CPAC love for Ron Paul

By Michael J.W. Stickings

How hilarious is it that Ron Paul -- yes, Ron "anti-Iraq War, thorn on the GOP side" Paul -- won the straw poll at CPAC yesterday? It's no wonder there were boos, but he ended up with almost a third of the vote, well ahead of Romney, 31 to 22, with Palin and Pawlenty well back at 7 and 6, respectively.

Then again, Paul is no doubt pretty popular with the John Birch crowd, what with his extremist anti-government and isolationist views, proximity to racism (if not his own racism), and general paranoia. (For some elaboration, see Carl's post from 11/07.) He's more libertarian than Republican, and has no chance at the GOP nod in 2012, but it's good to see the movement conservatives at CPAC expose themselves for what they really are.