Tag: Ron Paul

Liberty Will be Crushed

First the Republican National Committee (RNC) threatened to prohibit Nevada from seating any delegates if the state sent “too many” Ron Paul delegates, then higher ups in the Massachusetts Republican Party moved to invalidate votes because “too many” Ron Paul delegates were elected, now members of the Old Guard in the Louisiana Republican Party sicked the dogs on Ron Paul supporters are a conventions:

“I’m handicapped! I need a doctor!” “Sir, this is the chairman!” The Louisiana State Republican Convention descended into chaos Saturday morning, with several delegates being arrested and the convention chairman being thrown to the ground by police. Sources report that state party officials panicked when it became clear that Ron Paul delegates commanded a decisive majority of the delegates on the floor – at least 111 of 180 (62%).

[…]

At this point, a motion was made to elect a new convention chairman. Henry Herford, Jr., was elected by an overwhelming majority. Nevertheless, Mr. Villere – who had appointed himself the convention chairman – refused to relinquish control of the gathering. As the delegates began turning their chairs around, Mr. Herford, the newly elected chairman, rose to call the convention to order. Sources report that, in an act of desperation, Mr. Villere and state party officials then ordered police to attack Mr. Herford.

Video footage shows an older gentleman in a blue shirt being violently dragged away by police and then shoved to the ground. When Mr. Herford protests that he is handicapped and would like to press charges for assault against the police officers, a Shreveport police officer is seen smirking in response. Sources report that Mr. Herford, 57, has a prosthetic hip that was dislocated during the assault.

There are videos at the link as well. Needless to say this demonstrates how the state works, when it starts feeling threatened it unleashes violence in a desperate attempt to protect its power. When people said Ron Paul was unelectable they were correct, but not for the reasons they believed. They thought Paul wasn’t electable because of his ideas and philosophy, in reality he’s unelectable because the Republican Part has actively rigged the game, they’ve gone so far as to use actual violence to stop Ron Paul from getting delegates.

I hope everybody remembers this election because it is the first one, that I’m aware of at least, where the Old Guard has openly flaunted its power. Previously they rigged the game through procedure, now that they lack the people to continue this task they’re outright lying, cheating, and using violence. We no longer have a government by the people, it’s a government by the government.

No Options this Election

There is no option this election, it’s either Obama or Other Obama:

Mitt Romney has won the Republican presidential primary in Texas and the remaining delegates needed to secure the party’s nomination.

With 1,086 delegates, Mr Romney only needed 58 to pass the 1,144 mark for the nomination. Texas awards 152 delegates proportionally.

There was never much of a question in who the nominee was going to be. If suckers members of the Republican Party didn’t vote enough delegates to get Romney the nomination the Republican National Convention (RNC) and local state parties were just going to rig the game to remove the Paul supporters anyways. I do hope this nomination process has been educational though, it demonstrated the fact that the people don’t have a voice in the Republican Party. When the higher ups said the nomination was going to go to Romney the deal was sealed.

Selfishly I must admit this news isn’t entirely bad in my opinion, it allows me to entirely remove myself from participating in politics. I can sit comfortably from the side lines and watch this country self-destruct because of the very political process people use to demonstrate how great this country is.

For those of you who are going to support Romney have fun. I know the hole you’re digging seems innocuous and you believe you won’t be forced to dig it as quickly under Romney. What you’re not seeing is the end game, that hole you’re digging is your grave, once it’s dug Romney is going to line you up in front of it and gun you down just as Obama will. You can still choose to throw down your shovels, climb out of the hole, and run like hell. Your chances of survival won’t be high but they will be above zero, which is more than they will be if you keep digging.

Rigging the Game

The Republican Party wants Romney and they’re going to rather sickening extents to get the man nominated. First we had the Republican National Convention (RNC) outright threaten to disallow any delegates from Nevada to be seated if they sent “too many” Paul delegates and now local Republican Party shills are working to invalidate caucus results in Massachusetts:

A month after Mitt Romney’s loyalists were trounced by supporters of Ron Paul in the former governor’s home state caucuses, the Massachusetts Republican Party is trying to invalidate some ballots.

