Will Ron Paul sue Bill O'Reilly to save his campaign?

Despite impressive showings in Iowa and New Hampshire and standing room only crowds in South Carolina, the Ron Paul "victory train" slammed into the "roundhouse of reality" as elections returns came in from South Carolina. Congressman Paul placed a distant fourth, four full percentage points behind Rick Santorum, almost 15 behind Mitt Romney and a whopping 27 behind Newt Gingrich. Gone were the myths of "independents" and "Blue Republicans" (Democrats for Paul) “saving the day” for Ron Paul. The truth be told, Southern "Red State" Democrats and independents don't vote all that much differently than their GOP counterparts. This should have been obvious to the Paul campaign, as Barack Obama garnered more votes ALONE in his 2008 “Red State”” primary races with Hillary Clinton than the top two candidates in the GOP primaries. Nonetheless, Obama still lost these states to John McCain in the general election. Moreover, the Paul campaign has done nothing to allay doubts about Dr. Paul's foreign policy and national defense positions. This is inexcusably short-sighted, given the number of experts who agree with Congressman Paul on either "nuclear Iran" or troop withdrawals. These include former head of the CIA Bin Laden Unit, Michael Scheuer, former Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell, Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson and Fox News Military Analysts, Lt. Colonel Douglas MacGregor and Lt. Colonel Anthony Shaffer. As a result, Ron Paul’s prospects between now and "Super Tuesday,” appear quite bleak.

However, fortune from the most unexpected sources smiles on the Paul campaign. Santorum's surge in Iowa gave him the narrowest of victories over the "presumptive nominee," Mitt Romney and Gingrich's surge gave him a landslide victory over Romney in South Carolina. To save face, Romney must spend very large amounts of money on Florida, even though Gingrich and Santorum have no clear path to the nomination; as both, unlike Romney and Paul, failed to qualify for too many state ballots. On the other hand, Paul, will largely bypass Florida to pursue delegates in caucus states.. Moreover, Paul can benefit from Gingrich's combative style. While hardly an "Alpha male," Paul has proven quite clever at handling his opponents, and one of his harshest critics has given Paul a golden opportunity to win the nomination.

Recently, during an interview with MSNBC, Bill O'Reilly stated "His [Ron Paul's] foreign policy disqualifies him, in my eyes, as an American; not as a journalist; but, you know, I don't think we need another 'Neville Chamberlain' with Iran." Yet, previously, O'Reilly had made precisely the same arguments as Paul, regarding Iran., in a discussion with Mitt Romney on "The O'Reilly Factor."

BLACK'S LAW DICTIONARY defines "slander" as "the speaking of base and defamatory words tending to prejudice another in his reputation, office, trade, business, or means of livelihood." Clearly, O'Reilly slandered Ron Paul and did so with the clear intent to damage Paul's presidential campaign. Thus, Ron Paul should sue Bill O'Reilly for damages equal to the value estimated of a presidential campaign. WHAT is a Presidential campaign worth? Since President Obama has publicly stated he plans to spend as much as ONE BILLION dollars on his re-election campaign, one billion dollars seems an appropriate sum. While it is questionable a court would actually award such a sum, there is NO doubt this would produce the desired effect. As for an "out-of-court settlement," one “O'Reilly Factor" per week devoted to Dr. Paul's foreign policy and national defense stances for the remainder of the campaign seems about right.

Given the circumstances, this would be good advice for ANY campaign. However, given the "uniqueness" of the Paul campaign, this is probably the ONLY path to the nomination.