[Article] "Paul doing damage control after aide's resignation" (Herald-Dispatch)

[Kotin]

http://www.herald-dispatch.com/news/briefs/x818842221/Paul-doing-damage-control-after-aides-resignation



FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Republican Rand Paul’s Senate campaign was minimally damaged when a staffer was linked to racist images on the Internet, political experts said Friday.

Campaign spokesman Christopher Hightower stepped down abruptly after a Kentucky blog called Barefoot and Progressive showed the racist images, including a lynching photo and epithet, that it says were posted on Hightower’s MySpace page.

Western Kentucky University political scientist Scott Lasley called the situation “a distraction.”

“My thought is that, by itself, it does not have a crippling effect,” he said.

Hightower, who had been with Paul’s campaign since its outset, adamantly denied any connection to the images, and the campaign said he didn’t post them. The black-and-white image of a person dangling from a tree linked to Hightower was posted on the site by a commentator identified as only “D,” according to the blog.

Hightower resigned hours after the images appeared on the political blog.

The Paul campaign called the images “reprehensible” and said they “have no place in civil discourse.” In a statement, Paul said he accepted Hightower’s resignation to put the controversy to rest.

Paul, a Bowling Green eye surgeon, is running a grass roots campaign that relies largely on political newbies to spread his message about the need for reform in Washington. There are no big-name political handlers among his three campaign staffers.

Chief Republican opponent Trey Grayson continued Friday to call attention to Hightower’s departure.

“It is troubling that Rand Paul did not immediately denounce this behavior and fire him, but instead Paul took nearly 12 hours to make excuses for what a great guy he is before reluctantly accepting his resignation,” said Grayson campaign manager Nate Hodson.

Paul campaign manager David Adams went on the offensive Friday, blaming the Grayson campaign for “linking arms with the left-wing blogosphere” in an attempt to smear his opponent.

“We’re proceeding with building our campaign, and we’re hearing from supporters and others who are expressing disappointment in the Grayson campaign,” Adams said.

University of Kentucky political scientist Donald Gross said he expects the blowup to be short-lived.

“I think people will just sort of drop it,” Gross said. “His supporters will bow it off as just another example of political correctness going amok.”

Political scientist Stephen Voss, also a professor at the University of Kentucky, said he expects political damage to be minimal.

“Voters are pretty savvy about separating the beliefs of a candidate from the beliefs of one stray member of their campaign,” Voss said. “There’s nothing in Paul’s background in particular to make people worried about his racial views or where he stands on equality.”

[Eric21ND]

Whoever these trolls are...they need girlfriends

[ForLiberty-RonPaul]

why can't we find out who these people are? it obvious they work for Grayson.

[hueylong]

Let it go. It's Chris's fault for being so careless and so arrogant. Rand has taken the proper steps by distancing himself from this stupidity.

[Kotin]

at least this article seems to suggest this will not hurt us much.

[0zzy]

at least this article seems to suggest this will not hurt us much.

that


Let it go. It's Chris's fault for being so careless and so arrogant. Rand has taken the proper steps by distancing himself from this stupidity.

this

[RonPaulFanInGA]

why can't we find out who these people are? it obvious they work for Grayson.

I'm convinced that somebody from the Grayson campaign is sending this info to PageOneKentucky. Both this and the video thing a while back were sent to that site as tips from somebody with Grayson's campaign.

It's quite pathetic frankly that the Grayson campaign doesn't have the guts to release this themselves and needs a useful idiot to get it out there for them.

[TCE]

I'm convinced that somebody from the Grayson campaign is sending this info to PageOneKentucky. Both this and the video thing a while back were sent to that site as tips from somebody with Grayson's campaign.

It's quite pathetic frankly that the Grayson campaign doesn't have the guts to release this themselves and needs a useful idiot to get it out there for them.

We can't dwell on it. We can only be thankful that this happened six months out of the Primary. How many people are actually paying attention to one stray staffer during Christmas time while the Senate is voting on health care? I can't imagine very many.

[Nate]

We can't dwell on it. We can only be thankful that this happened six months out of the Primary. How many people are actually paying attention to one stray staffer during Christmas time while the Senate is voting on health care? I can't imagine very many.

