[...] I am not going to go through the whole litany but the behavior indicates they NEVER intended to win and were actually frightened when Ron Paul started getting too much attention. I suspect that may have been part of the reason the MSM exposure was sabotaged by the campaign… at least until Ron Paul launched his book tour… and “suspended” the campaign… and announced CFL with the big huge Donation button.[...]
Hmm... so your saying it was like a "small-time con" that "backfired" because it got TOO big, too fast, and was in danger of actually succeeding?
Don't know if I can believe that.**
The basic aspect that they were USING the Presidential campaign as a "mechanism" to raise money (and set aside about $5M which they did from Sept on -- they never allowed the balance to go below that) -- for "something else" (other than the campaign)... THAT part makes sense.
That they never intended (or has a clue how) to run a REAL campaign... that also I think there is solid evidence for.
That they *did* sabotage (or screw-up) and squander MSM exposure is also fairly evident. (Much easier to let the "mob" blame some media "conspiracy.")
But my money is still on incompetence. Like a bunch of adolescents "playing" at an adult game that they really don't understand.
** Of course I also think that it really doesn't matter which it was. Whether "con" or "incompetence" -- either way the opportunity has been squandered -- the movement and organizations attempting to "salvage" or benefit from it are all DOA (just look at the chipins and moneybombs; all failures)...
IMHO, the CFL thing will never turn into even another "MoveOn.org" as that requires real leadership and solidarity around a common purpose -- and the movement is missing both -- leaders were never really allowed to develop, and the base "purpose" is way too fractured (just like the campaign's lack of "focus" -- it always was too much of a "mixed stew" anyway whether "Zeitgeist" or "Russo" or "9/11 Truth" -- the truce between the factions was always a temporary and very unstable one).
I seriously think that the only way dramatic change can really occur will be with some type of dramatic "earthquake" like shakeup -- like the end of the Soviet Union -- a "sea change" that sweeps away an old generation (or generations) and their bankrupt-ideas, and lays the groundwork for an entirely new "paradigm" with a new generation that rejects the previous ones.
At that... well, the campaign may have succeeded in planting a few "seeds" or scattering some "fertilizer" -- but it certainly will not be able to take credit for whatever tree grows from it -- and there is no real knowing what shape that tree will take; we just have to wait and see.
"Hope springs Eternal" ...and "This too shall pass."