Did Ron Paul sell out?
WaveCameCrashin
Posts: 2,929
Seems that way to me,but I
Would like to hear what the R.Paul supporters feel
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/ ... story.html
For Romney and Paul, a strategic alliance between establishment and outsider
By Amy Gardner, Published: February 1
RENO, NEV. — The remaining candidates in the winnowed Republican presidential field are attacking one another with abandon, each day bringing fresh headlines of accusations and outrage.
But Mitt Romney and Ron Paul haven’t laid a hand on each other.
They never do.
Despite deep differences on a range of issues, Romney and Paul became friends in 2008, the last time both ran for president. So did their wives, Ann Romney and Carol Paul. The former Massachusetts governor compliments the Texas congressman during debates, praising Paul’s religious faith during the last one, in Jacksonville, Fla. Immediately afterward, as is often the case, the Pauls and the Romneys gravitated toward one another to say hello.
The Romney-Paul alliance is more than a curious connection. It is a strategic partnership: for Paul, an opportunity to gain a seat at the table if his long-shot bid for the presidency fails; for Romney, a chance to gain support from one of the most vibrant subgroups within the Republican Party.
“It would be very foolish for anybody in the Republican Party to dismiss a very real constituency,” said one senior GOP aide in Washington who is familiar with both camps. “Ron Paul plays a very valuable part in the process and brings a lot of voters toward the Republican Party and ultimately into the voting booth, and that’s something that can’t be ignored.”
To ensure that they are heard — not just now but after Election Day, too — Paul and his followers are working to gain a permanent foothold in the Republican Party nationwide. One state at a time, Paul’s supporters are seating themselves at county committee meetings, and standing for election as state officers and convention delegates, to make sure their candidate’s libertarian vision is taken into account. The goal is a lasting voice for an army of outsiders that has long felt ignored and sees the nation headed toward ruin if things don’t change.
That is just fine with the Romney campaign, which would be happy to bring Paul’s constituency — perhaps the most intense and loyal in the country — into the fold.
Romney’s aides are “quietly in touch with Ron Paul,” according to a Republican adviser who is in contact with the Romney campaign and spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss its internal thinking. The two campaigns have coordinated on minor things, the adviser said — even small details, such as staggering the timing of each candidate’s appearance on television the night of the New Hampshire primary for maximum effect.
One advantage for Romney is that Paul’s presence in the race helps keep the GOP electorate fractured. But there is also a growing recognition that the congressman plans to stay in the contest over the long term — and that accommodating him and his supporters could help unify Republican voters in the general election against President Obama.
“Ron Paul wants a presence at the convention,” the adviser said — and Romney, if he is the nominee, would grant it.
What Paul and his supporters would demand, and what Romney would offer, are subjects of some speculation. One Paul adviser, speaking on the condition of anonymity to talk freely, said prime-time speaking slots for Paul and his son Rand, the junior senator from Kentucky, are obvious goals. On the policy front, Ron Paul’s priorities are reforming the Federal Reserve and reducing federal spending. So promises to audit the Fed and to tackle deficit reduction seriously could appease the congressman and his supporters, the adviser said.
Less likely are concessions on foreign policy, where Paul’s non-interventionist stand is at odds with that of Romney and most other Republicans.
Infiltrating the party
For Paul’s campaign, playing the inside-outside game has required nudging activists into the party system, even as he and they remain wary of it.
“I’ve been involved in politics for 20 or 30 years,” Paul told an enthusiastic crowd in a Spartanburg, S.C., hotel ballroom in January. “One of the reasons I became frustrated with the whole process is that the rhetoric could be so different. Republicans would say one thing, but then, when they get into office, they haven’t done a heck of a lot.”
Paul paused, and his audience cheered loudly as he added: “Have you ever noticed that?”
The crowd that day was characteristically scrappy and diverse: a man with a ponytail and a camouflage hunting jacket, a young mother with two small children, a doctor and his wife, and a well-dressed, young professional couple.
