Snell: Ron Paul presents honesty, sincerity [sounds like this article series will b good!]

[sailingaway]

http://iowastatedaily.com/opinion/article_010be5ec-eadb-11e0-a7a2-001cc4c03286.html

[orenbus]

Excellent piece.

I particularly liked this:


We got in the SUV and took off. "So," Ron says to me, "what did you think of the speech? Was it OK?" Yes, I told him. I enjoyed it very much. "I hope so. You know," he said with the wave of his hand, settling himself into the backseat, "I feel like I repeat myself a lot. I feel bad that I have to say a lot of the same things all the time, but the message of freedom is important." Clearly this was a humble man I was dealing with here, with a refreshingly human touch of insecurity.

Having been to a number of Ron Paul events in a few different states including NH I can understand why he would want to break into deeper discussion or on other topics just to bring some variety to his speeches, but he's very disciplined and knows what needs to be done. It maybe monotonous for him and his strong supporters that have seen him speak numerous times, but for those that have never heard him it's essential he talk at a high level about issues they want to hear about succinctly.


We pulled into the Nevada McDonald's. "I'm so hungry" Ron said. "We haven't had time to eat today." Paul had stopped in Dubuque, Clinton and Muscatine before arriving in Nevada.

A man of the people. :)
Mceedees really? Eating fast food can't be good for him, but it's not unusual for those on the campaign trail.


As we sat in the parking lot waiting for the congressman's value meal, a couple walked by. Illuminated by the dome light overhead, they could see Paul sitting there. The man peered in at us and did a double take, quickly tapping the woman's arm and pointing. The two grinned and waved excitedly, and Paul leaned forward between the front seats and waved back, no doubt making their night. Like I said, Paul's people love him, and it just goes to show that his people are everywhere.

Awesome.


The information I collected was much more than that expected from my scheduled five-minute interview and far too much for a single article in the Daily. And rather than do injustice to a rare honest and sincere man, I have been given license by my editor to split my report on Paul up into several parts, to allow the congressman to speak for himself instead of reducing him to irrelevant and uninformative sound bytes.

So stay tuned!

Very cool looking forward to reading more from this guy.

[mstrmac1]

Reminds me of why I'm here...

[bluesc]

What an excellent personal look at Dr. Paul :)

I look forward to the next part, it sounds good.

[Lymeade-Lady]

Wow! Great article. But, McD's? I wouldn't eat that if it was free! At least he could get some decent food to eat, even if it's fast food! Oh, well. He supports my right to drink raw milk, so I can support his right to eat fake food. ;)

[Verrater]

Rushing to catch up, I followed the congressman to his waiting car. "Here," Paul said, "you hop in this side. I'll go around." Say what? A congressman deferring his seat to a regular guy like me? Someone get me the weather report in Hell, quick.
So awesome.

[PauliticsPolitics]

Wow! Great article. But, McD's? I wouldn't eat that if it was free! At least he could get some decent food to eat, even if it's fast food! Oh, well. He supports my right to drink raw milk, so I can support his right to eat fake food. ;)

I'm in your same world. At the same time, it's good to know that campaign money isn't being wasted on $100 meals. A Value Meal for a presidential candidate... it's kinda ridiculous awesome.

[Cabal]

Amazing article. We all need to give this article props to show our support and respect. It's refreshing to see a journalist that not only writes well, but picks up on the little things, and seeks to do someone of RP's caliber justice with a multi-part report.

[McDermit]

Excellent article, and a great look at a side of Ron the public rarely getsto see. Really looking forward to the rest of this series!

[love_ron]

some real "hope" for Iowa !

[S.Shorland]

..

[RabbitMan]

Too bad its for a college newspaper.

[Oddone]

Too bad its for a college newspaper.

Still great a article! Maybe a local paper or station will pick it up. Plus we may have an honest reporter on our hands here for the future, we need more people like him in mainstream. Lets all hope his career takes off!

[cucucachu0000]

I feel we have a real shot at winning iowa despite the polls. The other votes are gonna be split and our support will pull us through.

[sailingaway]

I understand something big is going to be happening in Iowa, per Matt Collins' thread.

[D.A.S.]

Wow! Great article. But, McD's? I wouldn't eat that if it was free! At least he could get some decent food to eat, even if it's fast food! Oh, well. He supports my right to drink raw milk, so I can support his right to eat fake food. ;)

Now now, don't bash Mickey D's! It's our national treasure, and I love going there once a month or so to get my fill of the Big Mac and some of the best fries money can buy :D

[NorfolkPCSolutions]

I accidentally a double post. :-) I forgot to search the forums to see if anyone else had posted about this article...sorry. Anyway, I called Iowa State Daily and am attempting to contact the author; I would like to obtain a copy of the audio of their conversation on that ride to the airport. From my accidental post:

The article: http://iowastatedaily.com/opinion/ar...cc4c03286.html

The email I sent to barry.snell@iowastatedaily.com follows.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Sir,

I want to thank you for your article dated 5 October 2011, Ron Paul presents honesty, sincerity. I see that you intend this to be a several-part document, with the second installment coming next Wednesday. I, and very many others, are very eager to read it.

May I humbly request that you post the audio of your conversation with Ron Paul? I read that you had a wide ranging conversation with the candidate, and I think it's fair to say that many of his supporters would love to hear such a candid, unscripted conversation. I count myself among that number.