The move, some say, could oust Paul backers and send more Romney representatives to the GOP nominating convention in Tampa in August. It has infuriated rank-and-file Republicans who accuse establishment insiders of bending the rules to their own benefit.

“Just because you didn’t like the outcome of an election doesn’t mean you overturn it because you have the power to,’’ said a state committeeman, Stephen Zykofsky.

Related
Notebook: Giuliani, Gingrich come to Romney’s defense

Much of the ire is directed at a challenge in the Fifth Congressional District – where Romney lives and where all six of his selected delegates and alternates lost. A member of Romney’s slate contends the results should be thrown out because the caucus chairman failed to get all the participants to sign in.

A 14-member GOP committee is expected to consider whether the results should be counted this week.

Romney is so worthless he could even win a delegate seat in his own district. This fact has irked members of the Republican Party who are now moving the fix team in in an attempt to prevent Paul from getting any chance at the nomination.

If you pay attention to the political process, and I mean really pay attention to it, you learn pretty quickly that we don’t live in a democracy, republic, or any other form of government of the people. The United States system is just as corrupt as any other political system, we just manage to brainwash people into believing otherwise more effectively than most other countries.

I was Worried this Would Happen

Today is the first day of the Minnesota Republican Convention. As you read this delegates are currently in St. Cloud fighting over political matters. I didn’t go. After my experience at my local basic political operating unit (BPOU) convention I decided to swear off continued participation in this race. Part of it was just the monstrous nature of the big-wig Republican attendees, their desire for power at the cost of others was disgusting. Another part of it had to do with the Ron Paul campaign itself. There’s been something going on with the Paul campaign that didn’t sit right with me but I’ve been unable to put my finger on it. With the recent announcements and other news I’ve been slowly scrapping together the pieces of the puzzle are starting to come together. I posted about the recent announcements made by the Paul campaign.

It seemed entirely odd to me that the campaign would be sending out announcements that could easily be construed as the campaign being suspended and telling supporters that any hope of winning the presidential nomination is basically gone. What campaign in its right mind would tell supporters that the chances of success were basically none? Then I came across the following article and things started to make more sense:

Reince Priebus (the RNC chairman from Kenosha, Wisconsin), and the Republican National Committee (RNC) threw their support behind Mitt Romney after Newt Gingrich announced he would be suspending his campaign. Through the RNC chair, Reince Priebus, the RNC will help register voters and encourage outreach for Mitt Romney.

I’ve had no doubt that the Republican nomination process is fixed and that Romney is the anointed one for this year’s nomination. Between threatening states that sent “too many” Ron Paul supporters and several prominent officials of the Republican National Committee (RNC) openly stating support for Romney it has been obvious that the RNC will go to any length to ensure Romney gets the nomination. The statement released by Jesse Benton, the chairman for the Ron Paul campaign, shed even more light on the actions of the Paul campaign:

“In April, the RNC asked our campaign for our blessing to begin assembling the Victory organization Republicans will require to guarantee a win in the fall. Building such an operation is no small undertaking, and our Party needed to build in a few months what the incumbent president has been building for four years.

“The RNC offered to set up a joint fundraising committee with the Paul campaign and were very clear that if Dr. Paul became the nominee, the Victory Operation would be behind him 100 percent. They also were clear that they would hold off if our campaign objected. I gave my full consent for the RNC to move forward.

“Chairman Priebus has always treated Dr. Paul and our team with respect, and we appreciate his leadership. He has been an outstanding chairman and has our full confidence.”

It is unclear to me is Benton is entirely ignorant or corrupt. The agreement mentioned in Benton’s statement is obviously a sucker’s deal. While the RNC promises to completely back Paul if he gets the nomination they have no intention of allowing Paul to get the nomination. They’re making a bet because they already know the outcome. Did Benton agree to this deal because he believed the RNC was actually planning on playing fair or because they offered him something to advance his political career? The only evidence I have to the latter is circumstantial, Benton was the one who released the recent announcements that appeared to be hand crafted to destroy the morale of Ron Paul’s supporters. Since the only evidence I hold is circumstantial I’m going to assume the former, that Benton and other higher ups in the Paul campaign are naive and believe the RNC is willing to play fair.