Yet the insurgents are executing a concerted strategy to infiltrate the Republican Party. Five Paul supporters, for instance, sit on the state GOP’s central committee in Iowa, where their candidate finished a strong third in the Jan. 3 caucuses. In Nevada, the vice president of the state GOP backs Paul. In Virginia, Paul supporters are lining up to attend county and district conventions to influence the election of national delegates.
In Reno, regional coordinator Wayne Terhune used a slide show on a recent weeknight to teach volunteers how to participate in a Republican precinct meeting to help Paul win delegates in the state’s caucuses on Saturday. He has tutored packed rooms at Denny’s as well as smaller crowds in the campaign’s Reno headquarters, located in a low-slung office building alongside the airport.
In a tiny conference room with a water cooler and two dogs on the floor, Terhune told the volunteers not to allow paper ballots out of their sight once votes take place — and to dress neatly and inconspicuously, so fellow Republicans won’t be disinclined to elect them as caucus delegates.
A common refrain is to “cover your tattoos and cut your hair,” said Paul’s campaign manager, Jesse Benton, who often tells coordinators to “dress for business, because we mean business.”
“You’ll nominate yourself,” Terhune told the room. “They’ll probably have you give your speech. Have a meeting a day ahead so all the Ron Paul people know who the other Ron Paul people are, so you can vote for them. Then you give a generic speech, and the non-Ron Paul people say, ‘Oh, he’s solid, I can vote for him.’ ”
Terhune also urged the volunteers to pull out their iPhones and record the proceedings on caucus night if party officials “don’t play by the rules.”
Teaching the establishment
Paul’s infiltration strategy began in 2008, after his last presidential bid, when he saw the potential to continue building his movement by working within the Republican Party.
But the idea took off in 2010 when Paul’s son Rand ran for Senate. On an outsider, small-government message very similar to his father’s, Rand Paul won the Republican primary that year against an opponent who was handpicked by Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader and senior senator from Kentucky.
Then, quite strangely, the establishment and the Pauls came together.
At McConnell’s request, the National Republican Senatorial Committee sent an adviser to Kentucky to watch over Rand Paul’s general-election campaign — “to be the grown-up in the room,” according to one Washington Republican who spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk candidly.
The adviser, Trygve Olson, developed a friendship with Rand Paul, and the two realized that they could teach each other a lot — to the benefit of both candidate and party. Olson showed Paul and his campaign establishment tactics: working with the news media, fine-tuning its message. And Paul showed Olson — and by extension, McConnell — how many people were drawn to the GOP by his message of fiscal responsibility.
One day that year, at Paul’s request, McConnell joined him for a tea party gathering in Kentucky, according to a Republican who was there. “Who are these people?” McConnell asked, bewildered by the dearth of familiar faces at a political event in his home state.
And at Rand Paul’s suggestion, Olson joined his father’s presidential campaign this year, basically to do what he did for Rand: help bring the Paul constituency into the Republican coalition without threatening the party. It’s probably no small coincidence that the partnership helps Rand’s burgeoning political career, too.
“You can dress in black and stand on the hill and smash the state and influence nobody, or you can realize the dynamics and the environment and get involved in the most pragmatic way to win minds and win votes and influence change,” said Benton, the campaign manager. “That’s what we’re trying to do.”
© The Washington Post Company
Would like to hear what the R.Paul supporters feel
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/ ... story.html
For Romney and Paul, a strategic alliance between establishment and outsider
By Amy Gardner, Published: February 1
RENO, NEV. — The remaining candidates in the winnowed Republican presidential field are attacking one another with abandon, each day bringing fresh headlines of accusations and outrage.
But Mitt Romney and Ron Paul haven’t laid a hand on each other.
They never do.
Despite deep differences on a range of issues, Romney and Paul became friends in 2008, the last time both ran for president. So did their wives, Ann Romney and Carol Paul. The former Massachusetts governor compliments the Texas congressman during debates, praising Paul’s religious faith during the last one, in Jacksonville, Fla. Immediately afterward, as is often the case, the Pauls and the Romneys gravitated toward one another to say hello.
