POLITICO: Ron Paul aides ponder ‘frustrating’ race

[tangent4ronpaul]

My experience with any random person I talk to about Ron Paul (with very few exceptions) is they immediately tell me either:

1. He's unelectable
2. I like him a lot but his foreign policy is too extreme/isolationist
3. He's too old.
4. OR a combination of 1, 2, 3.

Predominantly, it was #2 and that's all there is to it.

You can't win over conservative voters who are older with Ron's foreign policy, particularly the way he articulated it. Ron allowed himself to be painted as an isolationist and didn't combat that mis-characterization well enough. I am sure the bin-laden comment hurt him and the Iranian nuclear weapon answers as well. Further, Ron didn't play up his social conservative credentials enough either. And why or why, would you come out with a fiscal plan that cuts 5 departments...? Ron refrained from attacking Obama, during debates and rallies. I can go on and on about the various flaws of how the message was handled but I won't. Quite frankly, I am surprised he did as well as he did yesterday overall. The one big shock was the Santorum win in North Dakota. Oh well, it's hard to stay enthusiastic in the campaign at this point...the delegate strategy is so illusive and hinges on many things falling into place.

I do give Ron credit for staying so rosy and optimistic despite suffering loss after loss. I wish the campaign would just throw everything they had in one state. There is still time to build an organization and take a stand. It seems like Ron is mnow forced to just throw a couple events together, maybe run some ads here and there. It's not enough.

Please do - we need to talk about this and maybe one of his advisers will take note and correct things...

-t

 

[coffeewithchess]

I think we all are

These "aides" should be fired immediately. If you can't see what the problem is, and it's in your face...that's the problem.

 

[BUSHLIED]

Please do - we need to talk about this and maybe one of his advisers will take note and correct things...

-t

You are joking right? I'll be banned for sure..lol.

 

[jcarcinogen]

Maybe Wead is disingenuous... I do know there is a Huckabee relationship.

 

[jcarcinogen]

msnbc to make major talking points... gaining our trust... questioning...

 

[wgadget]

msnbc to make major talking points... gaining our trust... questioning...

Wut?

 

[coffeewithchess]

"“It’s very frustrating,” said Jesse Benton, Paul’s national campaign chairman. “It certainly wasn’t for lack of trying."

Ummm, there is clearly a disconnect with the campaign and reality here.
Santorum...no huge rallies, lots of free positive media, secures the older voters.../wins.
Paul...huge rallies, lots of free negative media, apparently can't get enough out to vote..../loses

Paul's issues holding him back that have been screamed loudly here on the forums for years/months...foreign policy, targeting senior voters properly, and stop ignoring the media yourself, then complaining they ignore you.

What's more frustrating than just losing, is KNOWING what the problems are, and seeing millions wasted not addressing those issues...

 

[Article V]

What's more frustrating than just losing, is KNOWING what the problems are, and seeing millions wasted not addressing those issues...

Amen

 

[tttppp]

My experience with any random person I talk to about Ron Paul (with very few exceptions) is they immediately tell me either:

1. He's unelectable
2. I like him a lot but his foreign policy is too extreme/isolationist
3. He's too old.
4. OR a combination of 1, 2, 3.

Predominantly, it was #2 and that's all there is to it.

You can't win over conservative voters who are older with Ron's foreign policy, particularly the way he articulated it. Ron allowed himself to be painted as an isolationist and didn't combat that mis-characterization well enough. I am sure the bin-laden comment hurt him and the Iranian nuclear weapon answers as well. Further, Ron didn't play up his social conservative credentials enough either. And why or why, would you come out with a fiscal plan that cuts 5 departments...? Ron refrained from attacking Obama, during debates and rallies. I can go on and on about the various flaws of how the message was handled but I won't. Quite frankly, I am surprised he did as well as he did yesterday overall. The one big shock was the Santorum win in North Dakota. Oh well, it's hard to stay enthusiastic in the campaign at this point...the delegate strategy is so illusive and hinges on many things falling into place.

I do give Ron credit for staying so rosy and optimistic despite suffering loss after loss. I wish the campaign would just throw everything they had in one state. There is still time to build an organization and take a stand. It seems like Ron is mnow forced to just throw a couple events together, maybe run some ads here and there. It's not enough.

Just curious, could any of those people tell you what his foreign policy was?

