What were the biggest mistakes of the RP 08 campaign?

[pmbug]

Ron Paul's appearance on Meet the Press where he discussed Lincoln/Civil War fed into the Kirchick article about the racist newsletters. That killed all the momentum the campaign was building leading into NH IMO.

Everyone has baggage. Ron Paul did not do a very good job of managing his IMO.

 

[angelatc]

This really bothered me too

During a question on ANY issue, he would bring it back to the American Empire. You need to know your audience, and he seemed to either not care that he was turning them off or was oblivious to that fact

I think he would have converted far more conservatives to his side if the anti-war message was just a part of his larger small government ideology rather than its central point

I agree with this.

Musing - what if he had insisted that other countries should be required to pay for their own defense instead of insisting we pull our troops home? It's the same plan, with a different spin.

 

[AuH20]

This really bothered me too

During a question on ANY issue, he would bring it back to the American Empire. You need to know your audience, and he seemed to either not care that he was turning them off or was oblivious to that fact

I think he would have converted far more conservatives to his side if the anti-war message was just a part of his larger small government ideology rather than its central point

My parents are those people. Paul left a bad impression in their mouth due to those debates. The scary thing is that they probably agree with him on 80% of the issues, but they only remember him for his combative dealing with Giulani! It was the manner in which the message was delivered, not necessarily the message itself.

 

[jaybone]

After donating alot of money, handing out RP flyers and such I had to step back and truly ask I simply question.

If RP really really cared he would have run as an indepenedent solely based on his followers and support he had. So he would have lost but at least he tried and tried hard.

If he really cared about the country he would have RUN!! Period end of story no excuses. Sure he can make up all the excuses in the world. But if the country was in the shape he says it was, he WAS THE CURE and he should have run!! (Please make no excuses for him)

Plus where is all those millions in his campaign fund he collected? What happens to this money. Yes and Obama's Billion and McCain's where is it?

I am glad many people woke up, and I thank RON for that. But dont preach Constitution, country and Patriotism and then walk away when the country needs you most. It needed you then not 4 years from now because imho it will not matter.

I am disgusted by the whole thing. sure the game is rigged and Obama was the appointed one but hey if he was Real he would have woken up way more people.

Something just does not add up. I guess my Dad is right in the end they are all the same.

I am with you on this,
go all the way or go home.

The biggest blunder that I personally witnessed was not having an aerial view of the November rally in Philadelphia. The media reports a few hundred people were there, when there were many thousand.
It was at a time when the movement was gathering momentum, and IMO if people could see the numbers for themselves, they would have been more likely to join in.

There were tall buildings all around the Constitution Center, they would not have even needed a helicopter. Huge blunder.

 

[acptulsa]

Something just does not add up. I guess my Dad is right in the end they are all the same.

No, not this one.

After decades of fighting the robber barons tooth and nail, how do you know when the people will wake up and say, enough? When you've been at it for decades, when a fair percentage of the population suddenly says omg you're right will you be ready? Or will you be caught flat-footed? And when it happens, do you holler, 'charge' or do you count your forces and see if you have enough to have a chance at victory? If not, what then?

When you play pool, do you go for the shots you don't think you can make flat out, or do you play for a bad leave for your opponent and bide your time until your next shot? Does it make a difference if your opponent can run the table or not? Do you go flat out against a good opponent, leading to many spectacular losses to one occasional surprise upset, or do you plod on with your conservative game and build up your skills?

 

[Todd]

The mistakes really come down to a state by state issue. Every state has a different system and encountered different problems.

In PA, I think it was a mistake for the campaign not to send us any money at all. We also should have campaigned for our delegates better, but many of us were just learning the system for our first time.

Bingo. Everyone was learning about being a delegate...me included. Still...many are not willing to do this now for what I think are pride issues.

 

[Meatwasp]

I agree with this.

Musing - what if he had insisted that other countries should be required to pay for their own defense instead of insisting we pull our troops home? It's the same plan, with a different spin.

That is great thinking Ang. Should have done that for sure.

 

[max]

failure to run blistering attack ads against the major candidates in New Hampshire...they all had so many skeletons in the closet but got away with them because we didnt play hardball.....

we should have run attack ads against McCain on his amnesty position day and night...and against Romney on his incredible flip flops

 

[max]

In this order:
1.) Dr. Paul not openly denouncing 9/11 conspiracy theories
3.) Allowing Lew Rockwell to write racist/homophobic things under his name in the Ron Paul Report
4.) Not refusing to accept donations from the Stormfront owners and also not denouncing white supremacy

The media loves a story about extremism and we gave it to them on a platter

in other words, u want the media to dictate our defensive actions

 

[acptulsa]

failure to run blistering attack ads against the major candidates in New Hampshire...they all had so many skeletons in the closet but got away with them because we didnt play hardball.....

we should have run attack ads against McCain on his amnesty position day and night...and against Romney on his incredible flip flops

Well, at that point we really hadn't found our voice yet. Ever since we did, though, I think us playing 'bad cop' and Dr. Paul playing gentlemanly scholar has worked out magnificently. He wanted to educate, and do it from the moral high ground.

For better and worse.

