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The Mental Derangement of Ron Paul’s Campaign

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  January 7th, 2012 at 05:50 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Supporters of Ron Paul produced a hit job on Jon Huntsman attacking Huntsman over his adopted daughter. His daughter, ftom China, was left for dead in a market and the Huntsmans intervened, got her back to good health, and adopted her.

Someone put up a video attacking Huntsman adoption as proof that Huntsman is a foreign agent.

The video began circulating among Ron Paul supporters and when Huntsman called them out, the Ron Paul campaign swung into high gear and produced a report that I can only venture to suspect was written by someone hopped up on gardasil, having acquired the mental retardation Michele Bachmann warned us about.

The Ron Paul campaign — NOT SUPPORTERS, BUT CAMPAIGN — analysis concludes that Jon Huntsman attacked his own daughter in an attempt to smear Ron Paul.

Yes, friends, it has come to that level of dain bramage.

While the media is licking its chops over the he said – he said of the Ron Paul “analysis” I should note that ridicule of the families of the other candidates is par for the course for Ron Paul supporters.

Here’s a Paul supporter on Ron Paul’s wall on Facebook ridiculing Rick Santorum’s family:

1 6 2012 1 38 02 PM

The Paul campaign could have had the common decency to just say it was a supporter and condemn the attack on Jon Huntsman and his daughter.

But the Paul campaign seems only willing to condemn black people, Jews, and gays. Everyone else is fair game, including the children of other Presidential candidates.

What’s even more disturbing though is the Politico and other news outlets treating the Ron Paul defense as legitimate and questioning the Huntsman campaign. That’s not something the media even did to John McCain in 2000 with the awful attacks on him in South Carolina.

Pitiful all around.

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COMMENTS

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  • trevorb

    is certifiable and I can’t understand why people support him. I’d vote for Romney before I voted for hm.

  • DaveWT4

    We all know that Paul panders to all sorts of Conspiracy nuts. I’m sure half of them will think the video is true and that Huntsman is a Manchurian Candidate and the other half will buy the ‘Huntsman planted the video to garner sympathy and destroy Ron Paul’ line.

    All they had to do was shut up after Paul condemned the video but they could leave well enough alone.

  • http://www.planettron.com NickDeringer

    If Freud were alive he would have a field day examining the moldy potato that is Ron Paul’s mind. We do owe Ron a certain debt of gratitude. He has put a steak through the heart of the Libertarian movement that they are not likely to recover from any time soon.

    Thank you, Ron. The mother ship is waiting. Don’t be late.

  • hobiecat

    Supporters are most likely dissatisfied Obama independants, anti war college kids, and potheads. He will probabley fall down after NH. but I see him doing well in California. Paul is popular with the Berkley croud, which should give you some clue where his head is at.

  • hobiecat

    Supporters are most likely dissatisfied Obama independants, anti war college kids, and potheads. He will probabley fall down after NH. but I see him doing well in California. Paul is popular with the Berkley croud, which should give you some clue where his head is at.

  • http://908StraightSt.wordpress.com/ mbecker908

    and by ALL the candidates.

    Paul should be tossed from thr Republican House Caucus when they reconvene. And for the folks who’ve been insisting we reach out to Paul supporters, if you’re not thouroughly ashamed of yourselves you’re not human.

  • trevorb

    but if he’s second or third in the polls, what does that say? Either his supporters are manipulating them or people don’t realize that he’s a fruitcake.

  • hobiecat

    If I’m correct, allows Independants to vote in the primary. I assume that’s where most of his support comes from. Iowa’s support included Democrats that switched parties to skew the results. Either way, I doubt he’s going anywhere soon.

  • trevorb

    while his supporters are small in number, they are extremely devoted.

  • bishopcruz

    Ok, read the Politico article and the title here is a bit misleading. The Ron Paul campaign asked their web hosting service to check and see where the original video came from. The memo that is linked in the politico article is a copy of that memo.

    The campaign is not going out and saying it was Huntsman’s team that put it together.

    I also found it odd that Erik would claim that the Paul campaign would not just go out and repudiate the ad when both Doug Wead and Ron Paul have repudiated it when asked?

  • hobiecat

    can be sure that the RNC doesn’t want to drive him or his supporters underground, ie, third party. He is just one of those things you have to deal with every couple elections, like mosquitos.

  • Duke

    It’s ironic that neither Paul nor Huntsman will get the nomination.

    To add insult to irony, Huntsman could probably beat Obama next November while Paul couldn’t come within a country mile of the same feat.

  • papabear

    Just wondering, because I also checked it out. It is quite clear that they are, as a minimum, implying that Huntsman/campaign was responsible. Politico quotes Paul’s research “After researching the available evidence, we believe it is likely that the video came from a source within or closely tied to the Huntsman Campaign.”

