JDouglasFisher
Member
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2007
- Messages
- 257
Patriots,
I will be the first to admit that I am a bastard. Yes, I admit, I can be a real prick. This is why some people in my meet-up refer to me as Patton because they know when I see things not going according to plan, I complain, alot.
There are times I fix it myself, and there are times I scream until it gets fixed, but either way, I am a tyrant in a sense.
But every major war has one leader who is unrelenting when it comes to the boots on the ground, and apparently in this war, it will be me who will go down in history as "that loudmouthed son of a bitch from New Jersey".
That being said, I am highly disappointed with many of the things that went on this weekend.
First off, Iowa. Placing 5th in Iowa is not something to be proud of. I don't care how the campaign spins it or how the media spins it, 5th place, when we were all assured (including Ron Paul himself, refer to unaired Larry King interview) we would place 3rd is not a teeming success. Now granted, I understand there are issues with the vote count, and the fact that there may be some sabotage involved with the GOTV effort there, but let this be a lesson to all A.) Back up your data daily on separate CD-R disks and date them, and B.) You must assume that there will be other campaigns that will try and ruin our efforts.
Remember, this is politics, and like war, there are no rules when it comes down to it.
Something else in regards to Iowa (and subsequent topics yet to come) is the fact that there seems to be this "Battered Wife Syndrome" exhibited by some of the grassroots supporters. "Well we got %10 percent in Iowa", "we knew we weren't going to do well here, lets just move onto New Hampshire", and "no matter what, we need to stay positive". Look man, all these dismissive excuses for the poor performance we showed in Iowa is not going to win this nomination or election for starters, not to mention that it will only breed more of the same attitude when it comes time for other states and their efforts to GOTV.
Lets be honest with ourselves here, we weren't fully prepared, and we surely didn't produce the results that we were led to believe we would achieve. Now does this mean we should segregate the state of Iowa from the rest of the country for their shortcomings? Absolutely not. But we need to admit that A.) We dropped the ball big time, and B.) We need to learn, real quick, what the short comings were, so other states don't make the same mistake.
I do thank Iowa for all their effort, it wasn't wasted. But don't be lulled into this "we did better than expected" routine, its a lie, and it will only make you lazy in your future endeavors.
Lets move on,
Wyoming. Now I know they had some sort of half-assed backwoods caucus going on up there, but lets be reasonable for a moment. You Wyoming people knew that these sons of bitches up there were going to try and stick the screws to you. If a burglar was breaking into your home to steal your personal belongings, you surely wouldn't just sit idly by and let them take your stuff. Yet that is what happened tonight at the Wyoming Caucus. The Ron Paul grassroots should've been stalking these bastards to keep them honest. Instead, there was little political action taking place, and they just flipped us all the finger, and did whatever they desired, against the wishes of the majority in that state, which in an earlier straw poll, clearly went with Ron Paul.
What should've been done is that the Ron Paul base should've been out there in full force, video cameras and all, stalking these delegates to make sure they followed through with the demands of the people. Those who didn't perform as expected, should've been strongly encouraged to reconsider, and those who were just arriving should've been put on notice that they are being watched. I am sure several of them, realizing that their political careers would be forever ruined as their videos were blasted across the internet and perhaps local television, would've been persuaded to stay true to the demands of the citizenry, instead of this blatant disregard of the wishes of the voter, and the total disrespect shown by the party.
I hope them jackass delegates realize that they really put the future of the party in Wyoming in jeopardy for years to come because of their course of action.
But again, the "Battered Wives" came out defending this defeat, claiming all kinds of excuses, and then short of convincing many, tried writing this off too as "non essential" to our cause.
Now its time for the reality check.
Folks, this is a war. We need to start fighting this one like we want to win it. Although we have cast aside the bayonet, musket, and cannon in favor of the soap box, ballot box and jury box, the rules of engagement are the same. Its all about attrition and maneuver. What makes this effort even worse is the fact that we are trying to fight this war on two fronts: Against Neo-Con Republicans while at the same time keeping the Liberal Tax and Spend Democrats at bay. Trust me when I say, this is no easy task by any stretch of the imagination.
Everyone witnessed tonight how the Republican candidates gang-jumped Ron Paul on the ABC Debate. The media "claims" the seating arrangement was drawn by straws, though it seemed set up to me to have Ron Paul sitting near the center, while for the first 20 or so minutes, the rest of the field tried to lambaste him on his views of foreign policy.
He did "ok" though I would hardly say it was a stellar performance. One thing is clear though, the rest of the neo-cons in the party are terrified that this man may very well be the next president of the United States, undoing 50+ years of their hard work at dismantling the very structure of government that makes the United States of America THE BEST country in the world.
That being said, its time to acknowledge the realities of the situation. For starters, coming up with excuses for shortcomings is not helping our cause one bit. Look, I realize that most of us here are completely new to the political process, but we cannot afford to be slothful in our duties, nor can we afford to pass off less than expected performance as an acceptable given, and then hope the next battlefield will play better in our favor. Pretty soon, we will run out of battlefields on which to fight, and to be honest, if we expect the average voter to keep donating to the national campaign, we need to start producing better results, or they will spend their money elsewhere while serving us notice of their vote lacking confidence in our efforts.
Primaries are important, but so is the election of delegates. Ron Paul needs many, and granted, we only have what, 2 so far? Debbie Hopper is right on target when she says we need Ron Paul supporting delegates for the convention. This alone cannot be stressed enough...
Precinct Captains. Again, super important. It is a big responsibility, and definitely very hard work for someone whose used to sitting in front of an X-Box. But we desperately need to Get Out The Vote. If you haven't done so, I urge you to go to http://voters.ronpaul2008.com and sign up. It is of vital importance.
I am pleased to report however that the campaign organization is starting to get better. Whether it be by non-stop critique and complaining both here and on the phone to them, or maybe just a stroke of luck, I finally got ahold of 2 people who managed to get shit done. (Leslie and Mike, A+ for outstanding effort)
As it was explained to me, (my interpretation follows) the problem lies within the fact that the front lines of the campaign are moving so fast and rapidly, that the supply lines simply cannot keep up. In essence, the grassroots is driving at 80 MPH while the campaign trucks along at 65. Now, I was reassured twice today that they are really working on the back end of the effort to better handle the massive growth, but I do wonder, have they really understood the power of the beast that has been unleashed?
Folks, its nose to the grind wheel time. We need to work harder than ever before, and we cannot let up. There will be days when things just don't work out, but your going to have to maneuver around those small obstacles and keep pushing hard. Don't let the small shortcomings rent space in your head. Get over it, and get moving. We have to constantly be advancing towards our enemies, not digging fox holes looking for some safety.
and please, leave the "Battered Wife Syndromes" for the supporters of the other candidates. They're going to more than need each others sympathies when they realized that we have just steam rollered their campaigns.
J Douglas Fisher, Organizer
Ron Paul Revolutionaries of Passaic County #1251
