Home Phone and Internet $60/mo
August 6, 2007 4:00 AM PDT
Ron Paul: The Internet's favorite candidate
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Internet video has become another important arrow in the campaign's quiver. Paul was the first presidential candidate with an iPhone application that lets campaign videos be viewed through the phone's Safari browser. His fans have also created the FreeMe.TV Web site with a collection of amateur and professional Ron Paul-related video clips.
Last month, Paul made what has become a now-obligatory campaign stop at Google that drew a standing-room only crowd. The moderator said "we've never gotten so many questions" aimed at any presidential candidate, and the YouTube video of Paul's appearance has drawn 165,000 pageviews so far. Videos of Clinton, Bill Richardson, McCain, and John Edwards appearances at Google have received a combined total of 66,000 pageviews.
During his tenure in the House of Representatives, Paul developed a reputation of being notoriously frugal, paying his staff less than their counterparts in other congressional offices in an effort to return money to the U.S. Treasury every year.
This frugality has carried over to his campaign headquarters, which until two weeks ago was housed in an office approximately the size of an average living room. Now it's in a larger but still nondescript building on Washington Boulevard in Arlington, Va., above a vacant dry cleaning business and next to a store called Casual Adventure that sells sleeping bags and backpacks.
On the second floor of that building, Paul's "eCampaign Director" Justine Lam shares an office with at least two other staffers that overlooks a Giant supermarket across the street. Lam previously worked at the libertarian-leaning Institute for Humane Studies, which is affiliated with nearby George Mason University.
Lam says that the campaign's biggest advantage is not so much any special technological tricks as much as Paul's steadfast opposition to things like the Iraq War and the Patriot Act. "The difference is really in the fact that we have a different message," Lam said.
A day after his appearance at Google, during which he defended the search company's right to expand to China even in the teeth of government censorship there, Paul showed up at a rally in Mountain View, Calif., in the heart of Silicon Valley. Lam was outfitted with a video rig that beamed images of the rally (and interviews with attendees) to the Justin.tv Web site.
The online politicking has translated into at least some fundraising success: according to figures released last month, Paul's campaign was in better financial shape than those of McCain, Sam Brownback, or Mike Huckabee, and had raised $3 million so far this year. Obama had about $34 million cash on hand, by comparison, and Hillary Clinton had $33 million.
Some activists close to the Paul campaign, who did not wish to be identified, said the outcome of the Iraq war will probably determine whether their candidate has a reasonable shot at winning next year's Republican primaries. It's possible, they believe, that voters would rebel against the pro-war Republicans and choose a candidate who has opposed it since the beginning.
While it may be possible, it would require a fundamental shift in American politics that happens only once every generation or two. A national telephone survey released July 24 by Rasmussen Reports puts Paul behind Clinton by 15 points and Obama by 20 in a head-to-head matchup. Sportsbook.com gives 7-to-1 odds for Paul to win the Republican nomination and 15-to-1 odds for him to win the White House.
For now, at least, the Internet represents the campaign's best hope of narrowing those odds. "It's a political equalizer," Paul said in an interview, referring to the Internet. "It really gives a chance to people who don't have $30 million."
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There's not much difference between him and the DemoKooks, like those at Kos.
Also, you say Obama wants to nuke Iran? Last week he just said that the US should not use nukes under any circumstances. He flip-flops more than John Kerry. But he's the liberal media darling (just below Hillary) so he certainly will not be called on his inconsistencies and naivete.
Well if you answered yes to all these questions, CONGRATULATIONS! Your a Ron Paul Voter and a True Patriot. Welcome to the Ron Paul rEVOLution. Vote yes for Dr. No in 2008. Lets get this country fixed. Get in touch with Dr. Ron Paul. To know him is to love him.
Bush will leave his office near to how Gorbachev left the Soviet Union. In high inflation, unemployment, and recession. Ron Paul never even voted to raise his own congressional pay, because he doesn't want to take even a nickel from any hardworking American. I don't think people want to take a chance on voting for the wrong candidate again. Ron Pauls website is www.ronpaul2008.com
This man is like the waterfall in the middle of a volcanic eruption. He's hot, He's cool and he is trying to save our country.
That's what happens when you have an insane group of spammers who submit the same story so that each "article" about Ron Paul gets submitted a minimum of 10 times. It wouldn't have taken much effort for the writer of this sycophantic puff piece to see who submits the "articles" and how many times the same story is submitted and resubmitted and RESUBMITTED.
The writer didn't even cover the paranoid conspiracy theories of Ron Paul's supporters! A cursory glance around the Digg posts would see constant theories on why Paul is being suppressed either by the Mainstream Media or the New World Order or some other paranoid explanation. How can this article hope to be slightly accurate when the writer only covers part of the story?
Well if you answered yes to all these questions, CONGRATULATIONS! Your a Ron Paul Voter and a True Patriot. Welcome to the Ron Paul rEVOLution. Vote yes for Dr. No in 2008. Lets get this country fixed. Get in touch with Dr. Ron Paul. To know him is to love him.
