Taking Back the Election

In a letter addressed to "the Ron Paul Faithful" posted last week on CNBC.com, managing editor Allen Wastler defended his decision to pull a post-debate poll that asked readers who they thought had won. He believed the poll had either been "hacked or the target of a campaign" because after a couple hours and 7,000-plus votes Ron Paul was at 75 percent and Wastler hadn't seen him "pull those kind of numbers in any 'legit' poll." This was a fairly reasonable assumption. After all, 71 percent of Republicans polled by Gallup this month hadn't even heard of Ron Paul. But does that mean Wastler was in the right to retract a harmless survey--something even he described as "just a way to engage the reader"--because he didn't like the results? Or better yet, as you might be asking: "Does it even matter? I'm not voting republican and I'm especially not voting for any fringe candidates."

Finding the answer to the first question is complicated and perhaps unfulfilling, as the efficacy of Wastler's decision has been debated somewhat endlessly by both Paul's rabid online support community and other talking heads at CNBC. The answer to the second question, however, is a concrete "yes, it does matter!" You may not care about Ron Paul, but you should care about the way the media directs our attention to mainstream candidates.

There's no doubting that the media has a bias towards candidates that are "electable"--a term that has much more to do with money raised than ideology. Take Ohio Congressman and Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich as an example. During the first Democratic debate in April, The Nation's Bob Moser, wrote that "As the first big question about Iraq was lobbed at the Big Three--Clinton, Obama and Edwards--the mediocracy collectively pounded away at their laptops, taking down every word in a veritable symphony of typing. When the same question then went to Kucinich, the man who intrepidly preached against the war in 2004 when the others would not, all hands rested. All typing ceased. The music stopped. Attention wandered."

It hasn't just been the media marginalizing Kucinich (The New York Times, for one, hasn't mentioned his name since June and left his opinion of the war out of its coverage of the debates), but his party has also left him high and dry. Nancy Pelosi and Henry Waxman recently passed Kucinich over for chairman of the National Security and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee, which he was in line to take over.

Never-the-less, polls have shown that the electorate are very much in sync with his positions. Of over 153,000 people who filled out an online form asking for their opinions on 25 issues, 57 percent were found to identify with Kucinich more than any other candidate--Democrat or Republican. This may not be a broad representation of America, but unlike other online polls (the CNBC.com one, included) it was a "blind" analysis rather than a popularity contest, meaning respondents voted on issues, not candidates. Also worth noting is that Paul was the highest ranked Republican with 28 percent of those polled identifying with his positions.

Yet another candidate being left out of the debate is Democratic hopeful (and former senator of Alaska) Mike Gravel. He spurred a lot of "Who the hell is this guy?" interest after the first debate--which by many accounts he won. Then a few months later at a forum held at the NAACP's annual convention, Gravel explicitly attacked Hillary Clinton and John Edwards for authorizing the use of force in Iraq in 2002, as well as Clinton's husband for the devastating effects of NAFTA on Mexico. Moderator Russ Mitchell of CBS shot down any chance of rebuttal under the technicality that it was a forum, not a debate. Clinton and Edwards were caught on tape conferring afterwards about the possibility of limiting the number of Democrats in presidential debates. Edwards, in particular, said, "We should try to have a more serious and a smaller group."

Gravel poses an interesting threat to the current political power structure. For the past ten years he has been conducting research and working with constitutional law experts to enact a law called the National Initiative for Democracy that would make the people a fourth branch of government. Much like local and state initiatives, voters would have a say on what becomes law in this country. That means people would be able to address issues such as the Iraq war, climate change, healthcare, or even the electoral college.

Ralph Nader has praised Gravel and his initiative, saying "No candidate for President from the two major parties has ever demonstrated such a detailed position regarding the sovereign power of People to amend the Constitution and make laws." Of course Nader's endorsement probably doesn't help Gravel's cause among the Democratic faithful, being that many still hold him personally responsible (and quite unfairly so) for the election of Bush in 2000. It should, however, stir some thought as to why such a disparity in ideology between so-called "fringe" candidates and mainstream candidates within the same party can exist--not to mention why so many people identify more with the "fringe" candidates.

With the primary elections creeping up, Americans should stop and consider who more embodies their opinions on the issues and not who has the most money and power to be a viable force against the other side. When you think about it, that's really a vote for Democracy and a vote against the marriage between the mainstream media and the political status quo that has for too long undermined our values.

Bryan Farrell is an independent journalist in New York, whose work has appeared in many publications, including The Nation. He can be contacted at www.bryanfarrell.com.

Comments

[Galvestonians for Dr. Ron Paul]

Ron Paul supporters...
Please view this below.

Notice what is said about 15 min into this 20 minute interview concerning the pay of our elected officials and their "lucrative retirement packages"!!!

