FRAMING RON PAUL

Steve M. is right: if Ron Paul does run as a third-party candidate, we will need to work to make people see beyond his opposition to the Iraq war and understand him as the wingnut he really is.

It shouldn't be that hard; the raw material is abundant. In the event of a third-party run, I would like to see someone running ads for him saying things like "he's the only candidate who will protect the rights of the unborn", or "he opposes special rights for homosexuals", or "Giuliani opened his city to illegal immigration; Ron Paul will close America to illegal immigrants".

In a series of ads, hit all the pet obsessions of the wingnuts: cutting taxes, abolishing the Department of Education, no affirmative action--the whole nine yards. There's nothing dishonest about this; that's his record. You could probably pull in a lot of righties with a slogan like "Ron Paul wants to get America out of the UN, and get the UN out of America". Pull in a lot of righties, and (more importantly) push away a lot of lefties.

Or it could be much simpler than that. There is a slogan that could do the trick all by itself--could appeal to the Republicans we want to defect while repelling the Democrats we want to keep--especially if the nominees are Clinton and Giuliani:

Vote for Ron Paul. He's from Texas.

It just might work.

[Cross-posted at If I Ran the Zoo]