Ron Paul and the Non-Debate: RP Supporters Not Kooks, One Guy Though...

DBKP Tries to Maintain a Reasoned Tone
Against One-Man Tidal Wave of Indignation

One-man Army [Name Changed to protect the innocent-well, sorta innocent, anyway]:
"But I was on the Phone!
I Do Too Have a Phone!
But there WAS a debate!! I Know it!!
You're Fucking Me Here!!I Just Know It!!"

NOTE: 99% of Ron Paul supporters we come into contact with are regular, everyday people. When they write and email us, they are pleasant--passionate to be sure--but genuinely nice people.

That's one of the reasons we've never bashed Dr. Paul and his supporters: someone needs to attack the overweening nanny state and it's insane intrusion into more and more aspects of everyday life.

Ron Paul is a principled Libertarian who never misses an opportunity to attack an ever-growing federal government. We can't do anything but cheer for him on that issue.

We don't agree with Ron Paul on all of the issues. But we don't have to: we still wish him well, even if we're not working for his campaign.

But it only takes a few over-wrought supporters--apparently viciously abused during potty-training as a child--to alienate potential allies.

We have purposely not joined in the gratuitous Ron Paul bashing taking place in many venues because it seems to us a lot like hitting the double chocolate dessert buffet at Happy Wong's 'World's Biggest Asian Food Smorgasbord': it might feel good at the time, but you just have to work your ass off the next day to undo the damage.

Against our better judgment, we're gonna vent a little.

We made phone calls, fielded emails and generally spent yesterday chasing down the details of the supposed Fox News Debates that had excluded Ron Paul.

ORIGINALLY, we were going to write that we didn't see how this could benefit Fox, Republicans, or Ron Paul. When we first heard the exclusion, we were concerned: a viewpoint that should be heard more was going to be heard less.

In the course of writing the post, we suddenly had the thought: why can't we find anything out about this "Debate"?

Fox is in business to get publicity and viewers.
If they were holding such a high-profile event, why would they put it on double-secret probation?

So we stopped and started checking.

In the meantime, we started getting emails and comments, and saw 10 times the amount we got on other blogs and websites.

"Screw Fox! It's a conspiracy!"

NOW, this wasn't most RP supporters, just a couple. But those couple supporters were little armies-of-one.

We continued to check.

Mr. X Searches for More Evidence of Non-Existent Debate

Late last night ( or early this morning) we found a piece we thought summed up what we had been able to find out. All of its facts were checked and its tone was reasoned. It was by a Libertarian, to boot. It was a post by William Westmiller at Nolan Chart.

We then got a comment from a disgruntled RP supporter--Mr. X, by name.

After calling us 'morons' and telling us who he had talked to and his theories on everything from Ron Paul to how Vince McMahon planned on taking over Chippendales using a juiced-up combat team of pro wrestlers (kidding on the last one), Mr. X really got upset.

Right about then, we learned for sure what we had privately been saying most of yesterday and what we said when we put up William Westmiller's article: there was no debate.

It was a spoof by Big Head DC. AP got sucked in, as did tons of other people. When we were checking out BHDC's site, we saw what may have been a world record for consecutive comments on a post by the same person using his real name: Mr. X.

They started out reasonable enough and Mr. X, like us was asking for verification. But his tone soon changed and, like some of his buddies, he was sure that the conspiracy--any conspiracy--was out to get him.

Mr. X Gears Up for Next Big All-Nighter

NOW, we're not upset (anymore). As Mr. X himself said in one of his posts to us: he'd been up all night. Lack of sleep will impair anyone's judgment: ours included.

Chris's last post to us.

I just spoke to John Moody, Sen VP at Fox News, who implicitly acknowledged the existence of the forum.

Who do you claim to have spoken to in the last 12 days who said it was canceled?

We would have said "Try reading our stories, Grasshopper. There you will find the knowledge you seek."

But we're kinda tired too.

We aren't trying to make fun of Mr. X (Okay, okay, so we are. Sorry.), we're just saying when we were writing this, it occurred to us how many other people we spoke to that were pleasant and helpful.

Ron Paul has a lot of really nice supporters who believe in his message and work hard and donate their money to help him out.

They build 60-foot signs along Interstates, go to rallies, talk to people, put up blimps, wear crazy wigs and paint their faces, call in talk shows, write emails and relentlessly search the Internet for any news of an overly-neglected congressman with a principled Libertarian message: in short, what any candidate would love to see his supporters do.

We take issue with calling these thousands of mom and dads and ex-Marines and Boy Scout leaders "kooks". They aren't. They see Ron Paul as an antidote to a federal government that doesn't seem to know quite when and where to quit meddling in people's everyday lives.

We don't have to agree with Paul on every issue to appreciate a candidate that has galvanized everyday people into getting involved in the political process.

The same people who propose putting a voter's registration certificate in every box of Captain Crunch in order to cure voter apathy are--in some cases--the very same people who are dissing Ron Paul and the ordinary people who've decided to participate in the political process by supporting him.

Our advice and wishes:
1- Don't believe everything you read on the Internet, including DBKP.
We try hard, but we sometimes don't quite get things right. We 'fess up when that happens, though.
2- Don't use Ron Paul (or any candidate) to vent your spleen at your particular bogeyman. If you don't like Fox, bash him in your own name.
3- Ron Paul's supporters are not all kooks.
Ron Paul's raised, by our calculations, about $20 million dollars at $50 a clip. That's not one guy with a spambot. That's a lot of mom and pops and aunts and uncles.

And finally,
4- Mr. X, get some sleep.

by Mondoreb

[images:imagefile]

At 7:50 pm December 30, 2007
I shouldn't be hard on Mr. X. He was trying hard to run down the story and he was full of passion and got tired. I was tired too. When I get tired, I put up funny pix. If I ever get a chance to meet Mr. X--maybe at the Republican Convention--beer's on me (limit: 2).

Sources:
*Let's Put On our Thinking caps
* Ron Paul Was Not Excluded from Debate

* Ron Paul Supporters Not Kooks There was 1 Guy though...
* Ron Paul & New Hampshire: What is Known Now
* Ron Paul Excluded? No Debate, No Forum
* Rumors RP Dissed by Fox Untrue
* Ron Paul Blimp Parodies
* RON PAUL GREAT DEBATE MAP! *

Last Hope? Secret Nazi?
What do YOU think about Ron Paul?