[NYTr] CNBC Columnist's "Open Letter" to Ron Paul Supporters - And a Reply

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

CNBC - Oct 12, 2007
http://www.cnbc.com/id/21270546

My Open Letter to Ron Paul Supporters

By:John Harwood

I have been reading e-mailed complaints from dozens and dozens of you
about CNBC.com's decision to take down our online poll gauging results
of the CNBC-MSNBC-Wall Street Journal presidential debate.

I agree with the complaints. I do not believe our poll was "hacked."
Nor do I agree with my colleagues' decision to take it down, though I
know they were acting in good faith.

My reasoning is simple: Political dialogue on the Internet, like
democracy itself, ought to be open and participatory. If you sponsor an
online poll as we did, you accept the results unless you have very good
reason to believe something corrupt has occurred--just as democracies
accept results on Election Day at the ballot box without compelling
evidence of corruption. I have no reason to believe anything corrupt
occurred with respect to our poll.

To the contrary, I believe the results we measured showing an
impressive 75% naming Paul reflect the organization and motivation of
Paul's adherents. This is precisely what unscientific surveys of this
kind are created to measure. Another indication: the impressive
$5-million raised by Paul's campaign in the third quarter of the year.

To be clear: I believe that Ron Paul's chances of winning the
presidency are no greater than my own, which is to say zero. When he
ran as the Libertarian Party candidate for president in 1988, he drew
fewer than a half-million votes. In last week's Wall Street Journal-NBC
News Poll of Republican primary voters--which IS a scientific poll with
a four percentage point margin for error--Paul drew two percent.

He lacks the support needed to win the GOP nomination, and would even
if the media covered him as heavily as we cover Rudy Giuliani. Why?
Because Paul's views--respectable, well-articulated and sincerely held
as they are--are plainly out of step with the mainstream sentiment of
the party he is running in.

The difference we are discussing--breadth of views vs intensity of
views--is a staple of political discussion and always has been in
democracies. Highly motivated minorities can and do exert influence out
of proportion to their numbers in legislative debates and even in some
elections. They most certainly can dominate unscientific online polls.
And when they do, we should neither be surprised nor censor the results.

© 2007 CNBC, Inc. All Rights Reserved

                            ***

American Chronicle - Oct 14, 2007
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=40271


An Open Reply to Mr. Harwood's Open Letter to Ron Paul Supporters

by Szandor Blestman

Dear Mr. Harwood,

I must say that you write a very eloquent open letter. I am so happy to
see someone from the “mainstream” media finally admit that the post
debate polls aren’t being hacked, that nothing illegal, immoral or
corrupt was going on, and that these results are the legitimate result
of political discourse. Your reasoning that political dialogue and
democracy ought to be open and participatory is spot on. I must agree
with you and hence I have decided to openly participate.

I do appreciate your efforts to try to placate those who have flooded
your email box with complaints. This effort alone shows just how much
Dr. Paul has grown in popularity over such a short period of time. It
must be difficult to open your email box and see dozens of emails from
people you know are irate. I’m sure it’s not fun reading through them
when all they seem to do is complain, but certainly from looking
through these emails you must now understand the level of frustration
most of these people have been feeling. You see, if most Ron Paul
supporters are like me, they had given up on the political process in
this country long ago and now suddenly they have been given hope. They
have suddenly found someone that they can get behind and support,
someone that is not just the lesser of two evils, and someone with an
ideology they believe in. This ideology I speak of is the ideology of
the United States of America. Ron Paul believes in the ideals this
country was founded upon and often points to the constitution of our
great land, the supreme law of the land that the government is supposed
to follow, and tells us that our government should be following the
words of the wise men that wrote it. When Ron Paul supporters voice
their endorsement of Ron Paul, they are supporting more than just the
man, they are supporting his ideals, they are supporting the
constitution of the United States of America, and they are supporting
the country they were born in or immigrated to, a country they have
come to know and love, a country they believe can once again become the
greatest beacon for freedom and liberty the world has ever seen. It is
only natural they should become upset when they believe that hope is
being stolen from them.

