Wisconsin Public Radio guest trashed RP

[alicegardener]

Joy Cardine's morning show (7 - 8 am 11/9/07) was supposed to explain Ron Paul phenominal success with fundraising. She said this program was a response to all the emails she got asking for air time for RP. But the guest "representing" our candidate was Nick Gillespie, editor of Reason magazine who spent most of the hour saying why he was NOT for Ron Paul. He used loaded words and insinuations to say RP was racist, against all immigration, anti-Semitic, etc. The program will be in the WPR archives by tomorrow, I'm guessing.

We all need to email http://www.wpr.org and politely request they balance out the damage this man has done to Ron Paul's campaign in Wisconsin and surrounding states by allowing a PRO-Ron Paul spokesman. WPR is always advertising their "fair and balanced" presentation of the issues of the day.

I suggest long-time supporter Ken Van Doren who you can see on youtube by looking for the two clips where he was interviewed at the rally in Ames, Iowa a couple of weeks ago. WPR will not allow youtube clips in its online response but you can mention them. Ken Van Doren knows more about Ron Paul than almost anyone, is articulate, and can be trusted to keep his cool. Personally I think he should be the head of the campaign in Wisconsin (there isn't one yet) and would make a good candidate for Congress.

[Brinck Slattery]

Gillespie's all about being witty and urbane. The somewhat "country" style of Ron Paul freaks him out a little. Also, he's the editor of a news/opinion magazine, so I don't think he's supposed to endorse candidates.

[kylejack]

Gillespie's all about being witty and urbane. The somewhat "country" style of Ron Paul freaks him out a little. Also, he's the editor of a news/opinion magazine, so I don't think he's supposed to endorse candidates.
I tore him up on his poker blog entry last week. It looks like I get to tear him up again.

[kylejack]

Audio link: http://clipcast.wpr.org:8080/ramgen/wpr/jca/jca071109b.rm

[FluffyUnbound]

Considering the fact that half of the blog section of his magazine is devoted to pushing Ron Paul, I'd like to see a transcript before deciding how critical he was.

[alicegardener]

We need to go after WPR Wisconsin Public Radio or there will be a ton of listeners whose only exposure to Ron Paul is this rubbish. Ask for a fair rebuttal and as soon as possilbe. Damage Control needs to be done fast, very fast.

[DrNoZone]

We need to go after WPR Wisconsin Public Radio or there will be a ton of listeners whose only exposure to Ron Paul is this rubbish. Ask for a fair rebuttal and as soon as possilbe. Damage Control needs to be done fast, very fast.

Oh please...people are entitled to their opinions. I'm as pro Ron Paul as they come, but I am SOOOOOO sick of the Ron Paul War Party Brigade.

[Brinck Slattery]

FluffyUnbound -
are you Fluffy from H&R? I'm Randolph Carter. Haha Duckman is here too.

[kylejack]

Nick's blog entry on this at http://www.reason.com/blog/show/123410.html

[FluffyUnbound]

FluffyUnbound -
are you Fluffy from H&R? I'm Randolph Carter. Haha Duckman is here too.

I sure am.

And as you know H&R is so blatantly pro-Paul that people are wondering if Reason has endorsed him.

Gillespie may act like he's above the fray, but it seems like he's given everyone else free reign to make reason.com a Paul organizing site.

That's why I get a little concerned when people here or over at LewRockwell claim that Gillespie is the devil.

[alicegardener]

Ron Paul has said he is for legal immigration. The guy said Ron Paul was against "immigration". This is misinformation, not merely opinion. Anyway, my main point was that this was billed as a PRO Ron Paul piece and it was anything but. If this is all the coverage we are going to get on our side, if then, in the interests of "balance", they put on a more rabid anti-Ron Paul guest, you might as well write off a good chunk of the listening audience. WPR listeners VOTE.

[FluffyUnbound]

Alice, I can definitely agree with that.

If they wanted a Reason editor instead of a Paul campaign spokesman, they should have gotten Weigel or Bailey or Balko.