Having leaders of the RNC backing Romney is pretty obviously a violation of the RNC’s own rules:

“Rule No. 11 Candidate Support
(a) The Republican National Committee shall not, without the prior written and filed approval of all members of the Republican National Committee from the state involved, contribute money or in-kind aid to any candidate for any public or party office except the nominee of the Republican Party or a candidate who is unopposed in the Republican primary after the filing deadline for that office. In those states where state law establishes a nonpartisan primary in which Republican candidates could participate, but in which the general election may not include a Republican candidate, the candidate endorsed by a convention held under the authority of the state Republican Party shall be recognized by the Republican National Committee as the Republican nominee.

(b) No state Republican Party rule or state law shall be observed that allows persons who have participated or are participating in the selection of any nominee of a party other than the Republican Party, including, but not limited to, through the use of a multiparty primary or similar type ballot, to participate in the selection of a nominee of the Republican Party for that general election. No person nominated in violation of this rule shall be recognized by the Republican National Committee as the nominee of the Republican Party from that state.”

Apparently they have been able to get away with it by offering the sucker’s deal to the Paul campaign. The RNC must have said, “Listen, if you guys don’t pursue this whole rule violation ordeal we’ll promise to back Paul if he gets the nomination.” Like suckers the Paul campaign apparently fell for it.

My uneasiness regard the Ron Paul campaign is finally starting to make sense. I’m not the only one disenfranchised with the campaign at this point, many of my fellow Paul supporters have expressed similar views. Yet many of Paul’s supporters have been creating justifications for the recent actions of his campaign, something I was worried would happen due to the amount of emotional investment many people have in his winning. The most common theory put forth by those who still support the campaign is that the recent actions are part of a master plan to lower the establishment’s guard so we can swoop in unopposed and claim victory. This theory doesn’t make any sense to me because the recent actions by the campaign have caused massive devastation to the morale of Paul’s supporters. Several delegates have even expressed refusal to continue attending conventions, actions that directly oppose the Paul campaign’s supposed goal of motivating as many delegates as possible to attend the RNC and take the Republican Party. If that is the strategy then telling delegates that the campaign is basically over isn’t going to advance the cause.

Another common theory being put forth by those desperately trying to continue believing in the campaign is that the way is merely being paved for Rand Paul’s run next election cycle. To that I say woopty fucking doo. I’m not a big fan of Rand. Many neocons will claim they like Rand better than his father because Rand makes sense. For the same reasons neocons like Rand I don’t. If the master plan has been to pave the way for Rand then I’m sorry I had any involvement in this campaign.

Others are claiming the goal of the Paul campaign has always been to reclaim the Republican Party and return it to its roots. Unfortunately there is no reclaiming the Republican Party, it’s a dying party and a poison brand. The big wigs in the party are bloody thirsty evangelicals who want nothing more than to bring a new crusade to the world. A majority of Republican Party members are mindless automatons who obey the commands of the higher ups and those commands have been to resist control from the Ron Paul supporters. Even if we do reclaim the party we’re left with the party. We will hold control over an empty shell. All of the crusaders will flee and likely establish their own party while we’ll be standing around holding a brand that is known for its opposition to civil rights, advocacy of war, and general authoritarian nature. Attempting to change this image will fail, poisoned brands generally can’t be salvaged. Nobody looks at the actions of a political party, they just agree with whatever propaganda they’re told to.

