In the recent post How about A GOP Pauline Ticket?, parvenu wrote a fine analysis of the current state of Republican affairs.
There are three major groups striving for control of the Republican Party. There are (1) the Christian Evangelicals/Southern Baptist group, (2) the Plutocratic Corporate Oligarchs, and (3) the Libertarians.
The piece goes on to make a strong case that Ron Paul…non-person that he is in most current media coverage of the Goofy Old Party…is the strongest Republican opponent currently in the race to depose Barack Obama from the presidential throne on which he now sits.
I agree.
Read on for why I agree if you are so inclined.
Parvenu continues:
Make no mistake a GOP Pauline presidential ticket would really give President Obama a tough run in the general election, simply because Ron Paul currently has a LOT OF SUPPORT among INDEPENDENT white male voters. I’m definitely keeping my eye on the New Hampshire GOP primary. As I write this MSNBC is showing a clip from the Jon Stewart show where Jon is raising a similar question over the way that the MSM has ignored Ron Paul’s tight second place finish in the Iowa straw poll. Hmmm do great minds think alike?
OH yes!!! Ron Paul will resonate big-time in New England. Bet on it. In “Live Free Or Die” country?
Fuggedaboudit!!!
When is the NH primary again? February or earlier, I believe.
They’re on it already.
Watch.
If the corporate media do not manage to freeze Paul out by then…not a likely occurrence because he is too well financed and too well organized to just disappear no matter how blatantly the MSM ignores him…New Hampshire will change the race. In fact, it will define the race in my opinion. Bet on it.
I have some strong New England roots and a great deal of respect for the working people of that area. They are not very forgiving of tweety bullshit and they like being addressed honestly. Perry’s ranting, pushy style will not go over big in NH and they will relegate Bachmann to the status of the local strange lady. (Every town has one.) That will leave Romney and Paul. Paul will shred Romney in a head-to-head confrontation.
Watch.
AG
P.S. That Paul poster above? That is some stylish graphic work. The subtle transposition/suggestion of “evol” to “love” by the change in color, angle, direction and outlining? The font that looks like it came from a down-home stencil followed by the “Live free or die” thing in a totally different, hand written-looking font? The relatively small picture of Ron Paul? (No egotistical pol he!!!) The use of black background and color? Totally different from the usually clomp-clomp-clomping RatPublican disinfo machine and much, much better. Better than anything that I have seen from the Dems as well. There is some real advertising talent working for Ron Paul and advertising is what wins elections in the United States of TV Commercials.
Watch.
Remember the Burt Lancaster movie, “Valdez Is Coming?” (From an Elmore Leonard novel. Elmore Leonard can write!!!) Lancaster plays a humble Mexican-American sheriff who over the course of the movie goes from ineffectively trying to talk some sense to a powerful rancher right on through taking down the rancher’s whole crooked operation singlehandedly.
Well…Ron Paul is coming, too. Even the mighty MSM disinfo machine is going to have to acknowledge that, and soon. It will take a massive fail of some kind on the part of his campaign and/or some successful, high-level dirty tricks operations to derail him this time.
Watch.
American elections are all about mojo. As of now…in both parties…Ron Paul is the only candidate evincing any real mojo power. Last time it was Obama. This time? I think Obama has worn out his mojo thing fairly thoroughly. He’s looking more than a little…used up. I really don’t think that he has the stomach for a hard campaign this time.
In fact, by the look on his face as he watched the bin Laden murder (Remember that little photo op?) I really don’t think he has much stomach left for the responsibilities of being president.
Do you?
It’s about to get interesting, folks.
Watch.
P.P.S. I know that the following is bound to fail here in knee-jerk Leftiness Land, but I’m going to try anyway.
I am not a Ron Paul “supporter,” any more than I was a Hillary Clinton supporter four years ago. I am acting here only as an electoral and political observer. I neither believe nor disbelieve in any particular form or philosophy of government. They all work well in some instances and not so well in most others. I like to think of myself as a nonarchist and/or panarchist. Having no particular political axe to grind except the “Don’t Tread On Me” concept…I simply want to be left to my own devices as much as it is possible to do so…I sometimes see things that other, more partisan observers seem to miss.
Agree or disagree, I really don’t much care. But don’t misunderstand where I am coming from or you’ll miss some valuable information. If you are an Obama supporter, remember…Valdez is coming, only this time he is wearing a Ron Paul face. If you do not like that idea? Prepare.