+1

[torchbearer]

We can't dwell on it. We can only be thankful that this happened six months out of the Primary. How many people are actually paying attention to one stray staffer during Christmas time while the Senate is voting on health care? I can't imagine very many.

+2

[angelatc]

Let it go. It's Chris's fault for being so careless and so arrogant. Rand has taken the proper steps by distancing himself from this stupidity.

I don't think Chris is arrogant. I think innocent is a better word.

[torchbearer]

I don't think Chris is arrogant. I think innocent is a better word.

+1

huey doesn't like Chris because they ruffled feathers on here.
I don't think there is a person on here huey hasn't rubbed wrong. i don't see how you make it in politics if you don't have the ability to make friends.

[low preference guy]

yeah, huey is very annoying and extremely negative.

[RonPaulFanInGA]

I like huey's political insights.

[torchbearer]

I like huey's political insights.

I didn't say he had bad insights. the way he does it- doesn't make him seem very helpful.
He complains the campaign needs a bio- ok. why are you telling an internet forum and getting frustrated when an internet forum can't change that fact?

[Icymudpuppy]

Who's a good enough hacker to discover who "D" is?

We need to find out who it is, and denounce them.

[Jay Tea]

Let it go. It's Chris's fault for being so careless and so arrogant. Rand has taken the proper steps by distancing himself from this stupidity.

Why exactly would Chris get the blame for what some random guy posted as a comment?

[torchbearer]

Why exactly would Chris get the blame for what some random guy posted as a comment?

that is a good question-
the opposition is asking- why didn't he delete the comment if he didn't agree with it?

then you'd have to make an argument that you didn't know it was there- and even it that was true- most people would see it as a lame excuse.

[Jay Tea]

that is a good question-
the opposition is asking- why didn't he delete the comment if he didn't agree with it?

then you'd have to make an argument that you didn't know it was there- and even it that was true- most people would see it as a lame excuse.

Well, how long was it there?

[malkusm]

So, I'm not up to date on this story....someone posted it on his MySpace wall, as a visitor, and that's what this whole thing is about?

So...if I find some member of the Grayson team on a social networking site, and I were to post disturbing images that weren't in any way affiliated with the person OR Grayson, and I took a screen-shot of that being on his site and sent it to internet blogs that don't matter.....he should resign? :confused: :confused:

[erowe1]

Well, how long was it there?

Almost 2 years.

[TheConstitutionLives]

It comes down to this. Everything could have been avoided if Chris, once taking part in the campaign, had gone back to make sure there wasn't any questionable items out there that could be used against him and the campaign. It would've been the common sense thing to do and he failed to do it. Anytime ANYONE gets close with ANY campaign they're supposed to scrub their past. It's Politics 101.

[GunnyFreedom]

Almost 2 years.

I, for one, have been known to delete retards like this who post on my FB wall. Seriously, I sympathize with Chris, but come on -- that's not the kind of thing you leave around for public consumption, especially if it was posted by someone with an intent to make you look bad. ESPECIALLY when you are managing the campaign of one of the most important elections in American history.

I believe that Chris was not responsible for this, but I also believe that he was irresponsible for failing to remove it, especially given his status with Rand. I'm certainly no expert politico -- indeed, I am about as amature as it gets -- but even I know you can't have nonsense like that hanging out when you are doing this kind of work, whether somebody else posted it or not.

[malkusm]

I, for one, have been known to delete retards like this who post on my FB wall. Seriously, I sympathize with Chris, but come on -- that's not the kind of thing you leave around for public consumption, especially if it was posted by someone with an intent to make you look bad. ESPECIALLY when you are managing the campaign of one of the most important elections in American history.

I believe that Chris was not responsible for this, but I also believe that he was irresponsible for failing to remove it, especially given his status with Rand. I'm certainly no expert politico -- indeed, I am about as amature as it gets -- but even I know you can't have nonsense like that hanging out when you are doing this kind of work, whether somebody else posted it or not.

Two years ago was a long time - long before Rand filed for office, probably well before he entertained the idea of running. If I were to file for office right now, I doubt I could successfully find and delete everything on my Facebook that people posted two years ago that might make me look bad.

