Posted on 04/03/2015 5:24:03 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
U.S. Senator Rand Paul is running for president … in fact, he announces his candidacy next week in Louisville, Kentucky. From there he travels to early voting Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina – including a big fundraiser in the Palmetto State the day after he announces.
As we write this, money is being collected. Speeches are being vetted.
He’s 100 percent in … and not only that, Paul is one of the few candidates in the race with (we believe) a path to victory. And one of the few candidates (we believe) to be worthy of real consideration.
Is he perfect? No. In fact we’ve blistered him in the past for being too cozy with the establishment at times. But when it comes down to the bread and butter issues that pro-freedom, pro-free market voters want to see addressed, Paul and fellow U.S. Senator Ted Cruz are head and shoulders above the rest of the “Republican” field.
In fact it’s not even close …
Anyway … why are we writing a story about Rand Paul being “in?” Doesn’t everybody already know that?
Yes … well … sort of.
You have to remember, though, we write from a home base in South Carolina – a banana republic known for its thick drawls and thicker skulls. Down here things have a tendency to get, um, “mixed up” pretty easily.
Wanna see what we mean? Check out this recent exchange between a presidential candidate and a South Carolina voter (one who actually used to be a school teacher, believe it or not).
Yeah …
Anyway, exploiting this confederacy of ding-battedness is a perpetual stream of misinformation – particularly political misinformation. It’s all geared toward the whole “you can fool some of the people some of the time” construct … and in South Carolina, the pool of fools is deeper than it is anywhere else in America.
For real …
Enter the “Rand Paul isn’t running” social media campaign … which has been blowing up our Facebook and Twitter feed for the past week. It’s also been blowing up our email and text message “matrixes,” which were flooded with messages from political activists (and a few elected officials) seeking clarification as to Paul’s 2016 status.
The buzz reached a level earlier this week where we felt compelled to reach out to Paul’s people … who confirmed his imminent presidential announcement was a “go.” In fact one Paul supporter told FITS the “Rand isn’t running” chatter was being deliberately ginned up by Cruz supporters.
“It’s a suppression effort,” the source said, referring to the campaign as a “weak and transparent bid to pick up commitments.”
In addition to definitively stating that Paul was not running, these posts often included links back to prior news stories in which Paul offered qualified statements regarding his political future.
One of these stories? A four-month old post by Politico reporter Katie Glueck in which Paul said he wouldn’t run for president – unless he thought he could win.
“It’s ingenious, really,” one digital operative familiar with such campaigns told FITS. “Anyone with half a brain who clicks on the article (will see) what he said – and (will see) when he said it. But the context they are given before they click – if they even click – is what sets the table. That and a lot of people just forward the false narrative around without bothering to click.”
Indeed …
Over the weekend, FITS had two prominent Upstate, South Carolina political activists contact us asking if Paul was running. The next day – March 31 – a pair of Upstate lawmakers reached out to us asking if the rumor was true.
The misinformation worked, in other words … at least to a limited degree.
Obviously Paul will announce next week – putting the matter to bed. But did the “Rand isn’t running” rumor cost him a local endorsement or two? Or cause a fundraiser to hold off on stroking a check? Or get certain activists lined up behind another candidate?
If so … it worked.
When the choice is between something which is less than ideal; and the destruction of economies, and making the world a dangerous place — then, I’d say there are shades of evil.
Real conservatives are angry with that nonsense and intend to see it end.
The only place that 'ideal' or 'perfect' meme comes from is liberal republicans trying to tell the conservative he's already lost before the fight is even begun.
Now is not the time to try to sell conservatives lesser evils.
Since there is only one real candidate in the field so far, it is easy to see who you are trying to torpedo.
It won't work. Liberalism is evil. Period. The base is beginning to understand that. And they are angry at the messenger that tells them the fight is lost before it really begins.
/johnny
And here I was thinking that we were disagreeing, when all along we were saying precisely the same thing! ;>)
No one should make the perfect the enemy of the good.
That said, you are offering a strange and inscrutable choice between the “less than ideal” and the “destruction of economies”.
What the h*11 are you talking about? If you are proposing that the Republican offer up another gelded loser in 2016 in order to make the world a safer place for Democrats and Statists of all stripes, the a pox up on you and all your progeny for 13 generations.
Indeed
A move to the right won’t happen because purists sit on their hands, rather than voting for at least the “least-bad” candidate. All that does is hand the election to the leftists (the “most-bad” candidate).
IMHO, conservatives need to take more positive steps to bring voters into the fold. Tea Party activism is one example of a positive step.
You have an agenda, and it is showing.
A move to the right has ALREADY happened and the GOP can't do anything about it. Cruz, just by entering the dialog has forced the conversation to the right.
If the GOP tries to win the votes of liberals, they are a liberal party.
The 'purity' meme is 100% GOP-E and Rove.
You want people to vote for the 'least bad' candidate, even if that includes liberal republicans.
Some conservatives won't vote for liberal republicans any more than they would vote for liberal democrats.
I want to see the liberal GOP politically destroyed.
That includes those that want conservatives to vote for liberal candidates.
/johnny
And I see that as absolute BS promulgated by the GOP-E.
If the GOP will make sure it gets the conservative base, it doesn't have to worry about trying to be liberal for the liberals.
Cruz has a shot at winning without catering to liberals.
You have an agenda, though, and don't believe Cruz can win the General Election. I think that is wrong, but the republican party wants people to believe it so that their candidate doesn't get crushed.
/johnny
To be absolutely clear.
I do NOT support Paul on the Republican ticket or the Libertarian party in any way, shape or form.
I am 100% behind Ted Cruz.
I do NOT want, nor have I ever implied that Cruz should move to the middle or cater to liberals.
I have only suggested that it’s Paul that can move “liberals” to the right. Move them away from the Democrat plantation, away from being zombies once and for all.
I don’t understand why this is so difficult for you to understand.
I want Cruz to win in a landslide. I believe he can do this by staying true to his core beliefs but will require someone like Paul to “bridge the gap”.
This doesn’t require Cruz to make any compromises what so ever.
A reputation of supporting a liberal republican candidate implies a liberal.
Cruz can move those that 'voted democrat' to 'those that voted for Cruz' completely without Rand.
/johnny
Cruz can move those that ‘voted democrat’ to ‘those that voted for Cruz’ completely without Rand.
That may be true.
I hope and pray that it is.
There is however a media and cultural component at play that should not be underestimated.
It is WAY too early for concerned.. folks... to be concerned.
There is a cultural component in the folks that always post concerned, too.
Liberals do that at great risk to themselves and their mission.
/johnny
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