My Confession - Concerning the "Super" Brochure
Submitted by Zak Carter on Wed, 02/22/2012 - 00:36I was paid to promote the "Super" brochure by ronpaulproducts.com, and I no longer think it's so super.
I think they are great when put directly in someones hand by a knowledgeable Ron Paul supporter, but mailing them? Not so much. There is too much information in these and honestly some of it needs someone there to explain it to them.
I think cash is better spent by donating to the official campaign and yes, other grassroots efforts - rp2012.org, Revpac, Friends of Ron Paul, Blue Republicans and Veterans For Ron Paul all have projects that I think are more effective than these brochures at winning votes - and that's what we're after here.
The payment clouded my judgment of these brochures, and I never should have accepted it. I apologize to all of you.
Truth is Treason
In an Empire of lies.
Ron Paul Billboards provides billboard and digital billboard designs for grassroots, PAC's and national and state level campaign organizations at no charge. Contact us at social@RonPaulBillboards.com to edit the design you choose with your "Paid for by:".
Well I like the superbrochure being mailed
Honestly, be an individual and donate to what you want. I donated to the campaign first, then I donate some to super brochure and revpac.
Zak was paid to get interviews.
Zak was paid to get radio, newspaper, and magazine interviews in markets outside of the Ron Paul community. We were trying to reach a broader audience. He was recommended, and I had seen his name many times since 2007.
Zak would email me dates and times for shows and interviews. He did a good job and had more interviews than I could handle. I would have recommended him.
I have only spoken to him four or five times. He left on good terms.
In Liberty,
Curt
RonPaulProducts.com
http://www.ronpaulproducts.com/
Hi Curt
Here is an excerpt from my post below. What you said about the work that Zak did prompts me to reply to you. (I responded to him in depth with my post below.) As I thought you have considered these ideas. If you wish to ask me more questions pleas use the contact link in my account area. I have run some very successful direct mail campaigns. BTW Congratulations to both you and Erik on doing such a great work with the Super Brochure.:
"I say this to Curt and Erik. Think about expanding the outreach of the Super Brochure. I have made some suggestions on other threads about how to include a response mechanism to enable follow up on those who respond. This would be an important addition to your strategy. Think about other demographics to target like those who have dropped out of the voting system due to dislike of the political process or dislike of the people they have to vote for. They may even be our richest source of converts.
I remember the sign "Ron Paul cured my apathy". How can we reach the apathetic for Ron Paul? The Super Brochure can become the spearhead of a Liberty mailing campaign that will spread across the nation and enlist hundreds of thousands in the Liberty movement. i am sure much of this has been in your own minds and I encourage you to expand the Super Brochure strategy beyond the existing demographics while ensuring there is a reason to target each market. A good source of lists for that purpose may be limited circulation newsletters of a certain type and audience. We must think beyond the primaries to the general election because we believe that Dr. Paul will win the nomination."
"Where the Welfare State is on the march the Police State is not far behind."
Melchior Palyi Hungarian Economist
These hacks have riled me up so much I'm going, right now,
to buy some Georgia precincts. Will post shortly.
And here is the protest payment:
Description: GA-Douglas Precincts:739 (another 253 super-voters)
Total: US $139.15
Payment Information
I can understand how you feel Zak
However I do believe your feelings about the Super Brochure have more to do with the poisonous propaganda being spread against it on the DP than any money you might have received.
Some of the people spreading the poison may also have given you the "feedback" that turned you against the Super Brochure. They were also paid to do that and I don't see them confessing their sin here.
After you had swallowed their lies it was only then you felt badly about having received the money. In other words you acted in good faith and have nothing to feel guilty about. You supported the Super Brochure because you believed it was a worthwhile project, as many of us here still do, and Curt and Erik were gracious enough to compensate you for your hard work.
That was generous of them and it is just normal business practice. I have seen many of your posts and comments here and I have seen you are an excellent publicist. You are always upbeat and positive and a great boon to the movement so it makes sense that Erik and Curt might ask you to do some work for them or maybe you offered your services. In either event you did your work, you were paid for it and I hope it was fruitful for you and for the Super Brochure. There is nothing wrong with that.
