Bizarre, Congress, Politics, Society

Is The Media Actively Erasing Ron Paul From Election Coverage?

While some on our blog (including many regulars who I respect) disagree, I have never hidden my respect for Ron Paul. I have occasional lunches with Paul who is one of the brightest and most engaging minds in Congress. This segment by John Stewart does a great job in addressing the concerted effort to ignore Paul despite his almost winning the recent Iowa straw poll. Even “XXX” got more attention by Associated Press.

Though we do not agree on all issues (and sharply disagree on some), Paul is currently the only candidate (including Barack Obama) who has consistently opposed the wars and spoken out against the rollback on civil liberties. The Stewart segment is worth watching. One would think that an anti-war candidate in the Republican primary would receive overwhelming attention. This is the one guy in either party who is actually challenging the claims supporting these wars — and receiving significant support among Republicans. Yet the mainstream media seems intent on avoiding any acknowledgment that Paul or his GOP supporters exist. Why?

Consider the sharp contrast with Rick Santorum:

98 thoughts on “Is The Media Actively Erasing Ron Paul From Election Coverage?”

  1. Swarthmore mom states:

    … there is a lot of work to be done before you start blaming democrats for Paul’s failure to capture the republican nomination.

    Where am I blaming democrats for marginalizing Paul?

    Kucinich’s voice and debating style aided in his marginalization. Then I supported Dean and he lost it and screamed… Paul’s voice makes him sound old and cranky.

    So when you voted for Obama, his near-flawless delivery mattered more than the principles and ideas he stood for?

  3. Swathmore,

    When you expect someone to provide services for free how is that not slavery?

  5. an, yes I do. The problem is that this is an unproven technique that would never pass a Daubert scrutiny in a courtroom. And consider the fact this is going to be conducted by the same people who were responsible for the incident involving the late Joe Foss at the Phoenix airport.

    Joe Foss was a WW-II Marine fighter pilot who was awarded the Medal of Honor. He was going through the TSA checkpoint in Phoenix when the agent told him she was going to have to confiscate the Medal of Honor because it had sharp points and could be used as a weapon. The crusty old Marine told her that was not going to happen. She demanded to know where he got it. He said it was given to him by Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Her response was, “Who is that?”

    Now don’t you feel safer already?

  6. Lotta,

    America was hardly the only or even the first country to have slavery. Yet we are the only one that saw fit to slaughter 650,000 people to end it. Doesn’t that seem a little odd to you? Besides that there is plenty of history of states rights being used to fight slavery via nullification which everyone around these parts conventiently forgot when the issue was raised recently.

  8. Most Paul supporters consider Kucinich to be a socialist. Kucinich was against the health care bill because it did not go far enough not because he was against government sponsored healthcare. If you look at the voting records of the two, they do not overlap very often.

  9. AY – well said. I disagree with both Paul and Kucinich on several issues, but that’s far better to me than buying into a candidate that is elected on false promises.

    CNN just ran a piece by Jack Cafferty on the media coverage of Ron Paul:

  10. Whether you like or dislike either of them, what they have in common is they are true to their words. They are not bought and paid for. And I do not believe either can be bought, character and principal mean more than money or prestige. I think thats the general feeling and makes the comparison easy, at least for me…

  11. Puzzlling: “I know you’re a fan of unfettered government power if it sits at the federal level, as you wrote recently:

    “I’d be OK with him invoking the 14th Amendment if the debt ceiling isn’t raised, and sending Federal Marshall’s to round up everybody that votes against doing so as terrorists. He [the President] has the power, on paper at least to do so. ”
    ———

    You seem to assume that both parties were acting in good faith. That’s not correct. After McConnel said that job one for Republicans was to bring down the President I measured everything done against that dictum. Bringing the country to the brink of default to that end (purely political) is traitorous behaviour IMO. We absolutely disagree on this matter.

  12. Puzzeling: “It is telling that those on the left with a deep sense of ideals and conscience like Kucinich see more to praise in Paul than those here who instantly dismiss the man.”
    —-

    You seem to equate the two but to my mind they are polar opposites- I’ve written Dennis in many times but wouldn’t cross the street to put a dime in Pauls (or any libertarian) cup. Apples and oranges. Paul and other Libertarians think states and the free market cures all ill, Kucinich is grounded in reality.

  16. Wow. Talk about praising with faint damnation. Imagine Constitutional Law Professor Turley’s pride at the level of critical thinking exhibited within these comments.

    Ekeyra has it absolutely right. Those commenting here on Professor Turley’s blog (a profound privilege, thank you, sir) seem unable to grasp that Paul’s ultimate stance is that people are entitled to their own beliefs. Have things become so twisted that we can’t even imagine that someone who has a differing opinion could respect our own? That’s what grown-ups do. Or at least they used to. What a sad state of affairs.

  17. [http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-august-15-2011/indecision-2012—corn-polled-edition—ron-paul—the-top-tier?xrs=share_copy]

  18. As to Kucinich, I have always welcomed his articulate and principled voice in the greater debate. Like Paul he is also marginalized by the media and his own party. While I disagree with Kucinich and Paul on important points, both stand by their convictions and are uncorrupted by establishment influence. I respect that.

    On Bradley Manning and the Wikileaks controversy I wrote:

    Kucinich on this issue and many others is to be applauded for demonstrating principle and real political courage.

    It is telling that those on the left with a deep sense of ideals and conscience like Kucinich see more to praise in Paul than those here who instantly dismiss the man.

  20. puzzling, Paul said he won’t run as an independent so it is up to the republicans to get him nominated. Registered democrats have no say in what happens in the r’s primaries. Paul is at 8 or 9 percent so it looks like there is a lot of work to be done before you start blaming democrats for Paul’s failure to capture the republican nomination.

Comments are closed.