Op-Ed: Paul Supporters Say Fawke the Establishment and the Media They Rode in on

The grassroots "Guy Fawkes Day" event on Monday, November 5 was more than a record-breaking fund raiser for Ron Paul. It was also a big kiss off for establishment types -from partisans and old media to neocon bloggers- by his supporters.

More than $4.2 million record-breaking dollars were raised by grassroots supporters for Ron Paul in 24 hours. This is an amazing accomplishment but despite the positive stories, it has left some folks sounding rather bitter. Some just continue calling him a “longshot" or bringing up low opinion poll numbers (which are rarely if ever a good test this far out from an election), distracting from this stunning success. Others may simply be covering their eyes, sticking their fingers in their ears, and saying lalalala… as if it never happened. Figuratively, of course. Interestingly enough, this huge upset is not appearing on the front page of too many news sites (at the time of this writing). It should be a huge story in election coverage, or at least it seemingly would be if any other candidate broke fund raising records. Of course, some will continue attempting to marginalize, but that’s to be expected from the likes of neocon primer, National Review. Jim Geraghty, in his blurb titled, “Raining on the Paul-istinians Fundraising Parade,” said the effort demonstrates, “that lot of people will donate money just to extend a middle finger to the establishment.” Good. He gets it. The effort to force hand-picked establishment candidates down people’s throats and continue pursuing an agenda unpopular with the people is not working out, and the establishment is indeed getting the big flip off. Then, there’s the very appropriately named blog, “Hot Air,” which begins by insulting Paul and his supporters in the title, "Ron and the Paulbots celebrate a terrorist by raising $3.5 mil Update: Make that $3.8... $4.2 mil". I wonder if they would call the Founding Fathers "terrorists" today... This piece of work later goes on to call supporters Paulians. Oh, well, at least they updated the total of millions raised. Not that these tactics are new - from Paulbots, Paul Bearers, Paul-istinians, Paulites, Paulettes, Pauleocons, and aPaulogists, to Ronulans, those who back Ron Paul have been called nearly everything but legitimate supporters. The name-calling and smear campaigns will likely be ratcheted up after this amazing feat in fund raising. Of course, there was no shortage up to this point, as evidenced by the recent so-called “interview” of Ron Paul by Soledad O’Brien on CNN. Money talks and to ignore this kind of money is too blatant a tactic for even the most practiced in Newspeak. Some media outlets and pollsters stand to lose credibility if marginalization and smear campaigns continue. Paul supporters are very vocal about such things, as seen in the comment sections on many websites, especially those that post disingenuous or inaccurate stories. More than that, supporters intend to continue putting their money where their (collective) mouth is. In fact, a new fund raising drive is scheduled for Veterans’ Day. Learn more at ThisNovember11th.com.