Friday, May 18, 2012

Jesse Benton's $586,616 Take as a Result of the Ron Paul Campaign

We may not get liberty because of  the Ron Paul campaign run, but it sure looks like Ron Paul campaign manager, Jesse Benton, got the big bucks.

Benton's total income from the Ron Paul Presidential Campaign and PACs, in the 2012 election cycle, is at least $586,616, EPJ has learned.

According to Open Secrets,  he has been paid $322, 577 in the 2012 election cycle, by Liberty PAC. His total income directly from the Ron Paul  presidential campaign 2012 is, to date, $264,039.

Benton is married to Ron Paul's granddaughter Valerie Pyeatt.

Many Ron Paul supporters have become unhappy with Benton because of his suspected contacts with the Romney campaign and his overall handling of the Ron Paul campaign. Supporters are so frustrated that they are  calling for Benton to be fired,

According to Who Is Jesse Benton, Benton is now owner of various consulting firms, including,C.I.C Solutions based in Wahington D.C., where he is president of the firm.

He is also owner of Performance Institute, where he is Director of Policy and External Affairs.

According to Who Is Jesse Benton, these firms have contracts with various candidates, some of whom have been endorsed by Rand Paul and Ron Paul.

Here's a take by Tom Woods on Benton. Woods is one of the most savvy communicators of libertarian ideas out there.  He is the New York Times bestselling author of 11 books. A senior fellow of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, Woods holds a bachelor's degree in history from Harvard and his master's, M.Phil., and Ph.D. from Columbia University



Bottom line, I personally have questions with how parts of the campaign have been run. Ron Paul deserved better. It is remarkable the following that Dr Paul has been able to generate, given what I consider major blunders in the way the campaign was handled. It will be something of a "last hurrah" for Dr. Paul when he goes down to Tampa for the Republican Convention. He doesn't need handlers who are concerned with their long term careers in politics. He needs people around him, who are advocates of liberty, who will slam the convention with calls for liberty.

Jesse, it's time to go. You got the cash. You have established your cred as political operative, your career is safe. Now, let your wife's grandfather go out in style, not kowtowing to the statist, establishment, warmonger Romney.

In fact, to protect your career, just go outright over to the Romney camp, now. We'll understand. It's a good career move. When you get over there, tell Romney that we over here are all crazy for liberty and can't be controlled and that the only way to handle things is to give Ron Paul respect, lots of it and to give Ron Paul supporters equal respect and lots of space. Tell him the times are changing and the Ron Paul supporters are going to be around, and growing in number, for as long as you can see.

80 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. What do you mean "Et tu"? He is the original culprit.

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    2. et tu brutus?

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    3. You mean Et Tu Mitt Romney or Bachmann, Perry, Cain et all since every single one of them hired their own family members for their campaigns as is standard practice in every election. Unless you think Tom Delay's wife's law firm should not be paid as a consultant on bills being passed by Tom Delay? Or perhaps Mitt's sons don't deserve the money they are getting paid as members of his campaign?

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    4. No, a campaign manager for a supposedly "fiscally responsible" candidate has no place whatsoever getting paid over half a million of the campaign dollars donated by individual donors. He doesn't need the money, it shouldn't have been about the money, and paying him that much was stupid and makes me question whether Paul would have made a good president anyway. Seriously. I love EVERYTHING about Ron Paul's philosophy and I am NOT a Jesse Benton hater.... but this is a HUGE oversight and MASSIVE mistake. No one should be paid more than fifty grand for a year's work in a movement like this, that needs to beg donors for money constantly...

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    5. Jesse Benton should be made as wealthy as the greatest Ron Paul campaign guy ever - Kent Snyder, the originator of the Money Bomb. Oddly Kent died suddenly shortly after RP ended his 2008 Presidential campaign - he was to be replaced by Benton for the 2012 campaign.

      Kent Snyder died with $400,000 of personal debt due to health care costs. He worked for Ron Paul as a volunteer. Benton pulled in over $500,000

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  2. The movement has to be bigger than one man (including both Paul and Benton).

