Ron Paul's Useful Idiots

We’ve been spending a lot of time on this website critiquing conservatives and libertarians for supporting Ron Paul. However, the great thing about Ron Paul is that his appeal also extends to the most gullible members of the liberal left.

Today’s piece of useful idiocy in support of Ron Paul comes from The Nation where John Nichols argues that the real reason the conservative “establishment” doesn’t like Ron Paul is because he speaks truth to power:

Paul’s ideological clarity scares the wits out of the Republican mandarins who peddle the fantasy that the interventionism, the assaults on civil liberties and the partnerships that they have forged with multinational corporations and foreign dictators represent anything akin to true conservatism.

The problem that Limbaugh, Hannity and other GOP establishment types have with Paul is that the Texan really is a conservative, rather than a neoconservative or a crony capitalist who would use the state to maintain monopolies at home and via corrupt international trade deals.

Paul’s pure conservatism puts him at odds with a party establishment that has sold out to Wall Street and multinational corporations. But it has mad an increasingly iconic Republican with a good many of the grassroots activists who will attend the caucuss.

Let’s put aside that author of this piece seems to be arguing for some version of paleoconservatism. Why is The Nation publishing this? They are a magazine that ostensibly cares about the downtrodden, the lowest rungs of society, and for ethnic minorities. Ron Paul has nothing to offer the lowest rungs of society except for platitudes about the free market, and we all know about his racist newsletters.

Paul appeals to the left because of his simple stances on a few issues; he opposed Bush Administration foreign policy, he wants to end the Patriot Act, and he wants to decriminalize drugs.

What’s amazing is that his position on these issues doesn’t just give Paul some support,  on the left, it also seems to absolve him of his other positions and his past actions.

Here is an earlier essay by John Nichols where he dreams of seeing Paul Ryan lose his House seat. It’s clear from the essay he is no fan of the Paul Ryan budget. Yet Nichols consider Ron Paul a hero even though his preferred domestic policy budget would likely make Paul Ryan look like a big-government RINO.

Nichols’ must know that the real reason he like Ron Paul is because he sounds like a blogger from The Nation running for President. But that still doesn’t go far enough in explaining why he overlooks all the many other flaws in his candidacy.

It seems that for some people, opposition to the Iraq war and support for legal pot is more important than profiting off racist newsletters and calling for an end to all assistance for the downtrodden.