The Romney-Paul alliance is more than a curious connection. It is a strategic partnership: for Paul, an opportunity to gain a seat at the table if his long-shot bid for the presidency fails; for Romney, a chance to gain support from one of the most vibrant subgroups within the Republican Party.
“It would be very foolish for anybody in the Republican Party to dismiss a very real constituency,” said one senior GOP aide in Washington who is familiar with both camps. “Ron Paul plays a very valuable part in the process and brings a lot of voters toward the Republican Party and ultimately into the voting booth, and that’s something that can’t be ignored.”
To ensure that they are heard — not just now but after Election Day, too — Paul and his followers are working to gain a permanent foothold in the Republican Party nationwide. One state at a time, Paul’s supporters are seating themselves at county committee meetings, and standing for election as state officers and convention delegates, to make sure their candidate’s libertarian vision is taken into account. The goal is a lasting voice for an army of outsiders that has long felt ignored and sees the nation headed toward ruin if things don’t change.
That is just fine with the Romney campaign, which would be happy to bring Paul’s constituency — perhaps the most intense and loyal in the country — into the fold.
Romney’s aides are “quietly in touch with Ron Paul,” according to a Republican adviser who is in contact with the Romney campaign and spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss its internal thinking. The two campaigns have coordinated on minor things, the adviser said — even small details, such as staggering the timing of each candidate’s appearance on television the night of the New Hampshire primary for maximum effect.
One advantage for Romney is that Paul’s presence in the race helps keep the GOP electorate fractured. But there is also a growing recognition that the congressman plans to stay in the contest over the long term — and that accommodating him and his supporters could help unify Republican voters in the general election against President Obama.
“Ron Paul wants a presence at the convention,” the adviser said — and Romney, if he is the nominee, would grant it.
What Paul and his supporters would demand, and what Romney would offer, are subjects of some speculation. One Paul adviser, speaking on the condition of anonymity to talk freely, said prime-time speaking slots for Paul and his son Rand, the junior senator from Kentucky, are obvious goals. On the policy front, Ron Paul’s priorities are reforming the Federal Reserve and reducing federal spending. So promises to audit the Fed and to tackle deficit reduction seriously could appease the congressman and his supporters, the adviser said.
Less likely are concessions on foreign policy, where Paul’s non-interventionist stand is at odds with that of Romney and most other Republicans.
Infiltrating the party
For Paul’s campaign, playing the inside-outside game has required nudging activists into the party system, even as he and they remain wary of it.
“I’ve been involved in politics for 20 or 30 years,” Paul told an enthusiastic crowd in a Spartanburg, S.C., hotel ballroom in January. “One of the reasons I became frustrated with the whole process is that the rhetoric could be so different. Republicans would say one thing, but then, when they get into office, they haven’t done a heck of a lot.”
Paul paused, and his audience cheered loudly as he added: “Have you ever noticed that?”
The crowd that day was characteristically scrappy and diverse: a man with a ponytail and a camouflage hunting jacket, a young mother with two small children, a doctor and his wife, and a well-dressed, young professional couple.
Yet the insurgents are executing a concerted strategy to infiltrate the Republican Party. Five Paul supporters, for instance, sit on the state GOP’s central committee in Iowa, where their candidate finished a strong third in the Jan. 3 caucuses. In Nevada, the vice president of the state GOP backs Paul. In Virginia, Paul supporters are lining up to attend county and district conventions to influence the election of national delegates.
In Reno, regional coordinator Wayne Terhune used a slide show on a recent weeknight to teach volunteers how to participate in a Republican precinct meeting to help Paul win delegates in the state’s caucuses on Saturday. He has tutored packed rooms at Denny’s as well as smaller crowds in the campaign’s Reno headquarters, located in a low-slung office building alongside the airport.
In a tiny conference room with a water cooler and two dogs on the floor, Terhune told the volunteers not to allow paper ballots out of their sight once votes take place — and to dress neatly and inconspicuously, so fellow Republicans won’t be disinclined to elect them as caucus delegates.
A common refrain is to “cover your tattoos and cut your hair,” said Paul’s campaign manager, Jesse Benton, who often tells coordinators to “dress for business, because we mean business.”
