Here is the reason Ron Paul will never win. It isn't him, it is his supporters. Your willingness to hate and ridicule anyone who doesn't love your candidate is the reason your candidate will never win. So go ahead and call everyone who currently likes Romney over Obama idiots. Hate them all you want. You can not make them vote for Ron Paul that way. What a strange way to try and win votes for your candidate. Turns out Ron Paul is a much kinder and more rational person than most of the supporters he is cursed with.
Why Ron Paul rallies never translate into votes
Photo: Associated Press
Friday, April 6, 2012 - The Tygrrrr Express by Eric Golub
LOS ANGELES, April 6, 2012 — Ron Paul recently held a rally at UCLA, and between 6,000 and 10,000 people attended. The rally itself was a complete success. Yet while Ron Paul has consistently attracted larger, more enthusiastic crowds than his GOP competitors, those events always fail to translate into victories at the ballot box. Ron Paul has never won a presidential primary or caucus.
His supporters blame these losses on a combination of media bias, election fraud, the designated hitter rule, and enough other excuses to outnumber the flavors served at Baskin Robbins.
The media bias argument is nonsense. The media could never hate Ron Paul with the pure passion and ferocity that they despise Rick Santorum. The liberal media loathes social conservatives. They love Republicans who bash other conservatives. This is how John McCain in 2008 and Jon Huntsman in 2012 became the darlings of the liberal media. The media will end up despising whomever the GOP nominee is, and Ron Paul has suffered much less abuse than Newt Gingrich. Every day there are calls for Gingrich, and now even Santorum, to drop out. Dr. Paul does not face those calls. There is no media conspiracy against Dr. Paul.
As for election fraud, the GOP should just agree to give the Virgin Islands and Maine to Ron Paul in exchange for a vow of silence from the movement. The Paul movement uses complaints as their oxygen. All the voter fraud in the world cannot explain Florida, Illinois, and many other big states where Dr. Paul was rejected by more than 90% of the voters.
For those Paul supporters who are still unable to understand these repeated, huge rejections at the polls, the answer can be found right in front of their faces.
Look in the mirror. Keep staring. Now look again. You are the problem.
The Ron Paul movement consists of too many supporters who are completely certifiable. Let us count their ways.
They run up and down the hallways of GOP conventions screaming about revolutions. Decorum is replaced with degradation and debasement.
They shout down speakers they disagree with. They have zero interest in freedom and liberty for anybody except those who agree with them.
I am one person who simply disagrees with Ron Paul. Let this sink in slowly. I D-I-S-A-G-R-E-E with him.
Decent human beings would just accept this under the rule of "live and let live." The verbal carpet-bombers in the Ron Paul movement consist of some intolerant zealots who will harass, bully, and intimidate anybody just for thinking differently. The Paul army would work well in Bashar Assad's Syria, Kim Jong Il's North Korea, or Saddam Hussein's Iraq. The same hypocrites who are against undeclared wars engage in undeclared wars against their fellow Americans just for not worshipping Ron Paul. It makes the David Koresh movement look moderate.
Tell a normal human being you disagree with his candidate. The responses will be:
1) You just do not understand. Let me explain.
2) You are misinformed. Let me explain.
You will get an attempt at conversion. He wants your vote.
Tell a Ron Paul supporter you disagree with his candidate. The responses will be:
1) You just do not understand. You're an idiot.
2) You are an uninformed tool of the political machine.
3) You don't care about the Constitution, freedom or liberty.
4) You are corrupt, bought and paid for, a shill for the status quo or some other powerful, mythical, nefarious entity.
These lines of thought are pure bile. The idea that a person can be decent, well educated, intelligent, have a sophisticated gift of analysis, be a clear thinker, and reject Ron Paul is totally incomprehensible to his supporters.
With Ron Paul supporters, nothing except total acceptance is ever enough. For instance, my coverage of the Ron Paul rally at UCLA was overwhelmingly positive. Yet some supporters still pulled conspiracy theories and complaints out of thin air. My picture of Dr. Paul was not adequate. My claim that there were almost no empty seats was a distortion: There were NO empty seats. My failure to mention the crowd outside the arena when I was inside was somehow a slight.
At what point do these people stop carping about absolute nonsense?
One truly vile event took place as soon as the rally ended. This was left out of the original report on the rally so as not to take away from the event, which was again, successful. One zealot in the crowd recognized me from my writing. After the rally ended, he walked hundreds of feet past people to get in my face and start screaming at me. Imagine what it is like to be accosted by a complete stranger because of a difference in views. This does not happen with supporters of Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, or Rick Santorum. With Ron Paul supporters, this is so common it borders on typical.
The fellow screamed profanities at me for writing articles claiming that Ron Paul was an anti-Semite. This has never happened. Criticism of anti-Semitism in the Paul movement is not the same as accusing the candidate himself. Not once have I ever called Dr. Paul a bigot.
Regardless, what this fellow should have done was write a letter to the editor. Going nose to nose with someone you have never met is simply insane. The fellow did not stop. After several police officers intervened to protect me, the basket case was waiting outside the arena. He and several of his friends surrounded me, shoved a camera in my face, and shouted at me. This was a lynch mob. Again, the police escorted me to a safe area as the shouting of profanities continued.
To make matters worse, this fellow lives in my building. He saw me come out of the elevator later that night and then spit in my eye.
Further investigation shows that this individual is a hardcore Ron Paul activist. He is a liberty "fundraising coordinator," and has even been seen at an Occupy Los Angeles rally wearing an anti-war.com t-shirt. Those anti-war peace activists sure are a militant violent bunch.
