Texas Fred’s argument against Ron Paul falls short

On May 13^th, following Ron Paul’s announcement that he will run for President in 2012, Texas Fred took his opposition to the blogosphere in his article on Tea Party godfather Ron Paul running for President . The Texas Fred Blog author, aptly named Texas Fred, is a local conservative Texas blogger. Because he works under the pseudonym Texas Fred, it is difficult to find any available information on his work experience, education, or other qualifications that might verify his credibility. Fred describes himself as a “…Conservative redneck gun owner that isn’t afraid to speak his mind and has NO problem with it if it happens to insult people that truly need to be insulted”. As testimony to this self-proclamation, there is no shortage of insults in the article.  The intended audience is undoubtedly like-minded, hard Conservatives. In fact, Fred makes note in his comments policy that those in opposition of his view, such as Ron Paul supporters, are not allowed to register with or comment on the website. In my opinion, this intolerance of alternate viewpoints strongly discredits Fred. Close-minded, one-sided thinking often produces skewed writing, as seen in his commentary. I do not believe Texas Fred meets the criteria of a credible, unbiased author.

With regards to the actual argument, Fred leaves his readers confused with his rambling and disorganization. It is hard to follow what, exactly, the claim and/or argument is. However, at the most basic level, he is arguing that Ron Paul is a poor choice to run for President. This can be concluded based off of Fred’s description of Ron Paul support as “Libertarian influenced moonbattery”. Fred also goes as far as to call these supporters “Paultards”. This incredibly offensive term is a spinoff of the derogatory word, retard. Aside from hurling insults, Fred does nothing to explain why he opposes Ron Paul.

From here, the article attempts, unsuccessfully, to infer that Ron Paul is a racist due to his “association” with Don Black, founder of the White Supremacist website, Stormfront. As reported by MSNBC, Paul kept a $500 campaign donation from Black back in 2008. When questioned, a Ron Paul spokesman stated, “Ron is going to take the money and try to spread the message of freedom”, adding, “And that’s $500 less that this guy has to do whatever it is he does.” (Paul Keeps donation from White Supremacist). Fred failed to mention any of this in his article. This omission of information cast Ron Paul in a negatively biased light and misled the readers.

Aside from misleading his audience, Fred's illogical phrasing often leaves them confused. For example, Fred claims that the Libertarian influenced Tea Party has an "anarchist tilt". Anarchy, by definition, is the absence of government. Fred has created a confusing oxymoron with this terminology. In another instance, Fred exclaims that, "moonbattery" is an obvious trait of Paul supporters. He shows no evidence to support why it is an obvious trait. 

Perhaps the most unsettling remark from Fred comes at the end of the article. "When people come to believe in Ron Paul, there is a passion that burns within us", claims one Paul supporter. In a final display of class and intelligence, Fred responds, "The burn that you're feeling, maybe Dr.Paul can give you some antibiotics and clear that right up for you." This lewd remark only serves to further discredit Fred by displaying his unprofessional perversion. 

Aside from insults, Texas Fred provides little evidence to support his opposition for Ron Paul. While I may not necessarily disagree with his position, I am strongly against the way Texas Fred has formulated his argument. His omission of facts, unsubstantiated claims and lack of any evidence creates a biased, dishonest, and disorganized cluster of rants.