what Ron Paul has to say and realize that his arguments are really quite logical. |
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I think without meaning to, you've hit upon the perfect slogan for the Dems in '08:
"I'm not too concerned about quality" |
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Give me about 15-20 minutes and I'll have my copy of the Paul audio up.
Bloggers' Row was quite noisy. |
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