Paul Gets What He Wanted - And Doesn't Like It

There's an old proverb that says "Be careful what you ask for, because you just may get it". Maybe someone should have told Ron Paul and his supporters that. For the first few months of this Republican nomination campaign, Paul couldn't seem to buy any press coverage. Most of the other candidates got their share of headlines, but the press virtually ignored Ron Paul -- as though they considered him to be a minor candidate who had no chance of getting the nomination (and the press does love their self-appointed role of gatekeeper -- determining who is and who isn't a serious candidate).

This was not just in the imagination of Paul and his supporters. The Pew Research Center did a survey of candidate coverage by the media back in August, and they found that all the candidates got more coverage than Ron Paul. The press truly was ignoring Paul. Of course this initiated a lot of complaints from Paul and his supporters. They wanted their share of press coverage.

But in the past couple of weeks, the major press outlets have beaten a path to Paul's doorstep. They all seem to want to talk to him. But all of a sudden he's unavailable. His campaign admits they've had a lot of requests for interviews, but say that Paul has turned them down because he wanted to spend some "holiday time" with his family. That's just silly talk. No real candidate turns down press coverage with the primary season starting.

The truth is that the media has suddenly discovered Paul's racist and homophobic writings and newsletters -- and that's not something Paul wants to talk about. He only wants positive coverage, and since he can't explain those newsletters, he's running away from the media now. Someone needs to tell Paul that he doesn't get to choose what the media wants to talk about (just ask Cain, Gingrich, and others). And he can't complain about getting no coverage and then avoid the media when something negative pops up.

For months Paul complained about getting no coverage. Now he's getting it and doesn't want it. Maybe he needs to decide whether he's a real candidate (and talk to the media) or just a political gadfly (and get out of the race). He can't have it both ways.