The mass media has been ignoring Ron Paul until recently.

He set a record for raising the most money in one day – nearly five million dollars – in an internet campaign that wasn’t even officially connected to his political campaign. If any of the other candidates had done that, it would have been front page news. Some of the media reported on it, buried on the inside pages, but most ignored it completely.

Then he broke his own record – raising over six million dollars, again in one day, and again mostly from individuals making relatively small donations. Again, the story was mostly ignored by the media.

But they can’t keep ignoring him, so now they’re concentrating on smearing him. The lefty media (i.e. most media) hates him because views the government as the problem, while they think government is the solution, and because he believes in individual freedom and has the voting record to prove it. The right hates him because he hates corporate welfare, including government laws that give big business tremendous advantages over their competition, and also because he believes in individual freedom and has the voting record to prove it.

On a recent interview he was asked about the Civil War. He responded that killing 600,000 Americans wasn’t the best way to resolve the issue. One alternative, he suggested, would have been for the north to buy the slaves, then free them. A very popular lefty blog (which doesn’t deserve a link) said he suggested the north buy the slaves – and left off the rest of his statement. Why are they so desperately dishonest?

On the right, Fox has been smearing him at every opportunity. We reported how they “forgot” to include him on polls. Their news analysis programs go out of their way to paint him as a loony. And now they’re leaving him out of the upcoming Republican debate they’re concocting. He’s raised more money than any other candidate, proving his popularity, but they’re squeezing him out, making the debate a complete sham. Instead of Ron putting other candidates’ feet to the fire and making the debate a wild, interesting show, it will consist of six ho-hum candidates expressing minor disagreements. I would suggest a drinking game where everyone does a shot when Rudy mentions 9/11, but I’m afraid it would lead to severe alcohol poisoning.

If you’d like to try goading Fox into growing a pair, Downsize DC has made it easy.

Some of my fellow Ron Paul supporters are upset with this chicanery, cowardice, and out right lying, but not me. Ron still doesn’t have the visibility he needs/deserves, and these weasels are giving it to him as dishonestly as they can. Every time they do, it provides his supporters another chance to talk about who he really is and what he really stands for. And as the lies and smears pile up, it will become undeniably obvious that both the left and right are deeply afraid of this man. For any thinking person, that alone makes him worth serious consideration.