Gracious Removal of Unfavorable "Open Letter to RP Supporters"

[udecker]

Hello everyone.

I would like to pass on some information. Brett Harris (of hucksarmy) and several Ron Paul supporters (including myself) opened a very positive dialogue after his Open Letter was posted on their fundraising website. Throughout that discussion, he not only continually complimented Dr. Paul and his message, but also the strength of our grassroots.

His complaint and his comments in the open letter he wrote are important. It would be a shame if a small, undisciplined group of Ron Paul supporters were to tarnish the Congressman's otherwise spotless campaign.

He believes that the message was received by us, and as such, has graciously removed any links to the open letter he wrote from all of his groups' websites. He doesn't want the negative actions of a few to taint the overall campaign of Dr. Paul, but he does want us to realize the impact that we have with our actions.

He left the URL active at http://www.hucksarmy.com/ron_paul.php so that we may read it and consider what he is saying, but he has removed all links to this page so that no one but us will see it.

In my opinion, his removal of the letter from public view is noble, gracious, and shows the character of him and the organization he is trying to run.

If you remember, right before the Tea Party ended, he posted the following in these forums:


I just wanted to drop in a give you the serious props you deserve. I have always told people that Ron Paul is the other real dark-horse and that people will underestimate him at their own peril. What you guys have accomplished so far is awesome. I'm looking forward to seeing how this all plays out.

Keep up the great work. This is what America is all about.

He didn't have to remove the links to his open letter, but he did. He also didn't even have to consider opening a dialogue with any of us, but he did. And it has been very positive. I know that this post won't be read by all of the grassroots, but I sincerely hope that those of us who see what he has done will take heed of what he is saying, and thank him for allowing it to be directed to us, and not to undecided voters who go to his group's pages and fundraisers.

I also hope that this post is taken in the light that it is intended - that we've got a gentleman across the aisle on another campaign, willing to take the high ground and have an open, positive discussion. I hope that we can always strive to do the same, and show the world that the message that Dr. Paul champions is respected, heeded, and practiced by those of us who are trying hardest to achieve it.

Thanks for listening. -Craig

[daikonv]

even though politics can be cut-throat, our best chance of winning people's support is not with condescending remarks, but with well thought out dialog. more people will listen that way.

[TheIndependent]

even though politics can be cut-throat, our best chance of winning people's support is not with condescending remarks, but with well thought out dialog. more people will listen that way.

That's how I've been winning over voters. Humble, peaceful dialogue of nothing but the facts.

[constitutional]

Don't listen to them. Fred's supporters blamed us for their money bomb failure and now Huckabee's supporters. They have no proof-- just talk. I can go to Fred's forums and make up disdainful stuff and pretend to be a Huckabee's supporter. Pretty much they are trying to divide us. I have faith in RP's supporters. 99% of them would not do anything that would hurt us. Hell, they ban their own supporters everyday from their forums and drive away great ideas by criticizing them to death.

Screw them, don't listen to them. They are trying to divide us.

I can blame blimp money issue on Fred or Huckabee's supporters because we had way too many pledges than actual donations. CAN I?

[LibertyForAll]

I agree, and props to Brett from removing links to that "open letter". Trashing his forums will do us no good. It only casts negative light on the Ron Paul campaign. Thank You Brett and I say load that bus onto the Freedom Train.

[roversaurus]

Folks we have GOT to be nice to the other candidates supporters.
and NOT make fun of other candidates.

WE WILL NEED THOSE VOTERS come election time after their candidates drop out.

THAT is why Hucks guy is being so nice to us.

We MUST be nice to them.

Think about it ... How many Ron Paul supporters have you heard say that they
would NEVER vote for Rudy? Hmmm? Think on it.
The reason is because of how rude Rudy was to Paul so long ago.
It may have a little to do with his policies but mostly it was his treatment of Ron
Paul.
.... And THAT is why we MUST be polite at all times.

If your willing to send money then be willing to swallow a little pride.

[steph3n]

Don't listen to them. Fred's supporters blamed us for their money bomb failure and now Huckabee's supporters. They have no proof-- just talk. I can go to Fred's forums and make up disdainful stuff and pretend to be a Huckabee's supporter. Pretty much they are trying to divide us. I have faith in RP's supporters. 99% of them would not do anything that would hurt us. Hell, they ban their own supporters everyday from their forums and drive away great ideas by criticizing them to death.