    Let us thank Dr. Paul for his tireless commitment and move forward for Liberty.

    It is never easy to fight the establishment, that's why they are the establishment.

    I'd just assume not have the Liberty message associated with just one man(including his son). We need other people of character to step up.

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    1. Re: People of Character:
      In my book that's the Tom Woods referenced above.
      The guy is an electrifying speaker and a real son of liberty.
      Question is: Are his talents more valuable in or out of public office???

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    2. We need other people of character to step up.

      Why not you? Libertarianism, because it is based on "humanity", on "man", on "individuals", and not ME, and not the single person who thinks of it, leads its followers to looking outside themselves in finding the "ideal libertarian", rather than taking the initiative to being themselves.

      I used to be a libertarian, but then I learned that libertarianism wasn't ME. And by that I don't mean I was secretly a statist all along, I mean libertarianism can only ever be merely a part of me. It can never be me. I will always be something greater than libertarianism, even if I completely adopt it.

      The most I could ever hope to achieving in libertarianism is to own a certain property that sees me obeying certain rules allegedly for my benefit, such as refraining from taking property claimed as owned by someone else, refraining from taking the lives of others claimed as owned by someone else, in general refraining from acting against the voluntary consent of "men".

      I am something more than "man". "Man" is what everyone shares as a property, but that which has properties is something more than those properties. I am more than just the characteristics that liken me to everyone else.

      To act then in accordance with what the laws of liberty require of me, is to always put ME below those laws. I am not the only one in the world who refuses to limit himself. This is why libertarianism will never again be put above me. It's just another universal religion I am expected to hold as sacred.

      Now you can call me sick, you can call me evil, you can call me immoral, you can call me inhumane, you can call me all sorts of names, but even names do not exhaust me. If you say I am an immoral man, I will say no, I am more than names. I am more than that which you liken me to others in your mind.

      Do you know the reason why Ron Paul's followers are almost universally young men and women, rather than adults? It's because young people tend to be enamored with ideas, rather than themselves. Adults tend to transcend serving an idea, and they start thinking about how to best serve their own selfish interests.

      Most young men and women libertarians speak ill of "the baby boomer generation." They believe the problems of the world can be vanquished if only THEY took the reigns of power away from the old. But that will never work, because libertarianism is passive. It is asking for permission from those with power. It is merely a request to those with power to "grant" everyone "liberty."

      "Please sir, grant me liberty. Please give me the gift of freedom, and do so out of the goodness of your heart, and ignore your own selfish interests."

      This is why Ron Paul and libertarianism lost. It lost because libertarians will never TAKE what is theirs. They will only ever ask for it, in vain, while non-libertarians take what is theirs and refuse to bend to the more immature ideals.

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    3. The movement has to be bigger than one man.

      And that is why it has to fail. Fascism, communism, pacifism, libertarianism, are all "bigger than one man" callings, and as a result I reject them all.

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    4. The liberty movement is not about one or two persons. It's really about each liberty-minded person following the dictates of her conscience and fighting the good fight however she can. The movement succeeds not because it is top-driven but because it is bottom driven like a free marketplace. It all adds up eventually.

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    5. That's a very "Randian" response egoist, and I'm not fully for or against it.

      I would only challenge you in that being 100% concerned only for yourself could be a problem in trying to retain your self-interests.

      For example, if you are self-interested but live in a society with no property rights or respect for life you've now got to try to fend off the masses that feel otherwise.

      It is IN YOUR INTEREST to convince others to live on a voluntary basis. So in that regard I think you are wrong to reject the Libertarianism on the basis of it trying to be "bigger than one man".

      You've lumped it in with other "movements" with no respect to its inherent differences.

      The very nature of expanding the paradigm is voluntary in and of itself(in TOTALITY)...and self-interested...unlike all the others your named.