[kylejack]

Ron Paul has said he is for legal immigration. The guy said Ron Paul was against "immigration". This is misinformation, not merely opinion. Anyway, my main point was that this was billed as a PRO Ron Paul piece and it was anything but. If this is all the coverage we are going to get on our side, if then, in the interests of "balance", they put on a more rabid anti-Ron Paul guest, you might as well write off a good chunk of the listening audience. WPR listeners VOTE.
Ron Paul has not been very vocal about increasing immigration quotas. Indeed, I found an article a while back where Ron was stating that immigration quotas shouldn't be increased. Many libertarians want the quotas eliminated, for the most part.

Gillespie needs to take a larger view of this, though. No other candidate even comes close to libertarianism, and Ron Paul does.

[Brinck Slattery]

I sure am.

And as you know H&R is so blatantly pro-Paul that people are wondering if Reason has endorsed him.

Gillespie may act like he's above the fray, but it seems like he's given everyone else free reign to make reason.com a Paul organizing site.

That's why I get a little concerned when people here or over at LewRockwell claim that Gillespie is the devil.

Well, it's the "more libertarian than thou" thing. It comes out in spades when people are fanatically devoted to a candidate and see anything but glowing praise as a "hit piece."

I'll have to listen to the interview before I pass judgement, but yeah, regardless of what the leather-clad one says, his organization is definitely friendly to Paul.

[kylejack]

Alice, I can definitely agree with that.

If they wanted a Reason editor instead of a Paul campaign spokesman, they should have gotten Weigel or Bailey or Balko.

Definitely Balko.

[kylejack]

Audio link: http://clipcast.wpr.org:8080/ramgen/wpr/jca/jca071109b.rm

If someone could Youtube this, I'd appreciate it. I can't install RealPlayer or RealAlternative on this computer.

[Brinck Slattery]

Man Balko would have been great. I was one of the jerks who disliked Weigel when he first showed up, but now I've warmed to him.

It is funny, it seems like Nick doesn't do too much blogging anymore, he's more of the "write the letter from the editor" and show up on PBS dude.

[kylejack]

Man Balko would have been great. I was one of the jerks who disliked Weigel when he first showed up, but now I've warmed to him.

It is funny, it seems like Nick doesn't do too much blogging anymore, he's more of the "write the letter from the editor" and show up on PBS dude.

He has several entries a day, but they suck. Like about how a poker lobbyist makes him puke with his tactics.

[Brinck Slattery]

true, that post was lame. He seems obsessed with making libertarians cool.

And god knows, we're already ice cold.

[kylejack]

And god knows, we're already ice cold.

:cool: You're damn right we are.

[JMO]

I am listening to it now. 30 minutes into it and i think Nick has done his best to be fair, except on the Immigration issue. i didn't feel that he called Ron Paul racist, someone said Ron Paul has made racist remarks in the past and they discussed that. in the end Nick said that he felt that was a isolated incident, we don't know if it's true or not, and that Ron Paul has never shown racist tendencies.

[Buffalo Bruce]

Nick Gillespie, it should be noted, did say some positive things about Ron Paul at the beginning of the program. I don't think that either he or the hostess were out to get Ron Paul so much as they were not up to speed on Ron Paul. Ron Paul is not anti (legal) immigration, a racist, or an anti-Semite as some listeners to this program might have inferred. Words like "conspiracy" and "odd" also were associated with RP supporters. I agree that it would be great to have Ron Paul invited to answer questions for himself all across Wisconsin on WPR. Ken Van Doren, as suggested by alicegardener, would be a good local spokesperson in lieu of RP. (Ken in Ames http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LU_e5ezL-U , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BxJLh26KoM )

[1000-points-of-fright]

The OP totally over reacted. Nick was pretty fair. Since Israel receives the most foreign aid it is a bigger target in that respect and to some people it sounds anti-semitic... especially if it gets singled out. He explained the racist statement fairly well.

It was a positive piece without being a complete slobbering brown-nose.

[schmeisser]

I'd love to hear Dr. Paul on WPR. Being a former Wisconsin resident, I used to listen all of the time. For public radio, they are the fairest by far and will put on just about anything the listeners request. They also have very loose/fair phone screening.

Sounds like RP supporters are hitting this medium pretty well - good job!

[JosephTheLibertarian]

For a "libertarian," Gillespie sure talks like a collective minded liberal.