Either way it’s pretty obvious to me that many Paul supporters are actively disillusioning themselves with the campaign. They want to believe the campaign is attempting to do good so they come up with theories about the recent actions that support their desire. The majority who have been involved in the campaign seem to be willing to question the recent actions, even asking “What if…?” is met with resistance. Those of us standing in the corner asking, “What the fuck guys?” are being accused of devastating morale and attempting to undermine the campaign. Perhaps the latter accusation is true. I have no idea what the Paul campaign is doing at the moment nor can I see their goals. When I don’t know what somebody is doing I get edgy, when evidence indicates what they’re doing isn’t good are move to undermine the plan. The campaign hasn’t offered any valid justification for their recent actions so I have reason to believe they’re up to no good.

Perhaps I’m in a fairly unique position, I never really believed Ron Paul could get the nomination and thus watching this campaign crumble (at least appear to crumble) has had little effect. Part of me did hold up some hope that the good guys could win this time around but it was nothing more than a glimmer, and that glimmer still exists although it’s getting harder and harder to see. If my concerns are true, if there is chicanery going on in the Paul campaign, it will just prove my point that you can’t play the political game without getting fucked at some point.

As of this writing there is a money bomb going on at the Ron Paul campaign website. Usually these rake in a couple of million dollars, this one hasn’t even broke $300,000 yet (if it does break that please realize I wrote this article during the money bomb and likely didn’t have the opportunity to edit this portion before it posted). Obviously the recent actions of the campaign have had a vastly negative effect, the supporters are unhappy and less willing to send money or otherwise support campaign efforts. From where I stand it appears the Ron Paul campaign is the worst enemy of Ron Paul getting elected. They had a plan, claimed to be in the game until the end, and dropped the ball at the eleventh hour. Many supporters of the campaign have resorted to viciously attacking those who question the recent actions because facing the possibility of failure is too much for them to handle. When you’re no longer willing to question your cause, when you turn a blind eye to what’s going on around you, that is the moment you’ve lost and you know it. You don’t want to admit you’ve lost but you know you have.

Most People Don’t Agree with His Beliefs

A common criticism I hear regarding libertarianism and Ron Paul specifically is that they both fill a niche by a vast majority of people don’t agree with them. I find this criticism dubious at best. How can I say that? Isn’t the fact there hasn’t been a libertarian president proof that the claim is true? No.

Simply put, most people don’t have beliefs regarding political issues. They believe what the most influential people in their lives tell them to believe. They don’t put time into thinking about their beliefs, they just know that one side is right and the other side is wrong. It’s how the game is played. You cheer for the team that’s geographically closer to where you live and shout against every other team because, “They’re not from around here.” Evangelicals will generally oppose legalizing abortion because their ministers have told them it’s against the will of God while progressives will generally support legalizing abortion because the hot feminist they’re trying to shack up with tells them a woman has a right to choose. Neither party every stops to actually consider what they believe.

Foreign policy is another great issue to demonstrate this fact. Many people believe Paul’s foreign policy is “kooky” or “unworkable” and cite talking points to backup their claim. Likewise supporters of Paul’s foreign policy merely believe themselves to be anti-war and therefore must agree. Neither group stops to consider the reason they believe what they believe.

This is why I say criticizing libertarianism based on the apparent lack of popular support is pointless. The majority of people oppose libertarian ideas because the talking head on the teevee tells them to. Most of these people don’t even know about libertarian philosophy. They know the talking head on teevee told them that the libertarians want to eliminate Medicare and that will cause their grandparents to die a slow and horrible death. What those talking heads never mention is that libertarian philosophy is based upon the non-aggression principle and taxation, a form of theft, is incompatible with the non-aggression principle. Because Medicare is funded by initiated force libertarians oppose it but support alternatives such as mutual aid.

You simply can’t claim a majority of people don’t support beliefs when a majority of people don’t have beliefs.

Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves

At the beginning of this week the Ron Paul campaign announced a strategy change that was misconstrued as a campaign suspension. I couldn’t figure out why the campaign made such an announcement since it was pretty obvious how the media would take such news but I think somebody in the Paul campaign has decided the best way to move forward is to decimate the morale of Paul’s supporters. I present to you an e-mail I received from the Paul campaign yesterday:

Every day, I see firsthand how humbled and encouraged Dr. Paul is to have the enthusiastic support of so many who are committed to revitalizing our country.

