Ron Paul, the 2012 Election and Ugliness. Just say No.

Well, we've passed the first hurdle in what promises to be the longest year I've yet lived. We've had a taste of the little bits of good, the majority of bad and the downright ugly. I have a point to share...and It's of critical importance, to my thinking. It could be the difference between President Ron Paul or President Santorum vs. President Obama for 4 more painful years.

Don't give in to temptation in becoming hostile, aggressive or bitter in support of Paul or anyone else, for that matter. Other movements in recent history have taken on such a bitter and downright ugly "us and them" view and it's only led to shrinking numbers of "us" and far more "them" becoming active and downright determined to supress the "us". It becomes based solely on gut feelings and general dislike of the condescension that follows the us/them paradigm.

Ron Paul placed 3rd last night. I don't personally question the legitimacy or accuracy of it. Santorum is a bit of a surprise, but not entirely unpleasant. I'd be getting drunk today if that'd been Bachman or Newt off from #1 by a handful of votes.

So the thing I felt the need to rant a bit about here and vent my frustrations about is the lack of any sense of accomplishment or a job well done on the day following Iowa. Would I have preferred Dr. Paul ride the #1 slot? Well, of course. Am I surprised he didn't? Definitely not. He's fighting Democrats, Republicans, the Media and his own history of being badly misunderstood. Placing #3 is more than anyone would have seriously predicted a few months ago and it's enough to put him into the next phases with his head held high and a note of pride in his voice. This is as it should be.

My plea to fellow members here..and Ron Paul supporters everywhere is this. Please don't take what is a legitimate victory in placement and status by so much hard work and deep committment and sully the entire mood by whining that he didn't get MORE support..or someone might have done something funny with the voting somewhere.

The establishment won't rest until Ron Paul is DEAD LAST...not #3. If they'd rigged this at the caucus level, Paul WOULD have lost as the absolute last place finisher. He didn't and they didn't. So, lets take what we've got for a job VERY well done to this point and focus positive energies on how we carry him all the way to the Oval Office and the ability to change that HORRIBLE interior decorating the current resident actually thinks is attractive!

Go Paul! ....but go in positive thinking with positive efforts.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


I like your post and think you make a good point.

I have to dis-agree with you though when you said

If they'd rigged this at the caucus level, Paul WOULD have lost as the absolute last place finisher...

That makes no sense to me. If they were going to rig it they would not put him as last place because that would draw too much attention. It was absolutely clear that Ron Paul was going to do well last night, if they were going to rig it (not saying they did or didn't) they would place him in the middle close to the top so that his supporters would be satisfied enough not to look into it.

Just my thoughts anyhow.

reply to post by sageofmonticello

I'd tend to agree with your idea of playing games with nuance and sublety except for the fact nothing is subtle when it comes to Dr. Paul and politics. The hate for this guy seems to over-ride all manner of decency and professional appearance in those who would do anything to stomp his chances.

CNN removed all doubt last night...not by what they did alone, but by how they seemed so comforetable and natural in doing it. Almost as if they knew those who mattered would be very happy with the editing.

I think gently massaging the numbers like his #3 would require would take finesse and time to make happen without getting nailed like some recent cases have shown....all under the noses of Paul supporters (and not all of them being OPEN about the fact they were supporters at all :grin: )

A lot of people are misunderstanding.

Ron Paul didn't lose last night. Iowa, and the other states, are not about the popularity votes. We have understood this process since 2008 when we were taken by surprise. These caucuses/primaries, are about the delegates.

Last night Santorum, Romney and Paul all ended up with 7 delegates. However, Iowan delegates are bound to any candidate. Which means those who were awarded to Romney and Santorum could very easily still be Paul supporters. We have been educating people for a long time now on the delegate process. I haven't seen any other campaign as focused as Paul's has been.

So even though Paul placed 3rd in the popularity race, he still matched 1st in delegate counts. (or may have them all!)

To take this further, Bachmann just dropped out. Santorum, Huntsman and Gingrich are flat broke. Perry was on the verge of dropping out last night. He will soon. This race is and always has been, between Ron Paul and Mitt Romney. The race has only just begun!