Ron Paul Media Blackout

From TinWiki.org

Champion of the Constitution and GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul is becoming a sensation in the underground—the Internet, the independent press, independent radio, cable, and satellite. But the big media is almost completely ignoring him or treating him as a "fringe candidate." In accordance with the U.S. Constitution and Federalist principles, he opposes the welfare state, the Federal Reserve, the military industrial complex, gun control, the drug war, and the income tax. He has also consistently opposed the Patriot Act and the Iraq War. If Thomas Jefferson or Andrew Jackson were to run today, they would be labeled "quirky" and shut out of the elections as well. Thanks to the Internet, Paul has inspired a hope that this power balance is beginning to shift.

Political columnist Thomas Woods asserts[1] the news media is now trying to keep out of the limelight the one presidential contender (Ron Paul) who has actually bucked the establishment and does something other than parrot government/media slogans." Some opinion-editorials (op-ed) pieces have commented that avoiding the large media organizations and campaigning by internet may be beneficial[2] The Internet is very well capable of disseminating Ron Paul’s message of Hope for America."

On May 3, 2007, ABC News had an online poll after the Republican presidential candidates' first debate. After Ron Paul won the poll, he was removed from the poll result list by ABC News. After receiving complaints, ABC began to delete the complaints. When ABC was barraged by complaints about their deletion of complaint posts, they began to delete the deletion complaints as well.[3] The story made it to the top of the digg.com Top 10.[4] ABC finally reposted the poll results, acknowledging that Paul has a "robust online presence," but attributing it to "viral marketing" [5]

Internet Popularity

U.S. News is reporting him to have an increasing online popularity. "…his supporters have flocked to the Internet with such enthusiasm that Paul is now showing up among the much richer candidates in various measures of Internet traffic."[6] Traffic rating shows a high level of interest in Ron Paul with alexa.com showing his campaign website receiving more traffic than Rudy Giuliani, John McCain or Mitt Romney.[7] According to USA Today, Ron Paul is an online natural.[8]

Paul's Internet presence has been measured as the top Internet search term by Technorati.com,[[9] which ranks popularity in the blogosphere, and ranked 526th on Wikicharts,wikicharts a measurement of most-viewed Wikipedia pages—above Republican contenders such as Romney, Guiliani, and McCain. The U.S. News & World Report article titled "Ron Paul's Online Rise"[10] states "Technorati spokesman Aaron Krane confirmed that, to the best of the company's knowledge, the online support for Paul is genuine. Beyond Technorati, Paul has shown strength across other top Internet sites, and Ron Paul supporters have put together a popular Ron Paul wiki.

Paul's standing in individuals' webpages, such as "YouTube"[11] have been well ahead of all other Republican candidates. In the last few months, McCain and Romney surged ahead, but Paul has overtaken Romney, and as of July 3, 2007, is fewer than 300 MySpace subscribers away from overtaking McCain again at over 38,000 subscribers.[12][13] The next Republican candidate, Romney, has 10,000 fewer subscriptions. In fact, as of May 20, 2007, Ron Paul has overtaken Obama in number of YouTube subscriptions at 5,684,[14] and as of July 3, 2007 is a few subscriptions away from 19,000.YouTube

Paul also has a strong popular support on Facebook.com[15] with over 9,000 supporters by the 3rd of June, and in the polling application of Facebook, Elections 2008[16] he ranked as the second top Republican Candidate with 8%, tied with Rudy Giuliani and 15% less than leader Barack Obama who has over 85,000 supporters on Facebook [17] even as Chris Hughes, co-founder of Facebook, is the coordinator of online organizing within the Barack Obama presidential campaign.[18]

2008 Presidential Debates

May 3 GOP Presidential Debate in California

On May 3, 2007, Ron Paul participated in a presidential debate at the Reagan Presidential Library with nine other Republican candidates. MSNBC moderated and televised the 90-minute debate, which was also simulcast by Politico.com to give viewers the opportunity to submit questions online. MSNBC's online votes showed Ron Paul as the clear winner of the debate: Ron Paul was ranked first for "Best one liner," "Who stood out from the pack", "Most convincing debater", and "Who showed the most leadership qualities?" In all four, he had at least 29% of the total vote.[19] and took second place in the "Rate the Candidates" question. [20] The big media (including MSNBC itself) completely ignored Ron Paul's performance.[21][22][23]

Ron Paul polled 3rd on drudgereport.com.

