The Republican Party should be ecstatic right now. One of their candidates in the 2008 Election just raised more money in a single day than any candidate in political history. The previous title holder? John Kerry, when the Democrats announced him as the nominee in 2004. He raised $5.7 million. Surely, we will be hearing about this for weeks to come.
After all, the Democrats have been out-raising the Republicans all year. Hillary Clinton raised more than twice the amount Giuliani raised last quarter. They lost Congressional seats in 2006. Their support base has been shrinking. Everyone knows that the GOP will have difficulty winning this election. It’s “Hail Mary” time. Certainly, they are shouting news of this great fund-raising feat from the rooftops. Right? Right?!?
It seems the only thing the Republican Party wants to shout about is the endorsements candidates Huckabee and McCain have received from Chuck Norris and Joe Lieberman, respectively. I searched the news papers and news channels, and that’s all I can find. Plenty about how Huckabee is so hip because Walker, Texas Ranger is voting for him. I hear he’s got a fist underneath his beard. Is this month-old endorsement still news? What about Joe Lieberman and John McCain? Wow! He’ll really be able to bring Congress together to get things done. McCain must be the unity candidate of the 2008 Election.
I did see a thirty-second bit on how Ron Paul has broken his own fund-raising record set on November 5th. Ho-hum. No mention of breaking Kerry’s record. Ron Paul is one contender in a crowded field of candidates scrambling for donations, and he raised more in one day than Kerry did when anointed the “chosen one” in 2004. Talk about ammunition against the Democrats. The GOP should be getting so much mileage out of this.
If they are genuinely interested in expanding their support base, why aren’t they getting behind Ron Paul? Congressman Paul isn’t getting endorsements from Democratic politicians, he is getting actual Democratic voters to change their party affiliation to vote Republican in the primaries. Why aren’t they talking about how Ron Paul is stealing from the Democrats’ base? Why not talk about how Paul may out-raise Hillary this quarter? Why not laud this “internet sensation” with praise for getting young people involved and interested in politics again?
The silence speaks volumes.
It would be baffling if it weren’t so predictable. If there is anyone out there still buying the Democrats vs. Republicans paradigm, this should settle the issue. Ron Paul is not one of them, and they don’t want what he brings to the party. Never mind that he could actually beat a Democrat. He is the only true conservative running in this race, and his integrity is causing the cracks in the election process to show. He is an “outsider,” not a Washington “insider.” He knows how the game is played, but won’t play by their rules. The establishment heads and big-wigs in both parties want to keep him out of the ring. They won’t give him a fair fight.
Ron Paul is like Brad Pitt’s character Mickey O’Neill, the Gypsy bare-knuckle boxer, in the movie “Snatch.” He’s does not know how to throw a fight. He can knock out his opponents in one punch, and he isn’t afraid to let them know it. He cannot be bought, and he won’t go down in the fourth round.
If you are waiting for the Old Media to give Ron his due sometime this week, don’t hold your breath. He has a few appearances scheduled this week, but nothing like the barrage of coverage we saw last month. The November 5th Money Bomb was a novelty to the Old Media, and the establishment wasn’t afraid of Paul, yet; however, Tea Party ’07 has proven it to be more than a fluke. It is a repeatable event that can occur every month if necessary. He gained more than 25,000 new donors on December 16th. There were 20,000 new donors on November 5th. Do I see a pattern forming?
Come January, I secretly hope they decide to overlook him when the fourth quarter fund-raising totals are announced. With Paul coming in first, they could simply pretend he doesn’t exist, and report on who came in second, third and fourth place. It would defy logic, expose their bias, and our numbers would continue to grow stronger.
December 20, 2007
