Saturday, August 23, 2008

Ron Paul supporters spam GOP National Convention delegates

Front cover of DVD.

Back of DVD cover.

The manilla envelope arrived in the mail Friday addressed to me with a return address in Buena Vista, Virginia. I opened it and found a DVD.

"On the road to Minneapolis-Saint Paul / REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION," it proclaimed on the front cover. A red-outlined triangle with an elephant inside had the wording, "A film by Republicans for Republicans" printed across the bottom. Beneath that were the words, "VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR RNC DELEGATES AND ALTERNATES. Time sensitive material. Please watch immediately."

The back cover was a photo of the White House and said, "VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR RNC DELEGATES AND ALTERNATES. Time sensitive material. Please watch immediately."

I put it on the dining room table until I had an opportunity to watch it but I did a double-take at the name on the return address. It wasn't anyone I recognized as being associated with RPV or the convention or even the 6th Congressional District.

Another delegate called Saturday night and asked if I had received a DVD in the mail and, if so, if I had watched it. Negative, I told him -- I had not watched it yet -- and he alerted me that it was a Ron Paul DVD. I popped it in to see what was up.

The first 22 minutes were background on Reagan and Goldwater and the Republican Party ... and then a guy came on and began talking about former presidential candidate Ron Paul. The caption under him said, "JerryDay.com." The quality of the DVD was poor; audio during the commentary faded in and out.

The Ron Paul people have spammed the GOP delegates heading to the national convention. What a waste of money -- almost $1 in postage, manilla envelope, and DVD plus cover.

I found it deceiving to say "time sensitive material" for delegates, and others thought the same thing I did ... that it had something to do with the convention and we needed to watch it before leaving for Minnesota.

I am afraid their little trick backfired with me and other delegates.

John McCain for President 2008

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is too bad that you didn't learn anything from that mailer. I didn't get one sent to me, but I have watched most of Ron Paul's speeches and other appearances via YouTube. I also used to live next door to Ron Paul's District in Texas.

Ron Paul attracted Millions of new voters to become active in the Republican Party during the political primary season. Here in Virginia, Obama suporters think that the bulge in voter registrations was due to their ch-ch-ch change candidate, but upon closer inspection, the surge in registrations coincided with the, six months earlier, rise of Ron Paul and his highly popular and innovative, web-based campaign efforts.

Admittedly, some of these newly energized voters are a little over zealous in their methods at times, but rather than ostracize them, the GOP and its "old guard" should be embracing these, mostly young, highly energetic citizens. Welcome them into your local committees and get their enthusiasm behind Virginia Republicans who are committed to reigning in the power of government and who advocate enhancing our LIBERTY.

I like and admire Congressman Paul on a personal level, but it is his stand for moving our country back to Constitution based government that I truly love. If you read his speeches or watch his presentations on YouTube, you will learn that he is the only former presidential candidate whose positions are really in accordance with our Republican Creed and the Constitution of the United States.

The GOP needs the Ron Paul supporters and the support of every citizen who loves Liberty and all of those who demand that we return power in this country back to the citizens.

Lynn R. Mitchell said...

The point was not whether I had learned anything from the DVD but, rather, the fact that I had felt deceived by their presentation, making it seem to be something official that needed to be watched before the convention.

They could have put "Ron Paul" anywhere on it ... but they didn't.

It was a deceitful way to try and have someone watch something they probably otherwise would not have watched. I did not receive DVDs from any other former presidential candidates. Why do Paul supporters feel they have to continue with this?

The whole point they were making was they felt he had not received the amount of MSM attention he should have for the amount of "popularity" he had on the internet.

It's too late for Ron Paul in 2008.

Anonymous said...

Well obviously it WASN'T an official Ron Paul mailing D'UHHHHHHH but I guess 'mainstream' republicans are too dumb to know this.

...and too dumb to have supported Ron Paul as well.

Anonymous said...

The use of a decentralized campaign, that drew its strength from many diverse individuals and groups, by using the web, was a hallmark innovation of Dr. Paul's campaign.

Traditional campaigns can feel like herding cats, so one can see how something like the Paul campaign could end up with some wildly enthusiastic, or just plain wild, citizens pushing his message of Liberty, our Constitution and a return to our principles as stated in Republican Creed.