  • Scope

    has come out and refudiated anything that gets in his way to his dreams of the nomination. It’s very easy to say I didn’t like that, or I didn’t do that, when the message has already done the damage. Paul is playing the same game as Romney, he acts as though his hands are clean, while others, on his behalf, throw the crap out there. Then he can act like, I didn’t do that, I am not guilty of anything.

    I just loved reading today that his son Rand has indicated that he will seek the presidency in the future, while he is out pimping his dad’s positions. He will already have a built up organization that his dad started with Campaign 4 Liberty. It makes me sick that the Paul kook dynasty will carry on, when it should have been stopped in it’s tracks in the 08 elections.

    From now on, every candidate needs to get their total vetting as they enter the race, not when they reach a certain point in the polls. We wouldn’t be going throug the speed dating that we are now if we get it done from the get go. Paul should have been thrown out of the party in 08, if not sooner.

  • ayrnieu

    The left is also where you get cute language like ‘dain bramage’, and other arguments-from-my-ability-to-sneer-at-you. “You are what you eat”, and your job forces you to stay on top of the media’s continuous production of liberal bilge, so… take care of yourself.

    Why would anyone think that a Huntsman supporter produced the ad? This is one reason why: http://i.imgur.com/9Qk9X.png

    There’s discussion about that image here: http://www.reddit.com/r/Libertarian/comments/o60w0/republican_scandal_huntsman_campaign_busted/

    I don’t thank you for being so over the top that I wondered what people at that horrible cesspool (“reddit”) thought about the ad.

  • Common_Cents

    all in the name of political expediency. We even had a front page hoping he wins Iowa. How did that help the situation?

    Several posters were plastering Pauls ads on this site as a good thing.

    Either he is deranged all the time, or he isn’t.

    I thought RS was better than that.

  • Patricia_C

    Oh well… I suppose that the best we can hope for is that Paul will keep the promise announced by his campaign manager (Jesse Benton) in July that — even if he loses the GOP nomination — he will not seek re-election to hold the House seat he has wasted for 12 terms.

  • DaveWT4

    1. The Progressives running their own ‘Operation Chaos’ that are going to vote for Obama anyway.

    2. Small government folks with a libertarian bent who have yet to understand the crazy. They don’t know or haven’t really thought through Paul’s foreign policy.

    3. The hardcore Paulbots. These folks will not vote for any other candidate than Ron Paul. The sad thing is that many of these acknowledge that Paul can’t win but they still refuse to vote GOP in the general. They will write in Paul.

    We have to attack Paul and point out the faults. We have to convince the small government folks to support the eventual GOP nominee and not throw their votes away like my parents did in ’96 when they voted for Perot.

  • hobiecat

    We have all three here in California. The home of fruits and nuts will probabley vote for Paul in the primary and Obama in the general. Sheesh.

  • bardamu

    Concerning McCain in South Carolina in 2000, did any media ever get an actual answer from the Bush people about what their role was? The really scary thing is how well this kind of messaging works. We’re all wringing our hands, but some primary voter just changed her mind because of this.

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    .

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    Should have stuck to your first instincts to follow the rules and not defend him.

  • bardamu

    As a born-and raised Berkeley native, I am ashamed to confirm your statement that Paul does really well there. I’m even more ashamed of the reason: opposition to Israel (and support for Palestine) is probably the single most important issue to far-left first, second, and third-generation New York Jews in northern California (after the ban on foie gras) (and I’m Jewish so I am giving myself permission to say that). That said, Berkeley is not exactly representative of California as a whole (especially southern California, obviously).

  • septembergurl

    The Ron Paul Official Campaign Line would require that Huntsman, a devoted family man who adores his younger daughters, would allow them to be exploited in the sick video. That’s just beyond belief — an insult also to Huntsman’s wife Mary Kaye who worked tirelessly to bring these girls into the family for the purpose of saving them from the fate imposed on them by the societies they came from..

    Some good news for Huntsman comes from ARG polling tonight — he moves into second place, ahead of RP:

    Romney – 40

    Huntsman – 17

    Paul – 16

    Santorum – 12

    Gingrich – 8

    Perry – 1

    this tracks w/Franklin Center poll from yesterdy that Hunts is seeing a surge, well, sort of. Second is OK though.

  • lizzie

    and I would not be so sure that Rand Paul could be the power-broker in 2012.

    I now have enormous respect for why Mitch McConnell tried so hard to stop Rand Paul.

    The liberal media – well- at least half+ of it thinks Ron Paul is the best thing that ever happened to the GOP. They are in denial over the darkest roots.

    I try really hard to avoid using the H name, but, writing now as an historian, this is how Hitler built his political base. He DID get elected first…and wrote a book…and had fanatical followers who believed in conspriracies…

    In America, we have always had the political parties deal quite well with people like this even when the splinters try third party runs.

    I see liberal punditheads compare Ron Paul to William Jennings Bryan.