“You’ll nominate yourself,” Terhune told the room. “They’ll probably have you give your speech. Have a meeting a day ahead so all the Ron Paul people know who the other Ron Paul people are, so you can vote for them. Then you give a generic speech, and the non-Ron Paul people say, ‘Oh, he’s solid, I can vote for him.’ ”
Terhune also urged the volunteers to pull out their iPhones and record the proceedings on caucus night if party officials “don’t play by the rules.”
Teaching the establishment
Paul’s infiltration strategy began in 2008, after his last presidential bid, when he saw the potential to continue building his movement by working within the Republican Party.
But the idea took off in 2010 when Paul’s son Rand ran for Senate. On an outsider, small-government message very similar to his father’s, Rand Paul won the Republican primary that year against an opponent who was handpicked by Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader and senior senator from Kentucky.
Then, quite strangely, the establishment and the Pauls came together.
At McConnell’s request, the National Republican Senatorial Committee sent an adviser to Kentucky to watch over Rand Paul’s general-election campaign — “to be the grown-up in the room,” according to one Washington Republican who spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk candidly.
The adviser, Trygve Olson, developed a friendship with Rand Paul, and the two realized that they could teach each other a lot — to the benefit of both candidate and party. Olson showed Paul and his campaign establishment tactics: working with the news media, fine-tuning its message. And Paul showed Olson — and by extension, McConnell — how many people were drawn to the GOP by his message of fiscal responsibility.
One day that year, at Paul’s request, McConnell joined him for a tea party gathering in Kentucky, according to a Republican who was there. “Who are these people?” McConnell asked, bewildered by the dearth of familiar faces at a political event in his home state.
And at Rand Paul’s suggestion, Olson joined his father’s presidential campaign this year, basically to do what he did for Rand: help bring the Paul constituency into the Republican coalition without threatening the party. It’s probably no small coincidence that the partnership helps Rand’s burgeoning political career, too.
“You can dress in black and stand on the hill and smash the state and influence nobody, or you can realize the dynamics and the environment and get involved in the most pragmatic way to win minds and win votes and influence change,” said Benton, the campaign manager. “That’s what we’re trying to do.”
© The Washington Post Company
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
Romney personifies everything that is wrong with american politics and government ... right now Ron Paul is getting played by Mitt Romney and the GOP ...
What this fails to discuss is the fact that he really hasn't gone after anyone very hard. Gingrich a little bit in Iowa but that was more than likely personal from back in the 90's...
Romney doesn't take Paul seriously as a threat. I guarantee this relationship would be different if Paul were seen as his main challenger.
As far as back room channels and discussions being open...they always are...candidates who don't seem like they are going to win the nomination but hold delegates are always reached out to in order to play nice for an endorsement. I don't think you will see Paul ever endorse Romney unless Romney adopts his policies completely.
If there is anything out there that seems to be like a coordinated effort it is that Santorum and Gingrich are still in the race to make sure it does not come down to Paul and Romney. To secure 1100+ delegates on the other side of Paul to try to make sure a brokered convention turns out in their favor.
It is terrifying when you are too stupid to know who is dumb
- Joe Rogan
-Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
You really think that strongly about Mitt?
I mean, you could be right, but I don't buy it yet.
yes. yes. yes.
paul stays away from attacking because, by standing with his principles, he does not have to. He can rely on his record. The fact that he has used any negative \ attack phrasing in his campaign only goes to show that he, and his campaign staff have finally acknowledged some cold hard facts ... one such fact being that it is a dirty game, and that sometimes returning a foul to get an out is necessary. (ie. everyone else is playing dirty, don't always look like a pansy and take it lying down)
speaking of playing the game,
i think that kind of succinctly addresses all \ a number of the following points made in the article (and retouched upon in the follow ups here) ...
yes. Ron Paul and his followers are ***playing the game***, and I think this is the key point now being perceived, calculated, and now finally "schemed" upon by "the establishment" and all the players therein.