Go Ron Paul

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics/july-dec07/paul_10-12.html

[Simone]

Kucinich supporters - get off the blogs and get organized!!!!! Since the candidate has done it, Kucinich supporters need to develop a campaign plan that involves more than showing up for nationally televised debates. When you run for president you have to actually do more than riles up your supporters. You have to (either in person or by surrogate) - make phone calls, knock on doors, hold events, offer plans, and ask people to vote for you. I've been paying close attention and Kucinich isn't doing any of that. If you support Kucinich then get off your butts and organize!

[Misanthrope2]

And maybe we should visit right wing blogs and leave comments telling everyone how great Kucinich is and how they should change their party and vote for him in the primaries.

Or not.

[Galvestonians for Dr. Ron Paul]

Please stop crying about your base and get your leaders to change their ways....
It is quite simple..

We want no more war and we are tired of paying for the world.
The sooner the democratic leaders feel this, their base will come back.

[Galvestonians for Dr. Ron Paul]

I have and I do....but not for Dennis, for Ron Paul...
They get angry....You can feel the hate much thicker from them....
They dont cry about their base leaving, they do not acknowledge it!!!
It is soooo funny.
They are so arrogant.
But secretly they know what is happening...I have read posts..

[dadw5boys]

RON PAUL SCARES THE INTERNATIONAL BANKING CARTELS AND THE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTES.

[Misanthrope2]

His positions scare liberals, too. Or they would if he was polling more than one percent.

[youngbodhisattva]

i'm a liberal and Ron Paul doesn't scare me. I like him and would vote for him over Hillary anyday!

[Sundialsvc4]

I have not seen a serious candidate yet. No, not a single one.

If all that a man can tell me is how many millions of dollars he's raised so far, then he's simply telling me that he takes his bribes in advance. He's telling me that he is such a blue-blood that he cannot possibly know what is important to me.

If that man stands in front of a teleprompter, with a little speaker in his ear which is plugged-in to the spot pollsters who are making random telephone calls even while he is speaking, then he's simply telling me that he's a marionette.

These men and their backers raise "all that money" for a simple and familiar reason: to spend it, right now. Politics is a lucrative business to them and nothing more.

They would do well to carefully observe the leadership style of the one man in American history who won the election but never got to sit in the President's chair: a man who recently won the Nobel Peace Prize. Build consensus, speak intelligently, think (and expect your audience to do the same), and listen.

A quiet, knowledgeable voice that has something to say will ring out clearly over a cacaphony of empty, squawking noise makers.

[JimR]

Um, I have news for you... if Gore decided to run, he would take money, too.

[ljsfolly]

Debates they call them. No matter if you tube or just the asking questions kiind of "debate" it is always biased toward the top and it is so obvious it's like they invited "extras" to fill the stage and speak once in a while to give the "real" guys rest time. The good questions are tossed at the top and if the extras get a decent question they have to pounce on it before th real guys rush in and steal it. The media plays favorites and we all know it so why watch a set up q and a? I still want someone to ask real questions about what those running think about the lies and illegal actions of the administration. But guess what bush and cronies own the media and they will never give us truth and justice and of course the American way. That was superman right?

[whomung]

I have to agree... There's a lot of BIG STAUS QUO MONEY involved in marginalizing both Dennis and Ron.....

That other story HuuPo ran about Ron Paul winning the straw poll in Nevada.... and then the entire piece was all about Rommney was weird.

[Galvestonians for Dr. Ron Paul]

ATTENTION all senators and house members who will reside their fat asses in the congress after 2009!

I think you may want to read what Dr. Paul has said to the people, concerning your jobs and your salaries and your lucrative pension packages.

You may want to bust open that box of wine and have a seat on your Jennifer Convertible for this one......Have little Chelsea or Lindsay Jr. grab a bottle of rolaids before you settle in for about 25 to 30 minutes.

JUDY WOODRUFF: You have declined to sign on, as I understand, for the federal pension that every member of Congress is entitled to. So my question is, you're not worried about your later years? I mean, you could live many more years, Congressman Paul.

REP. RON PAUL: This is one position that I think my wife might disagree with me on. There goes our retirement. No, you know, I was in the Congress in the '70s and '80s, and I've been back, so I've had a good many years, close to 20 years. I've been in the military. So it would be a nice pension fund.

cont below.

[Galvestonians for Dr. Ron Paul]

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics/july-dec07/paul_10-12.html

[Misanthrope2]

Pretty much proves the contention that he is a fool.

[Galvestonians for Dr. Ron Paul]

I know misanthrx2 you want to give our politicians a raise.

How typical

[Galvestonians for Dr. Ron Paul]

But when I started in Congress, the first time in '76, it was even then more lucrative than it is now, but it's a very lucrative, very beneficial pension fund. And I could not see with me condemning, you know, the system to on the side quietly participate in getting some very good benefits. So I just said, "I'm not going to do it; I'll have to take care of myself some other way."