 

[coffeewithchess]

Amen

It's 2008 all over again. Except the only difference between 2008, and this time...is the campaign hired a PROFESSIONAL ad company.
If anybody can explain how the campaign LOST Iowa to Santorum and Romney, other than by FAILING to be prepared for an issue they KNEW about for almost two decades, and by FAILING to address the foreign policy issue in a MEANINGFUL way to the voters...then perhaps they deserve more money. The truth is, this campaign and RP, has the most dedicated small number of supporters, with the most enthusiasm there is...and they are an absolute failure from the top down.

How do you have supporters soooo dedicated, they give time/money/efforts more than any other candidate out there, yet the campaign can't put together a winning strategy to fix/solve the issues holding them back?
There is NO excuse for it...NONE.

We hate government waste, and we should hate campaign waste.

If Campaign for Liberty is such a vital organization, then perhaps the staffers at it should have remained there, and RP and family should have hired a professional group to run his campaign. What I see is that CFL's staff basically went on leave, got jobs at RP's campaign, and will transition back to CFL after all is said/done...

 

[coffeewithchess]

Just curious, could any of those people tell you what his foreign policy was?

Yes, very easy...one word. ISOLATIONIST and DANGEROUS (okay two words).

See the MSM for what they know, and blame the campaign for not addressing it to that audience.

 

[jwhitmore]

It is because he is targeting a group of people who are not political. To those college kids, those rallies are parties. Not a political thing. Stop having 2000 person rallies on campus and start trying to get 500 middle aged people in a smaller venue. You will end up with more votes from those 500 than with the 2000 college kids.

I would honestly be surprised if more than 20% of all the college kids that have ever attended a Ron Paul rally on a campus have voted.

 

[WD-NY]

He won the Iowa caucus and built momentum. I and most other realists knew it was over when we took 3rd in Iowa. The campaign killed itself afterwards when it didn't put enough effort into South Carolina. Maine was the last hope and instead of planting Ron up there and having him go to every caucus they just kind of thought it was in the bag and then it ended up being really close and the Maine GOP screwed us over. Oh well, it was never about winning for me in 2008 and it wasn't this year either. Ron is doing a great job of spreading the message and building a base for the liberty movement.

He also delivered big epic sounding speeches after each caucus/primary that became 'must watch tv' in and of themselves. Ron didn't deliver a single prepared speech the entire campaign (and certainly not while the tv cameras were following him around).

 

[tttppp]

It's 2008 all over again. Except the only difference between 2008, and this time...is the campaign hired a PROFESSIONAL ad company.
If anybody can explain how the campaign LOST Iowa to Santorum and Romney, other than by FAILING to be prepared for an issue they KNEW about for almost two decades, and by FAILING to address the foreign policy issue in a MEANINGFUL way to the voters...then perhaps they deserve more money. The truth is, this campaign and RP, has the most dedicated small number of supporters, with the most enthusiasm there is...and they are an absolute failure from the top down.

How do you have supporters soooo dedicated, they give time/money/efforts more than any other candidate out there, yet the campaign can't put together a winning strategy to fix/solve the issues holding them back?
There is NO excuse for it...NONE.

We hate government waste, and we should hate campaign waste.

If Campaign for Liberty is such a vital organization, then perhaps the staffers at it should have remained there, and RP and family should have hired a professional group to run his campaign. What I see is that CFL's staff basically went on leave, got jobs at RP's campaign, and will transition back to CFL after all is said/done...

How do you expect Ron Paul to get his point across on foreign policy when the media spends 99% of their Ron Paul coverage stating that he's unelectable because of his foreign policy? Even if he had Romney money, he wouldn't be able to compete with the media who completely ignores/bashes Ron Paul.

That said, he's still generated tons of support. He's getting the best crowds at his speaking events. Common sense would tell you he should be winning. I think the fix is in.

 

[wgadget]

He also delivered big epic sounding speeches after each caucus/primary that became 'must watch tv' in and of themselves. Ron didn't deliver a single prepared speech the entire campaign (and certainly not while the tv cameras were following him around).

Um, I think "epic sounding" might be stretching it just a tad.

 

[tttppp]

Yes, very easy...one word. ISOLATIONIST and DANGEROUS (okay two words).

See the MSM for what they know, and blame the campaign for not addressing it to that audience.

Could they go into more depth than that? Or could they only repeat what the media tells them?