Ron Paul lead the WorldNetDaily poll.

Ron Paul was at the top of Digg.

Yet, all the major news outlets blacked him out. Ron Paul is lucky to have his name mentioned in any mainstream source. Ron Paul was often mentioned only once, at the very bottom of the very last paragraph.

ABC News' lead article had no mention of Ron Paul.

Another ABC News article titled "2008 Republicans back war"[24] would be correct, except their is one candidate that doesn't back war - Ron Paul! But again, Ron's name was placed in the last paragraph. How can ABC News justify an article titled "2008 Republicans back war" when a candidate opposes this policy?

An AP story actually used a picture of Ron Paul, but again, Ron got shoved in one paragraph with the rest of the candidates. The article stated, "There was no dissent about the importance of the U.S. military mission in Iraq."[25]

Yahoo!, no mention of Ron Paul.

CBS News, one mention of Ron Paul.

Fox News, one mention of Ron Paul.

CNN, one small paragraph reporting Ron Paul's position.

Time, one mention of Ron Paul.

USA Today, one mention of Ron Paul.

LA Times, one small paragraph reporting Ron Paul's position.

Houston Chronicle, Ron Paul's hometown paper, only mentions Ron once reporting he is from Lake Jackson, TX.

May 15 GOP Presidential Debate

On Tuesday, May 15, 2007, Paul debated again--in the 2007 First-in-the-South Republican Party Presidential Candidates Debate, televised live by FOX News Channel from the University of South Carolina’s Koger Center for the Arts in Columbia, South Carolina. Fox News Channel Washington Managing Editor Brit Hume moderated the debate and FOX News Sunday Anchor Chris Wallace and White House Correspondent Wendell Goler asked questions of the candidates.[26] In a phone text message based vote among viewers after the debate, Paul finished second after Romney with 25% considering him the winner of the debate.[27] FOX News ignored his performance, buried the poll results, and proclaimed Giuliani the winner of the debate for his level of applause.

During the debate, Congressman Paul commented that America's history of interventionism in the Middle East has led to an unpopular view of the U.S. in Middle Eastern countries. Agreeing with what has previously been asserted by the 9/11 Commission Report and the CIA's specialists on al Qaeda, Paul stated that the CIA removal of an elected Iranian leader (the 1953 removal of the democratically elected leader of Iran, Mohammed Mosaddeq in Operation Ajax) and the bombing of Iraq in the 1990s, culminating in the ongoing Iraq war, has led to increasing anti-American sentiment in the Middle East. He went on, stating that these events have also led to terrorists developing such a hatred for America that they're willing to die in suicide attacks and are able to recruit others for their cause. Then he said:

They attack us because we've been over there. We've been bombing Iraq for 10 years. We've been in the Middle East for years. I think [Ronald Reagan] was right. We don't understand the irrationality of Middle Eastern politics. Right now, we're building an embassy in Iraq that is bigger than the Vatican. We're building 14 permanent bases. What would we say here if China was doing this in our country or in the Gulf of Mexico? We would be objecting."[28]

After Paul had completed his answer, Rudy Giuliani interrupted the moderator and interjected that he thought Paul was implying that America had invited the September 11, 2001, attacks; he demanded a retraction and called the idea "absurd". Ron Paul defended his previous statement, which did not mention 9/11, and further explained, "I believe the CIA is correct when it warns us about blowback. We overthrew the Iranian government in 1953 and their taking the hostages was the reaction. This dynamic persists and we ignore it at our risk. They’re not attacking us because we’re rich and free, they’re attacking us because we’re over there."

