No Liberty, Please, We're Republicans, or The Amazing Three-Man GOP Debate

Byron York, in the game of reporting about right-wing and Republican politics for a very long time, delivers a bravura performance of ignoring what's in front of his own eyes with this nearly 2,000 word account of last night's GOP debate that pretty much pretends Ron Paul and Gary Johnson weren't even there.

York literally mentions that Paul was there--and never mentions yesterday's million-dollar man again. Johnson gets cred for sprinting on the stage, where apparently from York's account he then fell through a trap door and never added anything to the very, very fascinating set of fresh ideas delivered by those other three guys, I've forgotten their names.

Expect to have to see a lot more of this transparently pathetic pretending that Paul and Johnson don't exist on the part of those whose precious peace of mind depends on not acknowledging that American politics needs some very serious changes in the direction of liberty, responsibility, and peace, and on pretending not to notice that lots of Americans know that now.

I live-ish blogged the debate last night, managing to discuss all five candidates.

Comments

[D-oh]

I live-ish blogged the debate last night, managing to mention all five candidates.

... but you actually ARE a journalist.

[Colin]

+1

[kilroy]

Great job of "live-ish blogg[ing] the debate". I hope someone here will do that for all of them. It might be the only written record of the Paul/Johnson participation.

[deified]

Paul-and-Johnson (and "Paul Johnson?) should tour the country having nightly paleo-cosmo debates. (The should be accompanied by a manly, paleo drinks like the martini and, for the Cosmos, Cosmos.

[Pro Libertate]

One thing that's nice about the Dismantling Duo--there's two of them. Every time the conservative leadership of the GOP or its conservative media cronies try to ignore their message, the more the hypocrisy of GOP limited government rhetoric vs. GOP big government reality is highlighted.

[Joe M]

Each campaign is less and less controlled by the old guard media gatekeepers. We're getting closer to a breakthrough. Four more years of this disaster economy would seal the deal, if it doesn't work out this time.

[skr]

I was thinking the same thing last night. I think we have another cycle to go before the Paul/Johnson wing has a chance.

[#]

perhaps just in time for a president rand paul?

[kilroy]

Anyone that watched the debate and then read any of the major media coverage of it this morning has to ask themselves if they were watching the same debate. It's just ludicrous to draw the conclusions being printed out there.

[Max]

For anybody but true believers, Ron Paul and Gary Johnson might just as well not have been there. You see Brian, there's political reality, and then there's the little fanatsy show that goes on within the confines of your bony skull. The two have nothing in common.

[Max]

Max has made his last post|11.17.10 @ 7:20PM|#
Max|6.24.10 @ 3:29PM|#

Go suck ron puals dick, morons. You peeple are fucking retarded. I`m done coming to this wingnut sight. this is my last post.

[Gerald Ford]

*site

[Irresponsible Hater]

Opinions are like glass houses; nobody goes to yours and pulls the dicks out of your mouth.

[wylie]

*80's movie slowclap*

[CE]

....there's political reality...

You mean like the fact that Ron Paul has a better chance in the general election than any of the other candidates, according to the latest CNN national poll?

[Joe M]

Yep, I've been trawling the tubes all day, and this type of treatment, though definitely more extreme than most, is fairly typical. I have seen a number of blogs saying Paul handled himself well and/or won though. There's even this great article at the Daily Mail.

[The Thinking Man's NASCAR]

Well, at least the housewives of Lincolnshire will know Ron Paul acquitted himself well!

[Jim]

I don't know why, but the photo to that story is really funny to me. He looks real conspiratorial, like he's about to duck out and change into Batman.

[Colin]

It's funny, I just read the article at Hot Air and thought the same thing.

Neocons like York will only start paying attention when Paul or Johnson start winning primaries. Until then, there's no point in bitching about it.

[Tulpa]

Santorum, Pawlenty, and Cain have won a total of 0 primaries.

[P Brooks]

Serious candidates refuse to abandon their socially conservative principles, and remain steadfastly committed to telling the little people how to live their pathetic little peasant lives.

Those goofy Legalize Freedom crackpots distract people from the message of True Conservative Republicanism.

[Pro Libertate]

Give me back my liberty, you sons of bitches.

[True Conservative]

Finally, someone who understands that the country is a republic, not a democracy. Which is really important, because...um, well, see, I'm a Republican and not a Democrat, and, well.... hey look, GAYS!

[the real oo]

...gays AND abortion...plus commies

[Kristen]

And Ay-rabs!

[omg]

THREADJACK:

Amanda Knox case appeal is happening.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/.....tml?hpt=C2

[sage]

I think that was scooped already by whogivesacrap.com

[capitol l]

If you can't muster up enough humanity to actually feel concern that a young (cute, rich, white) person has been prematurely taken from us, at least keep your horrible thoughts to yourself!

[John]

Threadjack. read it and and not puke if you can.

http://yidwithlid.blogspot.com.....roves.html

[The Thinking Man's NASCAR]

Wow, two threadjackings in a row. Apparently we need to start locking the doors of the comment section when we drive through this neighborhood.

[TSA Rapists]

We will help too!!!

[WTF]

Damn that article was idiotic.

[NoVAHockey]

can't anything just be what it is? it's a picture of the situation room. that's it.

apparently everything i do, purchase or say is now political

[Sudden]

Sadly, no references to the fact that the photo in question clearly shows John Lithgow standing behind Joint Chiefs of Staff and directing the hit on Bin Laden.

[juris imprudent]

I ventured over to NRO Corner and found a better review of the debate then York put up. He really should be embarrassed.

