Rand Paul has a message for anti-Clinton-obsessives and conspiracy theorists: He wants to hear from you…and also please, give him money.
On Sunday, Paul tweeted:
The campaign has also bought ads on Google.
Type in “Clinton foundation” this ad appears, above an ad for Hillary Clinton’s campaign:
“Do You Have Information?—randpaul.com”
Know About The Clinton Foundation’s Foreign Contributions? Tell Us Here”
On his website, you will find a form where you can “REPORT NOW” if you know anything about Clinton’s foreign cash.
The form requires you provide your first name, last name, zip code, email address, and then, finally, the “additional information.”
Paul has made Hillary Clinton’s credibility a central theme in his attacks in recent weeks.
At a Republican forum in New Hampshire over the weekend, he quipped, “I’m starting to worry that when Hillary Clinton travels, there’s gonna need to be two planes—one for her and her entourage, and one for her baggage.”
The message with his new crowd sourcing campaign is that Paul cares about your theories, crazy person shouting into the crowded, unwelcoming abyss of the Internet. Paul cares about the hunch you have that you’ve been talking about on Ron Paul forums and YouTube comment threads and calling into the Alex Jones Show to talk about.
“We have said all along we intend to crowd source many things on this campaign,” Doug Stafford, Paul’s senior adviser, told me via email on Monday. “There is no monopoly on answers, information or knowledge are in Washington. Information that is coming from many sources will continue to show an ongoing problem: The Clinton machine has taken millions from foreign governments or agents, in exchange for what? ”
The reality is this is, obviously, just another disingenuous fundraising ploy from Paul.
It is difficult to believe that Paul or anyone working for his campaign believes that any visitors to his website are in possession of credible Clinton gossip.
It is even harder to believe that Paul or anyone working for his campaign believes that if anyone following him on Twitter does know anything about Clinton the rest of the world doesn’t, that they would be inclined to share it with Paul via a tip form on his website.
What’s more likely is that Paul needs money to be a competitive candidate, and the best way to build a grassroots campaign apparatus is to collect the personal information of as many people as possible so that you may continuously hit them up for cash throughout the course of the primary.
After providing Paul with “additional information” about Hillary’s shady dealings:
Paul cut to the chase:
I reached out to Paul’s campaign to ask how many people have provided them with information so far, if the information is credible, and if they sincerely expect anyone willing to provide them with information via the internet is going to provide anything reliable.
The campaign did not acknowledge my questions in their response to my email.