Let me be very clear. Dr. Paul is NOT dropping out or suspending his campaign.

As Dr. Paul has previously stated, he is in this race all the way to the Republican National Convention in Tampa this August.

And he is deeply grateful for every resource he has been entrusted with to run an historic campaign that continues to defy all expectations.

Looking ahead, our campaign must honor that trust by maximizing our resources to ensure the greatest possible impact at the National Convention.

So while our campaign is no longer investing in the remaining primary states, we will continue to run strong programs at District and State Conventions to win more delegates and alternate delegates to the National Convention.

To this end, our campaign has several positive and realistic goals:

1) Having recently WON Maine, we believe we can win several more states.
2) We will win party leadership positions at both the state and national levels.
3) We will continue to grow our already substantial total of delegates.

We will head to Tampa with a solid group of delegates. Several hundred will be bound to Dr. Paul, and several hundred more, although bound to Governor Romney or other candidates, will be Ron Paul supporters.

Unfortunately, barring something very unforeseen, our delegate total will not be strong enough to win the nomination. Governor Romney is now within 200 delegates of securing the party’s nod. However, our delegates can still make a major impact at the National Convention and beyond.

All delegates will be able to vote on party rules and allow us to shape the process for future liberty candidates.

We are in an excellent position to make sure the Republican Party adds solid liberty issues to the GOP Platform, which our delegates will be directly positioned to approve. Our campaign is presently working to get several items up for consideration, including monetary policy reform, prohibitions on indefinite detention, and Internet freedom.

Finally, by sending a large, respectful, and professional delegation to Tampa, we will show the party and the country that not only is our movement growing and here to stay, but that the future belongs to us.

Dr. Paul will begin this new phase of the campaign this Friday by speaking and holding several events at the Minnesota State Convention. He has also recently accepted an invitation to speak at the Texas Convention, and we are busy scheduling appearances around other State Conventions later this month and into June.

As Dr. Paul stated in his message yesterday, this fight is NOT over. We will continue fighting and expanding, and “we will not stop until we have restored what once made America the greatest country in human history.”

But for Dr. Paul’s efforts in the remaining State Conventions to be successful, and to ensure we get as many Ron Paul delegates to Tampa as we can, he needs you to continue standing with him.

Along those lines, as you probably already know, the grassroots are holding a Money Bomb on Thursday, May 17. Any money raised from that Money Bomb will go toward winning delegates and finalizing our plans for Tampa.

As those plans for the National Convention come together, we will make sure all of our delegates, whether bound or unbound, get the information and aid they need.

Your support on May 17 will also help us reach more Americans with the solutions we know can restore our nation. Each person we add to our cause strengthens our movement for the critical work that awaits us beyond Tampa.

Dr. Paul, John Tate, myself, and the entire campaign staff know what incredible sacrifices have been made by each of our supporters.

Thank you for all of your hard work and your dedication to liberty. Together, we will champion Ron Paul and his message in Tampa, and we will lay the groundwork for future victories.

Emphasis mine. That’s a very long e-mail to simply say, “Hey guys, we don’t have enough delegates to stop Romney but we can still influence the Republican Party platform!” In other words the Paul campaign has basically said it’s giving up trying for a first place victory and, instead, hoping for the bronze medal.

The part I emphasized, the consolation prize if you will, is absolutely lackluster. We can influence the Republican Party platform? The same platform that already has many liberty issues listed by goes entirely ignored by Republican politicians? Sign me right the fuck up for that! What a treat, we can influence something that gets completely ignored! If I wanted to waste my time on pointless activities I could just stay at home and masturbate. Actually the latter is a better deal because it doesn’t involve sitting in a room full of screaming blood-thirsty neocons trying to get the state to enforce their ideas of morality.

