The unmentionable candidate
I finally found out who #5 in the Iowa straw poll was, with 9.1% of the vote. I knew all Sunday that Ron Paul didn't make the Big 3 (at least, after Diebold got done with him), but I had to wait to read Vox Day's blog to know who # 4 and 5 were.
There's an entertaining eyewitness account from "farmer Tom" in the comments, including this:
On the other hand, if you have big bucks, Romany had them, then all you had to do to win was get the bodies, warm breathing but unthinking bodies to vote. Romany had buses from every one of the 99 counties in Iowa and large counties had more than one. He had also rented over a hundred golf carts. His strategy was very simple, get as many old geezers as you can, give them a free ride to Ames, don't make them walk from the parking to the event, feed them the best food in town, Hickory Park Barbecue, then carry their stuffed, portly ass over to the voting machine. Along with this plan, never mention change in any other than rhetorical fashion, so mr and mrs geezer think the SS and medicare checks will keep coming, and ta da you gots yourself a winner.
This sounds so much like the Republican I'm closest to (who voted Bush in the primaries). It's a bit unfair to call them "unthinking" -- they've thought through exactly what's best for them. The barbecue is just a foretaste of the Big Gravy Train to come. the Eucharist of Socialist Salvation.
Sure, I'm disappointed that Paul didn't do better. But he's still in the game, to the extent that the media allow him to be.
Comments
Posted by: James Chang
Posted on: August 13, 2007 12:51 PM
It's a shame that Ron Paul's numbers weren't that high. I was hoping for #2 or #3 just to put some sort of shocking upset. A good deal of people want Ron Paul because he tackles the taboo issues, but most people don't him because he wants to tackle the taboo issues. They would want to pick Romney, Giuliani, Obama, or Clinton just to keep near the status quo.
Posted by: kishnevi
Posted on: August 13, 2007 09:37 PM
MSM had the full results on TV and in the paper the next morning. And I notice that Knapp actually predicted a poorer outcome for RP. But of course Knapp believes that campaigning for an LP candidate is worth something.