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Old folks (like me) will get a big kick out of Richard Oppel’s report on collegiate supporters for Ron Paul who are flooding into Iowa from around the country to help the creaky, cranky Texan win the caucuses:
[T]hey say they are under strict orders: To look, dress, shave, sound and behave in a way that will not jeopardize Mr. Paul’s chances. Even before flying here on their own nickel, some students said they had been instructed to cover up tattoos and told that their faces should be fresh-shaved or beards neatly trimmed, wearing only nice clothes that one described as “business casual.”
Oppel’s suggests these “clean-up” rules were inspired by the recent experience of Howard Dean’s 2004 campaign, whose youthful orange-hatted pierced-and-tatted volunteers allegedly freaked out Iowans. But the best precedent actually goes a lot further back: the “Clean for Gene” slogan of student volunteers for Eugene McCarthy in New Hampshire in 1968.
If I were advising the Paul campaign, I’d suggest a few other rules for their kiddie corps, such as hiding their dog-eared copies of Atlas Shrugged and learning to change the subject when voters ask about the candidate’s views on foreign policy. But in any event, it’s interesting, and a bit depressing, too see the experience of yesterday’s youthful lefties being put to the service of a cause in which both McCarthy and Dean would be thought of as among the Slavedrivers of Collectivism.
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c u n d gulag on December 29, 2011 9:30 AM:
I would also recommend that they bring American dollars.
I don't think many banks in Iowa will be able to convert South African Rand's, much as the kids may like saying that name, and carrying around in their pockets.
But if you do bring Rand's and end up with no cash - you're on your own!
Asking for help from other people is strictly verboten!
I see you're ignoring Steve's instructions to eliminate CRAPTCHA while he was away.
Well, at least you're not giving us homework like he usually doe...
Oh, crap!
Now I've let THAT cat out of the bag.
SORRY KIDS!!!
MsJoanne on December 29, 2011 9:32 AM:
I see lots of "if you pay attention to his foreign policy you won't like him" type of comments. I think if you pay attention to his domestic policy, you'll find Paul nuts. Or his social policy or anything else.
Christ, just pay attention when listening to Ron Paul. He's clearly certifiably crazy and his ideas are completely insane (watch Colbert's interview with him from a couple of months ago. That's all you need to hear. Nuts. Period.)
And then you also have the whole racist, anti-Semite stuff.
One view on war does not a president make.
T2 on December 29, 2011 9:41 AM:
I'm surprised there isn't a requirement to undergo a lobotomy before joining Paul's camp.
Hedda Peraz on December 29, 2011 9:42 AM:
I suggest that they read Margaret Mead's "Coming of Age in Samoa", before mingling with the Iowans.
(always show respect for the strange customs and mores of native people.)
Ken on December 29, 2011 10:04 AM:
All part of a pattern, isn't it? Try to hide what you really are until after the election.
James on December 29, 2011 10:14 AM:
That's one thing that the right has figured out and done very well: paying attention to the optics. You can get your most extremist, radical message to be taken seriously if it comes from a professional, clean-cut looking, camera-trained person. That's why journos swarm all over CPAC but no one really attends the DKos convention. A bunch of screaming people in hideous matching T-shirts waving arms about collective bargaining doesn't garner much sympathy for the union cause. Until LGBT groups eschewed their batman costumes and tiaras, they didn't get very far with what really mattered: legislation protecting them from discrimination.
Now watch, I'll be flamed on this thread for pointing out the obvious: Optics Count. And that's something that liberals have never learned. They'd rather wave their arms in moral outrage over never being taken seriously and never being at the decision-making table when policy is made, than to learn the lesson that the right learned thirty years ago: Optics Count.
Yes, it's a crying shame that the Deanies didn't get farther in the race. Who's fault was that? Journos who couldn't take them seriously, or theirs for not learning the important lesson of how to use the media to enhance the message?
Smarter Democratic strategists, please.
chi res on December 29, 2011 10:17 AM:
They can clean-up all they want, but they'll just have to shower again after meeting with Santorum supporters, particularly during the surge.
chi res on December 29, 2011 10:22 AM:
JAMES, If I've told you once, I've told you a hundred times:
STOP PUNCHING THOSE DIRTY FUCKING HIPPIES!!
James on December 29, 2011 10:34 AM:
@chi res:
¡¡¡I **AM** A DIRTY FUCKING HIPPIE!!!
...but one who wants a seat at the policy table for liberals.
James Conner on December 29, 2011 10:35 AM:
If Paul can get his minions to cover their tattoos (and, one hopes, remove their piercings), he's finally done something I can support.
psychobroad on December 29, 2011 10:48 AM:
So, all the female Paul supporters are supposed to be freshly shaved or have their beards neatly trimmed, huh. Oh, wait a minute...
jim filyaw on December 29, 2011 10:49 AM:
ah,yes, the "clean genies". brings up something that's been on my chest for years--the tendency of head in the cloud liberals to go into spoiled brat mode when they don't get their way 100%. lyndon johnson was a giant among 20th century presidents, but the prince valiant coiffured, nehru jacketed liberals of the day detested him because he wasn't jfk. their narcissistic contempt led to the rise of nixon which led to reagan which led to dubya. would to god that obama had half of lbj's ability to deal with congress. his achievements still stand (and drive the dips like ryan to distraction).
hells littlest angel on December 29, 2011 10:55 AM:
Because Ron Paul is all about freedom!
