It turns out the most interesting candidate in the US Presidential election is a Republican: Ron Paul. While all other candidates are the usual corporate stooges, this guy has a reputation for being uncorruptible, clear libertarian ideals and a voting record that is consistent with those ideals. For example, he voted against the Iraq war because he is a non-interventionist, and he is in favour of legalising all drugs.

Naturally, the USA's political establishment and corporate media are spitting him out, and this provides some interesting spectacle. The movie below shows an excerpt from the most recent debate between the Republican candidates on Fox News.


Ron Paul points out that the 9/11 attacks were a response to American policies in the Middle East - which is a sacrilegious things to say in the USA. The Fox News anchor twists his words into a suggestion that the USA "invited" 9/11. Ron Paul explains the "blowback" principle as it is being taught by the CIA, citing the example of the USA's support for the Shah ultimately leading to the hostage crisis in Iran. Rudolph Giuliani, the favourite to win the Republican nomination, then attacks him for saying that the USA "invited" 9/11 - though it was the Fox News anchor who said that - and draws big applause for it.

As the other movies on this page show, the Fox News anchors and Republican Party officials continue to spin this exchange after the debate. When viewers vote for Ron Paul as the winner of the debate they start spinning that, saying he must have supporters spamming the vote. The last movie shows an item on CNN next day, which puts up the hysteric headline "Blaming the US for 9/11" even while Ron Paul is explaining what he really said. Time Magazine published an article called "How Rudy won the second debate" which says "Ron Paul offered Giuliani a historic slam-dunk [that] reduced Paul to history."

All of this provides an interesting, in-your-face example of corporate media steering public opinion and destroying the credibility of someone who does not follow their agenda. Naturally, Ron Paul doesn't stand a chance against media power, but he has a lot of support among independent minds and thanks to the internet they may succeed in preventing him from being marginalised. In any case he's already adding value to the greatest show on earth: the US presidential elections. I expect Al Gore to join the fun in a month or two.