**before Voting On The Questions In The Politico Debate**

[Royksopp]

Im not sure how long this is going to be, but I will try to make it as interesting as possible. I would greatly appreciate it if you would read it all.

I'm sure that you have seen the threads made by ZackMario which give you a selection of questions for you to vote on in the hope that Ron Paul gets the best questions possible for the upcoming debate. My point is that the questions we are attempting to get to the top and therefore be chosen have been chosen without any sort of consideration, and will do more harm than good. I hope to be able to objectively prove this to you.

To keep this simple, I will go through my reasoning step by step. If you disagree with any of the steps, tell me.

My first point is a obvious one. Through the debates we are looking to get new voters. This is the only reason any candidate is taking part. Linked to this is the other obvious step- the people watching this will be Republican voters, many of them undecided. It is unlikely that a Democrat will be watching and taking a specific interest. Even if there are, and they agree with candidates on a few of the issues, there is still a very low chance they will change to Republican to vote for the candidate (indeed, in some states it will be impossible to do so by the time the debate comes around). So, put simply we must attract undecided Republican voters.

Therefore, when we pick a question it must be one which will attract the average Republican voter, and certainly not put them off. I am sad to say that every question on Iraq, or one where the focus could be moved to Iraq would be disasterous for Paul.

When a question on the Iraq war is asked, Paul answers of course condemning it. The forum celebrates him and there are cheers from the debate hall. We don't really concentrate on the other candidates. They talk of 'patriotism', 'winning the war' and 'a responsibility which comes with being a superpower'. Guess which one Republican voters would prefer to vote for? Paul is preaching to the choir, and alienating himself.

Every question which we vote for which mentions Iraq drives Republican voters away from Paul. Yes, it is very sad, and unfair, as we all know how bad the war is for the economy etc etc. But the average Republican does not care. They want to win this war. Ever wondered why in all the latest Ron Paul adverts the war is not even mentioned? It's because it doesn't win votes.

Try this thread: http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=100790

search for Iraq. You will see how strongly against it they are. Every time it is mentioned it disgusts them. Goto the source of the quotes and read them for yourself. Still not convinced? Goto ANY poll of potential Republican voters.

Questions on Iraq do more damage to Paul's campaign than any other questions. Be certain of this now.

Yes, you may say that the basis of the main questions we are going for is the economy. But do you think thats what the candidates will talk about? Of course not. They will briefly mention something very vague on the economy, before moving on to the flag waving, superpower american patriot answer.


So, what do we vote for instead? Personally I believe it is far too late to get the questions on Iraq off 1 and 2. Mostly because it is likely that it wasnt only us that were voting for the Iraq questions- it was the other candidates supporters as well.

If you want to vote for something, go for TAXES or the CONSTITUTION. Scroll down the 101 quotes, and head to the forum where they were made. Paul gets grudging appreciation from the GOP supporters for his stance on them.


tl;dr- The only people who like Paul's answers on Iraq who will be watching the debate are already going to vote for Paul without doubt. If we actually want to get votes from this debate, instead of cheers from the audience we need questions on taxes and the constitution.

[chewbacca]

GOOD post.

Personal liberty(not including mentioning legalizing marijuana for fucks sake), the ECONOMY, taxes, and SMALL government need to be his focus!

If you hammer those home eventually you can get people to seriously look at ron paul and that might change their iraq view. If the first thing you say is "LEAVE IRAQ NOW!" they ignore you for good.

also... ron paul shouldn't mention the department of education. I cant even count the number of times he has said something really great about cutting big government and then he strays off into "remove the department of education". Most people see that and go "HUH!?!?! HE WANTS TO HURT EDUCATION?!!?!?".

[GHoeberX]

I think everybody should choose for themselves what question they vote on for the politico debate. I didn't exactly follow the suggestions in the other topic either.

[Royksopp]

http://dyn.politico.com/debate/republicans/VoteForQuestion.cfm

click 'most popular'

VOTE ANYTHING ON TAXES OR THE CONSTITUTION

NOT IRAQ

[Royksopp]

blimp

[Jae0]

I think everybody should choose for themselves what question they vote on for the politico debate. I didn't exactly follow the suggestions in the other topic either.

Yeah I voted for the questions that were bigger concerns for me.

Although, I noticed there were a LOT of questions about the Space program. Whats up with that?

[DGambler]

Please vote for the following under the Economic section:

"Since 1913 the US government has been borrowing money at interest from the Federal Reserve, which is a private a banking institution. Will you support the repeal of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 and return the responsibility of our money supply to the hands of Congress as outlined in the Constitution, thereby eliminating all interest on our national debt? If not, how do you justify charging the American people over $400,000,000,000 a year to pay the interest on the national debt."