I’ll be totally honest, this news really doesn’t bother me all that much. I was never that vested in Paul winning because, as I’ve noted on this blog numerous times, I know the entire nomination process is rigged and people like you and me have no say in who the Republican nominee is. With that said the real value of the Ron Paul campaign as been the people and the liberty movement that has sprung from those people. The campaign is doing a disservice to those people by killing morale.

Why did the campaign choose to say this? Why didn’t they talk about the actual meaningful actions that the liberty movement could take? While I don’t believe this country can ever have a viable third-party working towards that goal is certainly more worthwhile than trying to change the Republican Party platform. Paul gave up running for Congress so there is no reason he needs to continue placating the Republican Party, they’ve already demonstrated their hatred for him so he should return the favor. How about putting major resources into bring the Federal Reserve front and center? Saying, “End the Fed!” is a great slogan but it doesn’t address the actual issue. Look at all the organizations that spend time trying to advocate for and against gay marriage. Those organizations put together flyers and hold rallies in the hopes of getting their message out. The Paul campaign certainly has the people and resources to do something similar regarding the Federal Reserve. What about jury nullification? A powerful advocacy group made up of liberty minded folks could do wonders for raising awareness of the power jury members hold.

My point is alternatives exist and the Paul campaign could do a great deal of work in drumming up advocates for these alternatives. Instead they’re sending out e-mails that appear to be crafted in such a way as to deflate the liberty movement and discourage individuals from continuing the good fight. Ron Paul has been a rally point for the liberty movement in my opinion. I never expected him to get to the White House, his value has been in bringing advocates of liberty together. Such power can still be wielded for good but offering a worthless consolation prize isn’t the way to do it.

Ron Paul Isn’t Suspending His Campaign

Yesterday the Ron Paul campaign sent out the following e-mail:

Dear Christopher,

As I reflect on our 2012 Presidential campaign, I am humbled by the supporters who have worked so hard and sacrificed so much. And I am so proud of what we have accomplished. We will not stop until we have restored what once made America the greatest country in human history.

This campaign fought hard and won electoral success that the talking heads and pundits never thought possible. But, this campaign is also about more than just the 2012 election. It has been part of a quest I began 40 years ago and that so many have joined. It is about the campaign for Liberty, which has taken a tremendous leap forward in this election and will continue to grow stronger in the future until we finally win.

Our campaign will continue to work in the state convention process. We will continue to take leadership positions, win delegates, and carry a strong message to the Republican National Convention that Liberty is the way of the future.

Moving forward, however, we will no longer spend resources campaigning in primaries in states that have not yet voted. Doing so with any hope of success would take many tens of millions of dollars we simply do not have. I encourage all supporters of Liberty to make sure you get to the polls and make your voices heard, particularly in the local, state, and Congressional elections, where so many defenders of Freedom are fighting and need your support.

I hope all supporters of Liberty will remain deeply involved – become delegates, win office, and take leadership positions. I will be right there with you. In the coming days, my campaign leadership will lay out to you our delegate strategy and what you can do to help, so please stay tuned.

For Liberty,

Ron Paul

This has lead media sources, like the LA Times, and other individuals to state that Ron Paul has all but suspended his campaign. Fortunately that’s not what’s happening:

Battling on would require millions of dollars that the Ron Paul operation does not have, his campaign said.

But the Texas congressman will continue to try to win delegates awarded at forthcoming state conventions.

Mr Paul has 104 delegates, behind Mitt Romney’s 966, with 1,144 delegates needed to secure the nomination.

Unfortunately what’s really happening and what people think is happening are entirely different. Because of the campaign announcement people now believe the Ron Paul campaign is done and that he’s out of the race. This was one of the dumbest moves the campaign could have made. I do understand that campaigning in Texas and California isn’t likely to gain much advantage but it would prevent media outlets and other individuals from saying the campaign is throwing in the towel. In this case it would have been smarter to run a couple of advertisements for the sake of appearance and left it at that.