That said, if it were me, I would simply delete my social networking accounts altogether....and that's probably what Hightower should have done.

[RonPaulFanInGA]

So, I'm not up to date on this story....someone posted it on his MySpace wall, as a visitor, and that's what this whole thing is about?

So...if I find some member of the Grayson team on a social networking site, and I were to post disturbing images that weren't in any way affiliated with the person OR Grayson, and I took a screen-shot of that being on his site and sent it to internet blogs that don't matter.....he should resign? :confused: :confused:

Yes, the photo was posted by someone else. An old photo posted on the MySpace page on a campaign worker by someone in no way linked to the campaign and that's news somehow.

Here is Trey Grayson's campaign manager's Facebook page:

h ttp://www.facebook.com/natehodson

He's got about 1,300 friends. I bet one of them has something unsavory on their page.

[erowe1]

Two years ago was a long time - long before Rand filed for office, probably well before he entertained the idea of running. If I were to file for office right now, I doubt I could successfully find and delete everything on my Facebook that people posted two years ago that might make me look bad.

That said, if it were me, I would simply delete my social networking accounts altogether....and that's probably what Hightower should have done.

The thing is, the way a lot of people will see it, it's not just that he should have gone back and purged this stuff when he started working on a campaign. But he should have deleted it back when he first saw it long before it had the chance to get buried under months of other posts. That's what I would have done if I ever saw anything like that on any social site of mine. And I also can't imagine anyone I'm friends with thinking it would be ok to post that on my page to begin with.

It's always possible that the guy who did it was no friend of Chris's at all, or was just socially inept enough not to know that it's not ok to tar his friends with that stuff, and that Chris just didn't notice or just tends to be really passive about those types of things where others wouldn't be. But that's not the way it will look to people who don't know anything about the context. People will see it and prejudge Chris, and say to themselves, "What kind of guy is this that the people who know him think he would enjoy seeing that kind of thing? And why would he encourage them by leaving it there?" That might not be fair to Chris. But it's a reality the campaign has to deal with. They're after the support of voters. And voters aren't bound to give people fair trials before making up their minds about them.

[Chieftain1776]

Yes, the photo was posted by someone else. An old photo posted on the MySpace page on a campaign worker by someone in no way linked to the campaign and that's news somehow.

Here is Trey Grayson's campaign manager's Facebook page:

h ttp://www.facebook.com/natehodson

He's got about 1,300 friends. I bet one of them has something unsavory on their page.

Are you sure you got the link right? I get an error message.

[RonPaulFanInGA]

Are you sure you got the link right? I get an error message.

I got it too just now but I logged in and now it works.

[Flash]

Are you sure you got the link right? I get an error message.

you have to take out the space between h and the ttp.

[Chieftain1776]

you have to take out the space between h and the ttp.

I did...is it working for you?

[Chieftain1776]

I got it too just now but I logged in and now it works.

okay nevermind needed to be logged in.

[Brian4Liberty]

So, I'm not up to date on this story....someone posted it on his MySpace wall, as a visitor, and that's what this whole thing is about?

So...if I find some member of the Grayson team on a social networking site, and I were to post disturbing images that weren't in any way affiliated with the person OR Grayson, and I took a screen-shot of that being on his site and sent it to internet blogs that don't matter.....he should resign? :confused: :confused:

I think you got it. A very dangerous precedent imho...

[devil21]

We can't dwell on it. We can only be thankful that this happened six months out of the Primary. How many people are actually paying attention to one stray staffer during Christmas time while the Senate is voting on health care? I can't imagine very many.

Ive been calling this cheap internet warfare out for a while now. Grayson's camp is PURPOSELY posting false items as if it is from Rand's campaign. From that first "blog" post by "Rand's Campaign Manager" to this recent incident. I wish people would start listening to me.

GRAYSON CAN'T WIN ON HIS OWN MERITS SO GUTTER POLITICS IS THEIR ONLY OPTION! Time to adapt accordingly.