JUDY WOODRUFF: SHOULD EVERYBODY ELSE(FAT ASSES)FOLLOW SUIT, do you think?

REP. RON PAUL: Well, no, I DONT THINK WE SHOULD HAVE THESE KINDS OF PROGRAMS.. I think citizens should be representing us in Congress and the work should be reduced. WE SHOULD CUT THEIR PAY IN HALF AND LET THEM GO HOME AND WORK!
(oops!!)

See, if I go home and practice medicine right now, the congressional rules say, "You can't practice medicine." I don't want to take the lucrative pension fund, but ironically, if I wanted to work extra on the weekend, they won't allow me, because they say it's a conflict of interest for me to go home and deliver a baby. So figure that out.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And just quickly, I understand traveling around the country campaigning, you've run into people you've actually delivered.

REP. RON PAUL: Yeah, I think that's so neat. Because the other night, we had a meeting up in New Hampshire. A young lady came up and she goes, "You delivered me." And I said, "Do you want me to pick you up, since I held you for the first time?"

JUDY WOODRUFF: Is she voting for you? Or do you know?

REP. RON PAUL: Oh, yes, she was a strong supporter.

This is it...You cant help but vote for a guy who wants to cut the Lieberman, Issa, Grahm, O'connell,Cornyn pay salaries in half and rip their big fat pension plans out from under their big fat asses!!!

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics/july-dec07/paul_10-12.html

Go Ron Paul

Ron Paulr3VOLution.

[Misanthrope2]

Ron Paul is anti-choice, religious, corporatist, Republican, and deluded about the Constitution.

He is polling at one percent and has no chance to win the Republican nomination.

If he truly appeals across the spectrum, he must run as a third party candidate.

Go Ron Paul- as a third party candidate.

[Galvestonians for Dr. Ron Paul]

He does not need to be a third party with numbers like these.

http://www.ronpaul2008.com/straw-poll-results/

Go Ron Paul

Ron Paul r3VOLution!

[ParacleteofKavorka]

I'm voting for myself. I'm always right and I know how everything should be done.

[Galvestonians for Dr. Ron Paul]

Thats cute!

[sparkandy]

Maybe I'll vote for you too, if you're always right. You can't be any worse that most of what's already out there.

[situationcritical]

I really look forward to '08, and never having to hear about racist Ron Paul again.

[Pdubya]

who is your candidate? maybe I could just call him or her a name. neener neener.

plenty of minorities support ron paul.

gonna bring up those out of context quotes again?

King Solomon's hip hop tune in support of Ron Paul should be a good start for you.

[Galvestonians for Dr. Ron Paul]

You dont ever listen in the first place......

[Misanthrope2]

This is the only racial stuff I know about Ron Paul. Is there more?

An article in a 1992 edition of Paul's Ron Paul Survival Report (a newsletter that he had published from 1985) contained disparaging comments concerning race and Paul's political opponents.[50] According to the Atlanta Progressive News, the newsletter accused President Bill Clinton of fathering illegitimate children and using cocaine, and called Representative Barbara Jordan a "fraud" and a "half-educated victimologist." The article said that government should lower the legal age for prosecuting youths as adults, saying: "black males age 13 who have been raised on the streets and who have joined criminal gangs are as big, strong, tough, scary and culpable as any adult and should be treated as such." The newsletter also said, "only about 5 percent of blacks have sensible political opinions," "If you have ever been robbed by a black teen-aged male, you know how unbelievably fleet-footed they can be," and, "95 percent of the black males in Washington, D.C. are semi-criminal or entirely criminal."[51]

In a 2001 interview with Texas Monthly magazine, Paul acknowledged that the comments were printed in his newsletter under his name, but that they were written by a ghostwriter and did not represent his views. He said the derogatory remarks about Congresswoman Jordan were "the saddest thing, because Barbara and I served together and actually she was a delightful lady."[52] He stated that he took moral responsibility for comments with which he disagreed being published under his name. Texas Monthly explained, "What made the statements in the publication even more puzzling was that, in four terms as a U. S. congressman and one presidential race, Paul had never uttered anything remotely like this."[32]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_paul#Newsletter_article_controversy

[Galvestonians for Dr. Ron Paul]

Here come the weakened DEMBOTS!!!!

Be vewy, vewy afwaid!

Listen to their wails...

They get louder and louder!

How funny to watch...
Especially misconstue2.

[Pdubya]

If the spread on the populace vote is large enough, we, the people, CAN do this.

Change parties for the primaries and vote RON PAUL.

Then vote your conscience again in the general.

WE HAVE TO GET THIS MAN ON THE REP TICKET. Look at the other choices!

