Saturday, December 29, 2007

Paul blackballed?

I heard both from the local Fox Valley Ron Paul Meetup group and from Downsize DC that Ron Paul was to be excluded from the January 6th Republican debates:
According to the New Hampshire State Republican Party and an Associated Press report, Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul will be excluded from an upcoming forum of Republican candidates to be broadcast by Fox News on January 6, 2008.

So, using the handy link provided to me by Downsize DC, I wrote to Mr. Chris Wallace, the moderator of the debate:

Dear Mr. Wallace,

I tried to locate details of the upcoming Republican roundtable discussion on Fox News to be broadcast on January 6th, but I was unsuccessful. All I've heard is what I've been told by the Downsize DC organization. And what I've heard is disturbing.

You may certainly invite anyone you wish to participate in the discussion. You may, indeed, have logic on your side; that is, the logic of the polls, though a couple of your invitees have poll numbers no stronger than Dr. Paul whom you've elected not to invite.

I would ask you to consider two things. One is the victory of Jesse Ventura in the Minnesota gubernatorial race several years ago. Insurgent, non-centralized campaigns are certainly not dead. Ventura won against a field of very uninspiring major party candidates. Keep that in mind as you try to figure out who is the least objectionalble candidate for the Republican nomination.

The second is the very real possibility that Dr. Paul may finish third in Iowa, ahead of three of your invitees. It might seem a bit odd to your viewers to exclude someone who succeeded so improbably, against conventional wisdom, against the odds, and by ignoring the experts.

Please reconsider your decision to exclude Dr. Paul from the January 6th discussion. It might be better for Fox if you did.

Sincerely,

Steve Erbach
Neenah, WI


I'm not a fan of Fox News, and certainly not a fan of the provocative and pusillanimous things they've said about Dr. Paul. The link to Downsize DC is above. Write your own letter. It's fun, and it might just be effective.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I support America. I support freedom
and the constitution.
I support Ron Paul in 2008 and beyond!
Today, February 7th, 2008 - we met with the Public Works Director of Johnson City and he states the signs were not to be removed until the day after the election... that they were not to be removed before or during the election. It is a FEDERAL OFFENSE to do what they did on Super Tuesday! I left a message with his boss - the City Manager, Pete Peterson, to see why this happened and why it was only certain signs being removed. I am still waiting to be called back. As we left the precinct on February 5th and then also today we drove past the same John McCain signs that have remained on the city ride of ways and here is a mere fraction of those signs:
www.myspace.com/thousandfaces

This is the city official's response:

"Dear Mr. Moore

As a follow-up to our conversion yesterday, I inquired as to what happened during the Tuesday primary polling. We did in fact go onto school properties and removed all political signs, and any political signs in the right-of-ways adjoining polling places. I have discussed this matter with the staff and that will not occur again in the future. The following sign enforcement protocol will be in affect from this day forward:



1) Any sign in right-of-ways and including on utility poles will be removed without notice;

2) Any sign on public property will be removed without notice;

3) For any sign located on public right-of-way in front of an occupied structure, we will notify the property owner to relocate the sign onto their property, as long as the right-of-way is clearly delineated; and

4) During the election day, we will leave the issue of proper sign location at polling premises to the people in charge of the election, whether those polling places are on school properties or not. Furthermore, we will give the candidate representatives ample time the day after to remove their signs before we begin again with enforcing the sign regulations on public property.



Generally, if a person placing the sign doesn’t ask somebody for permission to place the sign, it is probably located in the areas described in 1 and 2 above.



We apologize for any inconvenience this issue may have caused you. Furthermore, there is no evidence that any public official in any capacity is using or has used their enforcement powers in favor of one candidate over another. If that connection is drawn, it is completely happenstance.



If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to call me at 434-6080.



Sincerely



Phil Pindzola

Public Works Director

City of Johnson City "