Thank you and good night.
Feel free.
I do.
(“Feel free or die.” My family coat of arms. Bet on it.)
Later…
AG
Nice phrase, missed it the first (or at least an earlier) time you posted it:
(praise bees to google: http://www.boomantribune.com/?op=displaystory;sid=2010/12/21/13019/445 )
Always so much to learn from your posts! Obbatalá, new to me, and nifty. Thank you.
Then I came to “technologically-driven mediocracy” and read “mediocracy” as “mediaocracy” (a fairly A.Gilroy concept, no?) and wondered if you were playing on the Mediocracy meme, ala the Mike Judge film, which turns out is really Idiocracy, alas for my skill at film title recollection.
So … back to the ever so Arthur Gilroy concept of Mediaocracy, gov’t by media slight of hand … what would you suggest Ron Paul do, as far as any strategy? Should he risk the twists of Jon Stewart via direct interview? Approach Salon about an article interview? Are there cracks in the not-fully-unified “mainstream media” where he could breath a little more fire, get more mainstream attention, accidentally be taken a little more and a little more seriously?
Googling around in these waters, this blogger sounds like a diluted version of your MEDIASTRIKE call to action: http://www.skepticaleye.com/2011/08/mediacracy.html
Unfortunately for Ron Paul, during this election, he can’t just buck the media system .. they control too many votes through hypnotic apathy induction. But he’s quit his day job (not seeking reelection) .. so he can devote the time to The Game… but what are the medias’ weak point, in this regard? Which media (sector, or specific website) would be best/first target?
Well…the media can be played. The problem is that it cannot be played for a very long period of time. The “hottest thing ever” syndrome kicks in and eventually it moves on to the next blooming idiot flower. Witness the rise and fall of Crazy Charlie Sheen for all you need to know on that account. A year from now he’ll be an answer to some kind of Trivia game, nothing more. If Ron Paul asked my advice on the matter I would say that he has to strike when the iron gets hot and then back off until it gets hot again.
He’s hot now after the Iowa win. He won, y’know. Whatshername is already the punchline to joke but he’s a hot item. Why? Because Jon Stewart…the Johnny Carson of contemporary TV, not those two latenight lames on CBS and NBC…says so. But he’ll cool off as the media find other, less threatening topics to hype. In fact, he’s cooling off already as the Romney/Perry rivalry heats up. Nothing like a good cop/bad cop scenario to get the packrat press excited.
But…he’ll be back. In New Hampshire, if not before. If he lowers himself to provoking media coverage through making outrageous statements or picking fights he’ll lose the cachet of being “real” that he holds now.
I actually don’t think he needs much advice. He’s doing just fine as a counterpuncher. Let him defend himself when attacked and let the other candidates pound on each other…Perry the attacker, Romney the almost totally inert heavy bag, the other second-level players circling the ring in the hopes of getting picked to spar with the heavyweights and score a flash knockdown…and then come in for the first real media decision in New Hampshire. He’ll know he’s the top contender when the Obama people start opposing him publicly, and when/if that happens, then he can then start boxing with Obama…the current heavyweight champ.
Obama looks a little…out of shape now. Too many fights in too short a period of time. But he’s young and he may get back into fighting trim for the election. Or…he may not. In truth, I don’t think he much likes the political game. He’d be happier in academia. Time will tell.
Later…
AG
P.S. “Mediocracy?” “Mediaocracy?” I prefer the former, because:
A-The big media are “mediocre” by sheer necessity. Climb up the ladder of excellence in the media game and you shed audience like a long-haired dog sheds hair.
and
B-Because it sings better. “Mediocracy” rolls off the tongue while “mediaocracy” stumbles around between its “a” and its “o.” At heart, I’m always a musician.
“Mediocracy” tells the whole truth of the matter…big media are mediocre by definition… and it does so much more elegantly.
AG
Recommendations sustain the life of a post on the site, and that means it reaches more people. If you like my work, rec it up, please. The more the merrier.
That goes for anyone else’s posts that seem interesting to you. If we’re going to spend the time writing seriously about something, it’s always nice to see it read by as many people as possible.
Thanks…
AG
I rec when I’m around. Haven’t had a chance to be around much lately.
And the infernal “recommend this diary” button scrolls so far off the right that I missed it! fooey.