Politics is all about appearances. If you falter in any way your competition will swoop in like vultures to pick your corpse clean. The campaign announcement basically opened the door for Ron Paul’s opponents to say the Paul campaign is broke and done. While the e-mail said, “Moving forward, however, we will no longer spend resources campaigning in primaries in states that have not yet voted. Doing so with any hope of success would take many tens of millions of dollars we simply do not have.” most people are only going to focus on the second line and interpret it as saying the Ron Paul campaign doesn’t have enough money to continue on.

This was a boneheaded move if there ever was one. Ron Paul isn’t “effectively ending” his campaign but focusing resources where they will be better utilized. Any intelligent person would understand that but politics isn’t about the intelligent person, it’s about soundbites, and the Paul campaign just handed out a soundbite that is allowing the media to announce Romney is now running unopposed.

Looks Like Maine Won’t be Seating Delegates at the Republican National Convention

Ron Paul ended up taking a majority of the delegates in Maine:

With Mitt Romney’s GOP presidential nomination all but decided, Ron Paul supporters took control of the Maine Republican Convention and elected a majority slate supporting the Texas congressman to the GOP national convention, party officials said. The results gave the Texas congressman a late state victory.

In votes leading to the close of the two-day Maine convention, Paul supporters were elected to 21 of the 24 delegate spots from Maine to the GOP national convention in Tampa, Fla. The 24th delegate’s seat goes to party Chairman Charles Webster, who has remained uncommitted throughout the process.

Of course this likely means that Maine won’t be allowed to seat any delegates since the Republican National Convention isn’t too keen on the serfs choosing somebody besides Mitt Romney.

Butt Hurt Krugman

Paul Krugman is a little butt hurt after his debate with Ron Paul and has taken a little time to blog about it:

Think about it: you approach what is, in the end, a somewhat technical subject in a format in which no data can be presented, in which there’s no opportunity to check facts (everything Paul said about growth after World War II was wrong, but who will ever call him on it?).

Notice that Krugman is complaining about the useless nature of face-to-face debates because it doesn’t give the debaters an opportunity to present data or perform fact checking. I’ve seen plenty of debates between people who have presented a great deal of data to back their claims and given citations for their sources so people can check what they’ve said afterwards but I’m going to give Krugman this point for one reason… he shoots himself in the foot.

First he complains about his inability to present data or verify facts presented by Ron Paul then he states what Ron Paul said about growth after World War II was false but doesn’t actually provide any proof of his statement. It’s a damned blog post Krugman, you have plenty of opportunity to make your argument and present your facts since you’re not under the pressure of an opposing debater. If you’re going to complain about face-to-face debates because they don’t give an opportunity to check facts then criticize the person you debated you should actually present some data that backs your statement. You have a platform to make your argument and you totally blow it.

If Ron Paul got on TV and said “Gah gah goo goo debasement! theft!” — which is a rough summary of what he actually did say — his supporters would say that he won the debate hands down; I don’t think my supporters are quite the same, but opinions may differ.

Actually, if you watch the debate, Ron Paul was a little more elegant than “Gah gah goo goo debasement! theft!” Once again I will point out that Krugman has plenty of opportunity to backup his statement on his blog article but totally ignores it. I also like the fact that Krugman believes his supporters are different than Ron Paul’s supporters as far as reactionary positions are concerned. I guess Krugman loves a little conformational bias in his statements.

So why did I do it? Because I’m trying to publicize my book, which does have lots of data and facts — but those data and facts don’t matter unless I get enough people to read it.

I’ll give Krugman a point for honesty and admitting he just did the debate to publicize his book but take away points for failing to publicize his book. A debate would have been the perfect place to cite his new book for arguments. He could have said, “As I’ve written in my new book your statement about growth after World War II is false. You see…” and he could have presented his argument from there.

Krugman basically entered a debate to publicize his book, failed to publicize his book, failed to make any valid points during his discussion and then proceded to write a blog post about how pointless debates are without actually taking an opportunity to demonstrate his argument by presenting facts to backup his claims. I think this guy is the poster child for the meaningless nature of Nobel Prizes (which Krugman won one of in the field of economics).