GOP operative Jesse Benton re-emerges with possible Rand Paul opponent in his sights

So he's started a communications company, that makes it sound more likely that he won't be directly employed by Rand. That's a good thing in my opinion.
 
francisco said:
Something tells me that Rand isn't getting a single dime from you, no matter what he does or doesn't do.
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Well, if you ever change your mind about that, see me. I'll still be willing to engage in a friendly little wager...
 
William Tell said:
So he's started a communications company, that makes it sound more likely that he won't be directly employed by Rand. That's a good thing in my opinion.
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Except it now means he potentially will be trying to leech significantly more money off the campaign, through "advising" as an outside source and through "services".

francisco said:
Something tells me that Rand isn't getting a single dime from you, no matter what he does or doesn't do.
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Something tells you? I've already stated a way I could accept Jesse Benton being involved, so you must have missed that post? And it's a shame Rand Paul is appearing more like the politician Mitt Romney these days, than his father and politician Ron Paul.

Rand is doing a lot more to make me not want to donate to him, than he is doing to make me want to donate to him.
 
jjdoyle said:
And it's a shame Rand Paul is appearing more like the politician Mitt Romney these days, than his father and politician Ron Paul.
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See, that's your problem. You mistake Ron Paul for a politician. He never was. He was always a statesman. Nothing less. Nothing else.

Rand decided it was more useful to actually win a higher office than a seat in the House. In this brainwashe--er, I mean enlightened age, that's not necessarily possible for a statesman to do.
 
acptulsa said:
See, that's your problem. You mistake Ron Paul for a politician. He never was. He was always a statesman. Nothing less. Nothing else.

Rand decided it was more useful to actually win a higher office than a seat in the House. In this brainwashe--er, I mean enlightened age, that's not necessarily possible for a statesman to do.
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I don't mistake Ron Paul for only a politician, I said that's what he was, because that what he was according to the definition:
"a person who is professionally involved in politics, especially as a holder of or a candidate for an elected office."
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Rand Paul won his Senate seat, because of his father and his father's supporters. And how has it been useful, exactly? Useful for what? He's turning into Mitt Romney 2.0 now on issues, for what and why? Because he doesn't have good people with proper messaging around him?
 
jjdoyle said:
Except it now means he potentially will be trying to leech significantly more money off the campaign, through "advising" as an outside source and through "services".
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Wow, a negative spin on Benton potentially not being employed directly by Rand.

Look, I get that you seem to hate Benton more than anyone or anything on this planet. I am no fan of his either. But even if Benton is not involved, some political scumbags doubtless will be. That's just the way it is, and Ron kept hiring Benton for all sorts of stuff too.
 
William Tell said:
Wow, a negative spin on Benton potentially not being employed directly by Rand.

Look, I get that you seem to hate Benton more than anyone or anything on this planet. I am no fan of his either. But even if Benton is not involved, some political scumbags doubtless will be. That's just the way it is, and Ron kept hiring Benton for all sorts of stuff too.
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It's not a negative spin, and I actually assumed that Jesse would be with Rand PAC, and not directly with the official campaign.

But, what did Ron Paul hire Jesse Benton for after Ron Paul 2012? I don't know that Ron "kept hiring" Benton for "all sorts of stuff", did he? Jesse Benton was in Kentucky working for McConnell.
 
jjdoyle said:
...I've already stated a way I could accept Jesse Benton being involved, so you must have missed that post?
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I did miss that post and if you'll cite it, I'll read and evaluate it.

BTW I'm no fan of Jesse Benton, but I'm not willing to throw the baby out with the bathwater on him being involved with the campaign as a litmus test issue.
 
Benton was senior vice president of Campaign for Liberty for a while. He was a big part of Ron Paul's circle, so its not like hiring him is some unique failure of Rand. But of course, only Rand takes flak for it. Ron does not.
 
francisco said:
I did miss that post and if you'll cite it, I'll read and evaluate it.

BTW I'm no fan of Jesse Benton, but I'm not willing to throw the baby out with the bathwater on him being involved with the campaign as a litmus test issue.
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Here's what I said in November:
I have a solution that I would accept for Jesse to work for Rand in 2016 though. If Jesse Benton refunds Ron Paul 2012 the several hundred thousand dollars being spent on his and Dimitri's legal defense fund regarding the Kent Sorenson issue, and if Jesse Benton pays back the Kent Sorenson pay money to Ron Paul 2012, and gives back his paychecks from Ron Paul 2012 for February, March, April, and May 2012 (I can check the FEC reports for the exact months in 2012 if he would accept this agreement), AND most importantly if he gets Ron Paul 2012 to issue refunds to the few supporters that requested them and were denied, THEN I could see him working for Rand in 2016.

