So Frustrating

[Dang]

Had my grandparents in town for Thanksgiving and of course politics came up. My grandma knows I am a Ron Paul supporter and tells me; well I like what he says but he's just not electable. Wtf does that mean? You like everything he says but he is not electable? I brought up the fact that he leads the polls head to head against Obama, I brought up iowa and New hampshire, and nothing. What do we say to people that have this mass media message driven into their heads?

[ShaneEnochs]

Welcome to the forums!

I feel your frustration. That's how many conversations I have go as well. If someone is running for office, they are electable. Period. People just have to vote for them.

[shadowhooch]

I think that's why winning Iowa is so darn important. There's several republicans I know who "like" him but use the electibility as an excuse (because they want Obama out). Winning Iowa will raise all the doubter's eyebrows. It is a must in order to erase this common belief.
Then, to prove it's not a fluke, he has to finish strong (1,2, or 3) in NH. Ron Paul said it himself.

If that happens, the momentum will be huge and converting people will be a lot easier. They are just looking for someone to trust over Romney.

[Napolitanic Wars]

Define "nothing." Sometimes they are thinking, sometimes they are caught off guard, and sometimes they put a shield up.

[libertyfanatic]

Some people will never learn. It would be more productive for you to talk to some people who will actually listen to you. Electability should have no impact on someone's decision. The same thing happened to me a while back. I was talking to a lady about the debates and she asked me who I liked. I told her Ron Paul. She then told me that she liked him also but he could never win.

[devil21]

Ask them why he can't win? Then wait for the stuttering.

[Carole]

Had my grandparents in town for Thanksgiving and of course politics came up. My grandma knows I am a Ron Paul supporter and tells me; well I like what he says but he's just not electable. Wtf does that mean? You like everything he says but he is not electable? I brought up the fact that he leads the polls head to head against Obama, I brought up iowa and New hampshire, and nothing. What do we say to people that have this mass media message driven into their heads?

Welcome.
Yes, it is very frustrating to hear this. Ditto what Shane and Shadow said. We must impress upon folks that if every one who said he is not electable actually voted for him, he would be elected. :D

[Karsten]

We should look at this in a positive way. There are a lot MORE possible Ron Paul supporters out there than current polls suggest, and if we win Iowa (where it will be shown, as we already know, but for the first time for a lot of people, that Ron Paul IS electable) the support would multiply beyond imagination.

While going door to door in 2008, I also noticed something similar to your Grandparents attitude but slightly different. MANY people seemed to believe like Ron Paul did on the issues. MANY people knew ALL about the Federal Reserve, and, to my surprise, even most of the Republicans I talked to had at least some anti-war feelings. They loved what I had to say about ending the IRS, too, obviously. But then, they would say "oh, and I'm voting for Mccain" or "Oh, but I'm voting for Huckabee". And I'm thinking "Are you kidding me??? Mccain has NEVER said anything about the Fed and he's the biggest hawk out there!" I tried to explain to them, but with no success. I think this reality was also magnified by the fact that in exit polls I recall in 2008 a large portion of the New Hampshire Republican voters were anti-war, and THEY voted for Mccain.

These two types of people, the ones who realize they agree with Ron Paul but don't believe in him or whatever, and the people who believe like Ron Paul does and don't even realize they should be a Ron Paul supporter and that the candidate they support does NOT have any of the views that they believe in, I believe, WILL finally come to support Ron Paul very quickly and in large numbers once Ron Paul wins Iowa and the media FINALLY spends a good part of the next few days afterwards talking about him.

[Nate-ForLiberty]

Had my grandparents in town for Thanksgiving and of course politics came up. My grandma knows I am a Ron Paul supporter and tells me; well I like what he says but he's just not electable. Wtf does that mean? You like everything he says but he is not electable? I brought up the fact that he leads the polls head to head against Obama, I brought up iowa and New hampshire, and nothing. What do we say to people that have this mass media message driven into their heads?

Ron has been elected 11 times without changing anything about his message.

[Miss Annie]

Here is a video of Ron Paul in a debate in 2008 answering a question that was just about this - his electability. He knocked it out of the park! :D


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S17alBWtWfU

[KramerDSP]

Ask them who said he was unelectable.

"The TV".

Ohh.. What positions of his do you like?

"Ending the wars, bringing the troops home"

Well, in the 50s and 60s there were over 100 news companies. Now we are down to three mega media conglomerates that own everything. CBS is owned by Westington. MSNBC is owned by General Electric. Both are benefiting from the military industrial complex and crony capitalism ties to government officials.

"What does that have to do with Ron Paul?"

The people on the TV are the ones telling you he is unelectable. They know the gravy train ends with Paul. He is at 25% in Iowa and 14% in NH by the way.

"Hmmm"....

[KramerDSP]

Ron has been elected 11 times without changing anything about his message.

Also, Ron Paul may or may not hold the record of defeating the most incumbents in office. If he beats Obama, he ll have unseated four incumbents in his career.

[The Free Hornet]

Had my grandparents in town for Thanksgiving and of course politics came up. My grandma knows I am a Ron Paul supporter and tells me; well I like what he says but he's just not electable. Wtf does that mean?

It means she needs a dose of John Quincy Adams:


“Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.”

John Quincy Adams quotes (http://thinkexist.com/quotation/always_vote_for_principle-though_you_may_vote/211608.html)

This is why she should vote and if she doesn't know it, well that is just sad how long one can live and learn so little. The same is true for those thinking certain other candidates should drop out because they "can't win". It is not our job to boot them out of the race - we don't work for CNN.

