What Do Ron Paul and Occupy Wall Street Have in Common?

Ron Paul wins Values Voter Summit straw poll

GOP presidential candidate and Texas Rep. Ron Paul took first in a presidential straw poll Saturday at the 2011 Values Voter Summit, an annual conference of social conservatives by the Family Research Council.

Paul won handily with 37 percent of the vote — a regular occurrence for Paul, whose supporters often flood straw polls for him. Former Godfather’s Pizza CEO Herman Cain came in second with 23 percent, while Rick Santorum came in third with 16 percent at the weekend summit.

As far as I can tell, Ron Paul is an honest man. Which is why it is somewhat surprising that some of his followers are, shall we say, less than scrupulous when it comes to Internet polls for their candidate? Let's face it. I believe that most of us have seen poll after poll that Ron Paul "won", that in no way reflected the reality of actual support he could count on on election day. I watched one debate back in 2008*, where Paul was the only candidate sounded booed by the studio audience during the debate, who supposedly "won" the internet poll on who won the debate by a large margin.

So, why are they stuffing the ballot box on Internet polls if it doesn't translate to electoral votes? I believe their motive is to make the support for their candidate appear larger than it really is, in hope of growing that support through the "bandwagon" effect. That is to say, one sees a large number of people doing something (or supporting someone) and in seeking to conform to the group, they "jump on the bandwagon" to go the same direction they believe everyone else is headed in.

So, how does this tie a small group of computer literate Paul supporters to the dirty hippies protesting in the streets of New York and elsewhere? People trying to make the movement appear larger than it actually is.

A liberal organizer told the Daily Caller on Thursday afternoon that he paid some Hispanics to attend “Occupy DC” protests happening in the nation’s capital.

...TheDC asked that organizer whether he was paying the group to attend the protest, and he conceded that some protesters “aren’t” volunteers.

“Some of them are volunteers. Some of them aren’t,” he explained. “I can’t identify them. I’m not going to get into an identification game.”

Rather than inflating poll numbers, Occupy Wall Streeters are inflating the number of people "spontaneously" showing up to protest with what we used to call "rent-a-mobs". Even many of the protesters who weren't paid really had no idea why they were there. Even one organizer in Sacramento said he was waiting for his "message team" to get back to him as to what they were really protesting.

The Tea party rallies I have attended didn't need to rely on rent a mobs for their numbers. Instead of paying people to attend, many of us shelled out money from our own pockets to attend. I flew to Vegas at my own expense to catch the 2009 Tea Party Patriot rally which kicked off the cross country bus tour. And I guarantee you that every one there who had a sign or a flag, knew exactly what it meant.

They didn't need that much in the way of a police presence to control the crowds either, because the crowds were not out of control. No one took a dump on a police cruiser, nor would it have ever occurred to anyone there, either!

If you are zealous for some cause or candidate, that's not a bad thing. Whenever you have to lie or exaggerate the support for your cause or candidate, it is a tacit admission that either he or it is not as great as you make it out to be.

Update : Values Voter straw poll organizers suggest a fix in Ron Paul's win

Rep. Ron Paul scored a decisive victory Saturday in a mock presidential election at the Values Voter Summit, trouncing fellow Texan, Gov. Rick Perry, but an organizer of the straw poll suggested ballot-stuffing may have skewed the results.

In a press conference following the announcement of the straw poll results at the annual Washington gathering of social conservatives, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins all but dismissed the results as irrelevant, citing 600 people who registered Saturday morning and, he said, "left after Ron Paul spoke."

A total of 1,983 ballots were cast. "You do the math," Perkins said.

* As opposed to being booed by the audience in a presidential debate during the present election cycle.