Jon Stewart: The Media is Pretending Ron Paul Doesn’t Exist

death + taxes

By Carmel Lobello Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Last night, Jon Stewart questioned why the media has been systematically ignoring Ron Paul.

By all measures, Ron Paul is doing quite well in the 2012 Republican race. Last weekend, he came in a close second behind Bachmann in Iowa’s straw poll, he won the straw poll at this year’s CPAC and he consistently scores in the top three for most other polls.

Yet, as Jon Stewart points out, when the media speaks of the Republican race, most tend to focus on Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann, and now Rick Perry, in that order, and sometimes Sarah Palin, who hasn’t entered the race and may never, god willing.

So why is the media systematically ignoring Paul as Stewart demonstrates in the video below? Not only do his views reflect the Tea Party’s views (small government, no income tax, greater freedoms), but he responds to debate and media questions with cogent, direct answers, seems to know basic American history, and steers clear entirely of phony so-called patriotic gimmicks like presenting an apple pie to a 100-year-old woman.

Part of the reason may be that Paul’s libertarian approach to issues such as ending the Fed and completely upending American foreign policy are so change-oriented that he appears unelectable and thus not worth taking seriously. This is his third bid for the presidency—he’s proven himself to be unelectable twice now.

But at the same time, with the rise of the Tea Party, 2011 is way friendlier to Libertarian politics than any time in recent history. Part of the reason for the media’s treatment of Paul may be that he’s simply too consistent, logically sound, un-crazy and serious about actual issues to put asses in seats.

With Michele Bachmann’s cringe-inducing socially conservative platitudes and laughter-inducing gaffes, and Rick Perry with his deep tan, Texas swagger and Prayer-a-palooza antics, little old Ron Paul might just frankly not be as good Television.

But if the past is any gauge for the future—and it usually is—Paul and his followers will be holding on tight until the very end. And this election year, with the Tea Party in full swing, is probably the one to take him most seriously.