Vanity Fair: Inside Ron Paul's Counter-Convention
I am so Proud to be A Part of It!!! Awesome write up!
Inside Ron Paul's Counter-Convention
by Christopher Bateman | September 8, 2008, 1:00 PM
Last week, thousands of people descended upon Minneapolis—the other Twin City—for Ron Paul’s Rally for the Republic, a colorful affair heavy on Revolutionary War symbolism. The gathering meant to serve as a message of revolt to the Republican Party from some of its most disaffected constituents. Just a little more than a cannon’s range away from Xcel center in St. Paul, where the official R.N.C was taking place, Paul’s rally attracted pilgrims from all over the country—some driving from as far as New York and Alabama, some even walking from Wisconsin, 200 miles away—and ended up having all the energy that the R.N.C. lacked in its halting start. The atmosphere was certainly more informal and the attendees more outré. Compared to the general electorate, Ron Paul believers tend to be disproportionately white and male, but they’re also younger and grungier. There’s a misfit quality to many of them, and a disagreeable odor to some. Ponytails, mullets, goatees, dreadlocks, and piercings were everywhere. But families also made the trip, a few wearing tricorne hats and other colonial clothing.
The culmination of the rally took place on Tuesday at the Target Center, where a procession of libertarian- and conservative-leaning speakers, including Grover Norquist, Tucker Carlson, and Jesse Ventura, condemned the state of the Republican establishment. (“Socialist” Democrats also took a lashing, though their evilness was so obvious as to warrant less mention.) They also praised Paul’s proposals to abolish the Fed, reinstate the gold standard, and immediately withdraw nearly all U.S. troops from abroad. By the time Barry Goldwater Jr. made the grand introduction, 12,000 people had gathered in the arena, and when Paul took the stage he electrified them with a call to action and a hard-hitting denunciation of the Patriot Act, the War on Drugs, national I.D. cards, and executive abuses. Paul is an underrated speaker capable of preacher-like animation, and he was particularly fired up on this night. No fewer than three times did stomping chants of “END THE FED!” break out.
Paul is no longer running for president. In fact, when I ask the 73-year-old Texas congressman if he’ll ever run for the White House again, he answers, “Oh, I doubt that very much,” then adds, “If I was anxious to do that then I would have continued the process, as an independent person or something, because we had a fair amount of momentum.” So what was the point of his convention?
That picture is so amazing !!!!
/Mike
/Mike
Front Fell Off
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcU4t6zRAKg
Notice his nose
Has anyone else noticed this picture gives Paul a Pinochio nose? Sorry if I spelled Pinochio wrong, you get the idea.
This was my favorite part
"Just a little more than a cannon’s range away from Xcel center in St. Paul, where the official R.N.C was taking place"
http://www.meetup.com/RP2012GrandJunctionCO
fairly decent article
The article included some cool statements!
I liked the quote, as well:
"Just a little more than a cannon’s range away from Xcel center in St. Paul, where the official R.N.C was taking place"
In truth,
ZigiMe.com/judysky
In truth,
The editor of Vanity Fair
has never held back his disdain for the Bush administration but past that I don't know anything else about his views. This article although peppered with the usual negative comments to offset anything good was not as bad as others. The comment about Frank Luntz referring to us as more like crabgrass I will take as a compliment even though I am sure it wasn't meant to be. Yes, we are as tenacious as crabgrass and can get crabby if you try to push us around, so just get used to it because we are not going away.
Crabgrass-roots seems apropos.
"Pioneer species".
Very difficult to eradicate.
Spreads by reaching out and planting a new clump a goodly distance away, tunneling out-of-sight underground, and casting seeds loose to hitch a ride to other locations.
Hardier than other forms of grass. Takes over the lawn if not killed off.
= = = =
"Obama’s Economists: ‘Stimulus’ Has Cost $278,000 per Job."
That means: For each job "created or saved" about five were destroyed.
Well said...
I might add: when the conditions get tough, it's the pretty grass that wilts first!
Vanity Fair is a propaganda tool
"There’s a misfit quality to many of them, and a disagreeable odor to some."
Gee, thanks for making the movement seem so sexy. Funny how they pick out the wost qualities of, what, less than 1% of the people there? They make it sound like that's the norm. I liked this quote:
"And if most didn’t have the intellectual capacity of Bill Clinton..."
Whatever. I guess pandering to the Progressive establishment backers counts as intellectualism these days - "Progressive" of course one of the most ironic new-speak words of the last century.
Register as Republican and Vote for Ron Paul
Yeah, I resent that comment
I attended all of the Minneapolis events, even the afterparties in bars packed with Ron Paul supporters. And I have NEVER met a more diverse and intellectual group of individuals, especially not in college. And though I'm a woman with a sensitive nose, and was often jammed in close quarters in in late August heat with lots of other people, the only disagreeable smell I detected was maybe a little cigarette smoke clinging to a few who choose to exercise their right to destroy their health. Moreover, I'm not a misfit, nor are my friends who support Paul. We may be under 40 and we don't all wear requisite khakis and golf shirts, but we are the fun, savvy, vibrant professionals that Vanity Fair and its advertisers consider to be their demographic.
