Paul's Supporters Clash With Media

[question everything]

The Wall Street Journal

Paul's Supporters Clash With Media
By AMY SCHATZ
November 24, 2007; Page A4

(snip)"

Taco John, the online moniker of Isaac Lopez, a 32-year-old technology marketer in Vancouver, Wash., is one of many cyber-soldiers for Dr. Paul, the Texas congressman, gynecologist and vociferous opponent of the Iraq war. The Paul brigade has largely drawn attention for its fund-raising prowess, raising a record $4.2 million online in a single day in November and leaving the 72-year-old politician with more cash on hand than several rivals and a $1 million TV ad budget for New Hampshire. But some Paul supporters are displaying an aggressive side that seems to spill beyond advocacy into harassment of those who disagree or fail to show Dr. Paul sufficient respect.

Taco John, for example, posted contact information for a university professor who called Dr. Paul "unqualified to be president." He also provided information on how to reach several reporters with whom he quibbled, as well as the Iowa Republican Party after it helped set rules for a debate -- later canceled -- that could have excluded the low-polling Dr. Paul.

(snip)

Some blogs have booted Paul supporters for leaving incendiary comments. They have also been frozen out of Internet surveys and accused of electronic ballot stuffing; Dr. Paul rarely loses online straw polls even though he barely registers in national telephone polls. His supporters argue that they win online polls because there are more Paul supporters and they're better organized... The Paul campaign has also drawn support from antigovernment fringe groups and 9/11 conspiracy theorists. Since mid-September, a large "Ron Paul for President" banner has flashed at the bottom of white-supremacist Internet forum Stormfront.org. "Really, we haven't seen a candidate like Ron Paul in some time. The closest would have been Pat Buchanan" in 2000, says Don Black of West Palm Beach, Fla., the group's founder and a former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard, who donated $500 to Mr. Paul's campaign. The Paul campaign has a hands-off approach when it comes to supporters' activities and political backgrounds. While grateful for the money, aides insist they aren't responsible for what supporters do online. "We don't know who a lot of these people are," says Jesse Benton, a campaign spokesman.

Mr. Benton declined to make Dr. Paul available to comment. "Sometimes, Ron Paul supporters get a little overpassionate and maybe a little more shrill than what some might like," Mr. Benton says. "For the most part, our supporters are polite and mannerly." He has his own conspiracy theory: Some other candidates' supporters may be masquerading as Ron Paul supporters to hurt his campaign. The impassioned campaigning threatens Dr. Paul's efforts to convince undecided Republicans that he appeals to more than antiwar libertarians and fringes of the Republican Party. "Basically, it got to the point where someone could put up a post saying they were going to the bathroom, and a dozen Paultards would comment, 'Vote for Ron Paul while you're there,' along with another dozen warnings of the Zionist conspiracy in the toilet," says Erick Erickson, founder of popular conservative blog Redstate. A month ago, the site banned posts from some Paul supporters, branding them "MoRons."

(snip)

Some Paul supporters preach restraint. "I cannot stand to read another reporter/blogger complain about how they have received profane/threatening/intimidating responses from Ron Paul supporters," wrote "Hestia," a frequent poster on the Daily Paul, a popular pro-Paul site. "Sending hostile and abusive emails will not win supporters or encourage bloggers or reporters to write positive articles," Hestia adds.


URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119587208818602847.html (subscription)

[Radical Activist]

1. Its part of the mentality.

There's something about the far right that attracts angry, nasty people. Ideology is largely a product of personality.

[question everything]

2. Which is why I am having hard time understanding the adoration

that Paul gets on DU and, if true, that Kucinich is considering running with him.

While Paul objects to the war in Iraq, he has nothing in common with true liberals, who see government as an agent to do good, rather than to be as small as possible and let the poor, the sick and the elderly just disappear from the face of the earth.

[dpbrown]

11. Paul would like the government to stay out of him practicing his love with women

:rofl:


Truth is, Paul's Libertarian garbage has been repackaged and sold lock, stock, and barrel to an unsuspecting bunch of kids as something like "liberal" when it's not that at all.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. Ron Paul's supporters are not far right

He has a lot of support in the anti-war community and from Greens and progressives who feel disenfranchised from the Democratic party. He has a lot of young people in his camp, and many have never been very political before. And a lot of 9/11 truthers support him as well. They are not even close to far right.

[tsuki]

10. I see A LOT of young people here that are Ron Paul supporters

over the objections of their Republican parents. Paul has energized young people to sign up for their first elections. It's weird.

[MnFats]

4. and anonymous person sent me some clips gushing over Ron Paul....oh, man...

this stuff was jaw-dropping awful.
mostly Jew-hating stuff. A clip from "The Nationalist Times" links to "White Civil Rights"
wildly sensationalistic words about how white people are the oppressed of today. Anti-immigrant, racist junk.
i realize Paul may not be in that corner....but look who considers him their champion.

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. That is indeed scary

He is getting support from some strange fringe groups.

I think his campaign is headed for an implosion. You can't mix some of these supporters and expect cooperation. LOL

[MnFats]

6. yes, not knowing who sent it is a little unnerving.

who do I know that would think I would be interested in that shit?
is it some kind of threat? most people know I lean pretty solidly left....

[K Gardner]

7. I just have chills...2nding the scary remark

[annabanana]

8. Some Repugs are learning for the very first time

what it means to be "on the outs" with corpomedia.

[Gman]

9. There's more than a few MoRons here at DU

[muntrv]

12. KKK leader supporting Ron Paul? Talk about the GOP layin' down with the dogs

and gettin' fleas.