The Failings Of Ron Paul...

"He is a man of splendid abilities, but utterly corrupt.
He shines and stinks like rotten mackeral by moonlight..."
- John Randolph

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
The Paz Files

AUSTIN, Texas - Several million turkeys died for Middle America these past holidays, but the biggest one - Ron Paul - lived on. The flinty Libertarian congressman from the Texas Redneck Coast hung tough in the Republican Party's 2012 presidential nomination. In Iowa for the party's initial primary of the political season, Paul has played the part of both Old Grandpa and Old Grandpa on crack.

According to reliable polls, he is stunningly in a dogfight with millionaire and former Massachusetts Gov. Willard "Mitt" Romney. The field is a wide one and pollsters have Romney at 24%, Paul at 23%, with the laggards Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann pulling in the rear.

So, who is Ron Paul?

Well, he's been in Congress seemingly forever, photos of him sitting on Ronald Reagan's lap while a freshman congressman abounding on the Internet. Politically, he's for turning inward, for bringing every friggin' soldier back from foreign lands, including Afghanistan, for eliminating the Internal Revenue Service, for, really, going back to the gray days of 1964. He's published a variety of racist newsletters asking if indeed the Civil Rights Act is needed, damned Civil Rights Leader Martin Luther King, wondered about Black men and their morals and championed the philosophy that says every American needs to take care of himself without government aid.

He's drawing crowds.

But whether he makes it to the nomination finish line as the favorite is another thing altogether. Republicans see Romney as the better choice. He is said to have the presidential "look," and he has the cash to battle the tanned and rested Democrats. News reports say that President Barack Obama's campaign war chest contains a cool $1 billion to finance his re-election bid. A Democrat, Obama, too, has his presence in Iowa, and the state's Democrats also will caucus. But they will have only one name to ponder - the president's.

Who wins the GOP side of things tonight is the question of the day.

One thing is clear: the fourth, fifth and sixth place finishers are likely gone, out of the race. That fact may grab Rick Perry by the throat and send him home. He has the cash, but he doesn't have the suit. Same for Bachmann, without a doubt the dumbest presidential aspirant ever in the history of the United States. Her smarts pale under Dan Quayle's goofy brain. Newt Gingrich, the Republican whose mounted three wives and owns a $1.5 million revolving account with high-dollar jeweler Tiffany's of New York, has been rolled in Iowa, this time perhaps for the last time.

The New Hampshire Primary follows later this month. Romney is the favorite there, although the Paul Camp is optimistic their candidate can survive second place. From there, it's onto South Carolina and Florida, where crunch time arrives for any candidate not in 1st or 2nd place.

Has it mattered? Most savvy pundits characterize the Republican field as the weakest in decades, a field they say is comprised of clowns who will melt in a debate with President Obama. Much is wrong with this grass-whorled country, and much will get worse in the future. It is where we are as a planet, with population booms that choke the Hell out of economic progress. The U.S. is not immune to anything anymore.

You can't go back to the Sixties, as Paul would wish. You can't be the world's policeman and you can't simply bomb those you don't like. Too many others have powerful weapons. Too many others would want to have their say. It is a global village.

Rick Perry is not smart enough to lead, Bachmann is better suited for the kitchen, Santorum was beaten by 18 percent in the 2010 race for his U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania, Newt Gingrich pines for short skirts oin younger women and Mitt Romney's days as a heartless corporate predator will soon come to roost.

Ron Paul? He's been in Congress on three different occasions, representing the Lake Jackson district from 1976 to 1977, after he won a special election, then from 1979 to 1985 and finally since 1997. The 76-year-old Paul is simply Old School...

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