You've really got to hand it to fringe candidates, indeed, to loons, quacks, charlatans, mountebanks, and crazies everywhere: not only do their odd deeds and odder statements cause surprise, shock, and alarm, but they even, by some trick of warping the space-time continuum, operate in a crazy universe all their own, attracting to themselves all kinds of related insanity. A real overperformer in this category is Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, this year's Energizer Bunny of batshit-crazy ideas, rhetoric, platforms, you name it, Ron Paul's got it all. So check this out:
AP reports that Ron Paul's the proud recipient of $500 from one Don Black, who runs the incredibly vile white-supremacist Stormfront website. (I am SO not linking to them, thanks: y'all find it on your own if you want.) Paul's underling Jesse Benton helpfully explains the esteemed doctor's ecumenical, all-embracing, redblooded and patriotic wisdom in accepting this money:
"Dr. Paul stands for freedom, peace, prosperity and inalienable rights. If someone with small ideologies happens to contribute money to Ron, thinking he can influence Ron in any way, he's wasted his money," Paul spokesman Jesse Benton said. "Ron is going to take the money and try to spread the message of freedom."
Ah, how lovely: the blameless dollars have been liberated in Saint Ron's tireless quest for freedom: freedom from those nasty immigrants, freedom from that icky global economy and those dirty, quarrelsome foreigners, freedom from reality! Redeemed, if you will, by Paul's Christlike sacrifice of credibility and humanity on the golden cross of campaign finance! But if such selflessness weren't enough for you, the Paul team's been reading not just the Gospels, but Machiavelli too:
"And that's $500 less that this guy has to do whatever it is that he does," Benton added.
Exquisite: we don't know what the bad man did with his money, but he'll be doing less of it, thanks to us!
"Small ideologies" indeed. Hypocrisy, hatefulness, utter clownish unelectability: thy name is Ron Paul.