      As to your question as to why not "me":

      I do what I can. I own a small, but increasingly prosperous business and financially support libertarian minded organizations as I can afford. I home school my children, spread ideas surrounding voluntaryism as I can, etc. et al

      All that being said, even if I was going to try to soil myself by participating in legalized violence/politics, I would be wildly unsuccessful. Not only am I somewhat of the disposition of Coriolanus, but I have skeletons in the closet that I'd prefer not be aired to my family & friends.

      I'm simply not of enough character(like Dr. Paul) to do what he does, so I do my best in other ways.

      It is what it is.

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    6. How about where the 40 year old Liberty Movement Started & Continues In The Libertarian Party Up & Down the ballot & at the head of it is Gov.Gary Johnson for POTUS / Judge James Gray for VPOTUS IN 2012.

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    7. @Anonymous May 18, 2012 5:48 PM

      Would that be the LP that put Bob "CIA" Barr on their ticket last go around, a guy who endorsed Newt "FDR is my favorite president" Gingrich this go around? Yeah, they've been tremendously successful at spreading liberty.

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    8. The LP party has been a massive failure -- libertarians would do much better to follow Paul's path and run in the GOP to get attention. The only way to get around the media blockade would be if someone with Ross Perot type money bankrolls a campaign or runs himself.

      Besides, as pointed out above, the libertarian party hasn't exactly been libertarian with its choices in candidates and a lot of its positions on foreign policy lately.

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    9. and would that be the Bob Barr who supports the delisting of the terrorist group, the MEK. Just another terrorist group the US and Israel have used in their plans to take over the entire Muslim world.

      Then again, how else would they be able to continue the profitable business of national security?

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    10. Egoist, I get where you are coming from, but to engage in society one must present a reputation of being of, or at least consistent with the most important ideals of that society. All societies devalue murder and theft, the latter of which implies property rights.
      The truth is that for people to interact and for specialization to persist, people must interact with each other, but those who openly do not condemn actions that are entirely selfish will be ignored by commercial interaction. If you openly maintain ideologies that threaten those whom you must interact with for basic comforts, they will likely abandon you.
      I am an anarcho-capitalist. I believe the state is a bane on society, but admit that we are a long time away from my fantasy. I understand belief in an ideology that will not happen in my lifetime, but I simply cannot believe that there will ever be a functioning society where individuals are constantly threatened by another's selfishness.

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    11. Unfortunately for the PaulTards, you still can't understand that Paul either KNEW about this all along or he is stupid.

      He knew.

      Now figure out what that means about your discernment.

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  3. Benton is incompetent, but I don't think he's a traitor to Dr. Paul or the liberty movement. I met Dr. Paul in Iowa last year, and had the chance to speak with him for about two minutes. In those two minutes, he asked me some very probing questions about my political/philosophical views. I can assure you that he would only surround himself with other true believers.

    So, is it more likely that Jesse has decided to cash in the past several years of love-hate credibility with the liberty movement, for a chance to lick the establishment's boots AND Dr. Paul has been wrong about him for all of these years, or is it more likely that Jesse just delivered a message that Dr. Paul wanted him to deliver, as part of a planned campaign strategy. Is it more likely that Jesse, who has already profited handsomely from his involvement with the liberty movement, would now risk his reputation and continued income from for a chance to switch sides like Dick Morris? I think it's far-fetched. It's most likely that Jesse is either delivering Dr. Paul's message as intended or screwed up (yet again), but I sincerely doubt that he's betrayed us.

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  4. What a douchebag! Fire him, Ron, just please fire him.

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    1. Ron Paul should fire him, and his granddaughter should divorce him. The scum-bag is probably cheating on her anyway.

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  5. And what are the other national campaign managers and directors making? Let's compare apples to apples instead of navel gazing in the dark...

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    1. This is actually a very good point. Wenzel, if you have access to that information, could you provide us with that?

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    2. Other campaign managers don't have blunder after blunder like Benton did. They tend to be fired after the first or second time.