Now you have swallowed the poison of the propagandists you have become a casualty in this war Zak, that's all.
I am sure there have been many more casualties since these attacks began but in the end I know they will fail. The attacks have been against the Super Brochure but the real target is Dr. Paul and these lies have been used to create dissension amongst his followers and weaken the movement. The attacks have of course limited the reach of the Super Brochure which has a proven track record of turning many Americans on to Ron Paul's message.
That it also turned some off is merely a truism since any good information will have that effect in a political campaign where people are choosing sides. This is not something to concern us, it rather proves the power of the Super Brochure to affect people deeply. This it is doing and rest assured it is gaining converts to the message of Liberty.
It is now your turn Zak to know in your own experience exactly how the controlled media spin their lies to convince the American people about the "enemy" they face. They explain why the US must occupy so many countries and drop bombs that kill so many innocent people in those countries while inflicting thousands of deaths and injuries and suicides upon American soldiers, all at enormous cost to the American people. Why do the people put up with it and even support it tenaciously? Because they have been skilfully deceived and a seemingly authoritative narrative has been implanted in their subconscious mind.
The controlled media describe precisely how this "enemy", that they themselves have created, threatens the US and they are taken at face value as being authorities even though their assertions are a devilish mixture of truisms, half-truths and bare faced lies imparted with subtle innuendo. This mixture hardens in the subconscious as a conviction that is very difficult to break down with facts and reason. This is the condition you now experience with regard to the Super Brochure. This is how propaganda works.
Finally let me say that the poison they have spread, like the Super Brochure is losing us votes, or the money should have been sent to the campaign or other grassroots projects or it could have been spent more cost effectively or there was too much information and it turned many people off, was all debunked comprehensively by other DP members including myself.
Nevertheless they were relentless in pushing their agenda and were all over every Super Brochure post spreading their lies, half truths and innuendo, using up, indeed feeding off our creative energy like the parasites they are. They dispirited many and caused them to leave the Super Brochure project and in some cases, I believe, the movement itself. In other words the very things of which they accused the Super Brochure were the things they themselves were trying to accomplish.
I say this to those who have gone along with the propagandists and have supported their contentions and who have been affected by their poison like Zak. Please concentrate on the good things the Super Brochure has accomplished. New people have joined us. Many are making contributions in time and money that will eventually be far in excess of the amount invested in the Super Brochure. Many are voting Ron Paul. Many will become delegates. There may even be some who will stand for office. Please do not underestimate or belittle the accomplishments of Curt and Erik who have worked so hard and given so much to make this project a success.
I say this to Curt and Erik. Think about expanding the outreach of the Super Brochure. I have made some suggestions on other threads about how to include a response mechanism to enable follow up on those who respond. This would be an important addition to your strategy. Think about other demographics to target like those who have dropped out of the voting system due to dislike of the political process or dislike of the people they have to vote for. They may even be our richest source of converts.
I remember the sign "Ron Paul cured my apathy". How can we reach the apathetic for Ron Paul? The Super Brochure can become the spearhead of a Liberty mailing campaign that will spread across the nation and enlist hundreds of thousands in the Liberty movement. i am sure much of this has been in your own minds and I encourage you to expand the Super Brochure strategy beyond the existing demographics while ensuring there is reason to target each market. A good source of lists for that purpose may be limited circulation newsletters of a certain type and audience. We must think beyond the primaries to the general election because we believe that Dr. Paul will win the nomination.
"Where the Welfare State is on the march the Police State is not far behind."