Screw them, don't listen to them. They are trying to divide us.

Do not mess with them, Learn from Dr Paul, be a non interventionist.

[LibertyEagle]

Who is doing that? How disgusting!!! I am flat out embarrassed that someone saying they support Ron Paul would do such a thing. And I don't doubt what he said was true, because I saw at least one person on this forum suggesting that people go over to that pledge site and spam it.

For those of you who did that, I have no idea why you support Ron Paul, because he would not agree with what you did at all. You are nothing more than an immature child, or else a hoodlum, if you would do these things. You are doing nothing but hurting this campaign by acting like that in the name of Ron Paul.

Please stop it and stop it NOW! :mad:

[steph3n]

Who is doing that? How disgusting!!! I am flat out embarrassed that someone saying they support Ron Paul would do such a thing. And I don't doubt what he said was true, because I saw at least one person on this forum suggesting that people go over to that pledge site and spam it.

For those of you who did that, I have no idea why you support Ron Paul, because he would not agree with what you did at all. You are nothing more than an immature child, or else a hoodlum, if you would do these things. You are doing nothing but hurting this campaign by acting like that in the name of Ron Paul.

Please stop it and stop it NOW! :mad:

We have children among us that enjoy this as humor.

[SophisticatedFarmGirl]

Thanks for working on this, Craig. That is good news.

You certainly don't win votes by being an a$$. (Think Howard Dean.)

[Mark Rushmore]

I'm so impressed that the Huckabee supporters never leave foul anti-Paul comments following blog posts and articles. :rolleyes:

[Stealth4]

Thank you Brett.

I'm glad we, RP supporters as a whole, are learning to temper our actions and words and work respectively with other people. Most of us have been doing this all along, but a few very angry people havent and it does hurt the campaign.

[constitutional]

Do not mess with them, Learn from Dr Paul, be a non interventionist.

Exactly, no one is messing with them. Now if Iran said we are attacking them and they have no proof, would you agree that we are attacking them? They are trying to give us a bad name.

The fact that this thread exists saddens me.

[LibertyEagle]

I'm so impressed that the Huckabee supporters never leave foul anti-Paul comments following blog posts and articles. :rolleyes:

Not like some of our more immature posters do.

[LibertyEagle]

Exactly, no one is messing with them. Now if Iran said we are attacking them and they have no proof, would you agree that we are attacking them? They are trying to give us a bad name.

The fact that this thread exists saddens me.

YES, THEY ARE BEING MESSED WITH. That is the problem. Didn't you read the 1st post?

[steph3n]

Exactly, no one is messing with them. Now if Iran said we are attacking them and they have no proof, would you agree that we are attacking them? They are trying to give us a bad name.

The fact that this thread exists saddens me.

There are threads here calling for such to be done. On a daily basis, just stick around and read a bit. such ideas get shot down pretty quick but the fact is one person doing this can cause a bad rep.
if you mention it you get told "rules of fight club" crap, you know there are ways to not play NICE without being downright dirty.

[constitutional]

Who is doing that? How disgusting!!! I am flat out embarrassed that someone saying they support Ron Paul would do such a thing. And I don't doubt what he said was true, because I saw at least one person on this forum suggesting that people go over to that pledge site and spam it.

For those of you who did that, I have no idea why you support Ron Paul, because he would not agree with what you did at all. You are nothing more than an immature child, or else a hoodlum, if you would do these things. You are doing nothing but hurting this campaign by acting like that in the name of Ron Paul.

Please stop it and stop it NOW! :mad:

Calm down. Don't even think that we would do this. No one is trying to stop their projects.

These incident will continue if we don't stop this discussion. We are only fueling it. :(

[aravoth]

I don't care, at all, about Huck, or his army. So a couple of nit-wits pumped up the pledge numbers. What the hell am I supposed to do about it? We don't even know who these "fringe" people are. And we wouldn't have a right to try and be their overlords by forcing them to comply with Huckabee's 500 man grassroots machine. Give me a friggan break.

It's their problem. And they should probably find a way to fix it on their own. Rather than write some stupid sobbing letter that will only embolden the people that do that crap.

