Why did the press give no coverage to Ron Paul's whisker-close second in Iowa?

[Jackpine Radical]

They are not just interested in profits for themselves, but for the gigantic corporate interests that own them.

Ron Paul, like our own Dennis Kucinich on the left, is perceived as a threat by the Corporate Overlords, and they will permit him no traction.

Good grief, the man wants to end our Forever Wars. How crazy is that? How destructive of corporate profits?

Nuts as he may be, he wants nothing of corporate socialism (e.g. bailouts), and his message is so toxic to the corporations that they will make sure it is not heard by the public at large. Therefore, Paul gets no airtime.

The media are playing with Bachmann & Perry, knowing they can destroy them when the time comes. Both are putting forth good, solid wingnut messages–the sort of thing the Corpos want the public to hear and believe; therefore they are useful for keeping the fools whipped up. When the time comes, though, both will be cast aside in favor of someone like Romney, who has amply proved that he will do the corporate bidding.

[emulatorloo]

1. Why are they covering the straw poll at all?

It is a fake thing, the organizers admit it is fake, it isn't predictive of who will win the caucuses.

As far as the actual caucus goes, I do not believe Ron Paul will pass the Fundy Litmus Test.

Remember, Huckabee won in 2008.

Iowa Republican Caucus goers are extremely right wing and fundamentalist Christian. For their political views, look to Rep. Steve King

[TwilightGardener]

2. Ron Paul is not exactly a corporate enemy. Where does he get this aura?

[Ruby the Liberal]

6. He wants any and all regulations removed from business

Not to mention eliminating the EPA, OSHA etc.

He is the best friend they have, and I don't get it either.

[TwilightGardener]

9. Really good at selling himself. Look at the people on DU who believe his bullshit.

[reggie the dog]

15. he actually wants to end corporate wellfare and tax breaks

for corporations and opposes corporate pershonhood, so he would deregulate the businesses but let them go out of business and give them no govt help either, this is not at all what i want as a liberal but it is horrible for the corporations

[TwilightGardener]

20. He wants to privatize virtually everything. He's a nucking fut.

[Uncle Joe]

10. Obviously that's not enough to satisfy the corporate media in re: to the Republican Nomination.

The primary thing that distinguishes Paul from the other Republicans, (whether you believe him on not) is as my post #3 alludes to his anti-war and pro-cannabis position.

[Uncle Joe]

3. I believe it's because of his anti-war and pro-cannabis beliefs.

That directly takes on the military and for profit prison industrial complexes.

Without eternal war and an effective means to disenfranchise minorities, the Republican Party would be severely if not mortally wounded and their corporate media propaganda machine can't allow that to happen.

Thanks for the thread, Jackpine Radical.

[fishbulb703]

5. Yup, he is anti military-industrial complex, immediate no-go.

[arcane1]

4. Jon Stewart did a GREAT bit about this on Monday night

Regardless of one's opinion of Paul, Stewart's bit was a perfect demonstration of how the media creates the narrative, not reality.

[Ruby the Liberal]

8. Yep. Link for any who may have missed it.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-august-15-2011/indecision-2012---corn-polled-edition---ron-paul---the-top-tier?xrs=share_copy

[KurtNYC]

7. Ron Paul is too close to what the Tea Party claims to want

The media amplifies the Tea Party at every opportunity -- why would they deliver their little astro turf garden to Ron Paul?

[OHdem10]

11. Ron Paul is a concern to Republicans. His group membership

has quadrupled in relatively short time. He
draws young voters.

His Libertarianism while a part of Republicanism
has never controlled the party and the establishment
does not intend for such a change.

However, if Paul gets crosswise and starts a Third
Party. The GOP is having to work to keep balance.

[truedelphi]

17. Exactly. n/t

[krabigirl]

12. It is the same way they would treat sanders, kucinich, etc., if they almost won a poll like that.

Any press at all for politicians who have principles is bad for the corporate media, especially if they are against our endless wars and the WOD.

[Iggo]

13. He's anti-war. (n/t)

[moondust]

14. +1. The MIC won't allow it.

MIC would never let him be the Pug nominee so what's the point of covering him? I assume that's why Fox has never paid much attention to him.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

16. Ron Paul should go third party

He's retiring from the Congress and this is probably his last hurrah for a Presidential run.

[MrDiaz]

18. He may be crazy

But i challenge you to provide me with any other person who has NEVER went against his original position regardless of the media impact

[mmonk]

19. The press wants Perry.

[Crabby Appleton]

21. Because they know how many tickets his campaign bought

without which he would be tied with Santorum.

[Warren DeMontague]

22. Maybe because he's made noises about ending the drug war.

THAT is totally unacceptable to the Powers-That-Be.

[Jim Lane]

23. There's no corporate/MIC conspiracy. The media simply know that Paul's irrelevant.

He tends to do well in polls like this one because he has an ardent following among libertarian Republicans. This has two consequences: their ardor means that they're overrepresented among straw poll participants, and the fragmentation of the non-libertarians among several candidates means that Paul's small percentage can place him at or near the top.

He's already peaked, though. What's fatal to his chance for the nomination is that he's nobody's second choice. For example, Pawlenty just dropped out. How many former Pawlenty supporters will switch to Paul? Virtually none. As the more mainstream (i.e., non-libertarian) candidates drop out, the dropouts' supporters will shift to one of the other mainstream candidates.

In an imaginary head-to-head matchup between Paul and any of the other white candidates in this field, Paul would lose, even if pitted against an opponent like Santorum or McCotter who's currently seen as going nowhere. The only candidate whom Paul might beat one-on-one would be Cain, because of Republican racism, and even there I'd incline to bet on Cain.

For this reason, media coverage of the horserace aspect of the campaign rightly downplays news about Paul.

The real problem is that media coverage of the campaign consists almost entirely of the horserace coverage. Paul deserves to have his ideas reported fairly and analyzed substantively, but the media do almost none of that sort of thing for any of the candidates.

[Jackpine Radical]

24. I think the problem for the Republicans resides not in any likelihood

that Paul would get the nomination, but in permitting his views on the wars and drugs and on things like corporate bailouts to be aired.

Of course he's nuts; of course he wants to deregulate everything; of course he's a wacko Dominionist. What Republican candidate isn't?

But he carries a message with elements that are unacceptable to the Big Money types. They don't want those elements of his message to be voiced anywhere around their base. They threaten the Military-Industrial Complex, the Prison/Enforcement/Industrial Complex, and Wall Street.

And, as noted above, he poses a real threat of splitting the base if he goes third-party.