Had the author of this piece attended one of the social events and run into me, he might have changed his tune. I'm just one of many clean and attractive (even sweet-smelling) Ron Paul-lovin' intellectual females I met that weekend who can talk constitutional theory and Austrian Economics and bat their eyelashes at the same time.
self-reinforcing psychological mode of control
[from the article]"...the conspiracy thinking and fringe lunacy that stalk the edges of Paul’s events."
Tool.
Here you have the "classic" self-reinforcing use of pejorative language to limit "acceptable opinion" with the intent of shutting down free and rational debate.
It's a shame that along with Mr. Bateman's good analysis of the Rally we are also subjected to the self-reinforcing psychological mode of control of his masters in the propaganda matrix known as the "mainstream" media.
Perhaps critical thinking sans artificial limitations and intellectual curiosity are not Mr. Bateman's forte.
The real "conspiracy thinking and fringe lunacy" today is, to borrow from Ron Paul, the "conspiracy of ideas" that threatens the independence and sovereignty of the United States, that espouses "global governance," that infringes on and abridges individual liberty and our unalienable rights, that perpetuates unending, framed-up, engineered "war", that perpetuates empire building and military Keynesianism through debt and inflation, that defrauds the people through the arbitrary and capricious debasement and manipulation of our currency, that threatens national bankruptcy, that substitutes the rule of men for the rule of law, and that ultimately destroys our rightful Constitutional Republic.
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Ron Paul's Campaign for Liberty!
"We really do have...a once in a lifetime opportunity to take the Republican Party back to where it was." -Kent Snyder, 1959-2008
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"...a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people." -John F. Kennedy
Why not
post this as a comment to the article at VF? What a great observation...but we agree with you here at DP. Why not expose the VF readers to your observations??? Post there too.
i don't agree that this is favorable...
it's a hit piece...nothing to jump and cheer about...!
"Compared to the general electorate, Ron Paul believers tend to be disproportionately white and male, but they’re also younger and grungier. There’s a misfit quality to many of them, and a disagreeable odor to some. Ponytails, mullets, goatees, dreadlocks, and piercings were everywhere."
Ron Paul is My President
Ron Paul is My President
I Am Proud To Be Among You
Let's keep the chip off our shoulder and be grateful for the tender mercies of others as we continue to reach out.
Well, it's clear the intent
Well, it's clear the intent of this article was not only to attack the Republican party, but smear and marginalize Ron Paul supporters at the same time.
Very cleverly done.
Ron Paul's Convention Speech
33...
Digg this great article. Definitely worthy of putting on Diggs front page (even though the author seemed to have had some problems with smelly Paulitians...).
Freedom Rules!
Sorry, I can't digg it.
While the author did make some good comments about Ron Paul, his overall tone was negative.
It's pretty deceptive.
Ron Paul's Convention Speech
kool
sweet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkPyDLhxSFg
this is why you don't leave the GOP
now that it is finally getting good.
ADD the Digg ;)
http://digg.com/politics/Inside_Ron_Paul_s_Counter_Convention_2
The DP is proof that the grassroots support for Ron Paul and his peaceful message of individual liberty is large, real, and not going away!
dugg it.
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For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.
- John F. Kennedy
Mathew 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
Excellent quote but...
...it's hard to believe it came from a Democrat. Actually tho, Kennedy was a master quotesmith with many excellent ones.
Pawnstorm
"We have allowed our nation to be over-taxed, over-regulated, and overrun by bureaucrats. The founders would be ashamed of us for what we are putting up with."
-Ron Paul
Good article..and the
Good article..and the comments here made me smile. I think the writer's nose was too full of the smell of baloney to recognize truth's pungency..lol
Media outlets with
Media outlets with pretensions of objectivity can get a big P.R. ding if they're caught "enhancing" pictures of news events. (If nothing else their rep among their peers slides.) So the game is to get something they can run with no changes at all that does what they want.
= = = =
"Obama’s Economists: ‘Stimulus’ Has Cost $278,000 per Job."
That means: For each job "created or saved" about five were destroyed.
That is a funny observation
If it was a picture of a model all of the tricks to enhance a picture would be used, but here they couldn't remove a small peice of confetti. Maybe it was a picture submitted to them they couldn't alter, who knows. He still looks good as Pinocchio.
But he's a real boy!
But he's a real boy!
..................
"The main thing that I learned about conspiracy theory is that conspiracy theorists actually believe in a conspiracy because that is more comforting. The truth of the world is that it is chaotic..." —Alan Moore
Jiminey Cricket!
I was going to say, "great picture," but you're right. He does look like Pinocchio.
Ron Paul Explorer: The All Paul Search Engine
Digg It!
http://digg.com/politics/Inside_Ron_Paul_s_Counter_Convention_2
The DP is proof that the grassroots support for Ron Paul and his peaceful message of individual liberty is large, real, and not going away!
@ 9 people :/
We're all 'DAVE' http://digg.com/political_opinion/DAVE_calls_for_Ron_Paul_re...
The DP is proof that the grassroots support for Ron Paul and his peaceful message of individual liberty is large, real, and not going away!
My gosh,
That's an exceptionally good story, except for the observations on quirkiness and smelliness :-)
New Hampshire and Ecuador
Please post
replies in the Vanity Fair article's comment section. Share your response with readers who are unfamiliar with Dr. Paul and C4L...everybody here agrees with you and does not neeed to be enlightened...