The only reason his name is not being revealed is because his mother is a nice lady, and she does not deserved to be shamed for her son's lunacy. The young man gave a half-hearted apology over the telephone, saying that when columnists "write lies," they should expect other people to be angry. Only God knows if the message sunk in that no written words by a columnist justify a response of physical violence. Getting in somebody's face is violence. Having a mob surround a guy is violence. Spitting in a man's eye is violence.
This is liberty in the Ron Paul movement. This is how animals behave. This is why the Ron Paul movement is distrusted and disliked by so many voters.
This is also where the many normal, decent people in the movement resort to one of two defensive tactics, guerrilla warfare experts that they are.
One strategy is to justify the bad behavior. Surely the journalist must have done something to deserve the abuse. Failure to indict the particular victim is sometimes replaced with blaming the entire mainstream media. Paul supporters were marginalized, so they have every right to lash out. Playing the game of "who started it" is worthless. The Paul supporters need the media. The media does not need them. Harassing media people is not going to result in better coverage.
Another strategy is to dismiss the bad behavior as a statistical aberration. Nonsense. For every story reported, there are plenty of other tales of aggressive behavior not being disclosed. There is never just one cockroach hiding under the bed. The Ron Paul movement consists of too many abusive bullies who will not respect their neighbor simply for having different views.
There are plenty of decent people in the Ron Paul movement. Some of them are friends of mine. The libertarianism and libertinism in the Ron Paul movement are quite conducive for a young, single man. If romance swayed my voting practices, Dr. Paul would win hands down.
Yet the notion that "every movement has crazies" doesn't cut it any more. The only GOP candidate with so many behaviorally challenged sycophants is Ron Paul. These people know only how to converse with each other. They complain that everybody else engages in groupthink when they are the kings, queens, and court jesters of monolithic thinking.
The Ron Paul movement fails because for all the talk about how Dr. Paul appeals to independents and Democrats, Paul supporters turn off moderates in large droves. Sometimes they do not even know it. They shout and scream while innocent bystanders run in the other direction for political normalcy.
If Ron Paul (and many Obama) supporters ever want to be mistaken for decent human beings, they need to take steps that supporters of other candidates learned ages ago.
1) Reasonable minds can disagree. My political opponent is not my enemy. We are all Americans.
2) A person with diametrically opposing views can still be a good person who loves America. They are still patriotic, not treasonous.
3) A person thinking differently can still be educated, well-informed, intelligent, thoughtful, and well-researched.
4) Agreeing with the majority does not automatically make one a corporate shill or a lover of the status quo.
5) No person is indispensable. The Republic was around before we were all born and no single one of us determines the fate of America by themselves.
6) More flies are caught with honey than with vinegar. Bullying as a persuasion tactic fails in free societies.
7) If somebody politely says he is not interested in a political debate, do not chase him down and try to out-argue him. Respect the desire to not engage.
8) It is not possible to gain everybody to your side, but you can lose everybody. Trying to win a political argument is a form of sales. Salespeople know that no matter how great their product, lousy marketing will chase away customers. They may not like the product, but may still purchase it if they like you personally. If you turn them off, it is game over and no sale.
9) Violence is never acceptable unless it is in self-defense or defense of a loved one. Anger over an opinion column you disagree with does not qualify as a justification for violence.
10) Life is unfair. Human beings are inherently unequal. Michael Jordan dunked a basketball better than me and was compensated for it better than I am. Some people are taller, handsomer, and wealthier. Crying about being outspent or getting less media attention only makes one come across as a whiner and does nothing to build a coalition.
11) Every moment screaming at somebody who is uninterested takes precious time away from some other person who may be receptive to a much calmer message.
12) No one has a monopoly on good ideas. Just because the young generation has the Internet does not mean they are smarter than their grandparents who are technologically challenged.
13) Silence is acquiescence. Anybody in a movement trafficking in racism, anti-Semitism, and other forms of group hatred will taint an entire movement unless that movement categorically and publicly rejects the haters. If a movement depends on haters to increase numbers, then the movement is sunk.
14) The American people are not imbeciles. When the election is over, the decision is respected. This is also the case for Supreme Court decisions. Our institutions are honorable, and our people are as well.
The fellow who spit in my eye was spoiling for a fight. I refused to fight him. I tried reasoned dialogue. It most likely fell on deaf ears, but a fistfight benefits in this situation benefits nobody. He will either keep lashing out and at some point self-destruct, or he will learn how to constructively enhance the political discourse.
So for those who still insist this is an anti-Paul bias, there is no hope.
For the billionth time, I have met Dr. Paul on a few occasions. He is funny, likable, engaging, intelligent, and very sharp. On many issues he makes complete sense to me. On a few issues, there is serious divergence.
If that alone is enough to make anybody apoplectic, then the enraged individual needs what the kids used to call a "chill pill."
Awhile back flak was given when referring to Paulbots. There are many reasonable Ron Paul supporters, but too many mindless automatons. They are the Paulbots. Awhile back their irrelevance was pointed out. That language was not harsh enough.
For those Ron Paul supporters who refuse to make the movement respectable and respectful, saying "you don't matter" ceases being good enough anymore.
You don't deserve to matter. The Constitution is either for all of us or none of us. The right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness does not require a vote for Ron Paul. For those wanting to spread the movement by force, it is you who are seeing the serious blowback from the no-longer silent majority.
You reaped what you sowed.
For those of you who ever engaged in or condoned identical or similarly destructive behavior to what was described, look in that mirror again.
For those demonizing people just for disagreeing with you, keep looking in that mirror.
That is the cancer in the Ron Paul movement. Remove it immediately.