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  6. They're saying at RonPaulForums that this is a smear, that his pay includes reimbursements for all his expenses.

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    1. Oh yeah, the entire $586,000 is expense items. Jesse works for free. HEE, HEE, HEE.

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  7. Just curious, is Ron Paul aware of the criticism of Jesse Benton? Has he ever responded to any of the criticism?

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  8. Jesse (not Benton)May 18, 2012 at 1:47 PM

    Have you guys noticed how much weight Tom Woods has lost on the Primal Diet? It's amazing.

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  9. Jesse is no dummy. He saw what the CIA did to Kent Snyder, his predecessor. I might be faking it too, if I were him.

    Fortunately, there are more courageous people than Jesse and I, who could possibly overcome this handicap.

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  10. I don't know too much of the details about Benton, but I do know that Paul's ads were universally regarded as the best around. So whomever Benton hired to do that - well done sir.

    The bottom line - and this is hard for people to admit - is that Paul's time has passed. Things aren't bad enough where folks are winning to look outside of the two party system for answers (yet). The time is coming and it's clear that Ron Paul style conservatism on the march. But I don't think a better campaign management team was holding Paul back from winning the GOP nomination.

    It takes time for these ideas that Bob Wenzel, Lew Rockwell and Ron talk about to germinate. We'll get their eventually. But not yet.

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  11. Ron Paul has been careful to layout ideas of liberty and freedom as guiding principles for his movement and not to be the cult figure some are making him out to be. He has planted the seeds of liberty especially in the minds of the younger generation who will eventually convince if not supplant the older generation in time. Let's not worry about the man himself but with the ideas of liberty which he only espouses but does not own. Supporters of liberty must continue to challenge and hold accountable everyone in and outside the movement even Ron Paul himself and his handlers. Let's focus on the positive and keep the heat on because the fire of liberty will never be extinguish as long as it burns in the minds and hearts of man.

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  12. It's easy to criticize; it's difficult to step up to the plate to be the force for change. But we all have different skills and talent to bring to the table. Challenging every editorial or blogpost is an effective way to exercise our intellectual muscles even though they will censor all comments. But they can't censor your own blogs. We are all journalists with our own printing press thanks to the internet Let's use it.

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  13. In 2008 there was another clown named Lew Moore, a Trojan horse campaign manager in the RP entourage. One would think they have learned something by now.

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  14. If Ron Paul is blind to his grandson-in-law's campaign management short-comings, then how can we trust him to be President? You are judged by the company you keep and if he can't make the hard decisions, then he's not the one!

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    1. Maybe Ron Paul is just so non judgemental to the point he doesn't make good judgements about people's character. He assumes, like many deluded Libertarians, that people are basically good. If people are basically good then they're all to be trusted even if maybe they aren't really trustworthy at all.

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  15. You know who always has the best advice on this stuff? Lew Rockwell. He's right about what libertarians should be doing, and it has little to nothing to do with national elections.

    http://www.mises.org/daily/1499

    "In the first half of the 20th century, libertarians knew how to oppose statism. They went into business and journalism. They wrote books. They agitated within the cultural arena. They developed fortunes to help fund newspapers, schools, foundations, and public education organizations. They expanded their commercial ventures to serve as a bulwark against central planning. They became teachers and, when possible, professors. They cultivated wonderful families and focused on the education of their children."

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  16. Folks - the problem from the beginning with Ron Paul, who I love, is that he's a believer in the Constitution. The Constitution is bs. It was a scam from the beginning. The Federal Government is bs. It was a scam from the beginning. You can't change the system from within. Political power itself is a lie. These people will never learn. They don't want to. Don't play by their rules. Don't fight them in their arena. What happened with Ron Paul, selling out for some worthless "platform" changes - was inevitable. He's got to worry about Rand. Jesse's got to worry about his career. It's all the same. You can't win with these criminals. Never forget political power is predicated on violence - that is the only distinguishing characteristic of the government as an institution - a monopoly on violence.

