Would you donate $5.00 to the campaign if a news outlet misrepresents Ron Paul?

[dusman]

I'm considering an alternative purpose for the Black This Out moneybomb, because I think there is more potential there than just a traditional 1 day event.

I'd like www.blackthisout.com (http://www.blackthisout.com) to allow visitors to report misrepresentations/bias/blackout stories, which would then be published on the web site. Each story would have a call to action to donate $5.00 to counter the story. The user would fill out a form (just e-mail would work I think) and that would create the ability to track what stories generate the most donations and feature those stories on the home page.

In this way, we could then follow up with those news outlets and THANK THEM for inspiring more donations to the campaign. I want it to be something that doesn't really sit well with them, if they have an agenda to stifle his campaign through reporting.

A few benefits I see here:
1) Gives people a reason to visit www.blackthisout.com (http://www.blackthisout.com) on a regular basis, naturally building hype and higher frequency of sharing through social media.
2) Satisfies those who get annoyed that all donations are directed toward specific dates and not continuously feeding the campaign.
3) Creates a deterrent to any agenda to use media as a weapon against Ron Paul and forces a little bit more fairness and accountability.
4) Replaces frustration and hatred toward those media outlets with hard cash for the campaign and a "smirky" thank you to that outlet for their help.

Vote above so I can get a consensus! It seems like something we can keep active throughout the remainder of the campaign season if it works well.

Also, just to clarify.. I'm not suggesting each of us donates $5 for EVERY story. My hope would be that there would be enough involvement to make that not necessary. Either way, it uses the media as a means to bulk up Ron Paul's war chest that bit more.

[eduardo89]

I think we'll all be maxed out by the end of the week.

[dusman]

I think we'll all be maxed out by the end of the week.

Haha, probably very true! +rep!

I won't be held responsible for depletion of bank accounts for this strategy! lol

[RonPaul101.com]

True it could get costly, but I like the idea. I like the thinking of new ideas that help fund the campaign and the moneybombs are becoming so regular you can set your watch by them.

I love the idea. Maybe the site has two areas, one for recent 'hit pieces' or 'lies in media' stories and another showing an all time list, where the bad RP stories are ranked according to how many people gave $5 because of them...

[dusman]

True it could get costly, but I like the idea. I like the thinking of new ideas that help fund the campaign and the moneybombs are becoming so regular you can set your watch by them.

I love the idea. Maybe the site has two areas, one for recent 'hit pieces' or 'lies in media' stories and another showing an all time list, where the bad RP stories are ranked according to how many people gave $5 because of them...

Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. It would have the added benefit of leaving quite an impressive historical account for all the media bias/misrepresentations as well, for all to see.

[AggieforPaul]

Id have to check all my balances first. Just going off articles calling him an isolationist, Id probably hit the maximum limit in a couple weeks.

[RonPaul101.com]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. It would have the added benefit of leaving quite an impressive historical account for all the media bias/misrepresentations as well, for all to see.

Plus this idea is as close as we can get "eye for an eye" on with the media. They purposely produce a hit piece, a really obvious one, and it generates say $25,000 for the campaign so Ron Paul can advertise a positive message locally where needed most. Like, "Thanks O'Reilly for your POS hit piece that nobody would believe anyway; you've just helped buy $25,000 in TV ads in Iowa. :p

[dusman]

Plus this idea is as close as we can get "eye for an eye" on with the media. They purposely produce a hit piece, a really obvious one, and it generates say $25,000 for the campaign so Ron Paul can advertise a positive message locally where needed most. Like, "Thanks O'Reilly for your POS hit piece that nobody would believe anyway; you've just helped buy $25,000 in TV ads in Iowa. :p

Exactly! I think it could force them to reconsider their media strategy entirely, if there is in fact an agenda there. If they knew it was providing him a means to expand his base, that has to be very unappealing going forward. The only option available then would be to ignore him and we saw how that backfired last week.

[the04artchitect]

I don't believe the website is informative or particular enough to bring attention to the culprit: the media. If say, you had a simple efficient form/survey as to the exact reasons WHY you were donating (i.e. J. Doe donated $10 because of J. Smith article in Plain Magazine), you would put a lot more pressure on specific media biases, and they be even more thoughtful on reconsidering. The idea as it is now seems to be not as effective, but I do agree with the concept!
Glad to see some creative thought going into this grassroots effort! It speaks to his campaign built on Liberty and Independence!


-kevin

[Slutter McGee]

I dont think any of us are that rich.