HE IS GAINING SERIOUS GROUND!

[Misanthrope2]

He is at one percent.

For the seven days ending October 14, 2007 show that Rudy Giuliani earns 29% of the vote while Fred Thompson attracts 19%. Mitt Romney has slipped a point and is supported by 14%. John McCain is now the favorite for just 10% and Mike Huckabee is at 7%. Sam Brownback is at 2%, Ron Paul at 1%, and two other candidates each round up to 1%. Sixteen percent (16%) are undecided.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/2008_republican_presiden

[Galvestonians for Dr. Ron Paul]

How can someone be at one percent when they have won 75% of all straw polls?

http://www.ronpaul2008.com/straw-poll-results/

WRONG AGAIN Mistaken2!

[ChristianEcon.com]

Ron Paul is just another free-marketer on economics--that's the extent to which he's "anti-corporate"--nothing like Kucinich at all. There's a reason he's a Republican, and that's it.

Too bad, because otherwise he seems like a great guy.

He needs to wake up and realize the super-rich have had their string of "free-market" record deficits-tax-cuts-for-the-rich parties on the backs of working people and their families ever since Reagan, and it's time for that to end.

[Pdubya]

mr econ: your statements only apply to a federal reserve system, not a monetary system based upon a real commodity, like gold or silver as our constitution dictates.

you're right, we haven't had a free market system since 1913. It slowly changed into what we have today.

We need a free market system. A real one.

Its GUNS OR BUTTER if we don't...doesn't matter which party we elect. Corrupt and bankcrupt, either one.

[Galvestonians for Dr. Ron Paul]

He wants to close the fed reserve dude....
How more anti corporate can you get?

WTF?

[Misanthrope2]

Ron Paul is a corporatist. He would increase the power of the corporations and reduce governmental constraints on what they do to us.

[Rescisco]

It is obviously all about the money, and the media ratification of elite consensus. But the people do, in theory at least, have the last word. It is impossible to imagine the people actually engaging and uttering that last word when they typically haven't given it the first thought. Obviously the thoughtful bloggers here are the exception to the rule, but the American public is rendered powereless by its political illiteracy.

[srmorris]

What's most interesting to me is how similar Paul, the radical edge of the republican party and Kucinich, the liberal left of the Democratic party are. They are both anti war, anti- corporate and want to protect America's right to privacy. Most importantly both of them seem to be sincerely saying what they think rather than kowtowing to focus groups and political strategists.

However, the media covers politics as sports and that means finding (or making) stars to hang their reporting on.

If it were all about the issues Kucinich, Paul and even crotchety Mike Gravel would be making all the headlines but the media hasn't been interested in issues for years. They are in the business of doing business and that means sound-bytes not issues and manufactured front-runners rather than integrity.

[Pdubya]

All true, but its about power and money.

GUNS - Neocons tied to MSM and the military-industrial lobby complex

BUTTER - Dems tied to MSM and the Healthcare/Subsidy lobby complex

Can you guess which networks accept advertising from contractors tied to each?

Kucinich = True Liberal party platform
Paul = True Conservative party platform

In fact, they are friends, work together, and agree on most issues (just not on how to fund them!).

Ron Paul wants to cut GUNS significantly, fund BUTTER for those who have become dependent upon entitlements until we get an incentive based system that will ween us off most. But that can only be done with a sound money system.

www.ronpaul2008.com

thank you for this piece! I have been on a huge letter writing campaign and have found this exclusionary tactics more and more obvious.

Hell, just the other night CNN Anderson Cooper 360 covered the NV debate continuously showing Romney and Gulliani with sprinkles of McCain....never mentioning who won. Why not?
Because RON PAUL won the straw poll. And those are never reported in the MSM. Ron Paul has won more than half of them by a landslide and has placed 2nd or 3rd in most others,

This is insane. There is a serious disconnect between the votership and MSM and Corporate. That is why we have such a poor turnout to voting as a Nation. Well, the internet has gotten people to wake up because it is a FREE PRESS.

Thanks again for writing this piece.

www.dailypaul.com
www.ronpaul.com

[Pdubya]

In fact, one paper (I think it was the Wash Post) headlined the NV debate ... Romney loses NV debate.

two mentions of Paul in the article, barely

seven mentions of Romney...THE LOSER.

WTF ECHO?

[Pdubya]

See, we're accustomed to the status quo...these two are not radical. They're back to basics - the constitution.

We need this.

[drkazmd65]

Exactly why, if I was a Republican (For the record I am not) I would be firmly in Ron Paul's camp.

Instead, as a Democrat, I am sticking with Kucinich to the easily predictible end.

How did we Americans all become such sheep?

[Countess]

Kucinich and Ron Paul are the best candidates and therefore have no chance of winning. The winning candidates will once again be the two worst in every respect.