Melchior Palyi Hungarian Economist
do me a favor please...
and address what the campaign itself is saying. you go on and on about these 'enemies' of the SB as if they are unnamed media propagandists. you guys are in total denial that it is the campaign itself spreading the 'propaganda'. i loved the SB until the campaign explained to me why they lose votes. they used rational reasons to get the message across. it makes sense. and they are the campaign. i trust them. anyone who ALREADY agrees with ALL the issues on the SB (like myself) is bound to have a hard time understanding how they could possibly be harmful to dr paul's support. but people who have never supported a candidate anything like ron paul (most people) will be more impacted by the one or two seemingly radical (to them) positions on there and dismiss RP altogether. the campaign's strategy of targeting specific issues is proven to be much more effective. but many on this site would not believe the truth about the SB's if Ron Paul himself knocked on their door and told them to their face, so us rational folks have our work cut out for us.
This quote is from one of your posts:
"Learn the rules: such a public statement would be considered coordinating with a PAC, and the campaign actually follows the rules."
You are making public statements ad nauseam that clearly break the rules since you are saying that the campaign has told you this and told you that and here you are spilling the beans to the grassroots DP audience.
What effect do you expect this to have on those who believe that the Super Brochure is a worthwhile project and one that they continue to support? What little seed of discontent do you believe your interminable complaints about the Super Brochure, all attributed to the official campaign, is being planted in the minds of every DP member who reads these posts?
These are not difficult questions to answer. The result will be a growing sense of alienation between the official campaign and many of the grassroots supporters. This is the material point.
This tells me that you are either a paid professional political operative working for some other campaign and against the election efforts of both the RP official campaign and the grassroots or you are a very foolish young man with delusions of grandeur seeking to destabilise the efforts of virtually everyone here to get Ron Paul elected.
My advice to you is to let it go. You are like a dog with a bone. The only reason you would continue with your attacks is because you are the fifth columnist I take you to be. If you are a genuine Ron Paul supporter then I would expect you to cease and desist immediately.
The assertion that the campaign or any other grassroots project is losing money due to the Super Brochure is demonstrably false. There have already been many responses to the Super Brochure and they have all been super positive. This is only the tip of the iceberg since these responses are spontaneous and unsolicited. These responses will result not only in more votes but also in more money for the campaign (since those who support the Super Brochure also support the campaign).
As you say the RP official campaign is savvy on marketing so I know they must realise that every effort that produces more supporters of Ron Paul (which the Super Brochure clearly does) will result in more money for the official RP campaign and more votes for Ron Paul. The misapprehension that you have, or more properly that you are disseminating, is based upon a steady state condition of support without regard to the dynamism of the grassroots or the normal behaviour of the American voter of whom there are in the region of 256 million. So far we have reached perhaps one million or about .39% leaving 255 million or about 99.61% to go.
You believe, if your protestations are followed to their logical conclusions, that there is a limited pool of supporters who are contributing to every grassroots effort and to the official campaign. In other words there is only a limited pie to be shared out, a limited amount of money. Can you see the absurdity of such a belief?
The message of Ron Paul is for all Americans even those who are still stuck in the left/right paradigm as I believe you are based upon your posts. You do not strike me as a particularly Liberty minded person. The only question is how quickly we can break you out of that mindset. I will leave that task to some other hardy soul at the DP (no pun intended).
Please do not reply to this post Mr. Hardie. I have no interest in engaging in further debate with you. I have said all I want to say to you and you must read my other posts if you wish to gain an insight into my arguments in favour of the Super Brochure.
"Where the Welfare State is on the march the Police State is not far behind."
Melchior Palyi Hungarian Economist
ok.
i'm giving up here just need to point out for the hundredth time that it's not my opinion. i agreed with you until the campaign explained it to me. so what i was trying to accomplish was to get open minded folks to just look into it a little and find out the truth from the campaign themself. but i didn't realize the open minded discussion of this issue is impossible on here. so i'll agree to end my work to educate on the SB if you help to promote my new effort:
http://www.dailypaul.com/216019/help-win-washington
thanks.
The campaign hasn't said anything
You have.. You're not the campaign and you don't speak for them. You say call this person or that and they'll tell you.. Hell I could do that too... I could even form an opinion about them based on very limited feedback or irrational feedback but I choose not to.. I choose to go on decades of experience that has been earned before me and my own 13 years of it to know what works and what doesn't.
