Senator [Ron Paul?] in 'fake online campaign'

Herald Sun ^ | 12 October 2007 | Mark Schliebs

[mnehring]

Everyone,
It seems that this may be a scam article started by Paul supporters (to make it look like it was started by Thompson supporters.)

http://fredthompsonforum.com/showthread.php?p=15046

FredThompsonForums was created by Paultards to mock his campaign (as have several other similar competitor sites.) They are saying that they created the fake story. They are attempting to make it look like this was a fake story floated by the Thompson campaign to those who don’t realize that FredThompsonForums is actually a Ron Paul campaign creation.

[SJackson]

Fake, Emporer Paul, can’t be anything fake about Ron Paul and his supporters, can there?

[jmeagan]

****Senator Paul?***

If they can’t get his office correct, they didn’t do a lot of background work.

[mnehring]

see post #21

[jmeagan]

*****It’s hard to believe those kinds of numbers in the first 24 hours. After a day or two, no biggie. Immediately after an upload is suspicious.*****

He has almost 32,000 subscribers on Youtube and who knows how many people have book marked his channel.

[Badeye]

We’ll know for sure when the first couple of primaries take place.

He’ll either get the votes indicated in the online polls, or he’ll be the 2008 version of Howard Dean.

I strongly suspect the latter.

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

You-gotta-come-see-this-right-now PING!!! ;)

[mnehring]

See post #21

[MEGoody]

Professor De Bots said that for a relatively unknown candidate like Senator Paul to have so much prominence online was suspicious.

Gee, ya think?

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

Good Lord. So, then... this is just another characteristically bucktoothed and bandy-legged attempt at online skullduggery at the AOL-for-Kids level by the Paulestinians, in other words?

< Cartman> "Lame." < /Cartman> ;)

[MEGoody]

Many of the European and Brit young people really do like RP’s liberty and small-government message.

What they really like is Ron Paul's blame America first message.

[Captain Kirk]

I’d be happy if Paul equals Dean’s vote. That would be a dramatic success and a confirmation that he was right to run. Paul started from the premise that this was an educational campaign to advance a set of principles. Only recently (with his unanticipated success in fund-raising, online support) have people considered that he might actually pull off an electoral miracle.

[jmeagan]

*****It’s titled “Party Affiliation change DEADLINES!” and gives these for several states. Its intent is clearly to get non-republicans to change party affiliation to sabotage Republican primaries for this fraud of a candidate.*****

I live in WV and the republican primary used to be open to Republicans and Independents. Now it is closed. I don’t know when the change was made, but Republicans used to brag that the Republican party was more open than the Democratic party as it reached out to independents.

[Badeye]

‘I’d be happy if Paul equals Dean’s vote. That would be a dramatic success and a confirmation that he was right to run.’

Yes, it would be.

I don’t see it happening, but I do agree with what you are saying here.

[lormand]

I hate making prediction, especially political ones, but being a Texan, I can accurately predict that Prawn Paul would never be elected a US Senator of our great State of Texas.

[MinnesotaLibertarian]

Seeing as the author doesn’t even know what office he holds, I think I can safely call B.S. on this one.

[dighton]

It appears that Paulestinian “I Love Hannity” at your link is lying about having planted a fake story. Hell, the whole site is a lie (as you observed).

Don DeBats is head of the Flinders University Dept. of American Studies.

Head of Flinders University’s Department of American Studies Don De Bots [sic] told NEWS.com.au that it “sounded like” an astroturfing campaign.

In other words, contradicting the claim of “I love Hannity,” the paper didn’t pick it up from a press release.

[Allegra]

Ron Paul’s supporters are the strangest little characters.

[mnehring]

Or they just threw a fake attribution in the article.

[jmeagan]

*******They are attempting to make it look like this was a fake story floated by the Thompson campaign to those who don’t realize that FredThompsonForums is actually a Ron Paul campaign creation.*****

Is there anyone on the internet that would not recognize this as a spoof?

It was probably created by Ron Paul Supporters (a big mistake if so) or by people wanting to give Ron Paul a bad name (the later being much more likely). As you can see people on here are using it against Ron Paul. One thing is for sure is that in no way did the official Ron Paul campaign have anything to do with it.