Ron Paul: Cure For BlogWriter's Block

The Latest Ron Paul story

Ron Paul's results in the Texas straw poll only prove one thing. Whether you adore or loathe him, Ron Paul is the cure for blog writer's block. Commentators on both sides of the Ron Paul question jump into the saddle to adorn every story with their own spin.

For example: The Hill's David Hill reports that there's trouble back home for Ron Paul.

While Texan Ron Paul’s stock is soaring nationally, there is trouble on the home front. In September, Paul finished third in a straw poll of 1,300 Texas Republican activists who had been delegates to recent Republican conventions.

The congressman corralled just 17 percent of the votes cast, trailing California’s Duncan Hunter with 41 percent.

Hill's reaction is that these numbers are too high. That Texans are more concerned with making a statement or following a leader than they are about whether Paul can actually win the election.

This outcome says Texas Republicans aren’t terribly concerned about viability. Otherwise, one of the national front-runners like Rudy Giuliani or Mitt Romney would have beaten these long-shots. But if they were willing to “waste” their votes on Hunter, why didn’t most back a fellow Texan? The truth is that Ron Paul, the angry prophet, has little honor in his own land. He’s about to lose his congressional seat.

This interesting article details the history of Ron Paul's elections in both Texas and nationally.

It also touches on the anxiety felt at the national level by some Republican leaders about Paul.

David Freddoso at the NRO's The Corner disagrees with Hill's assessment. In Ron Paul's Trouble at Home? his rebuttal consists of three points, including this observation about the straw poll's results.

Hill's other piece of evidence is a September straw poll in Dallas (six hours from Paul's district), which Duncan Hunter won with 41 percent. None of the major candidates participated in the poll, partly because it was limited to current and former party convention delegates and alternates. Paul, despite being in his home state, received only only 17 percent of the votes cast. Paul did not do as well as he'd hoped, but how this is representative of anything that's going on in Paul's district — or anywhere — is completely beyond me.

Still another look at the news is Spree's at Wake Up America. She says, "Ron Paul, the angry prophet, has little honor in his own land".

She points out that the story is about the 2008 Congressional elections and ends by warning off any possible comment hijackers who try turning the discussion to the 2008 presidential election.

Ah, the name of Ron Paul sparks debate throughout the blogosphere. Whether he's running for president or Congress, the Texas Congressman is most probably the most polarizing figure on the national political scene today outside of Hillary Clinton.

Among those who have heard of both Paul and Clinton, Paul may have the edge.

Thank goodness for Ron Paul.

He is the savior for blogosphere writers looking for material about an election that is almost still a year away.

Without him, there'd be a lot less to write about.

by Mondoreb
Mondoreb at BNN: Ron Paul Cure for Writers' Block



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

Moral of Paul-Alex Jones Tale: Take "Attack" Button off Auto-Pilot

by Mondoreb

David Fredosso of The Corner at National Review Online makes the same point that has been bothering any fair-minded observer of the feeding frenzy that is all things Ron Paul:

On the Right, or in parts of it anyway, hatred of Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) arguably matches or even exceeds antipathy toward Hillary Clinton. So eager are conservative bloggers to pounce on Paul that a number of them have accused him of "paying" $1,300 to 9/11 conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.

Fredosso then goes on to reveal this little gem:

The "payment" to Jones (and yes, it is that same Jones) was not a payment at all, but a partial refund of Jones’s $2,300 contribution. It is clearly marked as such, if you look in the right place on the electronic FEC forms. Paul's spokesman said he put a line in to the campaign treasurer when he noticed it being discussed on the blogosphere, but that's the answer he's going to get.

That sound you hear is certain bloggers scooping up myriad forks and knives to help choke down the barrels of ink written damning Paul for "paying" this scoundrel. One doesn't have to be a Ron Paul supporter to note the salacious glee that every tainted contribution brings to a select portion of the right wing blogging brotherhood.

Sure, Paul has his crazed minions; so does Hillary, Rudy and anyone running for President. But there's something of the smell of chum in the water when the Paul campaign pulls a boner.

Allah Pundit of Hot Air, offers a tight-lipped apology--sorta.

Duly noted and duly corrected. You’ll find the disbursement here about three-quarters of the way down. I could have done without the insinuations of laziness (”bloggers can’t be bothered to do five minutes of research”), especially when bloggers are credited in the same post for having discovered the donation from Don Black — can the campaign “not be bothered” to police for that sort of thing, given their unsolicited yet rising support among white supremacists? — but kudos to Paul for returning, well, not quite all of Alex Jones’s filthy $2,300 but a good-sized chunk of it.

Call it an apology with an attack addendum added to the end. A. Pundit goes on to add one more observation.

The first step is always the hardest.

Couldn't agree more. A little less Attack -Paul-on-Autopilot might be good advice for my fellow right wing madmen.

It takes a big pundit to admit a mistake.

UPDATE: He is a big pundit. Allah puts up a Paul ad video "to make amends". That's the spirit. As MadisonConservative comments at Hot Air: "The integrity of Hot Air stands untarnished. Let’s see Kos make such a retraction." Those were my thoughts exactly. They'd be heading to the mattresses and hunkering down.

At the same time, some over-zealous Paulistas attack DBKP for quoting those who link Jones with white supremacy and the Troofers. I need another cigar.

Like the man says: some days, no good deed goes unpunished.




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Beauchamp, TNR Take A Powder: 2 More Forgotten Brand Names

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by Mondoreb

When you're looking for succinct, usually-hilarious reaction to news, you could do worse than read Mark Steyn, the doomsday-slinging prophet of European demographic decline. The revelation that The New Republic knew that its crack war zone reporter was not what he was cracked up to be gets the once-over from Steyn at the Corner:

No disrespect, Kathryn, but count me among those who raised an eyebrow over your five o'clock Scott Thomas Beauchamp post. It's not about Beauchamp "confessing". Given the alarm bells Beauchamp's original piece set off among those familiar with the subject matter, and given that the anecdote on which the entire premise of the essay hangs has already been determined to have occurred in Kuwait rather than Iraq, all The New Republic had going for it were its editors' insistence that (a) Beauchamp was standing by his story, and (b) the military were preventing him from speaking to them.

It has now been revealed that (a) Beauchamp declined to stand by his story, and (b) the editors spoke with him and knew this weeks ago. Presumably The New Republic's readers are relatively relaxed about the editors colluding in slandering the troops at a time of war: only uptight squares get hung up on that sort of thing. But they ought surely to be concerned at the abuse of trust perpetrated by the magazine against its own readers.

Steyn goes on to relate some facts about TNR's ownership.

Few remember that back in the early 1960s, the best-selling beer in America was--Carling Black Label? CBL's "Hey Mabel--Black Label" was much more recognized among consumers than Budweiser's "When You've Said Bud, You've Said it All".

For consumers of news and the truth, The New Republic is soon to be consigned to the forgotten name brand remainder bin.
TNR will then join CBL.

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