Back in 2008 and 2012, people talked about how Ron Paul could never win. He wasn’t “electable,” people thought he was extreme, nobody knew who he was, etc. Most people didn’t realize that the only reason they thought any of that was because Fox News and the rest of the main stream media waged war on Paul his entire candidacy, poisoning the average American against him. And now they’re doing the same thing to Rand Paul:

Once again, Fox News forgot to include Sen. Rand Paul in their coverage of a new 2016 presidential poll, even though the senator outperformed other candidates mentioned and the survey cited made Paul a significant part of their original headline.

Quinnipiac released a poll today featuring the headline “Five Leaders In 2016 Republican White House Race, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Rubio, Paul Are Only Republicans Even Close To Clinton.” Yet in Fox News’ coverage, Paul apparently didn’t register enough to justify being shown on the broadcast of the poll.

This is not just an oversight. Both sides of the establishment, both Republicans and Democrats, have a vested interest in maintaining the power balance the way it is. The Ron and Rand Paul represent a significant shift in that power balance because neither of them are really party players.

The clearest and most hilarious takedown of the media’s bias toward Ron Paul was put together by Jon Stewart. It is worth watching in its entirety.

I imagine Fox News will continue to treat Rand Paul like they treated his father. They will begin by ignoring him, hoping that no coverage will smother his campaign. If that doesn’t work, and it didn’t work against Ron Paul, they’ll begin the smear campaign: racist, sexist, extremist, isolationist. Just wait. They’ll start it up soon.