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Ron Paul’s support is fake

October 31, 2007

If you watched Hardball with Chris Matthews on MSNBC before and after the Democratic debate a few hours ago, you would’ve seen a crowd of students behind Chris and his guests throughout the show. You’d also notice that just about every huge sign these students waved the entire night was for Ron Paul (and the few Colbert Is America signs). But, being there before the show started broadcasting, I saw that none of these supporters were Drexel students as they appeared to be.

Chris started broadcasting his first session at 5PM. I was there, along with a huge crowd of students that stopped between or after classes to surround the stage set up for the show. There were volunteers from the Obama, Clinton and Biden campaigns handing out signs to any supporters that would hold them during the broadcasts. Lots of real students picked those up, and a few came with their own shirts and signs.

But there was only a single person with a hand-written “Paul” sign in the crowd. No other Republican had any sign-holding supporters in the crowd. Then between 9PM and 11PM as the debate took place, new crowds started showing up. Along with their own amateur camera crews, a dozen or more showed up with Ron Paul signs and banners, and pushed their way in front of the students to be in direct view of the cameras. They shouted and yelled about Ron Paul the entire night, drowning out Chris’ conversations with his guests for those of us actually there. A few were even escorted out and their signs taken when they became too aggressive.

I wonder how much of his support is real and how much, like this, is staged?

Categorized under: Personal

11 comments

  1. October 31st, 2007

    joshuabrucel wrote —

    I am 33 I voted Clinton, Clinton, Gore, Kerry & now i support Ron Paul. Get used to it. We are excited and gung ho young Americans. How many Democrat signs do u see at Republican debates.

  2. October 31st, 2007

    Zach Holman wrote —

    To be fair, the Ron Paul supports tend to be more organized than the average bear, so it could be that a lot of them came at the same time from some pre-debate rally. I don’t think I’d really call it “staged” or especially not “fake”. True, his support manifests itself strongly through the internet, and their organizational aspects draw many to discount his support overall, but it’s still hard to argue against his YouTube subscribers and viewership, Technorati search rankings, and overall presence online. How well that will translate to actual votes remains to be seen, but it’s an interesting aspect of today’s web regardless.

  3. October 31st, 2007

    Gene Trosper wrote —

    I agree with Zach that Ron Paul supporters are more organized…and I’ll add: more energetic. That is pretty obvious to even the most casual observer. However, to say his support is fake demands some hard evidence. To date, I have yet to see any evidence to show his support is “fake”.

    We have entered a new era in campaigning. Ron Paul has just adapted to it quicker than the other campaigns and the media. I predict that in a couple of election cycles, his campaign strategy will be adopted widely.

    Question though: where are the Romney, Giuliani and McCain supporters? Where is their energy and enthusiasm???

  4. October 31st, 2007

    Dan wrote —

    It was a democratic debate, there were no republicans waving around their signs there. And by “fake”, I mean posing as if there were supporters at the school the news was reporting from, when there really wasn’t any support from those students. They may be actual volunteers that support Paul following the news around, but they’re trying to make it look like he has more support than he does. If they weren’t super rude and crowding out everyone else I wouldn’t have bothered writing about it.

  5. October 31st, 2007

    Flemlord wrote —

    You said there were no other Republican signs in the audience but large number of Ron Paul supporters showed up, each with their own signs, cameras, etc. So why is HIS support fake? It sounds like Ron Paul’s supporters were genuine.

  6. October 31st, 2007

    adam wrote —

    Staged? By who? From your description it sounds like Ron Paul’s support is “staged” by his supporters… Wouldn’t that make the support real?

  7. October 31st, 2007

    Derrick wrote —

    I can attest that I am real.

  8. October 31st, 2007

    Diana wrote —

    Doesn’t sound like there is anything fake about Ron Paul’s support. Maybe you should argue instead that “Ron Paul’s support is annoying”? We are an enthusiastic lot, so I could see how it might get to be too much at some of these events.

  9. October 31st, 2007

    Brendon Kozlowski wrote —

    Wow. I’m not much for politics, but being the under-educated political person that I am, I’ve heard of everyone discussed in this topic *except* for Ron Paul…and yet, people whom I’ve never seen visit your blog ever before have amassed in full to support someone. It’s somewhat eery. Considering it’s Halloween, I suppose it’s fitting.

  10. November 1st, 2007

    Nick wrote —

    I agree with your assessment of this support being “faked” for the rally. If they were doing as you said, and acting as those they were actual students of Drexel, then that misrepresentation is just plain shady.

    As the last commenter said, I find it odd that all these Ron Paul supporters just came out of the woodwork to comment on your blog.

    I disagree with the comment by Gene Trosper. The primarily internet campaign doesn’t work in this day and age. In spite of the spread among young voters, most primary goers and caucus participants (that serve an important role in determining a party’s nominee) still get their news from old media sources like broadcast TV, radio, and print.

    By the way, this is great material for me because I can use it in my Presidential Election class that I’m taking. Thanks for posting it.

  11. November 1st, 2007

    Eric Fisak wrote —

    I can assure that the support for Ron Paul is real. Very real. I attended the Republican debate at Morgan State and there were scores of average people, like myself, there to support Ron Paul. There was no evidence of supporters for any of the other candidates. Sure, there are people who say that they like Thompson, Romney, or McCain. But the fact is that they are not nearly as motivated as Ron Paul supporters. If you are unaware of the large grassroots movement that is taking place in this country, then you are either ignorant or in denial.

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