I lived in Texas a few years back, and I have to say that I was impressed by Congressman Ron Paul’s originalist interpretation of the Constitution. While I do not support his foreign policy positions, I have long admired his principled stands.
What I do not admire, however, is his inability to wrest his own campaign away from the crazies who are advocating on his behalf. They, his own supporters, have defined Ron Paul negatively. And that, now, will be his lasting legacy. . . . Ron Paul’s supporters are the Republicans’ Cindy Sheehans.
Yes. I disagree with Paul on the war, but I confess that it’s his poll-spamming, nasty-emailing supporters who have really turned me off on his campaign. (I disagreed with Harry Browne on defense, too, but I voted for him twice.) I can’t help but feel that this stuff has given him a negative halo with the media and the political establishment.
UPDATE: Tom Elia writes: “As someone who voted for Ron Paul for president in 1988, I couldn’t agree more with Krumm.” I voted for Dukakis in 1988. Well, to coin a phrase: “When I was young and irresponsible, I was young and irresponsible.”