Fess on December 29, 2011 10:58 AM:
I especially like the part about shaving. Do you suppose they just forgot the part about women (girls, you know-simper, simper) must wear skirts or dresses? Is it possible that they just don't expect any women? If they do, will they be conducting under arm checks? I guess the "fraternizing" in the dorms would refer to bringing home a "professional."
latts on December 29, 2011 11:05 AM:
No flames here. I'm all for self-expression, but it makes persuasion much more difficult than it should be. There was a great piece in the now-defunct Jane magazine a few years back comparing conservative & liberal activist media training... aside from the depressing differences in facilities (hotel conference spaces vs. fully-equipped classrooms & studios with A/V equipment), the lefties (Camp Wellstone, IIRC) spent a lot of time reassuring participants that they could continue to Be Themselves. On the soulless-drone right, they discussed uniforms and which of the dozen or so types of smiles made a person look friendliest & most sympathetic (the kind that crinkles the outer corners of the eyes). Yes, the plastic consistency is scary, but they get unaligned and/or unimaginative people to take their BS seriously, while even the nicest, smartest, most earnest multiply-pierced hipsters ain't gonna get that far with the fiftyish suburbanites.
James on December 29, 2011 11:15 AM:
@latts:
It isn't just the fiftyish suburbanites, though. It's the mainstream journos. It's the assignment desk editors. It's the teevee news producers. If they are treating you like a clown act, you are never going to get your message out.
Mainstream journos -- put aside the pundits and opinion writers -- are very much willing to be "manipulated" with a good story with acceptable optics; they have daily deadlines to meet, and are always willing to go with a good story. That's what the right does very, very well: ply them with good stories, easy-to-paraphrase talking points, available sources with well-fashioned quotes. The right has figured out how to help the media right stories about stuff that will help them. They make it easy for a journo to write up a good story for the 12 o'clock deadline.
Meanwhile, Dems and the liberals sit around waving their arms in moral outrage because they don't get covered. But they refuse to learn *how* to get covered. They are way too pure for that.
latts on December 29, 2011 11:24 AM:
James, no argument here-- IMO, the media's the information conduit for the fiftyish suburbanites (as well as all of the other non-liberal, but technically persuadable, demographics). Either way, individuality is best enjoyed in a more welcoming environment than the political media. Any halfway decent performer learns how to anticipate and manage audience responses, after all.
For a while, I was hoping Al Gore and/or his network would take the Camp Wellstone media operation to live Nashville-- it's pretty centrally located and there's studio-friendly space to be had fairly cheaply. I guess he's no longer really living here and Current would be his media priority anyway, though.
charlie don't surf on December 29, 2011 11:42 AM:
Damn I am sick of the Paultards. They show up at our public Occupation events and hold up their signs to try to get the media to film them in the background, so it looks like a Ron Paul event. I always try to stand in front of the signs so they can't be seen.
I am sick to death of being harangued about "free markets" by Paultards. They seem to be terribly naive young kids and have the strangest ideas about how the economy works. For example, one of them came to our General Assembly and asked us all to use dollar coins instead of paper money. He said that coins came from the US Mint and were backed by gold reserves, while paper money was issued by the Treasury and not linked to a gold standard, thus using coins would not support the deficit. I tried to inform him that coins and paper money were all issued by the Treasury, and money hasn't been linked to physical metal reserves since 1964 when SIlver Certificates stopped being issued.
dirty effing hippie on December 29, 2011 12:52 PM:
flylaw:
No, it was the Vietnam War that made us hate LBJ. Other than that he was one of the greatest Presidents, but that's a pretty damn big "other than that."
James Wimberley on December 29, 2011 1:29 PM:
Isn´t the correct title Atlas Wanked?
Sean Scallon on December 29, 2011 1:31 PM:
"being put to the service of a cause in which both McCarthy and Dean would be thought of as among the Slavedrivers of Collectivism."
Hmpf...shows what you know, which isn't much.
For a better perspective of what is fueling Ron Paul's good showing in Iowa than Ed Kilgore's snark, check out the link below by Bill Kauffman:
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/blog/iowa-votes-for-peace/
chi res on December 29, 2011 1:40 PM:
To look, dress, shave, sound and behave in a way that will not jeopardize Mr. Paul�s chances. [emphasis added}
Hmpf...shows what you know, which isn't much.
Oops, somebody didn't get the memo.
exlibra on December 29, 2011 3:39 PM:
They can shave their beards (Paul's supporters have beards???), cover up their tattoos and remove their nose and lip earrings, but how fast can they regrow their hair on top of their heads? Every Paul rally I've seen was full of the paramilitary, skinhead types.
"slygoo has". No kidding :)
emjayay on December 29, 2011 4:10 PM:
James, (not to deny a lot of what you said) but the gay rights movement actually started with men in suits and ties and women in dresses marching in picket lines in the 1950's. Obviously part of their point was a visual statement that "we're just like you, not a bunch of sleazy perverts or something."
http://www.gaypioneers.com/mattachine.jpg