[GunnyFreedom]

The thing is, the way a lot of people will see it, it's not just that he should have gone back and purged this stuff when he started working on a campaign. But he should have deleted it back when he first saw it long before it had the chance to get buried under months of other posts. That's what I would have done if I ever saw anything like that on any social site of mine. And I also can't imagine anyone I'm friends with thinking it would be ok to post that on my page to begin with.

It's always possible that the guy who did it was no friend of Chris's at all, or was just socially inept enough not to know that it's not ok to tar his friends with that stuff, and that Chris just didn't notice or just tends to be really passive about those types of things where others wouldn't be. But that's not the way it will look to people who don't know anything about the context. People will see it and prejudge Chris, and say to themselves, "What kind of guy is this that the people who know him think he would enjoy seeing that kind of thing? And why would he encourage them by leaving it there?" That might not be fair to Chris. But it's a reality the campaign has to deal with. They're after the support of voters. And voters aren't bound to give people fair trials before making up their minds about them.

This.

Me personally, I don't have to be working in politics to have deleted garbage like what was described. Someone posts junk like that on my FB wall, and whether I'm in politics or not, not only do the posts get deleted, but that person gets unfriended and blocked altogether.

Seriously, who is OK with a racial epithet and a picture of a lynching on their page? If he had crap-tons of friends, I can maybe understand that it passed under the radar before he saw it. I get that. I also get the possibility that he may have been particularly passive in regards to 'free speech' on his page. But this is not something that I for one would ever, ever have allowed to stand, even if the notion of 'politics' had never entered my mind.

Seriously, who thinks that graphic and apparently celebratory (even if not Chris's post) images of racial lynching is "OK" even in the complete absence of politics? This man was somebodies father, somebodies uncle. To not have deleted it is irresponsible in any case, politics or not.

[Brian4Liberty]

And I also can't imagine anyone I'm friends with thinking it would be ok to post that on my page to begin with.

But did you play in a "shock" metal band? Those fans tend to be a group of non-conformists who would do politically incorrect things just for shock value. It's the type of thing that would be on Howard Stern any given day of the week. And who knows who the idiot was that posted the offensive pic?


It's always possible that the guy who did it was no friend of Chris's at all, or was just socially inept enough not to know that it's not ok to tar his friends with that stuff, and that Chris just didn't notice or just tends to be really passive about those types of things where others wouldn't be.

There are a hundred different scenarios you can come up with, most of them pretty ordinary, and all of them include the unknown poster being an idiot or worse. What is disturbing is the trend for people to assume (and try and convict Chris) of the absolute worse (which is by far the least likely scenario).

Who here truly believes the absolute worse about Chris?

We are really talking about a politically incorrect (and terribly insensitive) comment and pic posted by some idiot other than Chris, that Chris may not even know, and he may have never even seen.

We are on a libertarian-minded forum here. How much censorship do we want? From here on out, perhaps the moderators should delete and permanently ban any politically incorrect or insensitive posters. The moderators are obviously putting themselves at risk by allowing incorrect posts (as determined by political opponents).

[GunnyFreedom]

Ive been calling this cheap internet warfare out for a while now. Grayson's camp is PURPOSELY posting false items as if it is from Rand's campaign. From that first "blog" post by "Rand's Campaign Manager" to this recent incident. I wish people would start listening to me.

GRAYSON CAN'T WIN ON HIS OWN MERITS SO GUTTER POLITICS IS THEIR ONLY OPTION! Time to adapt accordingly.

I also agree with this. This is gutter politics at it's worst. I may be offended that Chris allowed the post to remain 2 years ago, but this is not something that should reflect on the Rand campaign in any way, shape, or form.

It's not as though Chris posted the garbage, he did not. It's not as though Rand had anything to do with anything regarding the whole mess, he did not.

However, I still stand by my previous comment that it was irresponsible of Chris to have allowed the post to stand, even 2 years ago when the though of politics was not even in his mind.

[GunnyFreedom]

But did you play in a "shock" metal band? Those fans tend to be a group of non-conformists who would do politically incorrect things just for shock value. It's the type of thing that would be on Howard Stern any given day of the week. And who knows who the idiot was that posted the offensive pic?



