Thanks A Lot Ron Paul — You’ve Made My Home a Political Campaign Headquarters
by Burton S. Blumert by Burton S. Blumert
"Look, Blumert, you’ll have to whip up your own dinner tonight. Ron Paul is on CNN with Larry King and later, PBS is showing their terrific, u2018Now’ documentary featuring Ron for almost the full hour. I can’t miss that, and then, according to LRC’s u2018Breaking News’ blog, O’Bnoxious O’Riley has a segment discussing Ron’s foreign policy. So you’re on your own this evening, and it wouldn’t kill you to miss a meal once in awhile anyway."
There are times when negotiating with my beautiful wife is pointless. This was one of those times, and I was ready to nuke the popcorn.
Ron Paul’s amazing political odyssey has turned the lives of many people topsy-turvy. It could not be more so than in my own home. My life companion had never been that interested in the political process and she certainly wasn’t much of a television fan. Her interest in TV diminished as the size of the sets increased.
After "Best Buy" covered our living room wall with a 73" HDTV, her viewing was rare. The only time the giant box won her attention was when she was dusting the furniture, and that only occurred during the summer solstice. (This revelation will insure many popcorn dinners in my future.)
But, that was then.
Now, since Ron Paul’s heroic mission, my dear wife is never more than 6 feet from the giant Hitachi. Her daily schedule breaks down as follows; 14 hours for essentials like sleep, meals, shopping, and ministering to me, 3 hours at her blog, 3 hours of intense internet search on anything Ron Paul (I must say that LRC has made that aspect of her life easier).
The excitement begins when the TV political shows take over the tube. That’s where she spends the remaining four hours of her day. She switches from CNN to MSNBC to CNBC, to FOX to PBS with an occasional visit to NBC, CBS, and ABC, the old- fashioned channels.
There are days when the phones ring off the hook as she compares notes with other Paulian junkies. Supporters of Ron from the neighborhood are invited to join in the viewing, and the 73" screen is very attractive on debate nights. Last night, we had a full house for the New Hampshire debate. One fellow actually arrived clutching a Ron Paul for President sign.
My wife is a gentle person, but nowadays, I’ll often hear her snarling at a talking head and on one occasion she came close to hurling a shoe at the screen. That was before we bought the new 73-incher. She’s now required to wear soft slippers during TV time.
The entire rotten establishment is terrorized by Ron’s campaign, and they have employed every strategy to derail him. Initially, they pretended that he wasn’t there. If he isn’t there, they reasoned, maybe he’ll go away. Next, they decided to marginalize Ron. During the earlier debates, while Ron was making a point, the cameras would scan the faces of the sorry crop of contenders as they smirked, rolled their eyes, and did everything but stick out their tongues to show disdain.
Then they initiated frontal attacks to pound Ron down. Rudy did it in South Carolina and Huckaboob tried it during a later debate. Not only did every one of these strategies fail, the Paul campaign seemed to feed on and grow with each failure.
A TV reporter pal in San Francisco analyzed it as follows:
"In the war against Ron, the establishment has the five following areas in which to attack him;
- THE DEBATES. Attacking him here hasn’t worked out too well and is fraught with risk. When someone hits Ron, the moderators are compelled to allow him to respond. This is where Dr Paul shines. (As I point out above.)
- THE PRINT MEDIA. Ron is well received by local newspapers when he hits town and since nobody pays attention to the national opinion mags these days, any hit pieces from them are futile.
- THE INTERNET. Ron wins every skirmish on the net. (His dazzling array of supporters make sure of that.)
- TV. As with the hometown newspapers, Ron does very well with local TV coverage. It is only through the national networks and cable that Ron’s enemies can effectively try to destroy his remarkable run.
- THE REPUBLICAN APPARATUS. In most instances, a single word from an upper level Party functionary can stop a candidate in his tracks. Ron Paul has never been part of their "club," and thus is immune to their dictates.
My TV reporter pal’s logic is irrefutable. National TV is the only effective weapon they can use against Ron. The "talking heads" continue to ridicule and marginalize him, and it will get worse. Future elections may be decided otherwise, but this presidential election will, unfortunately be affected by the images transmitted by the networks and cable.