Bush will leave his office near to how Gorbachev left the Soviet Union. In high inflation, unemployment, and recession. Ron Paul never even voted to raise his own congressional pay, because he doesn't want to take even a nickel from any hardworking American. I don't think people want to take a chance on voting for the wrong candidate again. Ron Pauls website is www.ronpaul2008.com
This man is like the waterfall in the middle of a volcanic eruption. He's hot, He's cool and he is trying to save our country.
on quality that escapes all the other candidates - honesty. You
don't here about RP flip-flops. He means what he says, and says
what he mean. He also is the only candidate who routinely
references the constitution. It seems like all the other
candidates think it's 'just a scrap of paper'.
As a life long Republican, I have been discusted on how my party
has moved from the defender of personal freedom, and the
champion of smaller government and fiscal responsibility to a
big buisiness, big money ***** and foreign interventionist.
RP is the only candidate the understands and believes in
constitutional principles, and has a ny personal principles as
well. This is probably why he's popular on the internet, where
editors and owner don't try to control our thinking. The
mainstream media want to pick our candidates. How often do
they even mention Ron Paul? Hoe doesn;'t do well in their Pauls,
because most people have never heard of him - because they
get their news from the mainstream media. If they media game
Paul the same sort of coverage they give Rudy McRomney, you's
see Paul doing much better.
Visit his website ronpaul2008.com or google ron paul
Anyway anyone who suggest eliminating IRS will never go beyond the naive or the idealistic crowd. I do not really want to pay tax but hey i want most of the things the government provides, just watch die hard 4.0 to see what i am trying to say. Yes, it is Hollywood but Hollywood is on the surface of this earth last time i look at the map.
You know, Benjamin Franklin once said - Those who give a little liberty for a little freedom are destined to have neither.
Not that I've ever held CNET's journalism to be anything other than second rate... but this story about his 'popularity' is awful journalism, even for them. Equating 'digg' clicks to popularity is simply ignorant (and lazy journalism at that).
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/opprobrium
- The wisdom of Ron Paul
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by Dingbattie
August 6, 2007 4:14 PM PDT
- He is opposed to internet neutrality -- this is a good reason for the "internet" to drop him like a wet sack. Also, to quote Ron Paul:
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See all 99 Comments >>?If you have ever been robbed by a black teen-aged male, you know how unbelievably-fleet-footed they can be.? (Victoria Advocate, 5/24/96)
?Politically sensible blacks are outnumbered as decent people... Given the inefficiencies of what DC laughingly calls the criminal justice system, I think we can safely assume that 95 percent of the black males in that city are semi-criminal or entirely criminal.? (Victoria Advocate, 5/24/96)
"We don't think a child of 13 should be held responsible as a man of 23. That's true for most people, but black males age 13 who have been raised on the streets and who have joined criminal gangs are as big, strong, tough, scary and culpable as any adult and should be treated as such." (Victoria Advocate, 5/24/96)
?Opinion polls consistently show that only about 5 percent of blacks have sensible political opinions, i.e. support the free market, individual liberty and the end of welfare and affirmative action.? (Victoria Advocate, 5/24/96)
?The Criminals who terrorize our cities - in riots and on every non-riot day - are not exclusively young black males, but they largely are.? (Victoria Advocate, 8/7/96)
?There is no such thing as a hate crime.? (Ron Paul: Political Action Report, 1/15/92)
A ?free market provides for the poor...? (MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, 10/24/88 on why he is against government assistance)
"Is bailing out people that chose to live on the coastline a proper function of the federal government?? he asks. ?Why do people in Arizona have to be robbed in order to support the people on the coast?" (Washington Post, 7/9/06) (Paul voted against assistance to Katrina and Rita victims, even though some of his district is on the Texas coast.)
?I am opposed to any form of government health insurance as I am opposed to the taxes, regulations, licensing requirements, and monopolistic practices, which keep health costs higher than their true market value.? (CNN Presidential Questionnaire, 1988)
As for Social Security, "we didn't have it until 1935," Paul says. "I mean, do you read stories about how many people were laying in the streets and dying and didn't have medical treatment? ?Prices were low and the country was productive and families took care of themselves and churches built hospitals and there was no starvation." (Washington Post, 7/9/06)
?Something must be done to phase out the government?s involvement in Social Security. Pension and annuity plans should be the concern of the people, not the government. Political control of these things will lead only to bankruptcy and misery for retired persons.? (CNN Presidential Questionnaire, 1988M)
?Immigrants can spread diseases for which we may have no immunity. There is also the question of crime and culture. Many immigrants come from countries with different legal structures and are not willing to behave in the way we expect American citizens to behave.? (Ron Paul Political Report, 3/15/92)
"The right of secession should be ingrained in a free society. There is nothing sacred about large units of government. And there is nothing wrong with loosely banding together small units of government. With the disintegration of the Soviet Union, we too should consider it." From his newsletter in the early to mid 90s--sorry I don't have an exact date.