Thank you in advance for considering my request, and I hope to receive a positive response soon. I'm praying for it. I, and many others, would have liked very much to have been with you in that SUV ride to the airport. Again, thank you for this article!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you find yourself reading this post, and agree with the request for the audio of the conversation, perhaps you could (politely) echo my request.

When held in comparison to private conversations with the other candidates, this audio could become key in persuading others to support Ron Paul, and further informing those who already do support Ron Paul of the high quality of this man's character.

And character does matter. It matters to more people today than ever.

[V3n]

re-reading this article to Lady V3n tonight.. it deserves re-reading.

[chudrockz]

Too bad its for a college newspaper.

A college newspaper that's online, which thanks to Daily Paul and these forums, as well as
Twitter
Reddit
Facebook
Myspace

will be getting thousands and then maybe millions of hits over the next week or two! :)

[Barry Snell]

Everyone,

Thank you for all the kind e-mails and comments here and across the Internet. As I said in my article, it's clear that Ron Paul's supporters love him. My inbox is chock full of e-mails just like these comments and they just keep coming. You Ron Paul supporters have the distinction of being the most friendly and positive supporters of any candidate I've ever personally seen (and that's been quite a few!). The philosophy of kindness worked for men no less than Ghandi and King, so keep it up, Folks! You do your candidate a great honor.

For those of you who don't know yet, the Iowa State Daily will be running eight (yes, eight!) articles on Dr. Paul every Wednesday for the next two months, so be sure to look for them on our webpage, http://www.iowastatedaily.com. Also don't forget to comment on the article on Iowa State Daily's webpage: http://iowastatedaily.com/opinion/article_010be5ec-eadb-11e0-a7a2-001cc4c03286.html

A note to my editor-in-chief Jake Lovett at editor@iowastatedaily.com, and my division editor Michael Belding at opinion@iowastatedaily.com, will also reinforce the need for such pieces now and in the future, and will help get me assigned to these sorts of things later on as well. Judging by the response to this article as well as conversations I've had with Paul's campaign officials, this may not be the last time I get to talk to the congressman. So send those e-mails and keep your fingers crossed!



A college newspaper that's online, which thanks to Daily Paul and these forums, as well as
Twitter
Reddit
Facebook
Myspace

will be getting thousands and then maybe millions of hits over the next week or two! :)

It's true: hit records were set on the Daily's webpage on Wednesday, according to my editor.

For the record, the Iowa State Daily has the readership of Iowa State University, which has an attendance of approximately 30,000 students. On top of that is the thousands of employees (administrators, professors, grounds keepers, janitors, etc), many of whom also read the paper. The ISU Daily also has a subscription service that serves oodles more people with print copies all across the state and nation. Furthermore, the ISU Daily is on racks all across the city of Ames, where Iowa State University is located. God knows how many residents of our host town read the paper. Our readership very well could be 50,000 people in print, and as pointed out, gazillions online now, haha.

In short, the Daily reaches far, far more readers than the average small town paper. Furthermore, it services a predominately young demographic who appear to be very receptive to libertarian philosophy. I'm not saying the Iowa State Daily is important (that's for you to judge). I'm only saying that it's not exactly unimportant. ;)

Lastly:



Dear Sir,

I want to thank you for your article dated 5 October 2011, Ron Paul presents honesty, sincerity. I see that you intend this to be a several-part document, with the second installment coming next Wednesday. I, and very many others, are very eager to read it.

May I humbly request that you post the audio of your conversation with Ron Paul? I read that you had a wide ranging conversation with the candidate, and I think it's fair to say that many of his supporters would love to hear such a candid, unscripted conversation. I count myself among that number.

Thank you in advance for considering my request, and I hope to receive a positive response soon. I'm praying for it. I, and many others, would have liked very much to have been with you in that SUV ride to the airport. Again, thank you for this article!


Sir, I received your e-mail yesterday and was going to reply to it, but I discovered that you posted it up here and since you made the request public, I reckon I'll reply for all to see as well.

I have considered your request and find it completely reasonable. However, I did not inform Dr. Paul that I would be releasing the audio of the tape to the public. Thus as it was not part of my disclosure at the beginning of the interview, I feel that it would be a violation of trust to do so. I truly apologize if you don't appreciate my feelings on the matter. I do not claim to be a journalist (in fact, my career goal is attorney), but I do feel I know a thing or two about ethics and integrity, and please know that my decision is made from a good faith effort to do the right thing. I will however inform Dr. Paul in the future, should I ever get another interview, that it is a possibility that the audio will make it to the Internet. I hope that is a fair compromise.

Anyway, thanks to you all for your support now and in the next few weeks. My experience with the Ron Paul campaign, which includes all you fine people, has been nothing but fantastic so far. I genuinely hope that I can continue to meet and exceed the high expectations you've all set for me.

Most sincerely,
Barry B. Snell
Columnist, Iowa State Daily
barry.snell@iowastatedaily.com

[PauliticsPolitics]

Thanks for stopping by Barry! I believe everyone on here is looking forward to your string of articles. Tell your newspaper's IT department to prepare for lots of web traffic in the coming weeks.

[Oddone]

No Doubt we will be keeping an eye out! Thank you for stopping by and feel welcome to do so whenever you like.

[bluesc]

Thank you for dropping by and informing us! Will be sure to keep an eye out for future articles. Iowa is key for us, so this is very important. I will be sure to email your editor-in-chief and division editor in support. The article was amazing and we are all very much looking forward to the next installment.

[sailingaway]

WOOOT!!! For eight articles!!!

Beef up that server!!

-- and +rep, by the way!