madcat033
01-09-2008, 01:17 AM
Okay people, it's really time to refocus and regroup. Do NOT let these setbacks get you down. Remember the wisdom of those like Thomas Paine. Nothing worthwhile is EVER easy. Did you really think this would be easy? Did you really think you could go wave signs and make Ron Paul win the nomination? No. We took a hit in NH and IA. As Rocky said, "It's about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward... how much you can take, and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done."
Now, if you want to give up, then go. Don't start threads saying you're giving up. Don't list the reasons or lament our chances. Just go quietly. Don't try to bring others down with you. As for me, why would I ever give this up? Ron Paul has inspired me like no one or nothing has before. So far, only about 40 delegates out of over 2,000 have been decided, and some people are GIVING UP? This race has not even begun! Don't you at least have a LITTLE faith in Ron Paul? The guy has been elected to Congress TEN TIMES. He knows how the game works. He is experienced. We still have a shitload of cash.
Now, I think the first course of action is that we need to refocus and regroup. We need to reevaluate the activities of the grassroots. What works and what doesn't. Here is a list of things we should and should not do:
Fancy new ways of promoting Ron Paul are ineffective. People are spending WAY too much time trying to come up with the new hip way to promote Ron Paul. Blimps, Ron Paul gum, military care packages, elephants, digging, etc. We are spending too much time and effort coming up with these elaborate and ridiculous ways of promoting Ron Paul. You know, we pride ourselves in being the first campaign with a Blimp, but there's a REASON no other candidate has ever gotten a fucking blimp! We spent way too much of our collective time and money on that thing. Say what you will about the "advertising value" but how many actual voters do you think it has converted?
And in the same vein, we need to reevaluate these moneybombs. They are effective at raising money, that's it. Don't be fooled to think the media cares. They don't. We broke the goddamn record and NO ONE NOTICED. The only point of a moneybomb is to help Ron Paul get more money. But in the past few months, all we do is debate when to have moneybombs. We've diluted them by having them all the time. Everyone thinks they have the best idea for the next great moneybomb. We now have polls and arguments and debates about whether to do the Martin Luther King moneybomb or the Ben Franklin moneybomb. People are getting too selfish and concerned with promoting their own little pet project and forget about the goal of GETTING RON PAUL ELECTED.
Traditional campaigning methods are EFFECTIVE! We've got a GREAT message, now let's go bring it to the people! This means canvassing, phone banking, voter lists, etc. These will win us this election. Going out and talking to people is the most effective thing you can do, period. And with THOUSANDS of meetup members, we should be able to talk to many people! Think about it. If we estimate 100,000 meetup members, and each knocked on 100 doors, then we would reach 10 MILLION homes. And I know people who have knocked on MANY more than 100 doors.
No more sign waving! Name recognition is not enough. We tried that and it doesn't work. People aren't that motivated. We need to give them a reason to CARE! We need to give them a reason to look up Ron Paul! I didn't become a Ron Paul supporter just because I saw his name somewhere. Sign waving is a waste of time.
We need DETAILS to show what sets us apart. Someone mentioned this in another thread. When people see shit like "secure the border" and "lower taxes" and "end the war in Iraq" they just tune it out. Fuck, ALL THE REPUBLICANS say that kind of shit. Why would they bother to look him up? That's just more vague BS. We need to be DETAILED with what sets Ron Paul apart. "No more birthright citizenship" "Bring the troops home now" "End the Patriot Act" Those are the kinds of things that will differentiate us.
No more attacking / boycotting the media. Stop getting all self righteous and egotistical by thinking you can take down the media just because they piss you off. It is a MAJOR waste of grassroots time and effort. So what if they diss Ron Paul? So what if they ignore him? So what if they exclude him from their debates? If we waste time bitching about it, that's just hurting ourselves. Ignore it, and stay focused on our goal here. Don't you think Hannity loves it when we focus our energy on trying to come up with ways to boycott or hurt Fox News? I mean, he doesn't give a shit what any of us think, we can't harm them in any way, and it's just distracting us from our goal of winning a presidential election.
Anyways, those are my recommendations to the grassroots. We have incredible manpower. We can achieve a LOT if we focus all of our efforts into effective venues. I mean, we set a new record for most donations EVER! We got a goddamn blimp into the air completely on our own! We, as a grassroots, have INCREDIBLE muscle. If we can properly focus it, then we will WIN this election!