While these remarks drew strong criticism not only from Giuliani but from some pundits from the political right (particularly FOX News commentator Sean Hannity[29] and GOP spokesman Michael S. Steele[30] as well, some reports (including the 9/11 commission report) have stated that Ron Paul is factually correct with his assertion.[31]

Former head of the CIA's bin Laden unit, Michael Scheuer, said of Paul's statements: "Last week, Representative Paul did all Americans an immense service by simply pointing out the obvious: Our Islamist enemies do not give a damn about the way we vote, think, or live... . We are indeed hated and being warred against because we are 'over there,' and not for what we are and how we live. Our failure to recognize the truth spoken by Mr. Paul – and spelled out for us in hundreds of pages of statements by Osama bin Laden since 1996 – is leading America toward military and economic disaster.... And no matter how you view Mr. Paul’s words, you can safely take one thing to the bank. The person most shaken by Mr. Paul’s frankness was Osama bin Laden, who knows that the current status quo in U.S. foreign policy toward the Islamic world is al-Qaeda’s one indispensable ally, and the only glue that provides cohesion between and among the diverse and often fractious Islamist groups that follow its banner."[32]

As cited in the 9/11 Commission Report, Osama bin Laden's 1996 fatwa [33] called "Declaration of War against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places," published in Britain, reveals his anger with American policies as his reason for declaring a fatwa. In his fatwa, bin Laden cites the reasons for attacking America. In order, they are:

American involvement in the Middle East
Palestine, and
Sanctions on Iraq

The Nation detailed how the CIA's former bin Laden and al Qaeda specialist, Michael Scheuer, told CNN, "We're being attacked for what we do in the Islamic world, not for who we are or what we believe in or how we live."[34] CIA analyst, political scientist, and author Chalmers Johnson spoke of blowback in regards to the September 11 attacks in October 2001 and has written books on the subject.[35] In a press release following the debate, Paul's campaign chairman Kent Snyder said in response to Giuliani, "It is clear from his interruption that former Mayor Giuliani has not read the 9-11 Commission Report and has no clue on how to keep America safe"[36] and on May 16, 2007, during an appearance on The Situation Room with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Dr. Paul asked for an apology from Giuliani and suggested that Giuliani should read the 9/11 Commission's Report.[37] Early supporter of the Iraq War Andrew Sullivan was led by Rep. Paul's remarks to conclude that:

The question serious supporters of a real war on terror must now ask is: will continuing the fight in Iraq help reverse this trend or cement it for decades to come? Is the war making us less secure and the world much less safe? Would withdrawal or continued engagement makes things better? At the very least, it seems to me, this question should be on the table in the Iraq debate. And yet the Republicans - with the exception of Ron Paul - don't even want to talk about it. Until they do, they are not a party serious about national security.[38]

In the debate, only Paul and McCain did not endorse torture.[39] Paul labeled the phrase enhanced interrogation techniques used in the debate to be Orwellian newspeak for torture.[40] He has earlier stated that "the American people and government should never abide the use of torture by our military or intelligence agencies".[41] Since the debate, Ron Paul and his position have also been defended by Lew Rockwell [42], Pat Buchanan [43], Accuracy in Media [44], the John Birch Society[45] and other conservative and libertarian as well as liberal commentators. Accuracy in Media, a conservative media watchdog, has raised questions about a conflict of interest in Fox News' co-sponsorship of the May 15 Republican debate, [46] pointing out that News Corporation, the parent company of Fox News, is a client of Giuliani. [[47] Ron Paul received 3% of the vote and was ranked fifth (fourth amongst announced candidates) of the Republican candidates in a May 15-16 Zogby opinion poll sampled from likely Republican primary voters in New Hampshire.<[48][49]

Michigan GOP Debate Blackout Attempt

Immediately following the May 15 debate, Michigan's Republican party chairman, Saul Anuzis, began to send out petitions to have Ron Paul shut out from the June 5 debate for his heresy.[[50]] After being barraged with e-mails, he recanted.[[51]]

June 5 GOP Presidential Debate

Ron Paul participated in the June 5 debate in New Hampshire hosted by CNN. More than 75,000 participants in an MSNBC online vote chose Paul as their favorite in the debate.[52][53]In the CNN post-debate online vote, Paul received the highest marks in all categories except "snappiest dresser."[54] Following the media blackout pattern, CNN was also silent regarding Paul's performance, and buried the vote results.