You shouldn't be here even talking to us about any campaign issues and tying yourself to them one way or another.
You've signed an agreement with the campaign to respect their privacy and rules and to keep their information quiet.
If you can't keep your word then you're no good.
Delegates win.. Here's how.
www.ronpaul2012.com/delegate/
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
i know you like to ignore it...
but i'll say it yet again. the campaign can't say anything publicly. that would be coordinating with a PAC. please acknowledge that you understand this simple fact.
also help me understand whether your position is that i'm lying, and the campaign isn't against the SB's, or that i'm breaking my contract by telling you about it. or explain how both could possibly be true. thank you.
You're doing both
..
Delegates win.. Here's how.
www.ronpaul2012.com/delegate/
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
elaborate please...
i'd like to understand how, if i'm making this all up, that i'm breaking a contract, which, if i'm lying, probably doesn't exist anyway.
Discussing the issue of superbrochures
"needing" to be stopped and that they the campaign thinks they should be burned whether lying or not I'm sure goes against the contracts you've signed.
You've agreed to keep quiet and you haven't while acting as if with it somehow, it doesn't matter in the least whether you've lied about it or not, you've still made the contact while trying to influence the grassroots about it.
Delegates win.. Here's how.
www.ronpaul2012.com/delegate/
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
ok...
first, i have a hard time understanding why you think i'm lying about the SB's but not about the fact that i have a contract in the first place. next, are you really saying that if i'm telling the truth about it that i should just sit back and be quiet about it? risking being sent home to make calls from home instead of this campaign office in Bellevue WA is a small price to pay for the potential to convince at least some people here of the ineffectiveness of the SB's, especially considering all the valuable resources being spent on them.
Well post your contract then
Let's see if you're telling the truth on that. Hey you're willing to break it supposedly so why not right...
Delegates win.. Here's how.
www.ronpaul2012.com/delegate/
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
haha if i had it i would
but i did not receive a copy, nor did any of the other hundreds of student volunteers helping in IA, NH, SC, or NV. it was just a generic nondisclosure agreement. but i assume we've been talking about this contract for so long because you want to draw attention away from the facts i've presented. would me posting a contract prove anything? you could have called every campaign staffer in the country by now instead of wasting your efforts arguing with me. contact any one of the hundreds of youth for paul volunteers from those states and they'll all tell you the same thing. the campaign wants us to burn our SB's. please stop polluting this thread unless you have rational relevant arguments to present.
What's your name
BTW.. When I have people sign contracts, they get a copy.
I think you may be lying about all of this now.
Delegates win.. Here's how.
www.ronpaul2012.com/delegate/
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
i understand the skepticism
that's why i'm inviting you to find out for yourself. my name is Les Redfield, i'm currently at the Bellevue WA campaign office with a phone on each ear calling washington voters. i went to nevada with the 100 person Youth for Paul group and joined up with the team that travels around running the phone banks. i'm on facebook, you'll see my profile picture is of a group of the top nevada callers with dr paul. i never asked you to take my word for a single thing. yet for some reason you refuse to do ten seconds of research.
I've done 13 years of research in advertisement
moron.. that's what YOU'RE not getting. Seriously.. how frigging mind numbingly blank can you be mentally.
You say THEY don't work and you say THEY say to burn them but who are THEY.. a few people you've met in Bellevue? LMAO..
Yeah I'm gonna call but I'm gonna call the main headquarters to complain about you and those who can't be trusted to keep a simple contract. Who knows what else you'd be willing to talk about if you felt like it.
I still doubt it's true and even if it is.. it was most likely someone giving an opinion they shouldn't have.
You don't deserve to be there.
Delegates win.. Here's how.
www.ronpaul2012.com/delegate/
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
good luck...
hopefully you ask about the SB's while you have them on the phone, but you probably won't because your 13 years of research clearly makes you more qualified than the entire campaign. for the 20th time, "THEY" are every member of the campaign from every state, not just the members of the campaign here in Bellevue. hopefully the people reading this thread aren't as intimidated by your 'advertisement research' as you think. i never once cited an opinion, except the one that i originally held that the SB's were great. those opinions were washed away by the facts presented by the campaign. sorry i'm so "mind numbingly blank" mentally and can't see the infallible greatness of your (presumably non-polital) advertising background.