    Remember Solzhenitsyn's quote: "But let us not forget that violence does not live alone and is not capable of living alone: it is necessarily interwoven with falsehood. Between them lies the most intimate, the deepest of natural bonds. Violence finds its only refuge in falsehood, falsehood its only support in violence. Any man who has once acclaimed violence as his METHOD must inexorably choose falsehood as his PRINCIPLE. At its birth violence acts openly and even with pride. But no sooner does it become strong, firmly established, than it senses the rarefaction of the air around it and it cannot continue to exist without descending into a fog of lies, clothing them in sweet talk. It does not always, not necessarily, openly throttle the throat, more often it demands from its subjects only an oath of allegiance to falsehood, only complicity in falsehood."

    Violence as a method is wrong - even if you are Ron Paul and have the power, but agree to restrain yourself.

    Really want to change the world???

    DEMAND THE TRUTH AND STAND UP TO LIARS. When the falsehoods stop, the violence will stop.

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  17. We have been putting out fires all week, trying to rally the troops around Ron Paul, and the message of moving on for Liberty, IN SPITE of Jesse...now this has to find its way out there..another shot in the foot....all while trying to raise money.

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  18. I thought as libertarians, we didn't do all that envy over other people's money crap. So he made about $500K (or was reimbursed)? So what? They ran a pretty good campaign with a good strategy considering what we all know they were up against.

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    1. I think it may be small compensation to live one's live 24 x 7 on the campaign trail eating junk food, sleeping haphazardly, and until they got a private plane, getting sexually molested.

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    2. So why did they stop heading into the finish line?

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    3. I don't think they so much as stop heading into the finish but that they redirected or refocused their monies and energies on different races (caucuses) to get to the finish line.

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    4. The timing of the announcements was bizarre.

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    5. So Paul paid him 500k to do things like issue a press release that gives the impression Paul is dropping out right after the MSM finally started covering a little bit of the stories about Paul winning several states?

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    6. I can't figure out what Jesse did really. He had the easiest candidate in the world to promote since Ron's the only honest and consistent guy on the Hill.

      The ads should have had clips from his speeches and the '08 debates showing where Ron was dead right on the coming economic collapse and the disastrous wars while the other candidates laughed foolishly and said everything's great. Americans have such a short historical memory that they need to be reminded. Far better ads were offered to them for free over youTube. Instead they used flash-animation crap that's indistinguishable from every other candidate's ads.

      I'm in California and placed several calls to the national campaign office over the year to find what I could do to help. I was a precinct captain in 2008 and was active in meetup groups around SF. None of that was even available this time around. I never had my calls returned and when I did finally reach someone in the national office they said that they'd eventually have someone heading up California but it was too early now. That was within 5 months of the CA primary!

      If they were going to spend $500K+ they should have just hired Ed Rollins. He took bat-poop crazy Bachmann and had her leading for some time. Ron famously doesn't prep for debates beyond reading the news and ad libs most of his speeches. What the hell was Jesse even doing? He's a glorified event coordinator. I hear his pal John Tate is wrecking Campaign for Liberty by trying to focus it solely on domestic issues rather than any type of anti-war, anti-imperialism message. He's apparently too dense to see that those are completely related to our domestic freedom as well.

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  19. I don't know if its true or not....but what better was to create division. I'm pushing for paul and the rest of the tabloid babies can go jump.

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  20. I wonder how much John Tate got. Any clues?

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    1. He got more. But I think it's irrelevant. They both also get income from c4l. (That info is not publicly disclosed.)

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    2. They both get paid by C4L? Interesting.

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  21. Most of that money was reimbursements for expenses. NOT income. I sure lost a lot of respect for Robert Wenzel. Because apparently, he doesn't check his facts before spouting his mouth.

    You do Lew Rockwell.com a disservice.

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    1. $586,000 in reimbursements? Oh yeah. While Jesse was riding along side Ron in the corporate jet and didn't even have to pay airfare.

