Courtesy VictoryNH

MediaHerd continues following a remarkable story out of Reno, Nevada where organized supporters of the plain-spoken Texas Congressman Ron Paul pushed through a rule change during the GOP state convention this weekend that might have allowed them to seat most of the 31 spots for the national convention in Minneapolis – St. Paul, Minnesota.  After it became clear that Ron Paul supporters were going to pull off a mini coup d’etat, GOP party chairman Ron Beers abruptly concluded the convention claiming their rental on the facility had expired and that it would have to be rescheduled.  Most assuredly next time with more rank and file Republicans to prevent the Nevada GOP from exposing embarrassing rifts within the party.  GOP leaders claim it wasn’t an attempt to marginalize Ron Paul supporters.

Like most things Ron Paul, coverage by the media herd is virtually non-existent.  But, that’s the media herd’s Ron Paul storyline – he’s an “interesting guy” with some “crazy ideas” but his supporters are crackpots and he never had a chance.

Bottom Line: Ron Paul observations are increasingly rare because a thankful media herd no longer has to pretend to cover him now that the nomination is going to Sen. John McCain.  MediaHerd does not believe in conspiracy theories, but it does believe that Ron Paul’s message wasn’t properly reported by the media herd.  However, Ron Paul is not alone.  The media herd prefers political machinations to policy proposals and political philosophies. Ron Paul’s ideas and policy proposals were as thoroughly unreported as any of the other candidates.

Ron Paul supporters, aka Paulistas, are renown for devotion bordering on “personality cult” that has been likened to that exhibited by Sen. Obama supporters.  However, Sen. Obama supporters love what Sen. Obama’s increasingly tarnished image supposedly says about us as Americans and our ability to transcend race and politics to form a more perfect union.  A sometimes gauzy utopia best illustrated by the “Yes We Can” video that’s been viewed more than 7 million times on YouTube.  Paulistas, on the other hand, are energized by Ron Paul’s political philosophy and policy proposals. One of Ron Paul’s most viewed videos on YouTube is a 65 minute interview by Google executive Elliot Schrage as part of the company’s Candidates@Google series that discusses his political philosophy and policy proposals at length.

Ron Paul’s interview has been viewed over 595,000 times.

Sen. John Edwards’ Candidates@Google interview has been viewed about 28,000 times.

Sen. McCain’s interview has been viewed about 34,000 times.

Sen. Clinton’s interview has been viewed 102,534 times.

And what of Sen. Obama?  How many of those 7 million+ fans tuned in to watch his long interview at Google?  Only 235,417 times.

Ron Paul doesn’t promise a grab-bag of tax cuts and government programs or give tortured and politically nuanced foreign policy prescriptions.  Ron Paul preaches a political philosophy formed without the aid of focus groups and his supporters absolutely love him for it.