Ron Paul: Debates, Forums, Fox, NH and What We Know

Huh?

DBKP was going to publish a timeline later today on the Ron Paul situation at the New Hampshire forum/debate/brunch/luncheon/get-together on January 6th.

We have sifted through a ton of reports, blog postings, sources, phone calls, emails and comments. We'd first like to say "THANK YOU" to everyone who has attempted to help bring order to a confused state of affairs.

That being said, there are some inaccurate reports and postings out there. When trying to trace the source of these, it either is 1) the same sources repeating wrong or inaccurate information and linking back and forth to each other, or 2) reading information into what has actually been stated.

A third possible source of inaccuracy is the "friend told it a friend who heard it from a friend" syndrome. We have several emails which directly contradict each other, each claiming the same source as proof.

While checking to see if anything new and known has popped up--not recycled reports from somewhere else already checked--we came across this posting by William Westmiller on Nolan Chart.

We do not know William. But his report below is as accurate as we have been able to verify at this point in time. It may prove to contain errors, but we couldn't find any, based on what DBKP knows at this moment.

Let it be repeated: it is the best we have seen, based on WHAT WE CAN VERIFY at the moment.

We also noticed that Westmiller has taken some grief over this account. That's too bad. One thing that the story of Ron Paul and the New Hampshire event on January 6th seems to have revealed, at least to us: there are people who profess to be working for the good of the Ron Paul campaign effort who are more interested in bashing someone.

Today it happens to be Fox News.

It may be that Fox News needs to be bashed. But they cannot know that now. Whether or not it helps Ron Paul's cause seems secondary to these flamers. That's too bad.

That being said, the vast majority of people appear to be trying to find out what really happened before throwing any stones. That was encouraging to see. Over the long haul, any campaign is better served by optimism and hard work, rather than rage.

Okay, enough of the lecture: back to William's account. Here it is.

What?

There is NO NH DEBATE on January 6th. Ron Paul was NOT EXCLUDED. That event was canceled three weeks ago.

Ron WILL participate in the January 5th ABC/WMUR GOP debate in New Hampshire.

So, what happened?

Months ago, NH GOP chairman Fergus Cullen had been in touch with FoxNews about a possible forum on January 6th. He had even contacted all the GOP candidates to see whether they were available. However, plans for the ABC debate were finalized with all candidates early in December and Cullen "threw in the towel." See "OUTFOXED" in the NH Union Leader of December 16th.

At that time, Cullen had not received a response from Ron Paul, who had committed to a conflicting luncheon at the NH Liberty Forum at the same time.

Skip ahead to December 27th, when the Union Leader reported that all candidates had agreed to the ABC/WMUR debate and reporter Garry Rayno added a confusing paragraph about Giuliani finally agreeing to the (canceled) January 6th forum, which had already been converted into a simple state GOP brunch.

Huh?

Due to the timing of this article, there was no way to confirm who will or won't attend the brunch, but it is not a broadcast debate and has nothing to do with FoxNews. Nevertheless, a blog in Washington picked up the story, scrambled it and their "BHDC Staff" reported a list of the candidates who would be attending, which did not include Ron Paul (he hadn't officially confirmed, due to the conflict).

That story was picked up by the AP Newswire, which added some information that it had from a month earlier about the format being discussed.

Finally, the AP article was picked up by Lew Rockwell and passed along to DailyPaul.com, with all the errors intact. Of course, a firestorm ensued on all the Ron Paul nets before the information could be verified. Immediately, thousands of messages went to FoxNews and the NH GOP protesting the exclusion.

Unfortunately, the Ron Paul campaign didn't sort out the facts before sending out a news release blasting Fox for their "outrageous" conduct, even if they did note that the information had not been confirmed. From there, the report spread into dozens of blogs and news commentaries.

An unfortunate false alarm. Lesson: Fast news is sometimes "bad" news. Faux News is worthy of criticism for what they have done, not for what they haven't done. Look before you leap.

Update2: The New Hampshire GOP website makes no mention of any events on January 6th, but it does promote the NH Liberty Forum scheduled for January 5th, where Ron Paul will be speaking. I'm informed that the campaign was working with Forum sponsors and Cullen to accomodate any possible NHGOP event.
Fox News does mention the January 5th ABC debate on their schedule, but nothing in New Hampshire on January 6th.
There does appear to be some residual confusion about the GOPNH brunch on the 6th, which may occur, where some candidates may attend, and which Fox may cover as a news item, but it certainly isn't a live, broadcast debate or forum. Those questions probably won't be answered until after the New Year. Best wishes to all, particularly Ron Paul.

Update 3: If you believe there is an error in my report, please provide a link.

There is sure to be hard news and information on several aspects of this today. Until those come out and can be confirmed, I think the above account will serve as our timeline.

And remember tomorrow night to have a Happy New Year!

by Mondoreb
[image:istock; bayareacommunity; ecsd; howard saunders]
Source:
* Ron Paul NOT excluded from NH Debate
* Ron Paul: Excluded by NH GOP, Not Fox
* Rumors of Fox Dissing Ron Paul Untrue