So the bottom line is, ditch all these fancy ideas. We need a mass grassroots mobilization to do some canvassing. We need to show people what sets Ron Paul apart. We need to get out there and spread our message to as many people as possible. With a $20 million national advertising blitz from the campaign, and a massive grassroots canvassing drive, we can win this election. We have one month. Now GO and TAKE BACK YOUR COUNTRY!
Now, if you want to give up, then go. Don't start threads saying you're giving up. Don't list the reasons or lament our chances. Just go quietly. Don't try to bring others down with you. As for me, why would I ever give this up? Ron Paul has inspired me like no one or nothing has before. So far, only about 40 delegates out of over 2,000 have been decided, and some people are GIVING UP? This race has not even begun! Don't you at least have a LITTLE faith in Ron Paul? The guy has been elected to Congress TEN TIMES. He knows how the game works. He is experienced. We still have a shitload of cash.
Now, I think the first course of action is that we need to refocus and regroup. We need to reevaluate the activities of the grassroots. What works and what doesn't. Here is a list of things we should and should not do:
Fancy new ways of promoting Ron Paul are ineffective. People are spending WAY too much time trying to come up with the new hip way to promote Ron Paul. Blimps, Ron Paul gum, military care packages, elephants, digging, etc. We are spending too much time and effort coming up with these elaborate and ridiculous ways of promoting Ron Paul. You know, we pride ourselves in being the first campaign with a Blimp, but there's a REASON no other candidate has ever gotten a fucking blimp! We spent way too much of our collective time and money on that thing. Say what you will about the "advertising value" but how many actual voters do you think it has converted?
And in the same vein, we need to reevaluate these moneybombs. They are effective at raising money, that's it. Don't be fooled to think the media cares. They don't. We broke the goddamn record and NO ONE NOTICED. The only point of a moneybomb is to help Ron Paul get more money. But in the past few months, all we do is debate when to have moneybombs. We've diluted them by having them all the time. Everyone thinks they have the best idea for the next great moneybomb. We now have polls and arguments and debates about whether to do the Martin Luther King moneybomb or the Ben Franklin moneybomb. People are getting too selfish and concerned with promoting their own little pet project and forget about the goal of GETTING RON PAUL ELECTED.
Traditional campaigning methods are EFFECTIVE! We've got a GREAT message, now let's go bring it to the people! This means canvassing, phone banking, voter lists, etc. These will win us this election. Going out and talking to people is the most effective thing you can do, period. And with THOUSANDS of meetup members, we should be able to talk to many people! Think about it. If we estimate 100,000 meetup members, and each knocked on 100 doors, then we would reach 10 MILLION homes. And I know people who have knocked on MANY more than 100 doors.
No more sign waving! Name recognition is not enough. We tried that and it doesn't work. People aren't that motivated. We need to give them a reason to CARE! We need to give them a reason to look up Ron Paul! I didn't become a Ron Paul supporter just because I saw his name somewhere. Sign waving is a waste of time.
We need DETAILS to show what sets us apart. Someone mentioned this in another thread. When people see shit like "secure the border" and "lower taxes" and "end the war in Iraq" they just tune it out. Fuck, ALL THE REPUBLICANS say that kind of shit. Why would they bother to look him up? That's just more vague BS. We need to be DETAILED with what sets Ron Paul apart. "No more birthright citizenship" "Bring the troops home now" "End the Patriot Act" Those are the kinds of things that will differentiate us.
No more attacking / boycotting the media. Stop getting all self righteous and egotistical by thinking you can take down the media just because they piss you off. It is a MAJOR waste of grassroots time and effort. So what if they diss Ron Paul? So what if they ignore him? So what if they exclude him from their debates? If we waste time bitching about it, that's just hurting ourselves. Ignore it, and stay focused on our goal here. Don't you think Hannity loves it when we focus our energy on trying to come up with ways to boycott or hurt Fox News? I mean, he doesn't give a shit what any of us think, we can't harm them in any way, and it's just distracting us from our goal of winning a presidential election.
Anyways, those are my recommendations to the grassroots. We have incredible manpower. We can achieve a LOT if we focus all of our efforts into effective venues. I mean, we set a new record for most donations EVER! We got a goddamn blimp into the air completely on our own! We, as a grassroots, have INCREDIBLE muscle. If we can properly focus it, then we will WIN this election!
So the bottom line is, ditch all these fancy ideas. We need a mass grassroots mobilization to do some canvassing. We need to show people what sets Ron Paul apart. We need to get out there and spread our message to as many people as possible. With a $20 million national advertising blitz from the campaign, and a massive grassroots canvassing drive, we can win this election. We have one month. Now GO and TAKE BACK YOUR COUNTRY!