RON PAUL: PRINCIPLED REPUBLICAN

From Hey Jenny Slater courtesy of my old pal Matt:

Killing the Infidel

Naturally, as a lefty Democrat, when I first heard about Ron Paul years ago I thought he was crazy as a loon. But over the years, as I got more and more exposed to just how fatuous the GOP's claims of being "the party of small government" were -- and as right-wingers like Pat Robertson and James Dobson showed me what crazy really was -- his positions started to make a lot more sense. I still don't agree with him on much, but I can at least respect him for his honesty and integrity and for walking the walk when it comes to his stated positions -- something I have no inclination to do toward any of the other nine GOP presidential candidates.

All this, of course, means that the "mainstream" Republican Party has to spike Ron Paul tout suite. Ever since the galvanizing May 15 Republican debate, in which Rudy Giuliani falsely accused Paul of saying the United States "invited" the 9/11 attacks, Andrew Sullivan has been tallying up the legions of mainstream "conservatives" campaigning to excommunicate Paul from the GOP. Hugh Hewitt and Bill Bennett both want Paul bounced from future GOP debates, as does the chair of the Michigan GOP; Hewitt's co-blogger, Dean Barnett, dismisses Paul as "cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs"; one of Paul's own former senior aides, current RedState blogger Eric Dondero, is threatening to challenge Paul for his House seat next year. Over at National Review, Larry Kudlow obediently chimed in with a judgment of Paul as a member of the "I hate America" camp. And all because Paul suggested that unchecked interventionism in the Middle East was a foreign policy that encouraged greater animosity toward the United States.

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From AlterNet:

Bill Maher stands up for Ron Paul [VIDEO]

Giuliani may have won over the partisan crowd in South Carolina and the viewers watching Fox News. But many others, like Bill Maher have stood up in Ron Paul's defense. The lone libertarian, anti-war candidate in the crowded GOP field, he at least deserves to be heard. It's unnerving how hawkish all these clowns are when you see their insanely misguided remarks back to back. You're looking at nine Bush clones intent on continuing failed policies of torture and preemptive war plus another who actually knows what he's talking about.

Click here for the video.

Like Doug over at Hey Jenny Slater, I've also got big problems with Ron Paul's ideology: Libertarians are obviously really great on civil liberties issues, but unfortunately don't recognize that government isn't the sole source of oppression in modern society--that is, corporate power in this day and age is at least as dire a threat to freedom as government power. But hey, at least old Paul's halfway on my side of the street, which is much more than I can say of most Republicans these days. But beyond that, I have to admit to having great respect for the man. In a time of mass right-wing delusion, Paul is a man of principle, utterly unafraid to declare that the Emperor's new clothes don't really exist. That the man would get up in front of a hostile GOP electorate and tell them that they're dead wrong takes both balls and integrity.

At this point, if we have to be ruled by a Republican, I'd be willing to settle for integrity. And balls; let's not forget balls.

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