There are a hundred different scenarios you can come up with, most of them pretty ordinary, and all of them include the unknown poster being an idiot or worse. What is disturbing is the trend for people to assume (and try and convict Chris) of the absolute worse (which is by far the least likely scenario).

Who here truly believes the absolute worse about Chris?

We are really talking about a politically incorrect (and terribly insensitive) comment and pic posted by some idiot other than Chris, that Chris may not even know, and he may have never even seen.

We are on a libertarian-minded forum here. How much censorship do we want? From here on out, perhaps the moderators should delete and permanently ban any politically incorrect or insensitive posters. The moderators are obviously putting themselves at risk by allowing incorrect posts (as determined by political opponents).

I don't like Howard Stern either. In fact, I despise him as a vermin. Doesn't mean that I oppose him having his freedom of speech, mind you, but I'll not be giving Sirius any of my FRN's, bet on it.

And it is not "censorship" to prevent such things from being attached to yourself, it is common sense. I am vehemently opposed to censorship, but if someone posted that garbage on my FB wall, they would be deleted, unfriended, and blocked. I would view such a post on my wall as an act of aggression against myself, and immediately take action.

Come on, is this really that hard to grasp? The poor man in the picture was somebodies father for goodness sake! What if some retard posted a picture of your mother being hanged on one of your friends accounts and said, "yeah! lynch the bitch!" I bet you would expect your friend to delete the post.

[Brian4Liberty]

Come on, is this really that hard to grasp? The poor man in the picture was somebodies father for goodness sake! What if some retard posted a picture of your mother being hanged on one of your friends accounts and said, "yeah! lynch the bitch!" I bet you would expect your friend to delete the post.

"Politically incorrect and terribly insensitive" is one (polite) way to put it. It's not hard to grasp. Everyone should be able to see that. Calling the person that posted the comment/pic an idiot, jerk or other (insert your favorite derogatory term for shit-head here) is also appropriate.

Did Chris knowingly leave the comment there, and fail to delete it? I don't know. And I don't assume anything.

Some people are on Facebook 24x7. Some people create a Myspace page once and never go there again. The level of activity varies greatly.

It is disturbing that the emotional impact of a terrible picture like that is somehow getting transferred to a person that didn't participate in the activity, didn't take the picture, didn't dig up the picture, and didn't post it on the internet.

[GunnyFreedom]

"Politically incorrect and terribly insensitive" is one (polite) way to put it. It's not hard to grasp. Everyone should be able to see that. Calling the person that posted the comment/pic an idiot, jerk or other (insert your favorite derogatory term for shit-head here) is also appropriate.

Did Chris knowingly leave the comment there, and fail to delete it? I don't know. And I don't assume anything.

Some people are on Facebook 24x7. Some people create a Myspace page once and never go there again. The level of activity varies greatly.

It is disturbing that the emotional impact of a terrible picture like that is somehow getting transferred to a person that didn't participate in the activity, didn't take the picture, didn't dig up the picture, and didn't post it on the internet.

I agree, I also do not know if Chris knew about it. I get that. I even said so. But if he did know about it, and still left it up, it's tacit approval. That kind of imagery with that kind of text is a bit more than just "politically incorrect."

I also think this is being blown way out of proportion. Chris could have defused the whole thing if he, right up front and immediately, addressed the situation saying, "I do not maintain the page, have not maintained the page for years, and this kind of bigoted intolerant garbage will not be tolerated by me or anybody associated with the campaign" and then proceeded to delete the post immediately.

But he didn't do that.

Leaving garbage that some jerk posts to your profile or blog is not "free speech" as some here would seem to believe.

This could have been solved without all the fallout if Chris had gone to Barefoot and Progressive the moment this crap broke, stated that this post was 2 years old, that he never saw it, that he did not know it was there, denounced it in no uncertain terms, and deleted it immediately.

But again, he did not do that. There was some time when nothing was done, then it seems a bunch of hemming and hawing, some running in circles, and finally a resignation and a deletion of content. Still yet (AFAIK) there has been no statement to the source of the story.