[Jae0]

I found this question, and I think it would be a very good one to ask.

"If elected prsident would you pradon Border Guards Ramos and Compean?"

Now that would be something i'd like to see their answers on.

[Royksopp]

Just scroll through the most popular list, and lend a vote to anything that mentions the constitution or taxes. Give Paul a chance to actually win votes.

[Royksopp]

BUMP

http://dyn.politico.com/debate/republicans/VoteForQuestion.cfm

Goto 'most popular' and vote for questions on taxes and the constitution.

DO NOT VOTE FOR ANY QUESTION WHICH MENTIONS IRAQ

[Royksopp]

Please vote for the following under the Economic section:

"Since 1913 the US government has been borrowing money at interest from the Federal Reserve, which is a private a banking institution. Will you support the repeal of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 and return the responsibility of our money supply to the hands of Congress as outlined in the Constitution, thereby eliminating all interest on our national debt? If not, how do you justify charging the American people over $400,000,000,000 a year to pay the interest on the national debt."

voted


and for the border one.

[PledgeForPaul]

The worst atrocity is this one:

#2 on the Most Popular Tab. Please vote for it to keep it on top.
"In the Florida debate Senator McCain said "we have american troops all over the world today and nobody complains about it because we are defending freedom. Thats one of the obligations of being the worlds super power."
Do the rest of you agree with Senator McCain and if so, what amount of taxpayer money will you allocate for this obligation?
Do you believe that a majority of American taxpayers also feel this obligation and want to fund the defense of freedoms across the world, while we loose our own."

It is this stupid jab that doesn't even spell the word lose correctly.

[Royksopp]

The worst atrocity is this one:


It is this stupid jab that doesn't even spell the word lose correctly.

Indeed.

Even worse than the fairly horrible spelling mistake is that McCain will just take it as a chance to go on about how the USA is going to fight for freedom, patriotism etc etc.

[Ronin]

There's one a couple pages in that asks if the candidates are a member of the CFR and how that will influence their foreign policy.

[Royksopp]

There's one a couple pages in that asks if the candidates are a member of the CFR and how that will influence their foreign policy.

avoid foreign policy.

[btwilli1]

I am afraid the Katrina question will hurt him in my state.

[BULBASAUR!]

Are the questions under "most popular" seriously going to be asked? If so, this is gonna be a fantastic debate.:)

[Royksopp]

Are the questions under "most popular" seriously going to be asked? If so, this is gonna be a fantastic debate.:)

It might be a good debate, but Paul will come out of it not winning a vote.

Read the original post.

[Freedom&Reason]

I think CNN is going to pick what ever question they deem is good for them, no matter what question makes it to the top. They will just make up some excuse not to use it. I do think alot of these questions are valid ones that should be used though.

[zackmario]

1. The questions we posted were posted after hours of deliberation between over 30 people. Just because you were not one of them doesnt mean it didnt happen.

2. The questions are not designed so that RP gets the best questions - the questions are designed so that the other candidates get the best questions (from RP's perspective). None of these questions are for RP specifically - they have been submitted under the For all candidates category.

3.) We agree that we must attract undecided voters. Heres how we thing we do that with our questions.

1.) Focus on the economy. Link the economy to Foreign Policy (which RP stressed in the last debate).
2.) Focus on the More Wars comment by McCain - even war mongering republicans do NOT want another war, not at this time. Given 60%-70% of the country is against this war, no republican is going to win the WH promoting more wars. So the candidates have to decide when they get asked this question - do they support McCains's point and appear to be war mongers, or do they distance themselves from McCain and thereby move more towards RP. Either way, RP wins even if he doesnt get to answer
3.) The housing bubble question is deceptively simple. McCain will fall flat on this one. Even Romney may be very vunerable
4.) The fed question was the most debated - whether to include it or not and the rationale was that it may help RP to educate voters that the fed is private and had a big hand in the housing bubble (which everyone relates to).

I could spend a lot more energy explaining the rationale but at this point its moot. The sad thing is that we would have loved to have you on the team debating and honing the questions. Perhaps next time. Remember, nothing is perfect - at the end of the day, a politician can weasel out of any question.

Right now, its a choice between our questions and NASA, Darfur etc. Take your pick.
Whatever you do, please do not work against a team that has the same objectives as you - even if theres disagreement on how to get there.



Im not sure how long this is going to be, but I will try to make it as interesting as possible. I would greatly appreciate it if you would read it all.