I think that "selling out" ultimately means coming to terms with the notion that all political work must be done within the confines of some sort of pre-established order. By "infiltrating" [sidetrack: this is truly what the Ron Paul supporters feel they are doing, trust me I was at the pulse of this one ... these kids do not see themselves as selling out to the Republican party ... they are the goddamn Ron Paul revolution and they are going to tear down the Republican party and rebuild it from the inside - out as a new libertarian vehicle of freedom and liberty ... a muscle tribe of danger and excellence, as it were ... at least, that is what they honestly think they are doing ... and to an extent i think they are] ... any who ... by infiltrating the Republican establishment, Ron Paul supporters are starting to play by the rules of the established order and THAT is exactly why they suddenly have popped up on the establishment radar.
"Popping up on the radar" means a few things here. First, it means that Ron Paul & his supporters are suddenly no longer an imminent threat. If they are playing the game, they at least aren't tearing the system down in a literal revolution. Second, sense they are now playing the game, they are subject to possible influence by other players within the game, all of whom have their own agendas to push. That is what Romney is doing playing "suckle up", and I'm quite sure Dr. Paul is as cordial as can be in return (just because you have an "outsiders" agenda doesn't mean you can't still be nice, even if it's just to play the politics of the situation).
All this being said, I don't see what the big deal. We all knew from the nature of the very fact of the matter that Ron Paul was Running For President that it meant he intended to play within SOME of the rules of the established order. He is a defender of the United States Constitution, not some *insert ism*-ist radical\rebel\revolutionary seeking death and destruction (of course you can still argue his policies are misguided and short-term suicidal) ... if you accept that he is running for President of an established order, but has serious grievances with current management approaches to that order ... i think he is a perfectly valid candidate.
To the extent that Ron Paul supporters who have "entered the establishment" to take positions as party Chairs, or as delegates, or any other number of positions ... i say HURRAH ... stick to your guns, don't move on your principles, but cooperate and compromise with those of reasonable principles and intentions to move in the right direction.
"Change don't come at once, it's a wave..."
People of right principles in positions of any power ARE change.
You don't have to have a revolution to make a difference.
If I opened it now would you not understand?
definitely ... he's well funded and rich for a reason ...
It is terrifying when you are too stupid to know who is dumb
- Joe Rogan
It's a smart move. Paul understands he will never win the Republican Party's nomination, but... he may be able to influence its policies by throwing his voting base behind the candidae that is most likely to win.
Not selling out (a term I really don't like)... smart/brilliant political move.
Hail, Hail!!!
Paul-Nader 2012
If I opened it now would you not understand?
Even though Paul hasn't done well with the GOP faithful, his influence over moderate and undecided voters could make him something of a Kingmaker for the successful Republican nominee. In turn, this could give Paul and his supporters some leverage in the party and could conceivably make Paul a very influential Republican. Right now I'm wondering if a Romney/Paul ticket is in the future. It seems unlikely, but stranger things have happened.
...although what Cosmo and blueandwhite say about Paul hedging his bets seems more likely.
I'm also compelled to add that I don't think American politics are on the verge of any great changes. I think it will all prove to be business as usual. And at the risk of getting strung up by my thumbs I'll say yet again, no one in the running is talking about peak oil or climate change.
-Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
Well,
I will agree with you that the system usually finds a way to "resolve discrepancies" in the election process by as quietly as possible sweeping non-establishment candidates under the rug.
I'm pretty sure I believe that Ron Paul is who he says he is.
I'll give you something off the top, as this has been on my mind recently. What I mean is, I spend a lot of time questioning motives and if people are "who they say they are" or if they are really a sham or some sort of controlled opposition or something. I do this with Ron Paul. I do this with lots of people.
But here is what I was thinking about with Ron Paul recently, and dug around a little, and I feel like you have to take him at face because of this connection here:
Ron Paul And The John Birch Society.
You don't hear anyone mention it, but I know enough and have dug deep enough to know that Ron Paul IS (at least LOOSELY, or in a "spirit of ideological camaraderie") affiliated with the John Birch Society.
You want enough proof that he "approves"?
Ron Paul's Keynote Speech at 50th Anniversary of John Birch Society Function
Okay?
Just to be sure,
article from John Birch Society explaining Ron Paul's endorsement but "not a member" status ...
