Constitution

[GoPaul]

Between watching debates and any other political coverage I come across. A major thing I notice, is only one person mentions the Constitution.

Ron Paul mentions it again and again.

Does anyone have a rough estimate in overall TV coverage of how many times all candidates(dems and reps) mention it vs Dr. Paul?

[justinc.1089]

0- (I would put the same number as our national debt here but it won't fit)

[Jobarra]

This is a basis for one of the questions I need to ask for the Youtube debates, but I'm afraid that the candidates will be able to prepare for it and thusly nullify it's effect.

[dsentell]

0- (I would put the same number as our national debt here but it won't fit)

Actually, I think you may be wrong as to the "0". It seems some of the copy cat candidates, after seeing that the "C" word is popular, are now using it a bit. . . Notice how they are beginning to copy so much of RP's campaign -- real time money thermometer (for a while at least :D), money bomb, etc...

Sad that neither those campaigns nor supporters have any creativity! :D :D :D

[sparebulb]

King George has mentioned the Constitution.

Something to the effect of; "Its just a g>>damn piece of paper".

A statement like that is a real clue that we might be in trouble.

[tonyr1988]

I actually had a spreadsheet keeping track of how many times the other candidates said the word "constitution." IIRC, Tancredo was #2. It was really easy to check - there are transcripts for them all over the interwebs. I can't seem to find it now, but if I do, I'll make sure to post it here.

[billjarrett]

To be fair, whether or not you agree with his interpretation, Kucinich mentions the Constitution almost everytime they give him a chance to speak at debates from what I've seen.

[foofighter20x]

You didn't watch the PBS debate... A lot of the candidates there mentioned it.

[GoPaul]

I didn't see the PBS debate tonight. Any youtube or anon link??

Tony and Bill,
Can we get the real numbers? I may be off base. But I believe in money talking. So even with Tancredo and Kucinich. Our voice is speaking louder.

Talking points are what we need. And there's not many Americans I know, that will openly discard the Constitution.

Can we get some kind of timeline/graph comparison? Especially as that keyword, catches on, and more candidates start to use it.

[Vvick727]

i think i recall hearing Giuliani saying something about upholding "constitution" once in a debate.

i also recall throwing up in my mouth.

[beerista]

I didn't see the PBS debate tonight. Any youtube or anon link??

Tony and Bill,
Can we get the real numbers? I may be off base. But I believe in money talking. So even with Tancredo and Kucinich. Our voice is speaking louder.

Talking points are what we need. And there's not many Americans I know, that will openly discard the Constitution.

Can we get some kind of timeline/graph comparison? Especially as that keyword, catches on, and more candidates start to use it.

Unfortunately, mention of the Constitution is cheap. As focus groups determine the word still carries some weight-- much to the surprise and chagrin of the candidates-- more and more candidates will begin to work it into speeches in much the same way that Rudy creates sentences with "a subject, a verb, and 9-11." And it will be effective because their audience doesn't know what's in the document in question any better than they do. :(

[Furis]

i think i recall hearing Giuliani saying something about upholding "constitution" once in a debate.

i also recall throwing up in my mouth.

That seems like the perfect response to Giuliani mentioning the Constitution.

[Ron Paul Fan]

Giuliani and Romney got into a tiff about the line item veto being Constitutional at one debate. I think Tancredo has brought it up a few times. Other than that I only remember Ron Paul's signature lines such as, "I'm saying that we should take our marching orders from the CONSTITUTION!" or "This talk about going and talking to attorneys completely baffles me! Why don't we just open up the CONSTITUTION and read it?"

[GoPaul]

Unfortunately, mention of the Constitution is cheap. As focus groups determine the word still carries some weight-- much to the surprise and chagrin of the candidates-- more and more candidates will begin to work it into speeches in much the same way that Rudy creates sentences with "a subject, a verb, and 9-11." And it will be effective because their audience doesn't know what's in the document in question any better than they do. :(

Beerista,

I completely agree with you!!

We have transcripts and money on our side though.

Where's our graph of how many times candidates mentioned the Constitution before November 5th??

My feeling is that graph would be lopsided. After that day, well, we have events to tie together. Once again money talks. Who mentioned it before a certain person beat all fund raising records??

[work2win]

Other candidates started ripping off the constitution message sometime back in Sept./Oct. when they realized Ron Paul's message was resonating. Expect this to increase as they try to snare some of this mysterious "Constitution" support. Fortunately, this will work just as well as their attempts at harnessing the internet.

[beerista]

Beerista,

I completely agree with you!!

We have transcripts and money on our side though.

Where's our graph of how many times candidates mentioned the Constitution before November 5th??

My feeling is that graph would be lopsided. After that day, well, we have events to tie together. Once again money talks. Who mentioned it before a certain person beat all fund raising records??

I'd like to see that graph. Unfortunately, my computer skills end at finding the on/off button (with varying degrees of success), so I won't be the one to make that graph.

But, yes, I think you're exactly right in that prediction about how lopsided it would be.