[pcosmar]

That is Two posts on this same subject.
There is no PROOF that this happened.

The more I am accused of doing something I have not done, The Angrier I get.

[InRonWeTrust]

That guy is a douchebag. He bans Ron supporters on sight at his forum.

[LibertyEagle]

That is Two posts on this same subject.
There is no PROOF that this happened.

The more I am accused of doing something I have not done, The Angrier I get.

There was someone on this forum who was suggesting spamming his pledges just yesterday or the day before. I saw it with my own eyes. I would imagine several other people did too.

[steph3n]

That guy is a douchebag. He bans Ron supporters on sight at his forum.

actually he doesn't, he doesn't allow them to register at all. It is private property, respect it.

[francisco]

I wish that Huckabee himself would show as much class as Brett.

[steph3n]

I wish that Huckabee himself would show as much class as Brett.

QFT! And i wish we'd show as much as Dr Paul :)

[subdefective]

Weren't there a bunch of fake pledges for the blimp? Did we go around posting letters assigning blame, or did we get over it? I invite Mr Harris to do the latter.

[InRonWeTrust]

actually he doesn't, he doesn't allow them to register at all. It is private property, respect it.


No actually I don't respect his policies. I think he's a douchebag.

[ronpaulitician]

Honey.

Honey.

Honey.

If we really want to win this thing, as opposed to just shouting about how mad we are, we will eventually need the people who currently support the other candidates to vote for Paul.

[pcosmar]

More Huck SPAM

[klamath]

Thanks for doing this. People were posting the two cents for Huck stuff yesterday on here and as a whole the idea was shot down but a number of people thought it was great.
By far the majority of us are responsible but some wish to play stupid games because they think it is funny. I want to leave the RP option open for those Huck supporters that finially catch on to what he is.

[torchbearer]

He didn't have to remove the links to his open letter

He didn't have to write it to begin with.... grown ups talk to each other in way to save face...what he did is called posturing... in politics... we just don't talk about it... but i'm not a politician, and I will talk about it...
I have no respect for him what-so-ever... If we reflect on Dr. Paul, then his support of Huckabee reflects on him... he must embody everything Huck does... and that speaks volumes for my lack of respect for him.

[Anthony T]

Weren't there a bunch of fake pledges for the blimp? Did we go around posting letters assigning blame, or did we get over it? I invite Mr Harris to do the latter.
I agree. Doing all this drama is completely unnecessary.

[dspectre]

He didn't have to write it to begin with.... grown ups talk to each other in way to save face...what he did is called posturing... in politics... we just don't talk about it... but i'm not a politician, and I will talk about it...
I have no respect for him what-so-ever... If we reflect on Dr. Paul, then his support of Huckabee reflects on him... he must embody everything Huck does... and that speaks volumes for my lack of respect for him.

Agreed.

This guy is playing politics.

I seriously doubt we support the bad actions of some bad apples.

He is trying to take a few supporters and paint that as if that is the whole RP movement. We shouldn't apologize for a few bad apples, they aren't are responsibility.

By apologizing to his statement, we are basically admitting that our movement is responsible for some bad actions.

Forget this guy.

[Adamsa]

even though politics can be cut-throat, our best chance of winning people's support is not with condescending remarks, but with well thought out dialog. more people will listen that way.

You are correct.

[1913_to_2008]

Thank you Brett. Kiss Kiss. Ass Kiss Come a little closer so these guys can KISS your ass a little bit better. THESE GUYS KISS EVERYONES ASS

YOUR CANDIDATE IS A DIRT BAG DO SOME RESEARCH. QUIT COPYING US WITH THE MONEY BOMBS.

[udecker]

He is trying to take a few supporters and paint that as if that is the whole RP movement. We shouldn't apologize for a few bad apples, they aren't are responsibility.

By apologizing to his statement, we are basically admitting that our movement is responsible for some bad actions.


He's not asking for an apology - he was pointing out the impact that the negative actions can have on people considering supporting Dr. Paul. If "all of his supporters are nutcases," then no one else will support him, lest they be branded the same way.

And I think you're missing the point - he took it down because he didn't want to paint the whole RP movement in a negative light. This is a good guy, folks. I wish there were more of them out there.

