Ron Paul in Sasha Baron Cohen's "Bruno" Poll

[Conza88]

Ron Paul in Sasha Baron Cohen's Bruno? (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?p=2019799)

First poll in like ever. Attempt at being scientific.

Edit: Hmm, well - we could poll people's perception ATM. Then re-do when it actually comes out. That may be interesting, lol. :o

[MRoCkEd]

Um, I'd like to watch the scene first

[Conza88]

Um, I'd like to watch the scene first

Haha, good point. Getting ahead of myself :eek:

lmao. Ok, lock till then? :o

Edit: Or we could poll people's perceptions now, and re-do when it comes out.

[Natalie]

I'm 21-30 and I disapprove. Mostly, I just feel bad for him. RP is just so old. If RP had been younger, I wouldn't think it was so sad.

[StudentForPaul08]

Jesse Benton seemed to not mind what had happened


Jesse Benton, senior vice president of Campaign for Liberty and former campaign spokesman for Paul, said Paul was not familiar with Cohen's HBO program, Da Ali G Show. "If it's not on hard-core financial news, he doesn't follow it," Benton said. But, he added, "It sounds like it's going to be pretty funny."

So I assume it is not to bad.

[MRoCkEd]

I guess it's one way to increase name recognition...
I'm sure people will want to find out more about the man Bruno tried to seduce...

[He Who Pawns]

The people who are complaining are a bunch of crybabies, IMO.

[Rangeley]

Theres no option on this if you are exactly 20!

[He Who Pawns]

Theres no option on this if you are exactly 20!

http://i39.tinypic.com/2yv1h54.jpg

[Dripping Rain]

21-30
strongly disapprove

what if me and my friend do this to nancy pelosi or john mccain or obama or Barney Frank?
probably be in prison now or shot by the secret service
its clearly a smear attempt

or maaybe they have more competent staff and security to ensure this kind of bs doesnt happen
cant believe so many people find this funny. publicity? name recognition? who the hell wants name recognition like that? oh yeah because its not me or you? because its some 73 yr old from Texas
im a very social guy and believe me Dr Paul's enemies will try to paint him as a joke or as a homophobe in DC
if i add a clip to youtube, edit it right, and call it the Ron Paul sex tape then the same 2/5 who think the Obama Forum is real will probably think Ron Paul is a homosexual

[BenIsForRon]

I don't get why Sacha picked Ron out of all the potential congressmen, but Ron is fair game, so I approve. Ron looking like a homophobe isn't going to help anything, but I don't think he will run for anything besides congressman in Texas so it should be OK.

One thing I haven't seen mentioned on here, this scene might not even make it into the movie. If any of you have the DVD for Borat, there were many pranks he did that he left out of the feature film.

[Kevin_Kennedy]

I'm 20 and I put myself down as "Indifferent." It's not something that I'm happy to see happen, but I'm also not worried about it.

[jrskblx125]

I don't get why Sacha picked Ron out of all the potential congressmen, but Ron is fair game, so I approve. Ron looking like a homophobe isn't going to help anything, but I don't think he will run for anything besides congressman in Texas so it should be OK.

One thing I haven't seen mentioned on here, this scene might not even make it into the movie. If any of you have the DVD for Borat, there were many pranks he did that he left out of the feature film.

i would say he picked him because he knew he would be entirely clueless as to who he was... along with the majority of his immediate staff.. i mean if i happened to be working for him in close quarters and saw him i'd immediately know who it was and pull him outta the interview.

[tron paul]

"Homophobe" is a code word that means "one hated by gay activists."

[dannno]

Youtube or it didn't happen.

[MRoCkEd]

Youtube or it didn't happen.
The movie comes out in two months

[pacelli]

Old enough. The Cohen effect worked so well for Bob Barr, so it'll be great for Ron in 2012. Individual responsibility, right?

[Conza88]

Probably taint future results; but ah well.

Bruno vs. Ron Paul
Posted by Lew Rockwell at March 17, 2009 10:55 AM

Writes Andy White about Comrade Sascha:

I attended the first screening of Bruno here in Los Angeles. I'm a huge Ron Paul supporter. When Ron Paul came on screen the majority of the audience cheered, clapped, and hollered. The Slate article was inaccurate regarding Ron Paul's scene however. When Bruno pulled his pants down, Ron Paul jumped up and tried to leave the bedroom, but was blocked by Bruno. Ron Paul yelled, "Get out of here," and pushed him aside. As Ron Paul was leaving the hotel room walking towards the elevators, he said something to the effect of, "That guy's *****er than blazes." Ron Paul was visibly uncomfortable, but he didn't do anything that would reflect poorly on himself.

Of course.

:eek:

[Knightskye]

I chose "Younger than 20" and "21-30" because I'm 20, and apparently there wasn't enough room for us on the poll.

Anyway, I "strongly disapprove".

[Conza88]

"20 and younger" "Younger than 20"

whatever... lol

I was 20 a few weeks ago.