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    2. Reimbursements? He is the campaign manager is he not? How could have no have had access to the campaign expense account? Please, that lie isn't going to work here.

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    3. Then tell us how much he made? Whatever it was, he didn't earn it with the piss poor job he did. Speaking of doing disservices, Benton refused to allow Tom Woods to contact Paul or give him advice on debate talking points. Just imagine if Paul had taken up on those early on -- Paul would have done much, much better in the eyes of the average joe watching the debates.

      Not to mention Woods would have had a much better strategy as far as what to put in tv ads -- some of those ads by the Paul team looked good but had retarded content and were a massive waste of money. The ads about Paul being a veteran and getting medals for people in his district like any congressman would, while not even bringing up that the veterans were the ones supporting his foreign policy the most were a huge, huge waste of momentum and resources.

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  22. What will you all do when Obama canciles the election process by executive order and appoints himself dictator of the United States of America.Then stars systimaticly detaining all ho are against him.

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  23. What will you all do when Obama canciles the election process by executive order? Appoints himself as a dictaitor of the United States of America.Then starts detaining all who are aganst him.A supposition.

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  24. Politics is the art of timing! Wading into peopl who have pushed the Paul campaign to the highest levels is not going to change that fact.

    Your Man can be the best answer to everything but if the mouths of the public do not speak that fact, well, you do not throw good money after bad! You have to accept the truth. You are right but you don't have enough to march behind yu to make it come to be.

    Don't give up Hope! Remember Christ was in the same position and even with death to silence Him, he took the world!

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    1. The thing is, I don't really think Benton is what pushed this campaign to such high levels. The internet activists, volunteers, youtube video makers, and austrian intellectuals on sites like this one and lew rockwell's have been largely responsible, as well as Paul's own statements in debates and interviews. I think it can be pretty easily argued that Benton has retarded the impact of what could have taken place with proper management.

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    2. Comparing (high interest rates/severe austerity/balance the budget) Ron Paul to (turf the money-changers/life in abundance/feeding the multitude with a few loaves and fishes) Christ is idiotic.

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  25. If Benton is so incompetent, wouldn't Rand or Ron have seen it by now? If not, are they blind or ignorant?

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  26. "Benton is the Yoko Ono of the Revolution" ~Randy Butler

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  27. It seems there are many conclusions being drawn here based upon speculation. Perhaps some of the grassroots leaders "know" things that I do not. I dont see how trash talking has anything to do with the success of restoring lost liberty. However, Ron Paul should say something to try get everyone focused once again... or is it the weak hands in the movement focusing on the negatives... or a bunch of moles sparking division?

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    1. That is sort of the problem though -- Jesse Benton's idiotic press release and statement where he agreed with the completely false AP delegate numbers that Paul supporters have long battled is exactly what put Paul on the defensive right after he had gained massive momentum and even the MSM had started covering him. Which is why Benton's true motivations need to be looked at.

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  28. I saw Benton at a bar/restaurant in NH during the primary meeting with Newt Gingrich and staff. The bar owner was also a Ron Paul supporter, involved with his NH campaign.

    I met Benton as he left and learned that he was in there meeting with Gingrich. I was there with a bunch of other Ron Paul supporters, waving Ron Paul signs at Newt's event, after we had already crashed a Newt event at a High School earlier that day and got him to cancel another event that day as well. I thought it was kind of weird that Benton was meeting with Gingrich, but it could have been totally innocent. Definitely unnerving tho.

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  29. Liberty jerks everywhere smile that both David Boaz and Jesse Benton make a quarter of a million dollars a year.

    There is a lesson there for the rest of you. Learn how to use your mouth and your hands when working with the GOP.

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  30. Ron Paul's campaign manager in 2008, Lew Moore defected to John McCain before the election and was on Newt Gingrich's payroll in 2012. These guys are nothing more than parasites. It's to bad Ron Paul doesn't know how to get rid of them.