Still Okay?
Oh. One More.
Even old Huffington Post dragged it up in a "ooh, the unsavory company Ron Paul keeps" type of way Ron Paul and the John Birch Society ...
of course they did.
You know why?
Okay.
Here goes ...
JBS President John McManus on Stopping the New World Order
Was the John Birch Society president REALLY giving a speech about the New World Order or is this author just getting a little over zealous about a perceived position of the Society's president?
So.
I really think he is "for real".
The reason he is still a "fringe" candidate is because of THIS issue.
And i mean that in several different ways.
The American public is generaly ignorant or apathetic about the nature of our ruling oligarchy and not ready for an open discussion on the topic (which is why Ron Paul is generally not talkative about his JBS connection, and why the media except in limited fashion, and only to "sophisticated" readers is also hesitant to mention).
Besides the public not being ready for the debate, the establishment wants him "quieted", because his primary underlying aim is to dismantle the (perceived by RP & JBS) evils of the "new world order". Thus he is consistently dismissed or omitted in polls and in mainstream news conversation, etc & ad nauseam.
If you think i'm overstating this connection and the implications there of, you can look in to it yourself. I'm pretty sure its more than largely accurate. I know from numerous sources that the JBS is distinctly "anti-new-world-order", and it was always castigated for this bent by the main stream media and labeled as some sort of "extreme right wing fringe conspiracy theorist group" ... yattida yattida ...
So if you believe the JBS is who it says it is
and you believe Ron Paul's relationship with them is as I (and many others) have surmised from the facts,
then you would have to believe that they are both allied against some sort of perceived Order.
?
Of course,
you could go way too deep and blow your mind!
Maybe the JBS is just a front to throw us all of the trail of organized international freemasonry?
AHHHHHHHH
OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
If I opened it now would you not understand?
I'm not a total Paul fan but this sure doesn't help.
Thoughts?
-Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
What signs?
I remember some anti-NAFTA and a LOT of anti-UN signs from back in the day ... especially along highways to nowhere towns (out where it's cheap advertising, i'm sure) ...
but I've never seen a JBS advertisement that was particularly offensive ... ?
I'll be honest,
I do not know a WHOLE lot about JBS ... but I do find it consistently pops up with relation to its anti-"NWO" views ... the right-wing libertarian-conservative small government individual rights lovers fear of some leftist collectivist takeover conspiracy to rule the world as a fascio-democratic-corporatist state. I mean ... i think they are largely right in a lot of those allegations ...
but ...
?
i dunno.
?
[edit]
Just found reference to another great billboard they had ... lol ...
"Indict the Trilateral Commission Now"
woop woop.
Actually from an uber-deep politics article, Is the Birch Society a Zionist Front? ... oh boy.
If I opened it now would you not understand?
What a combo...and what a shame it was that Mr Nader was not allowed to debate back then when he was running during the last few elections.
Just imagine, Paul-Nader Vs Obama-Biden in a debate now?... :P No contest, Nolo contendere. Obama and Biden would run scared.
Yet still probably be able to get more votes.
How exactly is he selling out by trying to alter party platforms? In my opinion, this is a much smarter move than running independent and becoming fringe. He can impact the party via platforms. That was and is his goal. The hope that in the long run, the party will conform to his message. That is the noblest of goal, in my humble opinion. He would love to President, but is realistic that it's unfortunately unlikely.
I admire Ron Paul so much.
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Yeah, that's a winning combo.
http://www.reverbnation.com/brianzilm
sorry for the late response my ipad is being repaired, what I mean is Romney is everything the (R) wants in a candidate thats why they are all endorsing him. Ron Paul is anti establishment. He didnt support TARP,the banker bailouts,and wanted nothing to do with cap-n-trade. Twitt was for suported all three. So why would he evn want anything to do with Mitt Romney? He's nothing but a corprotist, and I havent seen one pac attack ad lodged at him from anybody. There are a lot of things I like about Paul but I get so sick of the " its all americas fault " speech. The recent being what he said about the american hostages in egypt.. But thats a whole nother issue..