During the debate, CNN gave Paul less than six minutes (5:51 according to the New York Times)[55] out of the two hours of the debate, instead focusing more on candidates Mitt Romney, John McCain and Rudy Giuliani — with each of them receiving over ten minutes.[56]

CNN provided an online political post-debate blog for the June 5th Republican debate, which showed overwhelming support for Ron Paul. According to CNN that blog was pulled due to "strain on resources that night" and the URL[57] now redirects to the June 3rd Democratic debate.[58][59]

In the debate Paul said that America’s most pressing moral issue is its adoption of a preemptive military policy, declaring it a rejection of Just War:

{{Cquote2|We in the past have always declared war in the defense of our liberties or go to aid of somebody,” he said. “But now we have accepted the principle of preemptive war — we have rejected the Just War theory of Christianity.

"We have to come to our senses about this issue of war and preemption and go back to traditions and our constitution and defend our liberties and defend our rights.[60] That same month, Ron Paul received over 5% of the vote of the Utah Republican Party Straw poll, coming in second behind Mitt Romney. [61]

While many national pollsters are unable to contact houses with only cellular phones, national public opinion surveys have not found significant evidence that cell phone only users are different from those with land lines.[62] Further, many national pollsters and statewide pollsters use random digit dial and registration based sampling, neither of which exclude the "cell phone only" voter.[63] random-sample scientific polls show Ron Paul favored by 1% to 2% of the national Republican primary electorate.[64] A Harris Interactive poll conducted between June 1 and 10, 2007, shows 4% of Republican and 6% of independent voters would consider voting for Ron Paul, with 2% of Republican primary voters having Paul as their first choice for President (up from 1% in April and May).[65]

Excluded from Iowa taxpayer forum

Ron Paul will be excluded from a presidential candidates forum on Saturday, June 30th in Des Moines. Iowans for Tax Relief and Iowa Christian Alliance will host the event. Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney, Sam Brownback, Jim Gilmore, Mike Huckabee, Tommy Thompson, and Tom Tancredo, however, will be allowed to participate. According to The Daily Iowan, Paul is the only candidate not to have been invited.[[66]]

Lew Moore, Paul's campaign manager, called Mr. Edward Failor, an officer of Iowans for Tax Relief, to find out why the campaign office had not received an invitation. Mr. Failor responded that "Dr. Paul was not invited; he was not going to be invited; and he would not be allowed to participate."[[67]] And when asked why, Mr. Failor refused to explain. The call ended.

Lew then called Mr. Steve Scheffler, president of the Iowa Christian Alliance, to talk with him. Mr. Scheffler did not answer so Lew left a message. He has yet to respond.

As The Iowans for Tax Relief are blacking out the candidate with the highest taxpayer advocacy record, it appears questionable that they are serious about tax reform. The Iowa Christian Alliance is excluding the most constitutionally conservative and constitutionally faithful Republican candidate.

Questions have been raised as to the real agenda of Iowans for Tax Relief and the Iowa Christian Alliance, in light of the discovery that ITF Executive Vice President Edward D. Failor, Jr., has made several large contibutions to Senator John McCain's 2008 Presidential Campaign.[[68]]

August 5th debate victory at ABC

ABC sponsered another debate on August 5th. According to the on-line poll at ABCNews.com, Ron Paul won the debate with 63% of votes. Paul's vote total was nearly eight times as many as Mitt Romney (who took second place) received. Screen prints of ABC and Drudge Report polls

ABC's reaction

ABC TV apparently reset its tally of who won the Republican debate it broadcast on August 5, Sunday morning. At 10 AM EST, Congressman Ron Paul (R-Tex) was winning the debate with over 1,000 votes. Mitt Romney was next with 106. After the debate at approximately 11:10 AM EST when the tally was rechecked, ABC showed Ron Paul had just 445 votes. Second was “Nobody Won. I’m Voting Democratic.”ABC Reset Republican Debate Tally After Ron Paul Win?

This link to an ABC article contains inaccurate information.

Ron Paul said he would *not* support an amendment, while ABC claims the contrary. The audio isn't too clear, but knowing how he says 'wouldn't' from other appearances, at the very least ABC should seek clarification from the campaign.

ABC called it 'scattered audience cheers' on his Iraq exit statement, but the candidate received a loud reaction from the audience, and anyone with an ear can hear it was mostly positive.

