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12-12-2007, 05:56 AM
SOURCE: http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2007-12-11-ron-paul_N.htm?csp=34#
WASHINGTON — Texas Congressman Ron Paul is getting help from an improbable source in his long-shot bid for the Republican presidential nomination: Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
Video clips of Paul — who supports the gold standard and has sponsored a bill to abolish the Fed — ripping into Bernanke at congressional hearings are getting hundreds of thousands of hits on the video-sharing website YouTube.
ROUND 1 (VIDEO): Ron Paul lets loose on Bernanke (YouTube)
ROUND 2 (VIDEO): Ron Paul lets loose on Bernanke (YouTube)
The Paul tongue lashings (they can't really be termed question-and-answer sessions, as Bernanke barely gets a word in edgewise) have also been posted to other websites by Paul backers.
In the footage Paul, a physician by training, warns Bernanke, a Ph.D. economist and former chairman of Princeton's economics department, that he is shoveling too much money into the economy.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: House | Republican | Youtube | Fed | Alan Greenspan | Federal Reserve Chairman | Ben Bernanke | Ron | Presidential candidate | Susan Walsh | Ron Paul
Paul's charges may be serving to pump up the amount of cash flowing into his own campaign coffers. Comments posted with the videos include requests that viewers donate to Paul. The Texas lawmaker has raised more than $10.6 million in the fourth quarter, double the third quarter's total of $5.28 million.
The maverick lawmaker just months ago was little known beyond supporters in such political groups as the Libertarian Party or the Constitution Party.
But Paul has developed a grass-roots following, with rising poll numbers.
"This monetary issue finally is starting to rise to the forefront," says Jesse Benton, Paul campaign national press secretary. "It is the most defining issue of the campaign."
The Paul-Bernanke clips have headlines such as "Free Market Smackdown" "Ron Paul Speaks to Legalized Plunder by Moneyed Monster: FED" or "Ron Paul Ownz the Federal Reserve." There's a music video juxtaposing photos of former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan and Bernanke with quotes from Paul on the dangers of current policy.
Another clip attracting tens of thousands of viewers is a CNBC segment analyzing Bernanke's November testimony to Congress, including a reporter noting financial traders cheered Paul's remarks.
The videos don't have the pull of other YouTube political favorites, such as Obama Girl: a musical love note to Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, sung by an alluring young woman, which has been viewed more than 4 million times.
Still, the Paul-Bernanke viewership is more than respectable, given the main characters are two guys in suits and the subject matter includes the MZM measure of the money supply, government wholesale and retail inflation gauges and the value of the dollar.
The Paul segments are among the most-viewed YouTube clips of Bernanke, whose careful, understated appearances purposely lack the bombast needed to become web classics.
WASHINGTON — Texas Congressman Ron Paul is getting help from an improbable source in his long-shot bid for the Republican presidential nomination: Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
Video clips of Paul — who supports the gold standard and has sponsored a bill to abolish the Fed — ripping into Bernanke at congressional hearings are getting hundreds of thousands of hits on the video-sharing website YouTube.
ROUND 1 (VIDEO): Ron Paul lets loose on Bernanke (YouTube)
ROUND 2 (VIDEO): Ron Paul lets loose on Bernanke (YouTube)
The Paul tongue lashings (they can't really be termed question-and-answer sessions, as Bernanke barely gets a word in edgewise) have also been posted to other websites by Paul backers.
In the footage Paul, a physician by training, warns Bernanke, a Ph.D. economist and former chairman of Princeton's economics department, that he is shoveling too much money into the economy.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: House | Republican | Youtube | Fed | Alan Greenspan | Federal Reserve Chairman | Ben Bernanke | Ron | Presidential candidate | Susan Walsh | Ron Paul
Paul's charges may be serving to pump up the amount of cash flowing into his own campaign coffers. Comments posted with the videos include requests that viewers donate to Paul. The Texas lawmaker has raised more than $10.6 million in the fourth quarter, double the third quarter's total of $5.28 million.
The maverick lawmaker just months ago was little known beyond supporters in such political groups as the Libertarian Party or the Constitution Party.
But Paul has developed a grass-roots following, with rising poll numbers.
"This monetary issue finally is starting to rise to the forefront," says Jesse Benton, Paul campaign national press secretary. "It is the most defining issue of the campaign."
The Paul-Bernanke clips have headlines such as "Free Market Smackdown" "Ron Paul Speaks to Legalized Plunder by Moneyed Monster: FED" or "Ron Paul Ownz the Federal Reserve." There's a music video juxtaposing photos of former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan and Bernanke with quotes from Paul on the dangers of current policy.
Another clip attracting tens of thousands of viewers is a CNBC segment analyzing Bernanke's November testimony to Congress, including a reporter noting financial traders cheered Paul's remarks.
The videos don't have the pull of other YouTube political favorites, such as Obama Girl: a musical love note to Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, sung by an alluring young woman, which has been viewed more than 4 million times.
Still, the Paul-Bernanke viewership is more than respectable, given the main characters are two guys in suits and the subject matter includes the MZM measure of the money supply, government wholesale and retail inflation gauges and the value of the dollar.
The Paul segments are among the most-viewed YouTube clips of Bernanke, whose careful, understated appearances purposely lack the bombast needed to become web classics.