I'm sure that you have seen the threads made by ZackMario which give you a selection of questions for you to vote on in the hope that Ron Paul gets the best questions possible for the upcoming debate. My point is that the questions we are attempting to get to the top and therefore be chosen have been chosen without any sort of consideration, and will do more harm than good. I hope to be able to objectively prove this to you.

To keep this simple, I will go through my reasoning step by step. If you disagree with any of the steps, tell me.

My first point is a obvious one. Through the debates we are looking to get new voters. This is the only reason any candidate is taking part. Linked to this is the other obvious step- the people watching this will be Republican voters, many of them undecided. It is unlikely that a Democrat will be watching and taking a specific interest. Even if there are, and they agree with candidates on a few of the issues, there is still a very low chance they will change to Republican to vote for the candidate (indeed, in some states it will be impossible to do so by the time the debate comes around). So, put simply we must attract undecided Republican voters.

Therefore, when we pick a question it must be one which will attract the average Republican voter, and certainly not put them off. I am sad to say that every question on Iraq, or one where the focus could be moved to Iraq would be disasterous for Paul.

When a question on the Iraq war is asked, Paul answers of course condemning it. The forum celebrates him and there are cheers from the debate hall. We don't really concentrate on the other candidates. They talk of 'patriotism', 'winning the war' and 'a responsibility which comes with being a superpower'. Guess which one Republican voters would prefer to vote for? Paul is preaching to the choir, and alienating himself.

Every question which we vote for which mentions Iraq drives Republican voters away from Paul. Yes, it is very sad, and unfair, as we all know how bad the war is for the economy etc etc. But the average Republican does not care. They want to win this war. Ever wondered why in all the latest Ron Paul adverts the war is not even mentioned? It's because it doesn't win votes.

Try this thread: http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=100790

search for Iraq. You will see how strongly against it they are. Every time it is mentioned it disgusts them. Goto the source of the quotes and read them for yourself. Still not convinced? Goto ANY poll of potential Republican voters.

Questions on Iraq do more damage to Paul's campaign than any other questions. Be certain of this now.

Yes, you may say that the basis of the main questions we are going for is the economy. But do you think thats what the candidates will talk about? Of course not. They will briefly mention something very vague on the economy, before moving on to the flag waving, superpower american patriot answer.


So, what do we vote for instead? Personally I believe it is far too late to get the questions on Iraq off 1 and 2. Mostly because it is likely that it wasnt only us that were voting for the Iraq questions- it was the other candidates supporters as well.

If you want to vote for something, go for TAXES or the CONSTITUTION. Scroll down the 101 quotes, and head to the forum where they were made. Paul gets grudging appreciation from the GOP supporters for his stance on them.


tl;dr- The only people who like Paul's answers on Iraq who will be watching the debate are already going to vote for Paul without doubt. If we actually want to get votes from this debate, instead of cheers from the audience we need questions on taxes and the constitution.

[SVS2K]

I don't really understand this part of the logic in the OP:

"When a question on the Iraq war is asked, Paul answers of course condemning it. The forum celebrates him and there are cheers from the debate hall. We don't really concentrate on the other candidates. They talk of 'patriotism', 'winning the war' and 'a responsibility which comes with being a superpower'. Guess which one Republican voters would prefer to vote for? Paul is preaching to the choir, and alienating himself."

I already voted according to the 5 questions selected as a result of the other debating going on anyway. I liked their potential for opening up cans of worms, people's eyes, etc.

[zackmario]

Im not sure how long this is going to be, but I will try to make it as interesting as possible. I would greatly appreciate it if you would read it all.

...
If you want to vote for something, go for TAXES or the CONSTITUTION. Scroll down the 101 quotes, and head to the forum where they were made. Paul gets grudging appreciation from the GOP supporters for his stance on them.


[/B]

You know, I came back to take another look at your post - just to make sure I did not miss out on something important you may have said and having re-read your note - I am even MORE CONVINCED that we did the right thing with out question.

Heres why:
We decided constitution questions were not going to help paul. Everyone knows hes for it. All the candidates pay lip service to it and theres no way for the voter to decipher without detailed study - something which most of them will not do.
Even more importantly, the average voter does not care about the constitution - if they did, we would not be here, having this debate. We would be focused on how to make sure we beat Obama/Clinton.
Taxes - unless RP publishes exactly how the numbers will work - abolish income tax and cut spending - no one will take him seriously. Those questions only hurt RP right now.

Even RP himself has focused most on the economy and foreign policy in the past 4 weeks.

Anyway, nice to chat with you but I have more important things to do than spend more time on this debate.