Additionally, Ron Paul did not author legislation to force the immediate withdrawal of our troops from Iraq. He wrote legislation that would withdraw the Congressional authorization for the use of force in Iraq, and to require the president to seek new authorization to continue the war.

In the four page report, Paul is only discussed on page 2, and in that single page are 3 inaccurate and uninformed claims about him.

ABC News - 3 Inaccuracies on 1 page

Texas delegates barred from Straw Poll

The Texas Straw Poll set up many obstacles for Ron Paul delegates, including posting the wrong time on the mailing and requiring previous participation in a Republican Convention within the last four years. Ron Paul places Third in Texas Straw Poll A video on YouTube shows Paul delegates being refused admittance into the Texas straw poll.Tyranny at Texas Straw Poll

Big media ignores second place finish in Nevada

Paul's Nevada caucuses second place finish in Nevada has been ignored by all of the major broadcast and print media outlets with the exception of the Los Angeles Times A Ron Paul Surge. The cable station MSNBC has mentioned it.[69]

Associated Press Ignores Governor's Endorsement

Former New Mexico Governor Gary "Veto" Johnson announced that he is supporting Dr. Paul for president. Governor Johnson is an icon to small-government conservatives and libertarians for his long-standing commitment to the principles of the Founders.Press Releases › Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson Endorses Ron Paul The Associated Press has blacked out the endorsement.Governor Endorsement Chart Rudy Giuliani, who has consistently finished behind Paul in the primaries, was included in the chart.

Big Media ignores another second in Louisiana

The big media again ignored a second place finish for Ron Paul - this time in the Louisiana caucus. [70]

Missouri GOP Bumps Ron Paul Delegates

Missouri district GOP leaders disqualified almost half of its delegates or alternates from the Minnesota convention on the suspicion that they supported the Texas congressman's GOP platform.

Paul supporters had counted on using Robert's Rules of Order, which govern meeting procedures, to mount a takeover. Paul supporters had to produce copies of the rules list when it became clear that a confrontation was inevitable. On the orders of convention leaders, the Ron Paul Republicans were escorted out of the room shortly after the meeting began.

Don Griffin, a conservative Republican activist and Paul supporter, confronted convention chairman Rich Magee after the session adjourned. "You should be ashamed of yourself." Magee, mayor of Glendale, justified the delegate purge with last-minute changes in convention rules approved by the state party, which placed credentials committee business atop the agenda. As a result, McCain is guaranteed all 58 of the Missouri delegates. stltoday.com

Other censoring

The social networking website MySpace is said to be censoring Ron Paul information,[71] and YouTube, the well-known website allowing users to upload short video files, is accused of tampering with view counts for Ron Paul videos.[72]

See also

Notes

References

ABC news gets owned - digg.com
Which Republican came out on top? - ABC News
ABC Deletes Posts Criticizing Them For Deleting posts. - digg.com
Ron Paul once again is being kept out of the public eye! - The Black Packet, MySpace blog, May 05, 2007
Ron Paul Upsets Controlled-Media Debate as Clear Winner - Aaron Dykes & Alex Jones, Jones Report, May 15, 2007
Neo-Con Republican Party Hijackers Seek To Ban Ron Paul - Paul Joseph Watson, Prison Planet, May 17, 2007

External links

Ron Paul 2008
Presidential Candidate Ron Paul On The Alex Jones Show (mp3)
MSNBC's Tucker Carlson invites Ron Paul to give 'freedom tutorial' - David Edwards and Muriel Kane, The Raw Story, June 7, 2007
Ron Paul Media Blackout Google hits
Censoring Ron Paul Google hits
The Occult Technology of Power the secret mechanics of social control - webbed
Unbelieveable Censorship of Ron Paul at a Marlins Game - online video, July 03, 2007
AP omits Ron Paul and his $2 million from article on 2nd qtr fundraising.
Paul supporter nearly arrested while campaigning on Independence Day - The Raw Story, July 9, 2007
Ron Paul Excluded from NRSC Survey! - by Micah, tedium, July 21st, 2007
Doug Thompson & Capitol Hill Blue EXPOSED - Journalisnt.com, 24 July 2007
Why does FOX News lie? - Screamin Freedom, September 6, 2007
Department of Defense Interrupts Ron Paul Interview - National Expositor, October 18, 200

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