Now comes the point I must take issue with you on. You, like your
colleague before, have made a statement that seeks to minimize the
significance of Ron Paul’s message and the force his supporters are
bringing to the forefront of this political debate. You make the
statement that you believe that Ron Paul’s chances of winning the
presidency are no greater than your own. As a matter of opinion, that’s
fine. You are entitled to your opinion and it is what it is. As a
matter of public record, I find that statement very disconcerting. I
haven’t seen any “John Harwood Revolution” signs springing up on the
roads. I don’t believe common people are posting John Harwood videos on
Youtube. I haven’t seen the John Harwood girl making videos extolling
the virtues of John Harwood’s stances on honoring the constitution and
limiting government. I don’t recall seeing that John Harwood was
running for president on any party ticket, or hearing that he had plans
to run for president at all. I find it hard to believe that John
Harwood is so certain any candidate would have the same chance of
winning as a non candidate, particularly one with the backing Ron Paul
now has, that he has posted an open letter saying so. Unless, sir,
perhaps you have inside information that has been kept from the rest of
us?

I would suggest, sir, that you are doing your best to make sure that
Ron Paul has no chance of winning by continuously stating that he has
no chance of winning. I would suggest that the media, sir, of which you
are a part of, is mis-reporting and understating Ron Paul’s
significance in this campaign. Why hasn’t his wins in the straw polls
been widely reported? Why is it that suddenly, when he wins or places
second in so many straw polls, are these same straw polls of no
significance? A few years back, I seem to remember much importance was
put on those same straw polls by the very media you work for. I guess
the straw polls are only significant when the candidate the media has
deigned “has a chance” wins. Why is it that I have to go on Youtube to
see video of the masses that show up at Ron Paul’s rallies? Why is it
that other candidates can’t get the people out on the streets the way
Ron Paul can, and why doesn’t the media report this? And why have the
rules to some states’ primaries suddenly been changed at the last
minute? Why hasn’t the media reported this? Is it because, perchance,
the media gets its money from the same corporations that donate so much
to the other candidates’ campaigns while Ron Paul gets all his money
from the hard working American people who do the actual voting? These
questions go unanswered by those in the media. Instead, the
personalities who sit in front of the cameras every night and day tell
us that Ron Paul has no chance of winning rather than reporting the
events that have been taking place and letting us decide for ourselves
who has a chance of winning and who doesn’t. Ron Paul, sir, has a
better chance of winning than zero, a much better chance. In fact, Ron
Paul’s chances of winning the Republican primary have been put at 4 to
1 by www.sportsbook.com., just behind John McCain and Mitt Romney who
come in at 5 to 2. Funny, I didn’t see the name John Harwood even
mentioned on that list, not even behind Duncan Hunter who came in at
100 to 1.

You state, sir, that when Ron Paul ran as a Libertarian he drew less
than half a million votes. So? When was the last time the system was
fair to a third party candidate? Was Ron Paul able to participate in
debates against Republicans and Democrats when he ran as a Libertarian?
No? Is that because the message he brings to the table, the message of
freedom and liberty, of smaller constitutional government, of peace and
hope, the message that any good Libertarian would bring to the table,
is it because this message is so powerful that it resonates not only in
the hearts of Americans, but in the spirit of all human beings and the
big government candidates know they wouldn’t stand a chance arguing
against such a message? Or is it simply because the Democrats and
Republicans want to maintain their power and therefore make the
political process nearly impossible for any third party to participate
in? Whatever the reason may be, it is time to change the guard in
American politics and allow all those interested free and equal access
to the political process in this country, just as we are now practicing
free and open political discourse by exchanging open letters on the
Internet.