Slutter McGee

[freeforall]

I would probably choosea few of the most offensive biases, but wouldn't donate every time a biased story was posted.

[VoluntaryAmerican]

This would make a better drinking game.

[dusman]

Well, I wouldn't expect anyone to donate $5 for every story, lol. Perhaps I should reword that a bit differently.

It seems to me that channeling that frustration to a $5 donation to the campaign is not only rewarding, but would be very effective as a counter-measure toward media bias. I'd much rather send e-mails to media outlets showing how their poor reporting only helps his campaign more than it hurts it, instead of getting nasty with them.

If it has any influence on how they report, that makes those $5 donations significantly more valuable to Ron Paul.

The accumulative impact could be pretty nice.

[Monique]

I sure like your reasons. Have you checked with the campaign about how much it costs to process a $5 donation? I have no idea. I would hate for this brilliant idea to mostly feed the pockets of the processing center. If it doesn't cost much, then I think it is great...but make sure people wouldn't have to donate to let you know about media blackout garbage.

I would love to see you put together an article each month that outlined all the bs the media is doing with all the things people tell you about. And yes, the cumulative effect would be amazing.

[Invi]

I like this idea.
I didn't vote in the poll, as money is super tight, but if I could donate, I certainly would.

[dusman]

I sure like your reasons. Have you checked with the campaign about how much it costs to process a $5 donation? I have no idea. I would hate for this brilliant idea to mostly feed the pockets of the processing center. If it doesn't cost much, then I think it is great...but make sure people wouldn't have to donate to let you know about media blackout garbage.

I would love to see you put together an article each month that outlined all the bs the media is doing with all the things people tell you about. And yes, the cumulative effect would be amazing.

Good point. I'll check with the campaign about the processing fees. I hadn't considered that.

I do like the idea of periodic overviews of media bias. Perhaps weekly would keep it more relevant and make it a little more frequent.

[RonPaul101.com]

I sure like your reasons. Have you checked with the campaign about how much it costs to process a $5 donation? I have no idea. I would hate for this brilliant idea to mostly feed the pockets of the processing center. If it doesn't cost much, then I think it is great...but make sure people wouldn't have to donate to let you know about media blackout garbage.

I would love to see you put together an article each month that outlined all the bs the media is doing with all the things people tell you about. And yes, the cumulative effect would be amazing.

About $0.65 by credit card or $0.95 by PayPal.

Trust me if the campaign didn't want $5 due to it being a low amount, they'd raise the minimum. The Bachmann campaign started up in the spring with a no minimum donation setup so I donated $0.01 to get on the good email list as an insider/donor and to cause them a $1 loss per donation. Now almost every campaign, if not every campaign, has a $1 minimum so as to not take a loss.

[Krugerrand]

I like the idea. Feel free to incorporate or reject any of my ideas from a while back:


Just to throw a new idea into the mix ... how about something a tad different.

I'm thinking a group of people commit to donating $x every time something happens that assaults liberty ... it could be a specific thing, such as an action by Obama ... or a list of things such as Bernanke actions or whatever.

Whenever those events happen, they trigger a "Liberty Money Grenade" - or perhaps something that might have a catchier abbreviation. Then, the event can be countered with yet another $20,000 for Ron Paul or something like that. It would turn negative actions to fund raising for Ron Paul.

I'll have to kick the idea around some more ... but it's something to keep the money bomb fresh.


Okay ... here's the best I've come up with so far. ....

Obama actions trigger "Sling Shot" donations of $20.12.
Support Liberty in National Government (I'm not sold on that if somebody can come up w/ something better.)

When ever Obama signs anti-Liberty legislation, veto's pro-liberty legislation ... or any other list of things that would make this not too overwhelming, but effective .... those who can commit to the advance pledging donate $20.12.

Ideally we could get at least 1,000 people on board. Then, whenever RP is being interviewed on something he can slip in that another $20,120 raised was raised for liberty in response to such and such.

"Sling shot" also has a nice David v/ Goliath feel to it.

It would be a nice twist that every action the opposition takes would be generating money against them.

[dusman]

I like the idea. Feel free to incorporate or reject any of my ideas from a while back:

Interesting, it seems we had pretty much the same thought. I think it's worth implementing, at least to test its effectiveness. It shouldn't be too hard to set something like that up.

[jason43]

Then what would we do when we hit the donation limit in a week? Donate to the superpac? haha

[dusman]

Then what would we do when we hit the donation limit in a week? Donate to the superpac? haha

If that became the case, we'd have a serious problem on our hands with the media! Much more so than we already do. ;)