    Newt is correct – no one learns history any more.

    my week offline starts NOW

  • clintonformccain

    I just wish they would pull the plug on the whole sorry nomination battle. It’s gotten to the point where it’s not even entertaining. I’ve joked that I would vote for Charlie Manson if he were the Republican nominee against Obama. I swear, the Republican base would probably jump on the Manson bandwagone when Santorum’s fifteen minutes flames out. And, the pundits would act like Charlie is a serious contender, too!

    I can’t stand Mitt Romney, but stop the fight and let the guy start jabbing Obama. He’s the closest thing the Republicans have to a credible candidate at this point. I mean, seriously. The entire rest of the field is a bad joke. Ron Paul? Jon Huntsman? Rick Santorum? Newt Gingrich? Are you kidding me?

  • http://908StraightSt.wordpress.com/ mbecker908

    FWIW, and I didn’t post a complaint, I wasn’t “loving” – or even liking – Paul’s attack on Newt. I do agree that “either he is deranged all the time, or he isn’t”, and my opinion is that he’s deranged ALL the time.

    If Ron Paul said the was coming up tomorrow, assume the world was coming to an end.

  • Scope

    while there is a commercial break in the debate. I couldn’t agree with you more on Rand Paul being stopped dead in his tracks now. I was so freightened by the Ron Paul R candidacy in 08 that I started watching him then. I posted more than once, right here at RS, that Ron Paul’s C4L was growing and growing, in state after state. I knew exactly what he was doing, trying to get every college student signed up to his policies, promising them legalized drugs, and promising them they would never have to defend their country in going into the military.

    When some here went all out with supporting his Senate candidacy, there were just as many, if not more so, that said this guy has been on the campaign trail, supporting his father’s positions, how can we trust that the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. Now we are bearing the brunt of that serious mistake in putting another Paul fruitcake in the Senate. Some have been exonerated in those early fears. It should have been a clear clue when Rand, in a TV interview, said that whites should be able to ban blacks from their businesses, and vice versa. He was given a pass, unfortunately. Rand is Ron, no question.

  • http://travismonitor.blogspot.com Freedoms Truth

    It sure is interesting to see Ron Paul pummelled in the debate tonight.

    It was a bizarre non-defense of the old newletter commentary.
    “What about those racist newsletters?”
    “Hey look at the racist drug laws.”

  • Common_Cents

    I meant to address those that have given Paul some ink in the past. Wasn’t everyone at RS.

  • youngconstitutionalist

    I was one of the number 2 category. I finally thought through some of Paul’s more outrageous policies, both foreign and domestic. Also, the attitude amongst the Ron Paul camp is one of superiority over the other GOP constituencies, and tend to think more highly of leftist thinkers than conservative ones. Paul himself demonstrates that when he quotes leftists about other candidates on a regular basis.

    I was practically driven out because I wasn’t an anarchist and believed we might have to intervene overseas on rare occasion (like Afghanistan and World War II). That made me a big government statist warmonger.

  • Scope

    You clearly said in your title that “we” were loving Paul’s ads a week ago. Who is “we”? You are so filled with hate for those that don’t support your candidate it’s disgusting. You wake up in the morning, spin the wheel of misery, and then go after every Perry supporter that post’s here. You’ve even called the Perry supporters here Justin Bieber like lovers. You have made it clear that your only purpose here is to hate on Gov. Perry, and anyone that supports him, while you gag everyone with the fact that Newtie is the only big mouth on the stage that will yell like a banshee warrior at Obama. That’s been your only talking point about Newtie.

  • SoFiMil

    An obvious dodge to not answer the question.They should of called Ron Paul on this immediately. They never did call him on it.

  • aesthete

    “this is how Hitler built his political base. He DID get elected first?and wrote a book? and had fanatical followers who believed in conspriracies?” Doesn’t that describe most of our candidates? Rick Perry, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, and Herman Cain (before his implosion) have all written books. All except for Cain were elected. All have fanatical supporters, and within that subset of fanatical supporters are some who believe in conspiracy theories. One need look no further than the comments on RS diaries to confirm that his is true for all of the candidates.

    “I now have enormous respect for why Mitch McConnell tried so hard to stop Rand Paul.” I don’t. Rand Paul exhibits none of the nuttery or extreme deviation on foreign policy which characterizes his father, and so far his tenure in the Senate, along with Mike Lee’s, has been very positive for conservatives. Mitch McConnell, on the other hand, has done very little that could be termed positive for conservatives, and contents himself with weak opposition to Obama, and firm commitment to GOP big government. This is evidenced by the fact that so many conservatives, Erick Erickson among them, vouchsafe Rand’s bonafides while condemning his father. I can understand why some people were or are concerned about Ron Paul (I was among them for some time), but IMO McConnell’s concern was not based on particularly good motives.