[thasre]

I don't see this as a negative thing. It's funny, for one thing, and Sacha Baron Cohen has pranked even more "respectable" people on his tv show before. I don't imagine people can hold it against Paul for being unsuspecting. If anything it shows he's kind of guileless, which is nice in a politician.

For another, it's the sort of thing that liberty-minded people shouldn't really disapprove of, I think. People don't have a right not to get bad press. I guess you could argue that they probably got Paul's consent to be in the picture through underhanded tactics which is fundamentally anti-libertarian, but at the same time, it's kind of a "victimless crime" when you make a movie that is designed to embarass random people for comedic effect. It's kind of rude, but not really unjust, IMO.

Finally, it doesn't sound like anything Ron Paul said or did is could be considered that homophobic by anyone except the most die-hard left-wing gay activists. I mean, he was coerced into an uncomfortable situation where he was kind of sexually harassed and he's pretty entitled to having a strong emotional reaction. He didn't insult "Bruno" directly, or yell at him, or make a big scene, he just used the word "*****", which isn't even that much of a slur. I mean, gay people use the word ***** for the academic study of homosexuality (***** theory). In all, he handled the situation a lot more tactfully than most people would, I should think.

[Xchange]

Has anyone issued a Fatwa....



just kidden

[yaz]

Theres no option on this if you are exactly 20!

Yeah, I'm 20 so I couldn't vote for that part.

[newbitech]

31-40
strongly disapprove

to all Ron Paul's close network. wake up and get a clue! you all should be ashamed of yourselves for letting something like this happen to Dr Paul! again I say WAKE UP Ron Paul inner circle! This is the kind of prank that you pull on a 20 something at a birthday party with one of those rent a cops.

Don't let this kind of crap happen to Dr. Paul ever again!@

[Madison]

I don't get why Sacha picked Ron out of all the potential congressmen...

Probably because RP supporters are extremely loyal to RP, pretty much unmatched to anyone else in DC, and also tend to be more "conspiratorial" than others and would complain about this being some sort of smear attempt and in many instances have a strongly negative reaction. Cohen likes to upset people so there really wasn't a better choice when you take that into consideration.

[blocks]

Probably because RP supporters are extremely loyal to RP, pretty much unmatched to anyone else in DC, and also tend to be more "conspiratorial" than others and would complain about this being some sort of smear attempt and in many instances have a strongly negative reaction. Cohen likes to upset people so there really wasn't a better choice when you take that into consideration.

Also...considering Paul's presence online. Look at all the talk about his movie that's occurring right now simply because of Dr. Paul's "scene." I post on multiple message boards of varying topics...basketball, hip-hop, etc...theres a topic about this whole thing on a lot of them. Lots of RP supporters as well! :D

[sajorojas]

This is bad news baby

[Knightskye]

Ron Paul shoved "Bruno" out of the way on his way out. I'm sure it'll be good publicity.

[tribute_13]

I honestly think it would be funny but it was obviously made to hurt his image.

What bugs me is that Benton set him up. And before you get your panties in a bunch Benton probably wasn't responsible for setting Barr up with Borat but he should have saw it coming since he saw it happen to Barr to begin with.

[dr. hfn]

We need to strike back at Cohen! Seriosly, lets get him good. We need a thread to start brainstorming

[Matt Collins]

but at the same time, it's kind of a "victimless crime" when you make a movie that is designed to embarass random people for comedic effect. It's kind of rude, but not really unjust, IMO.I wouldn't call it a "crime" but it definitely isn't "victimless" either. One could make a reasonable argument that these sort of pranks put people into unreasonable situations and portray them in a negative light to a national (worldwide) audience. That's essentially defamation, even though maybe not meeting the legal threshold, but it absolutely harms the person involved by way of bad press. PR is expensive and actually can indeed be quantified in real dollars. The cost of "fixing" a gaffe like this by launching a reactionary positive PR campaign out of necessity is expensive.





Finally, it doesn't sound like anything Ron Paul said or did is could be considered that homophobic by anyone except the most die-hard left-wing gay activists. I mean, gay people use the word ***** for the academic study of homosexuality (***** theory). In all, he handled the situation a lot more tactfully than most people would, I should think.Yeah I know several gay guys who have called themselves "*****" without any problems with it. Somtimes it's like younger black people calling themselves "the n-word" without any problems either. It's all in context and being "offensive" is sometimes how it's said, when and where it's said, not specifically what is said.

[Matt Collins]

We need to strike back at Cohen! Seriosly, lets get him good. We need a thread to start brainstormingI have an idea.. we'll wait until winter and then pelt him with snowballs :rolleyes:

[Matt Collins]

What bugs me is that Benton set him up. And before you get your panties in a bunch Benton probably wasn't responsible for setting Barr up with Borat but he should have saw it coming since he saw it happen to Barr to begin with.I don't think Benton has enough savvy to be able handle these sort of things properly. Look at his inability to deal with the media during the campaign. I've witnessed that first hand and know dozens of others (some of which are very well known and influential) who would agree with me on that point.