Consider this: he helps run a big grassroots for a candidate who is not Dr. Paul. It would benefit him for people to think badly about Dr. Paul. However, he took the high road and decided not to tie the misbehaving public supporters of Dr. Paul with the rest of the campaign. How this can be seen as a bad thing is beyond me.

[devil21]

This whole situation is just stupid. Im pretty sure they will take the exact same route as the Fredheads did and blame their poor fundraising on RP supporters. So what if a few RP supporters signed up with fake pledges? We had 32K pledges for the Tea Party and got 6 million. If Huck has soooo much support, then a few (or even a lot!) fake pledges won't matter because they will still raise a boatload of money, right? Right??? If not, then stop setting yourself up for failure and recognize that only Ron Paul has this level of support.

I still don't get why we (RP grassroots) are entangling ourselves with Huck's grassroots in any way, shape, or form. Stop letting that Brett guy spam this forum then turn around the next day and blame US for THEIR failures on his forum. He's as big of a snake in the grass as Huck is.

[torchbearer]

This whole situation is just stupid. Im pretty sure they will take the exact same route as the Fredheads did and blame their poor fundraising on RP supporters. So what if a few RP supporters signed up with fake pledges? We had 32K pledges for the Tea Party and got 6 million. If Huck has soooo much support, then a few (or even a lot!) fake pledges won't matter because they will still raise a boatload of money, right? Right??? If not, then stop setting yourself up for failure and recognize that only Ron Paul has this level of support.

I still don't get why we (RP grassroots) are entangling ourselves with Huck's grassroots in any way, shape, or form. Stop letting that Brett guy spam this forum then turn around the next day and blame US for THEIR failures on his forum. He's as big of a snake in the grass as Huck is.

+1.
The reason we have so many "suck huck's c@ck" threads is because we have huck supporters posting on our forum. That is very obvious.

[tonyTheBest]

Agreed.

This guy is playing politics.

I seriously doubt we support the bad actions of some bad apples.

He is trying to take a few supporters and paint that as if that is the whole RP movement. We shouldn't apologize for a few bad apples, they aren't are responsibility.

By apologizing to his statement, we are basically admitting that our movement is responsible for some bad actions.

Forget this guy.

I also agree.

This guy is playing nice so he can paint us bad.
Don't fall for it.
What we can do is be nice with other people. That's all we need. We don't need any advice from other candidates or their supporters. Just think about it for a minute, why would they want to help us?
There is a high possibility that some posers, who want to destroy our credibility, state that they are RP supporters but in fact they are not.

[Doc Dewey]

If the good doctors message was just more of the same we would have
to resort to all kinds of dirty tricks to differentiate us from the crowd.
Ron Pauls message is clear and true, freedom, individual responsibility,
governmental responsibility, and liberty.
We don't need to bad mouth anyone else. Huck's army are fighting the
same fight for their guy as we are fighting for ours. They don't have
the corporations and special interest lined up like all the rest of the scum.
So lets cut them some slack. They are the only other true grass roots
effort out there. This is where we want politics to go in the future.
Power to the people, not to the military industrial complex.

[jasonoliver]

Folks we have GOT to be nice to the other candidates supporters.
and NOT make fun of other candidates.

WE WILL NEED THOSE VOTERS come election time after their candidates drop out.

THAT is why Hucks guy is being so nice to us.

We MUST be nice to them.

Think about it ... How many Ron Paul supporters have you heard say that they
would NEVER vote for Rudy? Hmmm? Think on it.
The reason is because of how rude Rudy was to Paul so long ago.
It may have a little to do with his policies but mostly it was his treatment of Ron
Paul.
.... And THAT is why we MUST be polite at all times.

If your willing to send money then be willing to swallow a little pride.

I am not going to be nice to a Christofascist Bill Clinton/Gomer Pyle imbred!

[Cleaner44]

My thought is that each one of us should conduct ourselves with integrity. We should act responsibly and take care of our own actions. If trolls and such want to do dispicable things it is not a reflection on me, Ron Paul or any of you other fine citizens here.