  • bishopcruz

    Understand the likely comment, was trying to keep the comment short. Though it does appear that the document was an internal memo. If it was a direct press release that is a different story. If it was, let me know.

    What the memo looks like is that the Paul campaign was trying to find out where the YouTube video came from, and asked their web provider to look into it. How Politico got their hands on an internal memo is another question. But see above.

    The main issue is assuming that the video came from a supporter in the first place and calling for RP to repudiate it when he has already done so. Just a bit disingenuous.

    Argue the man’s foreign policy, argue unrealistic budget goals if that is what you want to do. The debate is healthy for the party. Calling supporters of a candidate nutjobs or idiots is probably not. Palin has said much the same thing.

    Do I think the Huntsman campaign made the ad? Probably not, it looks like internet trolling at its finest honestly.

  • UnusVerum

    Let me suggest a fourth category of Ron Paul supporters, the category in which I belong. I will call this category classic, or pre-modern libertarianism. I beleive that the Founders would be in this category. It unfolds from certain worldview positions.

    These are beliefs about man as an individual, beliefs about men in society, and beliefs about God’s role in the affairs of men. A recognition of four propositions is sufficient in this cursory statement.

    1. Man is incompetant as a ruler over other men.
    2. Man is unscrupulous and devious as a ruler over other men.
    3. Free societies spontaneously produce economic and cultural order as a result of natural law.
    4. God ordains, directs and culminates the fate of all nations.

    A consistant adherence to these positions of a judeo-christian worldview leads to the type of libertarian/constitutional governmental philosophy advocated by Ron Paul.

  • http://908StraightSt.wordpress.com/ mbecker908

    1. Read the content of CC’s comment, “some posters” isn’t painting RS with a broad brush. And frankly, some of the Perry supporters comments do read like the Paultards and the Shriners. I’ve seen whole threads consumed by “if Perry isn’t the candidate I’m writing him in” commentary that is right out of the C4P loony bin.

    CC isn’t “hating” on anybody, he’s simply pointing out some obvious facts. And BTW, I really hope Perry pulls it out he’s at the top of my list and he’s easily got the best qualifications and the best record. but I’m not losing sleep if he’s screwed himself so far into the ground that he can’t recover. Face it, he’s where he is because he’s done a really, really lousy job as a candidate. I’m floored by that because he’s always been a great candidate and run great campaigns. He’s got a good history of coming from behind, but he’s never been behind before from a hole that he dug. We’ll see over the next month if he can recover, it’s a monumental job ahead of him.

  • http://908StraightSt.wordpress.com/ mbecker908

    You’re drinking from the same KoolAid jar that white supremacists and far left theologians drown in. You take Biblical concepts out of context, half a scripture here and half a scripture there, and ignore the vast portion of the text in context and come up with a half-baked secular theory that attempts to give credence to a completely ignorant, offensive and completely theologically wrong (note: NOT “inaccurate”, WRONG) premise.

    You are the offspring of Jeremiah Wright and your theology is every bit as offensive as his.

  • jakeofalltrades

  • veto

    Accordibg to this poll huntsman and Paul are fighting for a second and third place spot. Huntsman while cool is not only not on the ballot in virginia but I heard he isn’t on the ballot in Illinois either.

    So basically another state Gingrich/perry not getting in the top 3 then Paul could have just enough momentum to get a third place SC. Even worst for Santorum is placing 4th the Iowa victory will be viewed Asa a fluke.

    At this point the Paul campaign looks like they are in it for the long haul to grab as many delegates as possible.

  • youngconstitutionalist

    total depravity, but it really isn’t. The idea also totally ignores common grace. The Scriptures teach that God established civil government, and that God actively curbs the evil of man.

    /end Neo-Calvinist rant

    Also, I’d consider you of the number 2 category above.

  • billhicks

    Wow, the liberal media sure blew it on this one. The Jon2012 team makes a racist video of their own family, posts it on youtube, and starts crying foul and calling Ron Paul a racist.

    Then he and his daughters and even Cindy McCain are all over the media blaming Ron Paul, when he had nothing to do with it.

    The report was pretty clear. The video came directly from Jon Huntsman’s own team! Wow, can’t believe the liberal media fell for this.

  • hayeksheroes

    I read the Politico article and if anything I was more perplexed by the links to the jon2012.com website. Those shouldn’t have been there. If you do a little searching you can find this:

    http://orinje.com/threads/430416-The-paulbots-are-going-crazy-with-our-video

    Interesting, huh. Orinje put it back up. Looks like the third-party consulting firm may have been correct. Looks like there is a possibility that the Huntsman campaign put the video up.

    Lately there have been a plethora of diaries that are nothing more than hit pieces on all the candidates. I know these are opinion pages, but this is getting a little crazy. Research, research, research and have hard facts to back up your claims. Stay classy Redstate!