Is it just me or does the future look very optimistic for Dr. Paul and his campaign?

[ItsTime]

Not to be a wet blanket, but 25% is not enough for Dr. Paul to win. The problem is the likelyhood of the warmonger supporters to team up at the caucus locations to prevent a RP win. We need 51% at the locations, I hope our GOTV works.

i doubt this. I dont see enough canidates wanting to do poorly in iowa to give up thier block.

 

[Liberty Shark]

The timing of the media attack shows you how afraid they are. The establishment and regime, along with media, have known about the newsletter nonsense for years. So, the timing of when they tried to make them an issue would show you how threatened and defensive they feel. By limiting the effectiveness of the attack, meaning by bringing them up right before Christmas, when they wouldn't be seen or heard about by as many people, you can see how they feel that they need to stop Paul before Iowa. In other words, they are worried that a Paul victory in Iowa will lead to a surge in support nationwide, perhaps a tidal wave, sweeping through early states.

 

[specsaregood]

i doubt this. I dont see enough canidates wanting to do poorly in iowa to give up thier block.

Its not up to the candidates, its up to their supporters at the caucus location. I can very easily see groups of them banding together to prevent their location from going RP-win.

 

[Anarchist]

Newsletters:
It is obvious from reading the replies that folks here have not done their homework. Even though CNN has been bringing up the issue regularly for the past week, it was CNN that debunked the newsletter issue in 2008. We have been admonished that those that do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. Study the past and learn the issues and the solution and how it was reached. For every question you have there is a Google answer. You just have to look for it. Commit this to memory and you will have the tools to conduct the proper response when questions or misinformation comes up about Dr. Paul. Those of us that have been standing beside Dr. Paul since the beginning (1976) and have followed him are for the most part able to give any one of Dr. Paul's speeches or arguments on any topic he has engaged in. One of the first things you need to commit to memory is the Philosophy of Liberty from which all of Dr. Paul's positions are derived from. When you hear Ron Paul say that he stands for the Philosophy of Liberty, this is what he means. The philosophy of liberty is based on self-ownership. This simple but elegant and hard-hitting animation will explain exactly what that means. It's a great tool anyone can use to educate children and adults about our right to life, liberty, and the property we create - and our responsibility to think, speak and act. For more info and/or to download a free DVD version of this video, see:http://www.philosophyofliberty.blogspot.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muHg86Mys7I

Voluntary Association + Mutual Cooperation + 110% Personal Responsibility = 100% Individual Liberty

 

[IDefendThePlatform]

Its not up to the candidates, its up to their supporters at the caucus location. I can very easily see groups of them banding together to prevent their location from going RP-win.

I think you're thinking of the democratic caucuses. They actually stand up and walk to the corner of the room for their candidate. We republicans write our vote on paper and drop it in a hat anonymously.

I do worry greatly about who will drop out after Iowa and new Hampshire though and how that will affect us if we haven't created enough momentum before south Carolina. We absolutely must win Iowa and need a really really strong second place in new Hampshire, if not a win, to keep momentum and win the nomination. I just don't like our chances in a drawn-out national battle with the entire MSM attacking us. We are countering their attacks now in Iowa and new Hampshire with excellent phone banking and advertising, but we don't have the firepower to scale up and do it nationally for super Tuesday. And we are polling very poorly in south Carolina and Florida right now, and a distant 3rd nationally.

Iowa is far from won, but we really really need to be pushing hard in NH right now IMO. Phone from home is our best weapon. An upset win in New Hampshire might be our best chance at winning the nomination.

 

[Omnica]

now it the time to switch from base-building to coalition building. Will we Paulers let the campaign do that without freaking out?

Can we ignore the bad fruits

 

[gunnysmith]

I don't know if we can get past these newsletters

Glass half empty person whom I quote^, please note, putting the cat back in the bag requires tieing each of four legs one at a time.
Start with tieing your leg first.

 

[r3volution]

a ton better than 08 . what that means is yet to be seen .

you are obviously looking for opinions so keep in mind im the type that hopes for the best but expects the worst .

 

[speciallyblend]

Glass half empty person whom I quote^, please note, putting the cat back in the bag requires tieing each of four legs one at a time.
Start with tieing your leg first.

easy for you to say but jan 3rd hasn't happened yet! All sounds good if we win but if we lose!

 

[jacmicwag]

I don't know if we can get past these newsletters

Yes, the bad publicity can be overwhelming but at least we'll know in 2 or 3 days what, if any, the effect is. Long term, the bad management and bad associations pitch is what we'll have to deal with. No matter what happens, the movement will continue to grow and we're all part of that.

 

[ryanmkeisling]

I don't know if we can get past these newsletters

Let it go, and it will. It did last cycle, these are desperate enemies. Worry about what they will do in 6 months...

 

[gunnysmith]

easy for you to say but jan 3rd hasn't happened yet! All sounds good if we win but if we lose!

Read your own sig line, BELIEVE!!!!!!

 

[69360]

now it the time to switch from base-building to coalition building. Will we Paulers let the campaign do that without freaking out?

I hope so. Some paulbots are acting like their favorite indy band just landed at the top of the charts.

Freedom is popular people. Deal with it.

 

[Tod]

 

[jordie]

My predicition: Paul will eventually take California (most delegates out of any state) and he'll also take Texas (second most?) as I believe Perry will drop out by then and endorse Paul (you can tell Perry HATES romney and has taken a liking to Paul over the Fed issue). So I think Paul will go well in the early states, perhaps struggle a bit in the next primaries but take it home towards the end.

