Pressing the politicians for the truth. part:1

What a day, Wednesday, September 10: as beautiful a sunny late summer morning as you will find here in your nations capitol. I had received an invitation by the Paul campaign to attend a press conference which, "promised to be one for the ages" and deep impact on this and future elections." 'Great' I thought as I made sure to RSVP and make sure my body was out of the house by 9 am to make the 40 minute bike ride to corner of 14Th and F St. NW.
It had been some time since I had been inside the Press Club; in fact I had not worn my reporters cap in years and I was anxious to get my questions and to be welcomed, by invitation, at such an august location: the ballroom I was later to learn is 2000 dollars an hour to rent!

I arrived inside the building and checked the multi-screened display in the lobby, that was tuned to various news feeds; "ten minutes till the hour" I thought, as I paused for a moment to catch my breath. This allowed me to also begin to mentally prepare my reporter's personae a old school story finder who is NOT... afraid to cut into a politicians "spiel" AND to squirm in a follow-up.
I begin to wander around, following a portly shaped man who seems to be heading in the direction I was to follow; we both end up stopping at a large meeting room that stood at the mid point of a long corridor of doors that led to various meeting rooms being used that day. "Nice" I thought, as I enter the well attended meeting room; I eye a good seat in front and began my preparations for the Dr. Paul's announcement. As I look up from my notes to survey the crowd, I notice how large it was(more than half of the 200 seats filled) and also how professionally lit was the room: no wonder, I thought, look at all the cameras gathered in back.
As I returned my eyes to the podium I smirked to myself, " great spot to hurl questions, first row seat 5, stage left..."

Like most events of this type, it is as much social gathering as media event; many small groups of associates milling in back, chatting or passing political candidate cards.
One of which I was to receive shortly after engaging in dialogue with a blue suited fellow sitting to my left; he was a candidate of the "Independent Greens"-not to be confused with the "Green" party- and also a supporter of drafting Michael Bloomberg as President of the United States.
I listened impatiently as he tried to convince me of Bloomberg's viability as a candidate. I try not to sound to dismissive when I politely yet in my slightly smug DC natives tongue: he has as much chance as I do of being president. "Putting his policies aside, do you really think a SINGLE 60 year old Jewish man from New York has any chance in hell of being President of the United States... especially as a Republican. The incredulous look on his face does not stop me from adding, "he needs to find a wife or at least find someone to stand next to him...like Kucinich."
On cue a woman sits to my right, who ironically is also running for higher office, hands me her card and introduces herself as "Gail Parker". She too is an Independent Green and a supporter of the "Mussolini of Manhattan", Michael Bloomberg.

Well, unlike most events such as this, it nearly starts on time; five minutes or so past showtime I notice the good doctor standing off stage talking with one of his aides; he departs the aide walks onto the stage, stands at the podium and begins the conference as the cameras begin to roll...

After a short introduction concerning format, he points out the information we all received upon seating: "The American Majority" a speech to be delivered with slight deviations by Paul and a list of four principles(foreign policy,privacy, national debt, federal reserve) that the conference was to highlight. Moreover, it was to be quickly learned that they were a "consensus statement" of principles supported by the three other candidates.

With that done Congressman Paul is introduced as the crowd begins to stand and cheer as if at a rally. Which he chastises at the beginning of his speech. He begins to repeat almost verbatim the speech that was distributed; one very important diviations happens when he repeats the quote from Professor Carroll Quigley author of Tragedy and Hope which adorns the top of the page.
Quigley was an internationalist insider; a professor of History (Princeton /Georgetown)whose insightful books brought the inner workings of the world elite to light. The headlining of his quote, signified to me that the good doctor was prepared to "rhetorically"open the doors for real change; he was going to put the current political "campaign" in the light as a contrived show where according to Quigley, "the American people can 'throw the rascals out" at any election without leading to any profound or extensive shifts in policy."

He spoke eloquently; pointing out that "the real issues are buried in a barrage of miscellaneous nonsense" and "the truth is that our two-party system(is none) offers no real choice".
Furthrmore, he repeats George Wallace's famous phrase in describing the two large minor party's as "not a dime's worth of difference"; in professional segway he then adds, " there is, though, a difference between the two major candidates and the candidates on third-party tickets and those running as independents."

