Think again.
Ron Paul has accepted an invitation to participate in the first national presidential debate in New Hampshire on Wednesday, April 4. It will be hosted by Wolf Blitzer and will be carried on CNN TV, radio, and cnn.com from 7-9 p.m. EST.
I know that's internal GOP news, but for those of us that consider ourselves Libertarian Democrats, or for people that just want to see the Republican Party's feet be held to the fire from the inside, the Ron Paul candidacy promises to offer a lot of joy and merriment. Ron Paul is a crazy old coot, no doubt, and he has no chance of winning in today's GOP (though he could end up running for their nomination and then running as an independent with the Libertarian Party's endorsement (he was their presidential candidate in 1988, and the most successful Libertarian presidential candidate to date)), but just having him around, particularly given a national platform (however small), will be endlessly amusing.
Ron Paul, for those that don't know, is a Republican congressman from Texas. He is also the most anti-war, anti-Bush, anti-police state, anti-Big Government GOP member of Congress, Democrat or Republican, by far. He has on any number of occasions positively eviscerated the GOP, over and over again, on any marquee Republican position you can name.
For a good example/primer of why establishment Republicans would really rather he just go away, check out a seminal speech of his from 2004 to the U.S. House of Representatives, titled:
"Neo-Conned"
A lot more writings here, and his congressional webpage has an impressive archive as well.
Again, he's not going to win. And, for Democrats, there's no reason to get behind him--he is Libertarian through and through, to the left of Dennis Kucinich on a lot of issues, but to the right of Pat Buchanan on others.
But his role in the debates is going to be similar to Al Sharpton's in 2004. Untethered, giving him the ability to say what a lot of people are really thinking, without being bothered by such considerations as the crushing weight of viability.
It'll be a lot of fun to watch.
Go Ron Paul go!
Cross-posted at http://thecrossedpond.com/