All I am saying, is that Chris is not blameless here, contrary to what some folks here are saying. You may think it unfair, but if you have a MySpace page, or a Facebook account, then you are responsible for the content of your space, whether you are the one to publish it or not.

If that responsibility is too much to bear, then shut down your MySpace and Facebook accounts.

[erowe1]

knowingly[/I] leave the comment there, and fail to delete it? I don't know. And I don't assume anything.


I don't assume anything either. But it doesn't matter what people who are willing to give Chris the benefit of the doubt think. It's how it makes him look to people who know nothing about him, and how it tarnishes the Rand campaign by extension. I'm not saying it's fair. But there's no point in demanding that thousands of anonymous voters who read about this give Chris the benefit of the doubt. That's just not going to happen.

[runningdiz]

It comes down to this. Everything could have been avoided if Chris, once taking part in the campaign, had gone back to make sure there wasn't any questionable items out there that could be used against him and the campaign. It would've been the common sense thing to do and he failed to do it. Anytime ANYONE gets close with ANY campaign they're supposed to scrub their past. It's Politics 101.

This is the lesson EVERYONE here should be learning from this. ^^

If your going to be officially involved in a campaign Google your name, and make your myspace and Facebook private.

Yes this probably was a dirty political move but it happened and he is now no longer part of the campaign. There is no reason to discuss if it was really a big deal or if he knew about it.

With that said, it is a loss for Rand's campaign. He was a hard worker and was a voice for us to the campaign. Hopefully people will see the lesson from this so it won't happen again.

[Eric21ND]

Do you know how much spam is on myspace? It's seriously hard to keep up with people or more likely bots posting crap on your page. I now have to filter and approve every comment. My page is private and I still get this crap from "people" who aren't even on my friends list.

Look at the Mob spam/game...utterly annoying!

[skyorbit]

So, I'm not up to date on this story....someone posted it on his MySpace wall, as a visitor, and that's what this whole thing is about?

So...if I find some member of the Grayson team on a social networking site, and I were to post disturbing images that weren't in any way affiliated with the person OR Grayson, and I took a screen-shot of that being on his site and sent it to internet blogs that don't matter.....he should resign? :confused: :confused:

Apparently, Yes! <rolls eyes>

Tracy

[devil21]

Fortunately I think that nonsense like this will not sway the race. But it sure as hell is a distraction to supporters and Rand's campaign. Keep on message but be careful. The internet works BOTH ways these days. We can outraise Trey but they can sling mud better. Why? Because we have ethics.

THEY HAVE NO ETHICS! This is what separates Paul supporters from the rest. We fight fair and honest. They do not. Don't give them ammo. Just kick their ass fair and square!!!!!!

EDIT:

Trey has no ethics, nor does his staff. That much is clear. Of course we have fake Grayson websites so it's obvious that they will fight back. We own the NETZ but our dominance isn't absolute and forever! It has worked in the past but others have caught on. It's about time for the one thing that Grayson doesn't have to start organizing.

Door-to-door. I hate to make this sound like Braveheart but it's true. Some have already been doing this and thanks to them. It is time for the grassroots to stop thinking about moneybombs and time to start planning boots on the ground. Think of the moneybombs as "Shock And Awe" and the boots as the "Ground Campaign". These establishment GOP campaigns run like a real war so why shouldnt we? Let's equal the force. At least our troops want to be there....

We say how much internet campaigning earns. A bunch of money and a good following but few votes. Boots on the ground is where it's at. In a small state like KY that votes conservative in federal elections? No more bombs for now. Time to start organizing. The GOP is waiting to see if we can win votes or if we'll just fade out. Ron Paul isn't the first candidate to inspire a small but loud conservative uprising. The measure is whether we can keep the momentum going and start putting SENATORS in seats.

/rats

err

/rant

[RyanRSheets]

In high school, I used to know a guy who would make racist comments quite often. He watched WWF wrestling all the time, and probably attended the wrestling events when they came to town. Clearly, since Linda McMahon directly benefited from the patronship of that kid, she is a racist.

[StilesBC]

When are people going to figure out that libertarianism and racism are anathema to each other?

It would be like accusing a Marxist of favouring one religion over another. It just doesn't make any sense.