Paul’s socially conservative views, like his opposition to abortion and his semi-evil stance on gay rights.
Then there was Ron Paul’s old newsletter, Dr. Ron Paul’s Freedom Report. For many years the paper was run by blatant racists. According to some, this included libertarian and Ron Paul associate Lew Rockwell writing under a pseudonym. While these articles were appearing in the newsletter, Dr. Paul’s name remained on the masthead.
Dr. Paul and his supporters cried foul when the newsletters, dating back to the early 1990s and before, became an issue in the media. Dr. Paul claimed, “Libertarians are incapable of being racist, because racism is a collectivist idea.” Nobody knew what the fuck he was talking about except for libertarians, who already loved him, so it was a pretty terrible defense.
Fair or unfair, the taint of racism clung to the campaign in the media, and his legion of Internet fans failed to translate into victory in the Republican primaries. He garnered fewer than two dozen Republican delegates. As Republican challengers to John McCain dropped out of the running, Paul stayed on into June thanks to his huge Internet bankroll.
Dr. Paul finally acceded to John McCain’s lead in the primary. He noted McCain had the number of delegates needed to become the Republican nominee, “but if you’re in a campaign for only gaining power, that is one thing; if you’re in a campaign to influence ideas and the future of the country, it’s never over.”
The huge sums of money banked by Dr. Paul’s 2008 presidential bid were transferred to his political action committee, Ron Paul’s Campaign for Liberty. His legions of Internet soldiers, though demoralized and reduced in number, soldiered on.
Not Obtained by Sudden, Slow-Moving Flight
“We just thought, ‘Blimps are cool. Ron Paul is cool.’ What could be more American than a blimp? When ya think of a blimp ya think of America.”
I nodded and left my own mental associations between airships and political movements unspoken.
I was driving to Elizabeth City, North Carolina, with Ron Paul supporter Tucker Mayhew in my passenger seat. His younger sister, Taylor, was sleeping stretched out on the backseat. She did not want to come along. She was not a Ron Paul supporter. She preferred High School Musical .
Tucker’s mother had insisted we bring Taylor to “see Tucker’s blee-ump.”
The blee-ump didn’t belong to Tucker, he was just one of the hundreds of donors that had contributed to the more than $350,000 raised on the Internet for the Ron Paul Blimp. Rabid fans of Ron Paul were almost giddy with excitement over the idea of the blimp.
I had to admit, the idea was as simple as it was ingenious. People love blimps, yet they did not know much yet about Ron Paul. A grassroots group of Ron Paul supporters believed the best way to introduce Ron Paul to the American people was by piggybacking on America’s overwhelming affection for things written on the sides of blimps.
Do you remember what it says on the Goodyear blimp? It says “Goodyear,” but I bet you remembered that. Because it works!
It was like the old adage, “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.” Just like that, only they replaced “stomach” with “blimps” and “man’s” with American’s.
“The way to an American’s heart is through his blimps.”
Close enough.
Tucker was an early supporter of the idea. He was kicking around the Ron Paul corners of the Internet that helped to spawn the concept. He remembered people talking about it before there was even a website. He showed me a screenshot he had saved on his computer of a post on a Ron Paul forum that he believed proved he was “in on the ground floor.”
“This sounds fucking awesome!” Tucker declared in the post, although he chose to use nine exclamation points. “Imagine if we put this bad boy over every football stadium in a primary state. Everyone knows about Goodyear and everyone
Then there was Ron Paul’s old newsletter, Dr. Ron Paul’s Freedom Report. For many years the paper was run by blatant racists. According to some, this included libertarian and Ron Paul associate Lew Rockwell writing under a pseudonym. While these articles were appearing in the newsletter, Dr. Paul’s name remained on the masthead.
Dr. Paul and his supporters cried foul when the newsletters, dating back to the early 1990s and before, became an issue in the media. Dr. Paul claimed, “Libertarians are incapable of being racist, because racism is a collectivist idea.” Nobody knew what the fuck he was talking about except for libertarians, who already loved him, so it was a pretty terrible defense.
Fair or unfair, the taint of racism clung to the campaign in the media, and his legion of Internet fans failed to translate into victory in the Republican primaries. He garnered fewer than two dozen Republican delegates. As Republican challengers to John McCain dropped out of the running, Paul stayed on into June thanks to his huge Internet bankroll.
Dr. Paul finally acceded to John McCain’s lead in the primary. He noted McCain had the number of delegates needed to become the Republican nominee, “but if you’re in a campaign for only gaining power, that is one thing; if you’re in a campaign to influence ideas and the future of the country, it’s never over.”
The huge sums of money banked by Dr. Paul’s 2008 presidential bid were transferred to his political action committee, Ron Paul’s Campaign for Liberty. His legions of Internet soldiers, though demoralized and reduced in number, soldiered on.
Not Obtained by Sudden, Slow-Moving Flight
“We just thought, ‘Blimps are cool. Ron Paul is cool.’ What could be more American than a blimp? When ya think of a blimp ya think of America.”
I nodded and left my own mental associations between airships and political movements unspoken.
I was driving to Elizabeth City, North Carolina, with Ron Paul supporter Tucker Mayhew in my passenger seat. His younger sister, Taylor, was sleeping stretched out on the backseat. She did not want to come along. She was not a Ron Paul supporter. She preferred High School Musical .
Tucker’s mother had insisted we bring Taylor to “see Tucker’s blee-ump.”
The blee-ump didn’t belong to Tucker, he was just one of the hundreds of donors that had contributed to the more than $350,000 raised on the Internet for the Ron Paul Blimp. Rabid fans of Ron Paul were almost giddy with excitement over the idea of the blimp.
I had to admit, the idea was as simple as it was ingenious. People love blimps, yet they did not know much yet about Ron Paul. A grassroots group of Ron Paul supporters believed the best way to introduce Ron Paul to the American people was by piggybacking on America’s overwhelming affection for things written on the sides of blimps.
Do you remember what it says on the Goodyear blimp? It says “Goodyear,” but I bet you remembered that. Because it works!
It was like the old adage, “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.” Just like that, only they replaced “stomach” with “blimps” and “man’s” with American’s.
“The way to an American’s heart is through his blimps.”
Close enough.
Tucker was an early supporter of the idea. He was kicking around the Ron Paul corners of the Internet that helped to spawn the concept. He remembered people talking about it before there was even a website. He showed me a screenshot he had saved on his computer of a post on a Ron Paul forum that he believed proved he was “in on the ground floor.”
“This sounds fucking awesome!” Tucker declared in the post, although he chose to use nine exclamation points. “Imagine if we put this bad boy over every football stadium in a primary state. Everyone knows about Goodyear and everyone
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