[devil21]

And doesnt that video on Huck's moneybomb site call us fanatical supporters in a very negative light? Then the guy wants to complain when some RP people sign up fake pledges? :rolleyes:

[Ronin]

I think the guys pretty stand up. He may have made a mistake by putting it up, but clearly he's backtracked. Nobody's perfect. I give him the benefit of the doubt. He gave us a very sincere congrats after the Tea Party (do a search). I don't agree with his forum policy, but that will be to his own demise. By doing that he's isolating himself and his supporters, which is not a good way of spreading Huckabees message. Assuming there is one! He'll never reach our level of online support and dialog with this approach.

I will also say we should welcome Huck supporters with open arms. These Americans may truly have been mis-informed and are waking up. Or maybe they are just seeing their candidates true colors and need a little direction. No matter the case, we should treat them with respect as fellow members of a society. Not doing so would be hypocritical.

[dspectre]

He's not asking for an apology - he was pointing out the impact that the negative actions can have on people considering supporting Dr. Paul. If "all of his supporters are nutcases," then no one else will support him, lest they be branded the same way.

And I think you're missing the point - he took it down because he didn't want to paint the whole RP movement in a negative light. This is a good guy, folks. I wish there were more of them out there.

Consider this: he helps run a big grassroots for a candidate who is not Dr. Paul. It would benefit him for people to think badly about Dr. Paul. However, he took the high road and decided not to tie the misbehaving public supporters of Dr. Paul with the rest of the campaign. How this can be seen as a bad thing is beyond me.

Yes he is. He took down the links because he is negotiating an apology.

He is doing us favors in the name of being "nice".

I don't think we supporters should manipulate and play kiss up in hopes of bringing in other supporters.

He's not your friend or your buddy. If he can't handle being on the internet that is his problem.

[tmg19103]

I don't trust this Huck's Army guy and I REALLY don't trust Huck at all.

However, I have no time or inclination to do anything to sabatoge another campaign. My focus is on getting RP elected.

While there may be people from other campaigns doing this, there is no doubt in my mind a very few misguide RP supporters are doing some of this. It only hurts the campaign and there is nothing anyone can really do about it.

Thus, I have no time for this Huck's Army B.S. We should not even be talking about them - we should be out promoting RP in a positive manner and not wasting our time with other campaigns.

[tron paul]

Don't listen to them. Fred's supporters blamed us for their money bomb failure and now Huckabee's supporters. They have no proof-- just talk. I can go to Fred's forums and make up disdainful stuff and pretend to be a Huckabee's supporter. Pretty much they are trying to divide us. I have faith in RP's supporters. 99% of them would not do anything that would hurt us. Hell, they ban their own supporters everyday from their forums and drive away great ideas by criticizing them to death.

Screw them, don't listen to them. They are trying to divide us.

I can blame blimp money issue on Fred or Huckabee's supporters because we had way too many pledges than actual donations. CAN I?

The open letter was submitted to digg, where it was lampooned and mocked with great enthusiasm. That's why they took it down, to save face, not for any honorable reason.

digg.com/2008_us_elections/HUCK_BEGS_FOR_MERCY_IN_OPEN_LETTER_TO_RON_PAUL_SUP PORTERS

[richk]

QFT! And i wish we'd show as much as Dr Paul :)

QFT.

Anybody here suggesting that no one has acted improperly is naive and/or intellectually dishonest. I have seen many posts suggesting the very things we are being accused of. :( I wish people would remained focused on the task at hand: getting Ron to the White House.

[1town]

Ugh.. goddamn spammers and juveniles. It's like we are working against a fraction of our supporters who are too dumb to realize that acting like fucking competitive kids is hurting the cause.

Grow. The fuck. Up

[tron paul]

Ugh.. goddamn spammers and juveniles. It's like we are working against a fraction of our supporters who are too dumb to realize that acting like fucking competitive kids is hurting the cause.

Grow. The fuck. Up

Ron Paul says that if we aren't having fun supporting him, then we aren't doing it right.

Hucksarmy has to constantly badger their posters to not mention ron paul, and forbids/locks comparison threads. We are making them crazy, that is a good thing.

YOU are working against the kewl kids that discovered and decided to support Ron using all available means. Best of luck to ya winning where the neocon media could not.

Why not go outside and knock on doors instead of playing the cussing angry authority figure online?