You ask, "Why do Paul supporters feel they have to continue with this?" Meaning, we assume, the continued push by Paul supporters (and many others in the Party) for the GOP to champion the rights of the citizens, rather than continuing to shift power to government and multinational corporations.

The reason is that these voices are coming from the grass roots working class of America. Men and women, of many different backgrounds, who have begun to awaken to the fact that under the current policies, big multinational corporations always win and the working class continues to lose ground.

While a few of these voices are from extreme, "conspiracy theorists" most are folks who used to be Middle Class and who have seen their jobs and their children's futures shipped over to Communist China, with the full approval of both Democrat and Republican leadership. These voices are from citizens who desperately want to work within our political system to try and get America and the GOP back on course toward a self governing republic, where the People rule.

See for yourself as you travel across Virginia. As one goes from town to town, they all will tell you what USED to be produced there and that now, all they have is a WalMart, a Dollar Store and perhaps a prison. Today, the only growth industry in SW Virginia is Crank.

BTW, to the anonymous poster, who wrote that "Duh" comment, try to elevate the debate beyond the level of a thirteen year-old. These are times where civil and constructive discussion of ideas are needed.

A good start is to insist that our candidates describe what laws they will repeal to ENHANCE our freedom.

Repeal the War Powers Act, so that we no longer have wars started by an Imperial President, without the consent of Congress.

We also need real Tort reform to help businesses to lower domestic production costs. It is stupid that a business can get sued by a patron who spills coffee on themselves.

One of the key reasons that our jobs have gone away is that no anti-trust action has been taken to break-up the oligopolies and near monopolies that some companies now have. The multinationals are richer than many countries and they openly buy our Congressmen.

There are hundreds of ways to repair our economy, and our country, if only more citizens would take a break from watching the idiot box (TV) and become informed and involved. Try cutting off the TV one night per week, for a start and eventually begin living your own lives rather than watching others.

Constructive dialog via blogs can be a good step in the right direction, but those who write in these arenas owe it to their fellow citizens to use their real names, stand by what they write, and do a little research so that they can contribute some tangible ideas and solutions to the issues being discussed.

The Henrico Republican Committee, where I attend, has welcomed the Ron Paul supporters and many have already attended the Saturday morning buffet held the first Saturday of each month at "The Place" on West Broad. We are looking forward to having these new members of the Virginia GOP helping out with many local campaigns in the near future.

Lynn R. Mitchell said...

I hope you feel better after using a wrong assumption to air your grieviences.

You wrote: You ask, "Why do Paul supporters feel they have to continue with this?" Meaning, we assume, the continued push by Paul supporters (and many others in the Party) for the GOP to champion the rights of the citizens....

When I asked, "Why do Paul supporter feels they have to continue with this," I thought I made it clear I meant the continuation of a campaign that is over for Ron Paul who has, himself, withdrawn from the race. No supporters from other candidates have, to my knowledge, sent materials to national delegates as if trying to influence them or whatever it is the Paul people are doing.

We agree on many issues (but not all) but please do not put words in my mouth.

Are you going to the GOP convention?

Anonymous said...

SWAC Girl, I got the same DVD and was also expecting some important information about the convention. I was suspicious from the beginning because of the elephant. It wasn't a GOP elephant because those always have the trunk UP. This one is just clip art and has the trunk down. I haven't watched the wretched thing yet, and now that I know what the story behind it, I'm not sure I will even bother.

Anonymous said...

I was one of MANY Paul supporters who were against this silly idea.

Yes, many feel (rightly so) that a McCain presidency would do nothing but swing our party further into the Democrat's ideology. But it's too late to stop any of that.

Paul supporters like myself understand that the people have spoken and there isnt much that can be done about it.

Regardless of tact, our goal as a group is simple. Remind the party why they were once great - to challenge the political leadership to grow a pair and stand for true conservative principles. The GOP's rhetoric nauseates me since it's clear that there's been a disconnect between words and action.

I think it comes down to a battle for the soul of the party... not the silly outer manifestations of it like our Presidential Nominee.

I'll see you guys in St. Paul on the convention floor.