It Was a Nice Idea For a Moment...
Here's where I risk losing some friends.
The MSM has finally gotten around to looking at the Ron Paul newsletters, although they've been talked about in the blogosphere ever since he threw his hat in the ring.
Newsletter: "I frankly don't know what to make of such advice, but even in my little town of Lake Jackson, Texas, I've urged everyone in my family to know how to use a gun in self defense. For the animals [read: blacks] are coming."
Paul (paraphrased): "Sure I've lived in Lake Jackson for years, but, uh, I never wrote that! It must have been some other Lake Jackson resident whom I don't know and with whom I don't agree, but who somehow had full editorial control of my newsletter. This happens all the time, doncha know?"
Sweet Jebus. Even GW didn't sound this mealy-mouthed in 2000 when asked about his DUI conviction. No worries, Senator, I'm sure that the newsletter's copyright notice is also the work of this mysterious scalawag.
The sheer racism here is just the tip of the iceberg. I won't even get started on his gay-bashing or anti-Semitism.
Ron Paul supporters: I feel for you, I do. You wanted a change from the naked evil wrought by Bush, and from the relative spinelessness of the Democrats. We all do, believe me. But Dr. Paul, like so many quacks, doesn't actually have the cure. (This is my problem with Libertarians in general. Just because you're option C in a country run by two bad parties, doesn't ipso facto make you the ideal choice.) We are not, depsite the delicious anger he engenders in you, just a few quick steps from a government-free Shangri-La.
You need to wake up. Your guy isn't just an also-ran who isn't getting any real traction in the primaries, he's a nutjob. And not in that uplifting they-call-you-crazy-when-you're-onto-something way. You're offering vociferous but wafer-thin excuses for his racism and gay-bashing, and in some cases even going for broke and saying "Yeah? So what?"
You're starting to make the Bush-bots look level-headed and intelligent. Come down off the ledge and we'll get back to the drawing board. mmmkay?