Achieving maximum free trade with countries is hardly isolationist.

Are they aware that the other republicans want to limit trade to other countries, especially the middle east, that way they can easily go to war with them? They are the real isolationists. I know you know this, but did the people you talk to have any clue on the issues?

 

[floridasun1983]

"“It’s very frustrating,” said Jesse Benton, Paul’s national campaign chairman. “It certainly wasn’t for lack of trying."

Ummm, there is clearly a disconnect with the campaign and reality here.
Santorum...no huge rallies, lots of free positive media, secures the older voters.../wins.
Paul...huge rallies, lots of free negative media, apparently can't get enough out to vote..../loses

Paul's issues holding him back that have been screamed loudly here on the forums for years/months...foreign policy, targeting senior voters properly, and stop ignoring the media yourself, then complaining they ignore you.

What's more frustrating than just losing, is KNOWING what the problems are, and seeing millions wasted not addressing those issues...

Amen. It also doesn't help that you do 2 mega-rallies and then go home to Clute Texas for 3 or 4 days at a time when Santorum is barnstorming entire states holding town halls and meet and greets all day every day.

The truth is they haven't campaigned very hard at all. I know that will make some people mad but its the truth. If Jesse doesn't realize this he's certifiably incompetent.

 

[BUSHLIED]

It's 2008 all over again. Except the only difference between 2008, and this time...is the campaign hired a PROFESSIONAL ad company.
If anybody can explain how the campaign LOST Iowa to Santorum and Romney, other than by FAILING to be prepared for an issue they KNEW about for almost two decades, and by FAILING to address the foreign policy issue in a MEANINGFUL way to the voters...then perhaps they deserve more money. The truth is, this campaign and RP, has the most dedicated small number of supporters, with the most enthusiasm there is...and they are an absolute failure from the top down.

How do you have supporters soooo dedicated, they give time/money/efforts more than any other candidate out there, yet the campaign can't put together a winning strategy to fix/solve the issues holding them back?
There is NO excuse for it...NONE.

We hate government waste, and we should hate campaign waste.

If Campaign for Liberty is such a vital organization, then perhaps the staffers at it should have remained there, and RP and family should have hired a professional group to run his campaign. What I see is that CFL's staff basically went on leave, got jobs at RP's campaign, and will transition back to CFL after all is said/done...

YEP but I kept saying it ain't so, it ain't so...stay positive. As for C4L, they had 3 years and 4 million to build a national infrastructure in every single state. But that didn't happen.

 

[coffeewithchess]

How do you expect Ron Paul to get his point across on foreign policy when the media spends 99% of their Ron Paul coverage stating that he's unelectable because of his foreign policy? Even if he had Romney money, he wouldn't be able to compete with the media who completely ignores/bashes Ron Paul.

That said, he's still generated tons of support. He's getting the best crowds at his speaking events. Common sense would tell you he should be winning. I think the fix is in.

I understand the media ignores/bashes RP, perhaps you missed my two videos above, and see:


I understand the MEDIA is the big problem...creating ignorant misinformed voters that think they know what they're voting for. RP's problem is they spent millions on attack ads on Perry, Gingrich, and Santorum...and failed to release a GREAT ad addressing foreign policy in a MEANINGFUL way.
RP failed to get a speech coach/address foreign policy in the DEBATES, in a way the audience he needed to win, could understand...before it was too late.

Saying, "he's still generated tons of support" is pretty terrible considering how much money the campaign raised/spent, compared to Santorum and other candidates.

The campaign failed to effectively address the newsletters issue in a MEANINGFUL way...and that is what tanked him in Iowa, if not that...then what?
2 weeks of the kitchen sink with every single show bringing them up repeatedly, CNN doing the edit job on the interview, and the campaign acted like they weren't prepared for it in any way...only to have a PAC release an ad trying to address the issue, after Iowa.

 

[coffeewithchess]

Are they aware that the other republicans want to limit trade to other countries, especially the middle east, that way they can easily go to war with them? They are the real isolationists. I know you know this, but did the people you talk to have any clue on the issues?

No. The people I deal with are ignorant Fox News/talk radio viewers. Do not bother them with facts, when they have their opinions.

Another issue, why give the campaign MILLIONS to run attack ads, complain the media isn't fair...but when the campaign is invited on the BIGGEST "news" show, they ignore the invite? Makes NO sense. NONE.