[kilroy]

Legal stupidity overturned

Have a great weekend!

[Justin Cases]

Hey maybe the Libertarians are getting marginalized as isolationist pot/heroin heads the same way Republicans get marginalized here as Socon Christers who are a heartbeat away from having a gay affair in a bathroom.

[rhofulster]

I listened to 2 1/2 hours of the "BIG VOICE ON THE RIGHT"'s show today.

In that 2.5 hours he referred to RP and GJ by name once:

"the political insiders were expecting the other participants (besides Pawlenty), Ron Paul, Herman Cain, Rick Santorum and Gary Johnson to be there just as window dressing."

He twice said that "every one of them did a great job of attacking Obama."

He spoke glowingly of Pawlenty for about 10 minutes, Santorum 5-10 minutes, Cain for 3-4 minutes, but other than above, never so much as mentioned Paul's or Johnson's name.

He did spend a couple of minutes with a caller about Trump, 5 minutes on Romney and 3-4 minutes on Daniels.

[Cyto]

Paul and Johnson are not conservatives. The great one is a conservative. He's not going to promote a Libertarian over a Conservative any more than Jon Stewart is going to push Paul over Obama.

[CE]

Pawlenty's performance was laughably poor. "The only top tier candidate" on the stage was the worst debater, and made Gary Johnson seem charismatic. If we wanted a once little-known governor of a backwoods state with moose with an inconsequential record, we would nominate Palin.

Notice how most of the debate reviews A) downplay the significance of the debate, B) barely mention Paul or Johnson, and C) never mention the wild applause Ron Paul received throughout the debate.

I thought Fox News did a much better job of moderating the debate than they did four years ago, but then again, maybe they were only going after all five candidates equally because they wanted to crush all of them.

[Tulpa]

Pawlenty hasn't surrendered to the Vikings. That's a plus in my book.

[The Gobbler]

"a backwoods state"

That is some big time stoopid right there.

[CE]

Sorry, no offense intended toward Minnesotans. I like the state (and enjoy fishing in those backwoods lakes), but being its governor is not exactly a presidential proving ground.

[Hubert Humphrey]

You're telling me.

[proegg antichicken]

Ron Paul is more relevant now than he was was in 2008. That is saying something. I don't believe the establismentistas can remain willfully blind for so long. But they will.

I like Johnson, but Paul has the clarity and the pull. The strength of having two libertarians is simply awesome. If Johnson would realize that right now he just needs to get name recognition and professionally troll the establishment he would be on track for primetime in 4 more years. This is Pauls final crusade, and his supporters (myself included) have made an impact.

Irrelevant, hah! Social conservatism is what's irrelevant.

[RandomJerk]

Paul has the philosophical libertarian idealism, but I am concerned that he is not the one to bridge the gap to the independent voters. For example, arguing drugs legalization on purely intellectual but principled terms can't appeal to as many people as the Johnson argument - which was on moral and practical terms which I think people can relate to more easily.

[prolefeed]

Wow. Just wow. Might as well have said:

"And out of the three REAL Republicans on the stage, Pawlenty was the realest."

[prolefeed]

NRO had some post-game coverage by Kyle Peterson, and he seemed to try and get quotes from all five candidates (he said Paul didn't seem to stick around for questions afterwards.

http://www.nationalreview.com/.....o-peterson

[DaveS]

My wife(a person who could care less about politicians of any stripe) listened in while I watched last night.

When it comes to Santorum and Pawlenty she got a very strong "I can't trust these guys" sort of vibe just by looking at them, particularly Santorum. Their faces loudly shout "Used Car Salesman"
Every time they answered a question their constant schmoozing reaffirmed this for her.

I was treated to no less than 15 "why aren't they answering the question" comments last night...always when one the allegedly "serious" candidates were on stage.

[John C. Randolph]

Regarding Dr. Paul's comment about Heroin, I realized that there are no federal statutes against jumping off of buildings and breaking one's legs. I can only suppose that most people just assumed it was illegal, and that's why we don't have a massive public health problem of self-inflicted leg fractures. After all, laws are the only thing that prevent people from tilting their heads back in the rain and drowning like turkeys, right?

-jcr

[Jim]

Well said. I believe I will steal that line this weekend when ranting at people at the local bar (it's pretty much the only thing the LP in my area does).

[Brett L]

I'm impressed your local LP can agree on a bar.

[Cyto]

"As God is my witness.... I thought turkeys could fly."

--Arthur Carleson

[cynical]

So, are there lots of people who jump off buildings are break their legs? Because there is a non-negligible number of people that use heroin, so I wonder if maybe your analogy is fundamentally flawed.

[DB]

Right.

[John C. Randolph]

Heh. York's headline says "Santorum scores"? What, did he get laid by some political groupie after the debate or something? He sure as hell didn't score on the stage last night.

-jcr

[RandomJerk]

Ditto Rush Limbaugh - as if Paul and Johnson weren't even there. For my money, Johnson does a much better job of connecting libertarian ideas to the common sense voter. Ron Paul, previously the only good alternative to Bushies and/or GOP hacks, is too philosophical - his arguments are preaching to the choir, not attempting to convert. I never really heard Gary Johnson before, but I am starting to like him! I think if he can get a bit more polished, he can really shine in this campaign.

[deified]

Byron York is a clown.

Seriously, he has issues with his mental function. Ever since the day I put my dick in his ass and scrambled his brain with the tip of my member (?!?), homeboy hasn't been the same since.

True story.