"Ah -ha", " I thought; he is not running, he is going to lamely pass on the fight to the lessors on the set: the activist in me felt betrayed but the reporter was energized to see how deep his commitment is to REAL CHANGE...
He went to say, "they all stood for challenging the status quo" and we must "maximize the total votes of those rejecting the two major candidates". But in doing this he did not offer his name; a name which could offer the strongest challenge supporting change in this election cycle. With his speech done he turned to the other four candidates who were given 10 minutes of so to present themselves and their platform of Independence and change as opposed to the status quo.

McKinney was next. She of the three other candidates spoke most eloquently of why a "Declaration of Independence from the current political order and its leadership" was a needed remedy. Moreover, she correctly advised that we the people should "vote our values" to have a change in politics which gives "power over public policy". Putting the importance of this maxim in creating change in these turbulent and troubling times; she pointedly adds before closing that Cheney had added two countries to his list of 60 which must be "watched": China and Russia.

Baldwin nominee of the Constitution Party spoke next; he reminded us that the C.P. was the nations third largest party. Also relayed his past ties to the Conservative movement since his graduation from the first class ever at Liberty University, then as a leader of the Moral Majority in 1980.
A personal friend of Paul whom he seems to defer too much for my taste; though not as much as he did at the Revolution march and rally back in July but still seems a hindrance especially considering HE is fighting to be President and not the good doctor. He ends his shorter and milder critique of the status quo with :No New World Order!

Now THAT is an American conservative!

Last was the iconic Ralph Nader (read this) who stuck to his traditional progressive themes during his talk. Saying correctly that, "the Constitution being nullified and twisted" and the "bill of rights is being violated extensively by this White House" . Which he thought alone deserved impeachment proceedings brought against it. He even managed to elicit cheers when he mentioned that instead donning a flag pin closed to his heart he preferred the constitution which he deftly lifts out of his outer coat pocket. With his speech finished we quickly go to questions and answers and here things really start to get interesting:

One question was about vote sharing another had to do with the actions in Georgia: Paul answers that the administration was clueless that its actions are exacerbating the situation but he assures us that many in congress have taken a step back from the heated approach. McKinney speaks about the need to bring openness and truth to the process: millions of voters were disenfranchised in Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 04 with voting machines being the culprit in that state.
The most interesting questions concerned the conversation he had with the McCain campaign and absence of Libertarian candidate Bob Barr. Paul stated to the former that he "was asked to endorse McCain" to which he replied "no"; seeing a chance for follow-up I jumped in off mike (6:15 into the clip) and caught his attention: so do you plan on any endorsement: "no" he said looking directly at me. I follow again: do you plan on endorsing anyone -waving towards those behind him- before the election season ends:'no I do not" he says as he turns and faces the crowd...

"Got it", I had gotten the confirmation on his urgency about this nation; the loudest voice in the field was sitting out and not even lending his weight, by supporting another candidate. If he truly feared for this nation then at least he could have promised to endorse at least one of this gang of four...

The latter question concerning Barr piggybacked on this revelation; his absence was a slight; though his campaign manager Russ Verney issued a statement which Paul paraphrased: 'Barr is in absolute support of the principles'. But if so why not show up?
Hmmm...
There is a split in the camp and later I will expose the principles and the personalities involved in this growing gap for those who supposedly support real change inside the United States of America.

Impressively the show is ended on time; we were reminded that the time on the space was over and the good doctor thanked us for attending; the heavily partisan crowd rises again in applause as the candidates stand and chat amongst themselves looking ahead to the post press conference rush of journalist and fans.

I briefly chatted with the woman next to me as I gathered my things. In leaving the ballroom I decide to jump into a smaller side room where a group of CNN journalist were discussing topics and making presentations; while snooping out that situation, I snatch a cup of good coffee and wait until I am allowed a inauspicious time to leave. Luckily, they break after 3 minutes, when I easily slide out with the rushing crowd. Due to the coffee I immediately have to I find a bathroom. Ironically while searching on the other side of the club, I discover it, as well as a much smaller press club room reserved at 12 pm for libertarian candidate, Bob Barr...