"TV is where the people live," my wife says. "I don’t know how we can neutralize their venom, but we have to watch them every minute and expose every evil thing they do."
She has been meticulous in monitoring the "heads" and I couldn’t help peeking at her scribbled notes from last week. Included below are some cogent observations about the media "stars."
"George Stephanopoulos — He will one day choke on his own words — definitely a drone without an original thought. He is not as dangerous as some of the others.
"Tim Russert — A slick performer, but not slick enough to conceal the strings that control him. He should be considered deadly dangerous.
"Chris Matthews — Constantly playing the u2018choir boy’ while seeking u2018truth and justice’. He has been assigned to promote Obama and will most likely be his Press Secretary. Matthews is an embarrassment to his profession.
"The Fox Boys — Combined brainpower would barely light a bulb. They are bullies, have no sense of morality and are simply u2018hit-men’.
Frank Luntz — Probably once had a brain, but he sold it along with his soul. It’s a wonder he can sleep at night.
"Wolf "the Blitzer" — Although fully bought and paid for, on rare occasion he displays some reportorial integrity.
"Pat Buchanan — Of course, he should endorse Ron, but he does have to make a living hanging around the NBC studios. This is no excuse, but it’s difficult not to like Pat and wife Shelly, so Pat gets a partial pass.
"Tucker Carlson — Tucker is top of the short list for Ron’s running mate. He’s smart, young, and would lend balance to the ticket."
Frankly, it’s not easy to watch inferior people degrading Ron Paul from one TV channel to the next. Except for that one time when she almost hurled her shoe at the screen, my beautiful wife has remained stoic under the avalanche of innuendo and lies.
That was until yesterday. I don’t know whether it was Russert’s mean-spirited interview on Meet the Press, or David Shuster’s smug effort to assassinate Ron on MSNBC, but she finally lost it. "How dare these pygmies malign a man like Ron Paul," she said with disgust.
"Look," I tried to explain, "as Ron brings the message of freedom from one state to the next, the attacks will intensify. They will call him a racist, a Nazi, a neo-Confederate, and Lord knows what else. I’m not talking about crazed fringe websites. It will be the MSM leading the charge."
These evildoers have at least one serious problem. The guy they are trying to destroy is a giant. Bigotry is not in Ron’s makeup, and those who make such charges know it. The hundreds of thousands (soon to be millions?) of young people who listen to Ron’s words know the real thing when they encounter it.
Here’s a vignette I’ve recounted before; Please don’t hold me to precise dates, but I think it was the summer of 1988, at the California LP Convention, and Ron announced his decision to run for President as the Libertarian Party candidate. Those of us close to Ron celebrated. We saw it as an incredible opportunity to spread the message of freedom.
Former Congressman Paul "Pete" McCloskey, a maverick Republican and Korean War hero, came to the hotel to congratulate Ron and wish him well. McCloskey was no libertarian, but he was a true patriot and told me that Ron Paul was the most principled man he had served with in the US Congress.
I later learned that McCloskey carried some advice for Ron and his campaign. He knew that Ron’s non-interventionist foreign policy views precluded US foreign aid for ANY country. He warned Ron that this would ire the Israeli lobby in the US, and he suggested that Ron have some Jews represented in his campaign to demonstrate that he was not anti-Semitic.
Ron mentioned McCloskey’s warning to Lew Rockwell. He laughed and told Ron, "Well you have nothing to worry about. Blumert Is your campaign chairman and Murray Rothbard is your economic advisor." “Oh, OK,” said Ron.
Yes, this was 20 years ago and we were all a bit more innocent, but it does say something about Ron and the way his mind works.
Well, here it is Sunday after the New Hampshire debates. McCain is on "Meet The Press" and Romney will be on with Stephanopoulos. I don’t know how my dear wife will be able to stomach all of it, but she will persevere.
One day they will tell the truth about Ron Paul. The United States will be a better place when that happens.