Now you're speaking for every campaign
for every state.. lol More unadulterated bullshit.
Wow you've compiled and amassed quite a lot of bullshit there.
Intimidated? You mean smart enough to take head of it.
That's what I'd do..I'd find someone that had more experience than I had in a subject and then start right off dismissing them.. lol
Delegates win.. Here's how.
www.ronpaul2012.com/delegate/
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
by all means
find a state with a campaign member who disagrees with anything i have said.
and you've done exactly that: found someone with more experience than you (the campaign, not me (i was on your side until they set me straight)) in a subject (effectiveness of targeted voter mailing as opposed to blind blanketing with every issue) and started right off dismissing them. i, on the other hand, have not dismissed you at all. but instead of rational arguments to dispute the campaigns facts, you want to simply boast about advertising experience and dismiss the facts.
So you want me to go
and start calling every state to disprove that you know what's going on in every state concerning this issue? :)
Sure, that will work.. tell you what.. maybe you shouldn't pretend you know what's going on in every state concerning any issue.
The idea you believe you do, is absurd.
Delegates win.. Here's how.
www.ronpaul2012.com/delegate/
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
also please explain
how those who encourage donations to the campaign or other worthwhile efforts that are not losing ron paul votes are supporting the same things they speak out against. if we were saying "don't by SB's, send your money to me" that would be one thing. but simply discouraging the use of one tactic proven to be harmful and promoting others proven not to be is a very different situation.
The SuperBrochure is awesome...
... a heartfelt thanks to all those involved in this great grassroots efforts. Those who object are (i) incapable of organizing a similar grassroots campaign; (ii) envious of the dollars flowing into the brochure project, coveting the cash for their own pet projects; or (iii) are just "smart Alec's" who go through life criticizing everything they encounter. It's very disappointing.
I deeply appreciate the efforts of the campaign, the superpacs, DailyPaul, the SuperBrochure, the sign waves (oh, the "smart Alecs" think sign-waves are a waste of time! God forbid we have some fun), those who post on message boards, walk their precincts (one of the most effective approaches), phone banking (I've seen some negative posts on phone banking - what's new?), you tube videos, etc. etc.
That said, I've been critical of the campaigns unwillingness to plug the fact that only Ron Paul and Mitt Romney are on the Virginia ballot. No sure why they choose to keep this a secret. So, I have also been guilty of negativism, but those busting your guts especially those at the SuperBrochure, hats off!!!
Plano TX
For the price
you CANNOT beat them. It would have been great if we had the money Obama has to spend.. talk about the direct mail king! Holy cow that guy spent more money on it than I'd know how to spend.
Yep, always someone coming by though as you say to posts something negative and how they've got it all figured it.
All of the things you've mentioned work.. I've seen them first hand.
Great post BTW.
Delegates win.. Here's how.
www.ronpaul2012.com/delegate/
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
ever heard of slim jims?
technically, it would be better (and cheaper) to do nothing. but i'd suggest the campaign slim jims, which are a fraction of the cost and are proven to be much more effective. yes, proven. by the campaign. not one, two, or three "trolls". the campaign. ask them. or just keep your eyes closed and pretend the SB's are great. when RP wins it will be despite your efforts, not because of them.
Do they have the...
... ability for you to select a precinct, pay on line and then they do the mailing? It is more than just a SuperBrochure. It a seamless operation whereby I can sit in Texas and send brochures to people in Iowa, South Carolina, Florida, Navada, etc., through the click of a mouse. I have seen the brochure and made a consumer decision. Nobody forced me or conned me. It was and is a rational decision. That makes me an active participant in a huge grassroots activity. Besides, I'm maxed out, so it is not that I'm short changing the campaign.
Plano TX