[scubasteve01]

Sent

[partypooper]

Ron Paul has not been very vocal about increasing immigration quotas. Indeed, I found an article a while back where Ron was stating that immigration quotas shouldn't be increased. Many libertarians want the quotas eliminated, for the most part.

that is because we still have the welfare state and some proportion of immigrants are motivated by that. i heard dr paul several times saying that he is for immigration - once we remove wrong incentives for people wanting to come to the US.

[JosephTheLibertarian]

why try to bash Ron Paul on illegal immigration? is he running as a democrat or a Libertarian? LOL. His party base WANTS stronger border control! What a moron. What does Nick want? A pro- open borders Ron Paul vying for the nomination of the GOP? haha. Nick better stick to the LP.

[JMO]

i sent a email to Wisconsin public radio.

Hi. I live in California now but I grew up in Wausau Wisconsin where i still have many relatives that i am no longer in contact.

I am writing about a recent show with Nick Gillespie with Ron Paul as the topic. I feel Nick did a OK job, but it seem to me he was Bias on the Immigration issue and left out a important fact. Ron Paul is not against Immigration, he is against Illegal Immigration. Nick had the chance to mention that multiple times but led the audience to believe he was against Immigration in all forms.

Another issue I feel needs to be mentioned is the race issue. whenever someone accuses you of being racist I feel that person should be given the chance to respond. I have seen DR Paul speak many times and I have never seen make racist statements. he even said something along the lines that the war on drugs discriminates against blacks. in this day and age this is a touchy topic and i believe it only fair that the Ron Paul campaign should be sent a email and given the chance to respond to your readers.

One last point. Ron Paul is not against freedom of choice. his belief is the Government should not be running our life. When the Government gets involved you get wasteful spending. he believes that you and I can better decide to do with our money than the Government can. you quit giving money to foreign countries, with that savings you abolish the Income Tax system. in doing so a person who makes say 50k a year will have the 10k he would normally give to the IRS to spend how he chooses. with 10k extra in his pocket he will surely spend more money, which would mean increase money for the state via sales tax. the states can better decide what to do with the extra money for the people of Wisconsin than the federal government.

I am thankful you gave the chance of the people of Wisconsin to learn more about Ron Paul, i just feel Nick was a little biased and did not give a accurate representation of Ron Paul's views.

thanks for reading my letter.

[kylejack]

that is because we still have the welfare state and some proportion of immigrants are motivated by that. i heard dr paul several times saying that he is for immigration - once we remove wrong incentives for people wanting to come to the US.

Yes, but "for" how much immigration? We don't know because he doesn't give specifics.

[partypooper]

when i heard him he said something like that wouldn't be a problem - and i got the impression that he meant that, once we are on the right track domestically, there would be no need for quotas. but i agree, he was not very specific.

[Craig_R]

I should probably know you guys. Buffalo bruce = olafub?

Havent placed alice yet.

[evadmurd]

Oh please...people are entitled to their opinions. I'm as pro Ron Paul as they come, but I am SOOOOOO sick of the Ron Paul War Party Brigade.

Yep...what he said.

[Craig_R]

listening to it now, and its overall pretty good. Nick isnt doing the best job but he's not outright hostile or anything.

[WhiteWhaleHolyGrail]

The Reason guy was pretty fair so I wouldn't get too excited about this.

I love Wisconsin public radio (a proud member donor) and it is the only radio station around here acknowledging he even exists. Actually... I heard chickenhawk Jay Weber mention his name this morning when talking about the different scenarios for candidates winning primaries, he said "and for all you Ron Paul supporters out there, there is no scenario in which Ron Paul can win <giggle, giggle>". All the AM radio commentators here in Milwaukee have pushed the war so hard their pride will keep them from changing their minds.

Ben Merens interviewed him on WPR back in August:
http://clipcast.wpr.org:8080/ramgen/wpr/bme/bme070815l.rm

[stewie3128]

This really makes no sense... Reason magazine and their Hit & Run blog is how I was introduced to Ron Paul. It's really an outpost of RP support. But, my respect for Nick Gillespie has just evaporated... completely. Repeating all the same BS that everyone else goes after RP with.

I sent an email canceling my subscription and lambasted them for sabotaging the one candidate who would actually bring some libertarian common sense to the executive branch.