So, I went to the store this afternoon and saw my first political signage of the campaign. I saw yard signs [big and small] and many different bumper stickers – all for Ron Paul.
Did I mention that this is a very military area, active-duty and retired? I don’t understand this phenomenon at all. This might be the libertarians showing their presence. It’s a little spooky when the locals start doing things this out of character.
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11 comments
Since you put it that way, you’re right, It’s weird. The phenomena is spontaneous, like it happens on its own. Generally Ron Paul supporters respond very strongly to his message and get the urge to campaign for him. The result is spontaneous organization all across the country. We are forming PACs and campaigning traditionally for Ron Paul. Yet, It is such an incredible phenomenon that Ron Paul supporters nationawide have chipped in to rent a blimp. We are a very creative grass roots movement and we have brought a lot of attention to a once obscure political figure. It is tough to understand because it has its own dynamic never experienced in American politics.
there have been lots of ron paul signs here too. first they were just tucked back in among the trees on secondary roads, hand-lettered and poorly done at that. now they’re looking professionally printed and are popping up on main thoroughfares.
it didn’t really strike me as too far out of character. i ‘ve been reading that he’s the darling of the white supremacy crowd and there are a bunch of them in my neck of the woods.
Well…watching those Rethublican debates, he’s coming off as the only sane one of the bunch.
But, then again, during the debates his “wild ideas” of say..dismantling the IRS, the Education Department, etc. haven’t been really highlighted.
I think there’s a Huey Long feel about Ron Paul for a lot of people, and he appeals to a simpler time and way of doing things.
What I don’t understand is that if he can raise all these millions of dollars, why isn’t he higher up in the polls? Is it that pollsters don’t contact these people or what?
It is a very strange phenom. He is frighteningly libertarian and while he has some bell ringers in his spiel he is way too crazy for public office. Just ask Steve Bates at YDD for a thumbnail. I have only seen a Rudy Ghouliani bumper sticker so far here in Altanta.
Everlasticity, you need to read more American history, Ron Paul’s candidacy is hardly unique, even in my life time, although it is rare.
I would expect the same reaction, for the same reason, Hipparchia, in the northern part of the county, but it is not as prevalent along the coast. These are standard, professional political signs, so there’s some money involved, and they are in yards, not on the right-of-way, which is also somewhat unusual.
He has obviously touched a chord, Jill, and people tend to hear what they want to hear, and see what they want to see. It’s unusual in that he hasn’t had the media attention or advertising of the Perot campaign, for example, which did well locally.
The polling is getting more and more skewed by the “great disconnect,” more and more people cutting loose from landlines and going cellular. If he appeals to a younger group of people, they are more likely not to have a landline telephone for the polling companies to call. His support is more likely to show up in Internet polls, which suffer a similar skewing.
Texans warned people about the Shrubbery, but they didn’t listen, FM. If he should get the nomination, he will come under scrutiny for his record, and everyone can play Condi with “no one could have imagined…”
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Almost everyone uses a blue background for small signs. The bigger signs [?3’X4′?] had a white background with blue lettering and red do-dads sprinkled about.
Ron Paul? French flutist, well-known in the Sixties and Seventies? Jean-Pierre Ron Paul? What’s that? Oh. Well, that’s completely different. <emily_litella> Never mind! </emily_litella>
I agree Ron Paul is different… but not in a good way. Steer clear of him. This is advice from the guy who told everyone to steer clear of George W. Bush. Do you understand this time?
I’ve seen precious few local election signs in this area – but a number of small Paul signs. That’s unusual.
The Paul signs are always on residential property, and those I’ve seen are solely in front of the old ‘mill houses’ that used to house the lower-middle class mill workers. They’ve come down a notch or two in the last decade.
I take the Ron Paul “phenom” as an indication that a lot of Republicans and Indies like his “out of Iraq” message as opposed to the rest of the bloodthirsty field. And I’m betting 90% of them don’t know anything else about him, while probably 99% have no clue what the gold standard would be.
Steve, I didn’t have to dig very deep to find things about Mr. Paul that should make people very uncomfortable. He’s a very old fashioned, as in pre-WWI, isolationist. He wants to return the glory of the end of the 19th century. No thanks, my grandfathers didn’t think much of that time.
The gold standard is the understanding that those with gold set the standards and everyone else lives in poverty. Using gold is no more “real” than using paper, Gold has no great inherent qualities and is worth what people are willing give you for it, just like paper. Gold was in use in Alaska when I lived there, and one sneeze at the wrong time could cost you a week’s wages because you need gold dust to make small purchases.
It isn’t constant, isn’t convenient, and doesn’t make a lot of sense. It is another dream from an earlier age.