There Is A Reason Ron Paul Is Ignored: His 2008 Online Supporters

I see headlines today speaking to how the media is ignoring Ron Paul, asking why he managed to come in second in the Iowa Ames Straw Poll, 152 votes behind Michele Bachmann, the same day Rick Perry declared he is running for president in 2012, yet other than quick mentions, Pauls placement was basically ignored.



His candidacy is mentioned far less than any other candidate.



Paul has some decent ideas and others some like, some do not.



The general public, most who do not read online blogs, diaries or Internet media, but mostly obtain their news from the nightly half hour or hour cable or local news shows, might not remember this, but those of us with blogs, or media outlets that provide comment sections on their Internet based articles will remember and remember well the over-the-top shenanigans from Paul's online supporters back in 2007 and 2008.



Unless it was a completely pro-Paul piece with absolutely no balance, Paul's 2008 online supporters made a mess of every comment section across the Internet. They spammed comment sections with copy-n-paste replies, half of which had nothing to do with the subject matter of the article itself. They generally made a nuisance of themselves to the point where some were forced to ban any mention of Ron Paul.



Flashback: June 2007: RE: Comment Spam from the Ron Paul Crowd, via RightWingRock

The Ron Paul campaign has it all wrong.



They somehow are running with the notion that hitting every blog post that takes a position critical of Ron Paul with nasty comment after nasty comment. Somehow they figure this is going to get their candidate elected. All it's really doing is exposing the Paul campaign and its supporters for the nutjobs that they are.



First, let's make it very clear that I have no problem with Ron Paul. In fact, I posted my recent piece with the intention of proving him to be the most conservative candidate among the three I was analyzing, and even said so (proof that these comment spammers didn't read my post before throwing around their nasty comments).

October 2007: RE: Ron Paul Illegal Bot Net Voters

Now here is the amusing part... some of these illegal spamming emails are being used by those that spam our comment section and the comment sections of other blogs..... they are copying these illegal spam emails and pasting them directly in the comments.

December 2007: RE: When supporters hurt their candidate

I have often said that although I dislike Ron Paul, it was his supporters that do him the most damage by spamming emails, hate filled comments on blogs and forums and acting like crazy lunatics by doing constant Ron Paul searches then flooding every site that mentions him with the exact same comments as they left on the site before that, (No denials, the proof of this is in my own comment section and sitemeter showing where they were referred from)

January 2008: RE: References to the onslaught in comment sections



Captain's Quarters: (Ed Morrissey from CQ now writes at Hot Air)

Almost like clockwork, any time a blogger posts anything remotely critical about Ron Paul, it attracts hundreds of comments, most of them refusing to deal with the substance of the criticism.

My own blog mention of Paul supporters that same day:

I have proven, and shown, on a few posts, using the IP's listed from sitemeter and haloscan in conjunction with the haloscan referral tab, that Ron Paul supporters generally do tons of searches on technorati, google, yahoo, AOL and every other type of search engine, to see who is talking about Ron Paul and then they proceed to click all the results and copy and paste the same "shill" answers into each and every blog that mentions him.

It was constant, consistent and while many might claim "but they were loyal", no one is arguing they are not, but cheating online polls, spamming comment sections and generally making a pain in the ass of themselves, could very well be the reason why today, media and blogs, simply do not wish to deal with their antics again.



Instead of complaining that Paul "got shafted" or blaming it on media "arrogance", or even claiming Paul doesn't fit the "media script", or casting blame on any one of the different "ignoring Paul" narratives out there, Paul and his supporters should realize that his 2008 online supporters might very well be to blame for the fact that no one wants to bother with him anymore.



The pity of it for Paul's 2011 supporters is they do not seem to be as irrational as the ones referred to above, but not many online media forums, MSM nor blogs, are willing to revisit the insanity of 2008.



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Rasmussen: Perry 29, Romney 18, Bachmann 13, Paul 9.

Just days after Rick Perry entered the GOP field of presidential candidates he has taken a double digit lead according to Rasmussen:

Texas Governor Rick Perry, the new face in the race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, has jumped to a double-digit lead over Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann with the other announced candidates trailing even further behind.



The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely Republican Primary voters, taken Monday night, finds Perry with 29% support. Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who ran unsuccessfully for the GOP presidential nomination in 2008, earns 18% of the vote, while Bachmann, the Minnesota congresswoman who won the high-profile Ames Straw Poll in Iowa on Saturday, picks up 13%.



Texas Congressman Ron Paul, who was a close second to Bachmann on Saturday, has the support of nine percent (9%) of Likely Primary Voters, followed by Georgia businessman Herman Cain at six percent (6%) and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich with five percent (5%). Rick Santorum, former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, and ex-Utah Governor Jon Huntsman each get one percent (1%) support, while Michigan Congressman Thaddeus McCotter comes in statistically at zero.

I gather the public prefers a candidate who tells it like it is and doesn't give a damn about political correctness.





[Update] InTrade also has Perry up with 39.8%, Romney 28.2% and Bachmann 7%.





[Update] Hot Air digs into the Rasmussen poll's internals and finds some very interesting results:

Let’s take a look at the internals of this poll. Perry scores highest among men (32%) and women (25%) than any of his competitors. Ron Paul scores best among young voters by a wide margin (29%), but Perry is the only other candidate in double digits (17%). Perry wins all of the other age demographics, and he also scores highest among Republicans (29%) and non-Republicans (28%). Perry also wins every income demographic, above the $40K level with 31% or more of the vote.

Go read it all.



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Ron Paul Won't Seek Reelection For Congressional Seat In 2012

Representative Ron Paul has announced he will not seek reelection for his congressional seat in 2012 after serving for almost 24 years.

He will instead focus on his bid for presidency in the 2012 election, attempting to be the GOP nominee to go up against Barack Obama who is campaigning to be reelected.

“I felt it was better that I concentrate on one election,” Paul said. “It’s about that time when I should change tactics.”

His announcement will give enough time for anyone with aspirations for his seat to think about running, he said. Paul didn’t want to wait for filing in the 2012 primary to let people know he wasn’t seeking reelection.

“I didn’t want to hold off until in December,” he said. “I thought it shouldn’t be any later than now.”

Paul has served 12 terms in Congress. District 14 encompasses a 10-county area along the Gulf Coast.

“The people in the area have supported me for many years,” he said.

The Hill reports:

Paul is seen still as a relatively long-shot candidate for the Republican nomination in 2012; he ranks as the choice of 7 percent of Republican primary voters, according to the latest Gallup poll. The latest poll in Iowa pegs him at 6 percent among likely GOP caucus-goers, and he checks in at 7 percent in New Hampshire, good enough for third place.

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