Censoring A Leader



Rudy Takala
July 19, 2007
NewsWithViews.com

With the decline of John McCain’s campaign treasury comes the accentuation
of a spectacle worth noting. McCain currently has $2 million available in his
campaign bank account; that puts him in fourth place among Republicans after Ron
Paul, who has $2.4 million.

A couple of months ago, Saul Anuzi, chair of the Michigan GOP, petitioned to
have Ron Paul banned from future debates. The reason, to summarize, was because
he was doing better in polls regarding debate performance than any of the “top
three” candidates. “I think Congressman Ron Paul … doesn’t
represent any of the Republican Party base” and is “getting in the
way of the real debate of how to move our party” forward.

In a logical world, now that Paul is in the top three of everything except
for media-controlled polls, Anuzi would petition to ban now-second-tier candidates
like McCain, and pro-abortion candidates such as Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani,
who are no longer contributing anything to the party. But for some reason, that
isn’t happening.

By every possible measure of grassroots support, Ron Paul is a top-tier candidate
for the Republican nomination. After the money, nothing points to that more
than the most recent straw poll out of New Hampshire, conducted by the Coalition
for New Hampshire Taxpayers. Paul won with 65% of the vote. Giuliani came in
second with 8%.

On the social networking site Facebook, members are able to express support
for their favorite candidate. Currently, Barack Obama is first with 35,000 votes.
Giuliani is second with 13,000. Hillary is third with 11,000, and Paul is fourth
with just over 10,000. Thompson is fifth, Romney is sixth, and McCain comes
in at a stunning 9th.

As of June 27th, more than 18,000 people subscribed for Ron Paul updates on
the video site YouTube. Barack Obama was second with 8,500. McCain was ninth
with 1,400.

In order to prevent a conservative from winning the Republican primary, the
media is looking for more contenders they can ordain as “top-tier”
and who can actually stay in the top eight for more than a week. Sean Hannity
lent a helping hand to unannounced contender Fred Thompson a while back, described
in a June 8th column of Robert Novak’s. Thompson began to say something
that seemed to hint he supported abortion:

“‘I would not be and never have been for a law that says, on the
state level, if I were [a senator] voting on this… that, if they chose
to criminalize a young woman, and –.’ Co-host Sean Hannity then interrupted:
‘So, states rights for you?’ Thompson replied: ‘Essentially,
federalism. It’s in the Constitution.’”
The month before, a caller to Rush Limbaugh asked him to support Ron Paul. In
the midst of talking about how it wouldn’t be ethical for him to influence
the primary process because he alone could determine the outcome, he said Paul
didn’t have “a snowball’s chance” and said his views
on foreign policy were “not realistic.”

To someone who’d likely say we should only support “electable”
candidates, and who defines electable as being whomever he happens to support,
it’s another way of endorsing the “anybody but Paul” candidate.

If Paul received a quarter of the media support the other candidates received,
he’d be equal to Barack Obama. That a member of the U.S. House could hold
third place in a presidential race is unprecedented in modern times. Even with
the wrath of Saul Anuzi and every Republican media pundit in the country coming
down upon him, he still wins every poll regarding debate performance. His popularity
among those who see and hear him persists, even as every powerbroker in the
party and in the media opposes him.

Given his level of support, I like Pat Buchanan’s suggestion. “By
all means, throw out of the debate the only man who was right from the beginning
on Iraq.” The effort to do so will betray what insufferable, depraved,
self-righteous, power-mad, psychosis-stricken morons are leading our party.

A friend of mine who works for a Congressional representative has been muttering
frequently as of late, “Light shines brightest in the darkest places.”
By all means, let the darkness continue. That metaphor is the singular explanation
for Ron Paul’s meteoric ascendancy. He is the northern star personified.

© 2007 Rudy Takala

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