 

[Falseflagop]

failure to run blistering attack ads against the major candidates in New Hampshire...they all had so many skeletons in the closet but got away with them because we didnt play hardball.....

we should have run attack ads against McCain on his amnesty position day and night...and against Romney on his incredible flip flops

Exactly WHY DIDN'T he???????????

He is a good man no doubt BUT WHY DIDN'T he go all the way? Compromised? Part of the show? Just wanted to collect the money raised? Just throwing darts because I cannot figure out why a man with such a powerful message, with youth on his side does not go all the way? But in 1988 (sure he was younger) with no funds or backing ran? MIND BOGGLING?

It tells me the whole system is OWNED and CONTROLLED regardless of who you are because they decided way in advance Obama (who had done nothing to that point) was going to win!!

With Obama in place they could pass all the ahte laws they want and pass everything they want Why? Because you would be labelled.

RON I am just disappointed in you that you failed to follow thru and should have acted what you preached! imho

 

[revolutionman]

he made the mistake of talking honestly in a political contest. the expression "never bring a knife to a gun fight" comes to mind.

You sleeze and slime your way into office the same way the villains do, and when you have the trust and the power, you do whatever you want regardless of what your constituents wish, just like the villains do, except instead of causing irreparable damage to our great republic and its citizens like the villains do, you'll be doing whatever you can to try to remedy the ailments.

It works for the liberals and neo conservatives, and while it goes against my every principal, these are the rules that govern the gameplay. Thats why i personally don't play.

 

[Falseflagop]

He

in other words, u want the media to dictate our defensive actions

He should have exposed the true criminals of 911 and what the event was for. He knows he was playing dumb imho.

He would have riled up a nation!

 

[acptulsa]

He should have exposed the true criminals of 911 and what the event was for. He knows he was playing dumb imho.

He would have riled up a nation!

Yeah, but against whom exactly? Americans are certainly not above shooting the messenger first and investigating later.

 

[klamath]

Another one I am still fighting with my father in law was RP's attack on Reagan in one of the debates. That turned my father in law off and being the kind of man he is he never turned back once he made up his mind. I fear a lot of voters were the same way.

 

[klamath]

He should have exposed the true criminals of 911 and what the event was for. He knows he was playing dumb imho.

He would have riled up a nation!

This is the biggest reason he lost. Allowing the Grassroots to spead messages that he really was a truther but was hiding it. This was done on other issues as well. It was their agenda not his.
We have member on this forum that didn't start supporting RP until after the election because they had been told he was a truther.

 

[acptulsa]

Seems to me that some here differ from Ron Paul in their belief that by 2012 there will be nothing left of this nation, so 'live to fight another day' is meaningless. I think that view underestimates us. Who cares that factories have been closed for eight years, their machine tools rusting, and that all we have in the way of momentum is a bunch of government inefficiency? In 1941 we were in the same situation (and much of that government make-work inefficiency was with us in the form of our best weapons systems, i.e. GM's Allison aircraft engine, the Madsen cannon, the General Lee tank). And we came up with better stuff, lots of it, and just in time.

I don't think any power on earth can keep this nation down except its own government. And if that's the case, any time you can curb the monstrosity is the right time for the renaissance to begin.

 

[angelatc]

I do not think it is in Ron Paul's nature to run an attack campaign. Something like that would have required an independent PAC, like Swiftboat.

And he did state he was not a truther, but the media did not care.

 

[UtahApocalypse]

Those ads were not professionally created, and they did not represent his platform well.

I will revise my statement: He did not effectively advertise on television.

That was the problem. Those were the Professionally made ads. They could have hired Aravoth for half the cost, and got twice the product.

This is the biggest reason he lost. Allowing the Grassroots to spead messages that he really was a truther but was hiding it. This was done on other issues as well. It was their agenda not his.
We have member on this forum that didn't start supporting RP until after the election because they had been told he was a truther.

Agreed, Most anyone I talked to that liked Ron, and voted otherwise later cuted that as the reason.

 

[LibertyEagle]

Bingo. Everyone was learning about being a delegate...me included. Still...many are not willing to do this now for what I think are pride issues.

This.

Plus, a lot of us in the grassroots weren't exactly keen on strategizing our plans any further out than a 2 hour sign wave or attending a rally. Some of that is probably due to the fact that most of us are not joiners, so we don't trust much of anyone who suggests we do so. Regardless, it meant we didn't have much of a thought out plan of attack.

Also, do you guys remember how much time was spent dissing the very people in the party that we wanted to nominate RP? You know Republicans, older people, Christians, etc. It was kinda a weird thing to do if we were trying to get them to vote for our guy.

Musing - what if he had insisted that other countries should be required to pay for their own defense instead of insisting we pull our troops home? It's the same plan, with a different spin.

Yeah, this would have been MUCH easier to sell. But, I wonder if he agrees with this course of action though. It would be outwardly saying our military are guns for hire. I'm not so sure that's a good thing.

EDIT: Also, don't people vote for the person who they think will benefit THEM the most and who paints a rosy picture of how things will be with them as President? If that's true, then RP spent more time, and still does, criticizing the actions being taken, rather than saying what HE would do and painting a picture in people's minds of how great it would be.

People who seem to win seem to pretty much gloss over the details, because most people do not care.