What's Ron Paul Really Up Against? Propaganda.

(The original article kept changing faster than I could hit publish.....At this point I'm wondering if it will get pulled entirely.)

I'm sure you've watched the GOP dig out the ghost written newsletters over the past week in a frenzied attempt to portray Ron Paul as a bigoted devisive hate-monger.  Now that the news cycle has about expended itself there, it's no surprise to see the anti-semetic accusations are on deck.

Check out this video that Mediaite mentioned, and Glenn Beck's Daily Blaze has now featured:

 

 Isn't it just so perfect that she had to pick up a fashion magazine to console herself after being so horribly traumatized? 

Beck's blogger wrote: 

The following is a video of a young woman receiving Ron Paul’s book “Liberty Defined” as a Christmas present. Rather than express joy over her gift, however, upon reading an excerpt in which Paul refers to Israel as an “apartheid state,” the woman literally cries. Shocked and horrified over Paul’s views on Israel, the woman is clearly displeased with her Yuletide gift.

Not much else is known about this video except that it has started to go viral…and that the woman is definitely not on board with Paul’s politics:

"Not much else is known" indeed - here's the rub. While at least two mega-poopular "reputable" GOP sites picked this up, nobody bothered to check to see if "Liberty Defined" actually had Paul saying that Israel is an apartheid state.  

Guess what? It doesn't. 

Althought it clearly pained her to do so, the Blaze blogger reluctantly acknowledged the following important point made by a Yahoo commenter:

"I have the book Liberty Defined sitting right in front of me. I just read through about the whole thing. It is in order A-Z on the issues. There is a section on Zionism. The only statement I can find that mentions apartheid in the book that the corrupt media claims is this statement:

'Meanwhile, within Israeli politics, there is a great deal of debate and diversity of opinion. The Liberal party in Israel often raises questions about the apartheid conditions that Palestinians are subjected to. '

(Seriously, you should go read the way she worked this inconvenient mundane truth into the piece. She obviously worked really, really hard to make a relatively simple throw-away statement look radical and controversial. )

Is acknowledging that there is debate about Israel's policies in Israeli politics really worth the hysteronics?  Sheesh - and they call the Paul supporters cultists?  Snort.  Let's just say that I don't remember the last time I saw anybody sobbing when they saw somebody saying something disagreeable about Ron Paul.  And in case you haven't noticed, there's planty of debate from both sides of the aisle over his policies, too.

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And yet another twist on this story - as I was writing it, the Beck blogger, Tiffany Gabbay, has changed her original paragraph.  It now reads;

Rather than express joy over her gift, however, upon reading an excerpt from the book aloud in which Paul allegedly refers to Israel as an “apartheid state,” the woman cries. Whether this was a staged event remains to be verified, but in the video the woman displays shock and horror over Paul’s views on Israel and is visibly displeased with her Yuletide gift.

"Whether this was a staged event?"  So a "journalist" who can't be bothered to actually open a damned book and verify a quote is now going to verify whether this video was staged?  Guess we can assume she got her gig in at least one of the old fashioned ways.

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Adding more fuel to her own  "This is a fake!" fire,  Gabbay has also now added a paragraph pointing out that the video was uploaded by a media production professonal, who immediately pulled it from YouTube when the authenticity questions began to surface.

Yeah, but what do I know? Maybe she's waiting for a Yahoo commenter with a name like "I Love America" to point out that the videographer says it's real before she absolutely commits to standing by it.  Because that would totally make it true.

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Another hat tip to Vechorik, who points out that the title of the piece has now been changed:

"Watch Woman Cry Tears of Disgust Over Receiving Ron Paul Book for Christmas — Staged?"

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And yet another change: 

The Blaze contacted a source familiar with the making of the video who claims the scene was captured by a Matthew Conrad of Escondido, California during a Christmas gathering on Saturday. The man’s sister — presumably the one seen in the video — allegedly uploaded the clip to a Twitter service before ultimately taking it down. The source also claims that the video was “slightly staged,“ noting the woman ”over-acts” as soon as she sees the camera. See for yourself below:

(Note to Tiffany: You can now take the question mark out of your title. You just admitted it was staged, in case you didn't notice.)

 

Comments

[Laura]

It appears that Dondero is on the loose, as well: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57348489-503544/ron-paul-camp-fires-back-at-ex-aide-over-column-on-israel-gays/

[AngelaTC]

ROTFL - from what I heard, "performance issues" is a really, really polite way to phrase it.

[Eric Parks]

Great reporting Angela. Amazing how you can keep up with it all.

On my way home tonight, I tuned into a talk radio show which boasts a "libertarian" host. Tomorrow his guest is some guy who wrote a news article entitled "Why Ron Paul Can't Be Allowed to Win The Iowa Caucus". The host chuckled as he said the title. The next sentence out of his mouth was how he loved Newt Gingrich and couldn't wait to have him back on the show.

Propaganda? You bet. It's everywhere and I reiterate that we'd better get past listening to the media and form or own opinions or we're screwed.

[Laura]

How do you form opinions without the media, though, Eric? Votes in Congress? Works for some, and might be a good indication of where they stand--if you're willing to wade through the thousands of votes cast each year, and read the legislation, or the statements found in the Congressional Record... I'm just not sure most people are willing or able to do that.

You and I may be willing and able to dig deeper than the average person. But there's plenty of evidence to indicate that most people are just not going to be engaged most of the time.

And you're right--this is GREAT reporting! Thanks, Angela!

[Eric Parks]

"I'm just not sure most people are willing or able to do that."

Then who do you trust to parse the info and hand out the opinion for you? And how does one know when not to trust that source anymore? If this can't be done, then we're sunk. It's not like media is to become accountable in its own right. The only way would be for everyone to question their lies. Back to square one...

"And you're right--this is GREAT reporting!"

Wow! I was right about something. ;)

[Laura]

We're probably just sunk...

I agree, it's a bad situation we're in. The Internet has made it both better and worse: easier access to primary sources for those who want to find it, but also more "sources" that people ascribe authority to when they really shouldn't.

[Eric Parks]

The internet has made it easier to find out facts and, historically, keeping people from comparing notes has been the goal of the powerful: divide and conquer. This is why it's heartening to read pieces like the one by Angela's hubby, who recognizes the tea party and OWS as two sides that have the potential to hook up.

We can only hope that the ability to compare notes reawakens the notion of liberty. The chance is very real because the early 20th century populist movement tried the big government route. It has clearly failed. If a new populist movement is in the making, the anger and suspicion against Wall Street and K street (and the understanding that the laws favor those groups) might bring about a reduction in government.