[RDM]

Had my grandparents in town for Thanksgiving and of course politics came up. My grandma knows I am a Ron Paul supporter and tells me; well I like what he says but he's just not electable. Wtf does that mean? You like everything he says but he is not electable? I brought up the fact that he leads the polls head to head against Obama, I brought up iowa and New hampshire, and nothing. What do we say to people that have this mass media message driven into their heads?

Have her read the story of Harry S. Truman:

For most of the 1948 campaign season, the only person who believed Harry Truman could win an elected term was Harry himself. The politicians, the punditry, if not the entire country, thought poor Harry--who was not now and never would be FDR--was laughably unelectable. Not a chance in hell.

Read full story here: http://open.salon.com/blog/ramonas_voices/2010/11/05/give_em_hell_harrys_mad_miracle

[anaconda]

Had my grandparents in town for Thanksgiving and of course politics came up. My grandma knows I am a Ron Paul supporter and tells me; well I like what he says but he's just not electable. Wtf does that mean? You like everything he says but he is not electable? I brought up the fact that he leads the polls head to head against Obama, I brought up iowa and New hampshire, and nothing. What do we say to people that have this mass media message driven into their heads?

Try to explain that she should be insulted that the corporatist machine picks the two candidates that they want and expect her to vote for one or the other. And that she wastes her vote if she lets the media tell who her who the best candidate is. And explain that this is very un-American and very un-Patriotic. And that she will be a great and proud American by voting for the best candidate rather than the one that the monied special interests tell she should vote for.

[overcastpatriot]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGXKdxoLZQw

I get the same thing. Americans would rather vote for who wins than who's worth their vote. We must just keep doing our best.

[speciallyblend]

they said the same about obama when he was running!

[Eric21ND]

Take your frustration out by donating to the Super Voter Bomb to win Iowa.

[gerryb]

Take your frustration out by donating to the Super Voter Bomb to win Iowa.

Or phone.ronpaul2012.com

[Dary]

Did you ask your grandparents who they thought is electable?

Did you explain to them that Ron Paul is the only candidate that can beat Obama because Ron's base is big enough now and committed to voting for no one else but him.

Did you tell them that voting for any of the other candidates is voting for the status quo and that any of them including Obama is acceptable to the establishment?

Did you tell them that if they nominate anyone else except Ron that they will be handing the presidency over to Obama for a second term.

Did you tell them that for Ron Paul and the people who support him, it is all about principles, and that those people view Obama and any of the other republican candidates as being different sides of the same coin and that Ron's supporters will NOT sacrifice principles for party?

Welcome to the forums.

[jsingh1022]

We must change the narrative (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?332731-Marketing-Strategy-to-Secure-a-Ron-Paul-Nomination)

[Eric21ND]

Or phone.ronpaul2012.com
Yup.

[Eric21ND]

We must change the narrative (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?332731-Marketing-Strategy-to-Secure-a-Ron-Paul-Nomination)
We do that by winning Iowa.

[LEK]

Best reply to that is that he has been elected for 12 terms as a Representative from Texas.

And follow that up with the importance of voting your conscience - any other candidate is exactly the same, regardless if Dem or Rep.

[febo]

Go into it - what does "I like everything Ron Paul says but he is unelectable" mean?
- He would be the only world leader with integrity, he would be mixing with a universe of ordinary, scheming, power-motivated, narcissistic politicians, he'd get squashed.
- His policies would upset so many deeply entrenched powerful people he'd get squashed.
- He's just too nice, too idealistic. Look what happened to Jesus of Nazareth.
I don't agree with all of that but this is what I imagine people are thinking.
One thing I do feel - Paul comes accross as a loner - he has no powerful allies, no widely respected "enforcers" who will make sure no one treads on him.

[Karsten]

they said the same about obama when he was running!

Yeah, but the difference is with Obama they said he couldn't win, but they still talked about him all day and gave him plenty of news coverage.

[RP Supporter]

Even if he's not electable(an absurd notion but okay) point out that it's a primary. The point is to vote for the candidate you most agree with. If Paul does well enough Romney or whoever would have to at least co-op(steal) a few of his talking points,so by voting your conscience for Paul, you're actually moving the GOP in a more conservative direction, even if he does not win.

Not that I believe that, we all know Romney will never come over to our side, but it's an effective argument to present.

[Okie RP fan]

Had my grandparents in town for Thanksgiving and of course politics came up. My grandma knows I am a Ron Paul supporter and tells me; well I like what he says but he's just not electable. Wtf does that mean? You like everything he says but he is not electable? I brought up the fact that he leads the polls head to head against Obama, I brought up iowa and New hampshire, and nothing. What do we say to people that have this mass media message driven into their heads?

Welcome to the forums.

You are not alone in this frustration, almost every single one of us have experienced this at some point and in some form. All we can do is continue to bring up poll numbers and straw poll results (which are not to be taken too seriously, but can win over some people and show that the support is actually there). Also, tell them that we can make anyone electable as long we don't let the media speak for us. And give a nice parting while saying something such as "liberty is at stake this coming election, be sure to do your research and make the right choice. *Insert Ron Paul fast fact here*," perhaps such as how he is the "Champion of the Constitution."

[Uriah]

Tell them he has been elected to congress 12 times. If you believe in what he says, if you like what he says then vote for him on principle. If you vote differently then you end up voting for the lesser evil. And if you end up with evil, you can't complain because you voted for it. There is no good vote except the vote cast in good conscience.

[Lisa100]

This video is the best video to show that he can win

It is called The Awakening of a Generation: Ron Paul 2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Muf23Rc7HV8

[KingRobbStark]

Ask them why he can't win? Then wait for the stuttering.

This.