[Mark]

Who is doing that? How disgusting!!! I am flat out embarrassed that someone saying they support Ron Paul would do such a thing. And I don't doubt what he said was true, because I saw at least one person on this forum suggesting that people go over to that pledge site and spam it.

For those of you who did that, I have no idea why you support Ron Paul, because he would not agree with what you did at all. You are nothing more than an immature child, or else a hoodlum, if you would do these things. You are doing nothing but hurting this campaign by acting like that in the name of Ron Paul.

Please stop it and stop it NOW! :mad:

QFT WWRD people?

It's time EVERYONE acted like we'll need the other candidate's supporters support eventually, because we will.

Please stop the immature behavior already whoever is doing it.

[torchbearer]

The open letter was submitted to digg, where it was lampooned and mocked with great enthusiasm. That's why they took it down, to save face, not for any honorable reason.

digg.com/2008_us_elections/HUCK_BEGS_FOR_MERCY_IN_OPEN_LETTER_TO_RON_PAUL_SUP PORTERS

HAHAHA! This huck guy does act just like Huck... they were made for each other...

[Revolution9]

We have children among us that enjoy this as humor.

It ain't funny. It is in the category of stupid and bratty. Watch it with those childish refs.. Children are good natured unless they are being brats:D

Best Regards
Randy

[Revolution9]

QFT! And i wish we'd show as much as Dr Paul :)

Yer taking uncalled for shots at us again.. When are you going to fucking stop????

Randy

[torchbearer]

Yer taking uncalled for shots at us again.. When are you going to fucking stop????

Randy

The apologist and "self-ordained" pious lechers have gone rampant tonight.

We have regulars who abide by collectivist ideas... "if its worth doing, its worth forcing someone to do it". Forcing virtue via the self-righteous gun... kind of like our current administration.
How can they support Ron and not understand individualism?

[garrettwombat]

First, I am largely addressing an extreme fringe among Ron Paul's supporters. This is not an attack on Dr. Paul himself or on most of his supporters. Instead I am addressing that radical fringe (the size of which is largely unknown) that has more and more come to represent Ron Paul and his supporters to most Americans. Dr. Paul's greatest handicap is the rampant abuse of the very freedom he advocates.


how can anyone "abuse" freedom

freedom is freedom... no strings attached

[RobotJaxxon]

Why, exactly, are we being nice to the Huckabee crowd?

I'm not saying we should be mean to them. But the only real chance we have to get Ron Paul the nomination is to take over the Republican party with new and independent voters.

Huckabee himself has said the ONLY Republican candidate he could not support is Ron Paul. Period. Its over. Stop trying to be chummy to his supporters.

[mtmedlin]

If Huck does drop before the end and it does go to a floor fight at the convention, we will need Hucks grassroots to win.

Like it or not, that is the truth.

[hasan]

this guy is talking crap. at first he says that it is directed to people who do these things in general and then he directs his cricitcism to ron paul supporters in general. i doubt any serious ron paul supporter would direct abuse at our opponents. im pretty sure other candidates supporters are smearing us. WHAT WE NEED TO DO IS SEND AN OFFICIAL GRASSROOTS STATEMENT TO ALL OTHER CANDIDATES" GRASSROOTS ORGANIZATIONS DISASSOCIATING US FROM THIS TYPE OF BEHAVIOR. If you agree then please lets get together and do this. We can write up a template and get it signed even if you will. Let me know what you guys think.

[hasan]

bump

[hasan]

bump

[hasan]

bump

[Hurricane Bruiser]

Who is doing that? How disgusting!!! I am flat out embarrassed that someone saying they support Ron Paul would do such a thing. And I don't doubt what he said was true, because I saw at least one person on this forum suggesting that people go over to that pledge site and spam it.

For those of you who did that, I have no idea why you support Ron Paul, because he would not agree with what you did at all. You are nothing more than an immature child, or else a hoodlum, if you would do these things. You are doing nothing but hurting this campaign by acting like that in the name of Ron Paul.

Please stop it and stop it NOW! :mad:

+10,000

[RonPaulVolunteer]

I agree completely with him. The flagrant ABUSE of freedom amongst Ron Paul's supporters is obvious and harmful. With great freedom comes greater responsibility. Something many of us seem to forget.

.