 

[libertyguy]

Yes, while the newsletters are potentially damaging, especially the way the media is twisting things, they are a wildcard that is being played early in the election cycle to try to stem RP's win in Iowa. Now that they are played, any rehashing of them as time goes on has a reduced effect. In addition, as some of the media distortion comes to light (such as the interview on CNN that was selectively edited), the introduction of the newsletters lose some of their impact. Yes, there will be many people who will not search out the facts and will believe RP to be racist. However, if you recall, Obama also had his tussle with such things and was able to rise above them. I expect RP to do the same and see the media's involvement in introducing them early on in the process as a desperate move that prevents them from doing so later with any real effectiveness. What else will they try to do to discredit him? It won't be dishonesty, marital infidelity, bribe taking, cronyism, influence peddling, etc.....all the normal things that potentially could trip up other candidates.

 

[GunnyFreedom]

Yes, while the newsletters are potentially damaging, especially the way the media is twisting things, they are a wildcard that is being played early in the election cycle to try to stem RP's win in Iowa. Now that they are played, any rehashing of them as time goes on has a reduced effect. In addition, as some of the media distortion comes to light (such as the interview on CNN that was selectively edited), the introduction of the newsletters lose some of their impact. Yes, there will be many people who will not search out the facts and will believe RP to be racist. However, if you recall, Obama also had his tussle with such things and was able to rise above them. I expect RP to do the same and see the media's involvement in introducing them early on in the process as a desperate move that prevents them from doing so later with any real effectiveness. What else will they try to do to discredit him? It won't be dishonesty, marital infidelity, bribe taking, cronyism, influence peddling, etc.....all the normal things that potentially could trip up other candidates.

This, but I want to add that the timing of the NL release this year was the best we could possibly hope for. Releasing a dirty smear job one week before Christmas day is a pretty good way to make sure that it's old news by the time people start actually caring what is coming from the television.

Now, I'm not prepared to say Hannity did us a favor, but whether intentionally or by accident, the NL's were coming out no matter what and the timing of when they did actually come out could not possibly have been planned better than when it actually happened.

At the same time as I am not prepared to cite Hannity as helping us with the timing of the release, the guy's not dumb either. He knows the news cycle better than all of us put together. He would have had to know that releasing the NL story 1 week before Christmas Day was the best possible timing for Paul's campaign. Now, he may have seen himself between a rock and a hard place, forced to release at a bad time in the hopes of tripping up Paul's growing momentum before an earlier-than-normal Iowa, so I'm absolutely not saying that the timing of the release was engineered by Hannity to help us...

But I am saying that if we had to pick from any of the 365 days leading up to the November General Election to release the NL story again in 2011, then December 19th would surely have been top on my list.

 

[Chester Copperpot]

No way RP takes Romney as VP. And I'm no conspiracy theorist, but I can recognize that a lot of people would be motivated to protect their gravy trains by removing RP in that kind of a circumstance.

Absolutely.... With RP as president and Romney as VP... Ron Paul dies quickly in an assassination.

 

[idiom]

The fact that the news outlets are already into the back-stabbing over the handling of the newletter issue (i.e. "RON PAUL DIDNT STORM OUT; CNN Journo HACKS") this early with no signs of polling slowing down is fantastic. There are no other scandles ahead, just issues. We will win the issues debates.

I can't wait until the MSM starts attacking the soliders for blaming America by supporting RP.

Now is the time to start digging really deep, to find the extra time to phone bank and canvas. Don't let up. This is our one shot.

 

[Paulatized]

This, but I want to add that the timing of the NL release this year was the best we could possibly hope for. Releasing a dirty smear job one week before Christmas day is a pretty good way to make sure that it's old news by the time people start actually caring what is coming from the television.

Now, I'm not prepared to say Hannity did us a favor, but whether intentionally or by accident, the NL's were coming out no matter what and the timing of when they did actually come out could not possibly have been planned better than when it actually happened.

At the same time as I am not prepared to cite Hannity as helping us with the timing of the release, the guy's not dumb either. He knows the news cycle better than all of us put together. He would have had to know that releasing the NL story 1 week before Christmas Day was the best possible timing for Paul's campaign. Now, he may have seen himself between a rock and a hard place, forced to release at a bad time in the hopes of tripping up Paul's growing momentum before an earlier-than-normal Iowa, so I'm absolutely not saying that the timing of the release was engineered by Hannity to help us...

But I am saying that if we had to pick from any of the 365 days leading up to the November General Election to release the NL story again in 2011, then December 19th would surely have been top on my list.

Considering it was the "only" possible smear topic the establishment has in their bag to pull out, it was probably an act of fearful desperation on their part to try and slow the Ron Paul momentum that has been created, they couldn't wait for better timing to throw some chock under the wheel. Hannity, imho, did not deliberately do us any favors. I think the tipping point has been reached and "the people" are realizing what has been going on while they have been busy living their lives. The establishment is afraid, very afraid, and the people are increasingly realizing Romney and Gringrich are both part of the problem.

So yes, I feel a necessary hurdle has been brought down and a distrust of the establishment politicians and the media has become the norm now. Moving on now to remove the "Ron Paul can't win" hurdle. A win in Iowa will go a long way toward clearing that obstacle. I remain cautiously optimistic, because I know they won't go down quietly, but their arguments are weak in the light of truth.