You talk of a “scientific” poll of Republican primary voters where Ron
Paul only garnered two percent. I say it is likely that “scientific”
poll did not take many factors into account. I would imagine they only
polled those party faithful who have in the past voted in the
primaries. They are leaving out all those Democrats and Independents,
Libertarians and members of the Reform Party, those who have affiliated
themselves with the Green Party and the Constitution Party, all these
people who have suddenly decided to register as Republicans just so
they can vote for Ron Paul. These are the disenfranchised I speak of.
These are the people who have been looking for someone to vote FOR
instead of someone to vote against. These are the people who for years
have been searching for a message and now they have found it in Ron
Paul. The “scientific” poll you speak of probably did not take that
into account and was probably developed so that the Republican Party
faithful would dutifully go out and vote for whoever they were told had
the best chance of winning. And let us not forget, many Republicans who
would not normally go out and vote in the primary will discover the
message of Ron Paul, and that will excite them so much that they will
decide this year to vote in the primary, and they will vote for the man
with a message they can support and understand. They will vote for the
ideals they believe this country should stand for. Lastly, let us not
forget the apathetic. Let us not forget those like myself who may have
given up all together on the political process in this country. Let us
not forget the tens of millions of registered voters who no longer even
bother to vote. I bet your “scientific” poll forgot them. Should they
come out on primary day and cast their votes for Ron Paul, you will
likely see results similar to what you have seen in the online poll
your organization so generously put up.

You say Ron Paul lacks GOP support because his views are plainly out of
step with the mainstream sentiment of the party he is running in. I
would suggest, sir, to the contrary. I would suggest that his views are
out of step with the elite that have taken over the party he is running
in. I would suggest that his views are out of step with the corporate
backers of the party who want to be able to buy the party in order to
broker power for themselves. I would suggest, sir, that Ron Paul’s
views are very much in step with the rank and file who make up the
backbone of that party, and the backbone of this country. I would
suggest that he is very much in step with those who have to fight the
wars, who have to work every day, sometimes two jobs, and live paycheck
to paycheck, who have to pay the burdensome income tax they can’t
afford, who see the value of the money they earn shrink while the
raises don’t come, I believe Ron Paul is quite in step with these
people. His ability to raise so much money from what you might consider
the unwashed masses, but what I would consider common humanity, proves
this. It is all the other candidates who are out of step with their
constituents. It is they who ignore the unwashed masses at their peril,
and all the corporate donations in the world can’t change this.

You end your letter by suggesting that Ron Paul supporters are a highly
motivated minority. I submit to you, sir, that you have miscalculated.
Ron Paul supporters are the common folk, and the common folk are just
that, common, and they are not a minority. I will repeat myself and
tell you what I told your colleague, people are fed up. They are fed up
with being lied to. They are fed up with being told what to think. They
are fed up with being told that their candidate, their hope for the
future, has no chance to win. And they are fed up with being told that
their activism and support does not matter and has no meaning.

Mr. Harwood sir, your open letter should be seen as a challenge by Ron
Paul supporters. You have thrown down the gauntlet. It is up to them
now to show that you are wrong. Ron Paul can win the Republican
primary. He can and should win the presidency, for he is the best man
for the job. He is the best hope for our country. He may be the best
hope for the world. He is a man deserving of our respect and admiration
for his principled stance and his record of standing up for the
Constitution of the United States of America and for the ideals this
nation was built upon. It is not yet time for these ideals to die. Ron
Paul supporters, such as they are, must redouble their efforts to get
the word out, and they must show up at the Republican primaries across
this great nation of ours to make sure their voices are heard loud and
clear. I wish to thank you, sir, for giving me the chance to discuss
these matters in such an open forum. I wish to thank you for allowing
this discourse to occur. I also wish, however, that you would stop
touting your polls and statistics, come down out of your ivory tower,
and take a look at the reality at what is happening on the street.
There’s a revolution happening down here and everyone’s invited to
join, including you.

Peace.

Szandor Blestman.