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  31. Why wasn't Tom Woods the campaign director? Imagine if rockwell, woods, wenzel, dilorenzo, and rand had run Ron's campaign!

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  32. It's lame to make hay over how much money he made. Liberal tactic.

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  33. Screw YOU with your gossip 3 months before Tampa. If hes done wrong, deal with it AFTER August. Im no Benton fan, but this is distracting.

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  34. BOTTOM LINE is FOLKS he helped run RAND PAULS Campaign and he won ... quit your bickering and suck it up ... it's a movement and not about bigheads who want some of the glory.

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  35. Don't blame anyone for Ron Paul unsuccessful campaign. His message and his record were there for all to see. If you want to blame anyone blame your neighbors who pay more attention to the NFL than they do the USA. Most of them deserve Obama or Romney.

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  36. It's time to stop looking at Ron Paul and focus on how each of us can be Ron Pauls.

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  37. After Rand Pauls endorsement of Romney it's time to forget about the phony so-called Ron Paul revolution. He walked off with 12 million in 08 and now this! Wake up!We have been had!

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  38. I'm not in disagreement with you about Benton, but let's, avoid our movement turning into a a gossipy, drama filled place resembling a high school. Let's focus on promoting the cause of LIBERTY at all levels and realize that there will be some who make huge contributions and others who make small contributions. Let's avoid being so mistrusting of everyone to the point that nothing gets accomplished.

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  39. I posted this article on the daily paul and now i've been blocked!! I have been on that site for three years and a half now and followed the site since it started but now I've been blocked!!

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  40. What a bunch of gossips!Don`t any of you use your brains?
    Look back to when Ross Perot was running for president.He was leading the trail and suddenly disappeared from the public eye.Did you ever stop to think that he was severely threatened?

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    1. Perot, who was the least bad candidate that year, is an egomaniac who made is fortune from government contracts. Look it up. His camp mgr Ed Rollins said that Perot refused to spend any real money on ads saying "I can go on Larry King for free."

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  41. San Diego Boomer LadyJune 15, 2012 at 11:55 AM

    What makes you all think its Benton's fault? With the vote count fraud and broken bones, the entire GOP is mostly to blame. This is why anyone who is actually upset with this fiasco should withdraw from the Republican party, even you long time members. Some are going over to the Libertarian Party, which is fine, or the American Independent Party (the CA portion of the national Constitution Party). It would be more helpful if all the liberty consitutionalists would agree on one party and build it up, but whatever, leave the GOP until it becomes insignificant. And this goes for those "decline to state" members, help us build up liberty by being counted among its supporters.

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    1. Anyone seen Jesse's nice new swimming pool at his $400,000 house?

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  42. Benton probably earned every penny. That said, the "next" liberty campaign "ought" to be open-directed. What I mean by "Open-Directed" is that for those that make contributions, they then get to suggest and vote upon what the campaign money is spent on. The Campaign too can suggest what they need or want to spend money on. But so can the grassroots. What I strongly suspect is that most donors will push for more TV, radio and print advertising than does any political campaign. But what is important here with this "Open-Directed" idea is there becomes a FEEDBACK LOOP between the donors and the Campaign and the public. It can be very dynamic and exciting. Just as the Money Bomb thermometer gave donors a small tasted of that dynamic, this "Open Directed" campaign will give us lots more of that dynamic. Certainly an audit of the RP campaign is a good idea, -(anyone recall the Harry Browne scam?) but even better is having an "Open-Directed" liberty campaign. All future Liberty candidates "ought" to give that some serious thought. The value that donors place upon the services of a campaign manager and TV ads may be very different. Treg4RonPaul

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  43. To Egoist, it's been said before and very accurately. Libertarian is not passive on a local, personal level. Only on a collective basis. If no one believes in individual liberty, the strongest always win by default. Not what is just or natural. What is mighty. So, in that regard, pushing natural, inalienable, God-given human rights for all people allows you to he selfish and pursue your own interests. Otherwise, the world is a jungle and you're not the biggest cat.

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