I wouldn't donate a dime if he is working for Rand in 2016, but the fact the grassroot supporters from 2012 wouldn't be paying for his mistakes in the campaign, would be a step in the right direction for me.
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William Tell said:
Benton was senior vice president of Campaign for Liberty for a while. He was a big part of Ron Paul's circle, so its not like hiring him is some unique failure of Rand. But of course, only Rand takes flak for it. Ron does not.
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Campaign for Liberty was before Ron Paul 2012 though right, and not after?

But, you're incorrect about Ron not catching flak. I think Ron Paul should stop begging for donations from people for organizations, when his campaign (yes, Ron Paul 2012) is still sitting on $300K, and refusing refund requests. It's like Ron Paul is hiding behind screens now and not answering emails and legitimate questions about his campaign. Sure, if the FEDERAL RESERVE doesn't have anything to hide what are they afraid of? What about Ron Paul? John Tate not answering emails. Even one person that was SUPER critical of Jesse Benton, Tom Woods, can't answer questions about the issues with the campaign.

But, yes, Rand Paul does get flak for it. And probably because we were told that the reason they agreed to not attack Mitt Romney in 2012 was for the "future" of the liberty movement, and when we see repeat messaging issues, walk backs, clarifications, and complete abandoning of Ron Paul's positions...it makes sense why Rand would get flak. Especially in using people that were problems for the campaign and alienating the grassroots.
 
jjdoyle said:
Campaign for Liberty was before Ron Paul 2012 though right, and not after?
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No, Benton was involved with C4L until late 2012. I did not say he was hired after 2012. Just that Ron kept giving him jobs in general, just like Rand.
 
Matt Collins said:
This isn't news, you hate Rand anyway. Why are you even here other than to act like a (mod edit) :confused:
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I don't hate Rand, I hate what Rand is doing with certain positions and "clarifications" and see a better way for it to be done without looking like Mitt Romney 2.0. There is a difference. Just because I don't like what someone is doing, doesn't mean I hate them...nice try with that liberal lie. LOL.

Matt Collins said:
Well, let's be truthful... Ron did endorse some pretty bad people and he said what he needed to say in order to get re-elected to Congress.
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Well, let's be truthful...two wrongs don't make a right. Where is your list of "pretty bad people" Ron Paul endorsed? I have asked you for it before...where is your list of "pretty bad people", that Ron Paul endorsed? Ron Paul didn't endorse President Bush in 2004. Didn't endorse John McCain in 2008. Didn't endorse (not really officially, though basically officially through Ron Paul 2012) Mitt Romney in 2012.

I'm here to help find ways to spread messages and help create good ways to do so, and help where I can. Why are you here, David? How much did you leech off of Ron Paul 2012's campaign while posting on these very forums, doing absolutely nothing? David got paid to post on Ron Paul Forums in 2012. LOL.
 
I have no problem with Benton, never did.

I have no idea whether he was involved in bribery, and I don't care.

I have no idea whether he's just in it for the money or whether he believes in the cause, and I don't care.

What I'm certain of is that he's competent and personally loyal to the Paul family, which is all that matters in such a job.

And, furthermore, I think much of the hatred directed at Benton from within the movement is not based on a rational evaluation of his behavior.

I think people have used him as a scapegoat for their general frustrations with the 2012 campaign.

And that's fine; I'm sure Benton couldn't care less. A professional political operative is not in the business to make friends.
 
William Tell said:
No, Benton was involved with C4L until late 2012. I did not say he was hired after 2012. Just that Ron kept giving him jobs in general, just like Rand.
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Okay, so he was with C4L and Ron Paul 2012 at the same time? I just knew that he left Ron Paul 2012 and went straight McConnell's campaign:
http://atr.rollcall.com/kentucky-mitch-mcconnell-hires-jesse-benton-as-2014-campaign-manager/

So, the issues I know with him really stem from Ron Paul 2012, and the backroom deal with Mitt Romney's campaign to help Rand. Rand deserves flak from the Ron Paul supporters that were lied to continuously in 2012 about the campaign's fake strategy, because he is apparently working with someone that was behind those campaign lies.
 
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