• Why the US left can support Ron Paul

Via my good friend John Medaille , an article from CounterPunch on Ron Paul the Jeffersonian:

If we stipulate that a candidate
polling at least 5% in national polls is a "major candidate,"
there is simply no other major candidate in 2008 who is more
Jeffersonian, more committed to peace, justice, and democracy,
than Ron Paul. He puts pretenders like Edwards and Obama to shame.
I like a lot of what John Edwards is saying on the campaign trail
today, but I don't think he means a word of it. He's a limousine
liberal phony when it comes to the rich/poor issue. He supported
the Iraq War until it became widely unpopular. He voted for the
Patriot Act. He claims to be against outsourcing of American
jobs but he voted for permanent normalized trade relations (MFN)
for China.

...

While the stray neo-Confederate
may like Ron Paul, he is also the recipient of more African American
support than any other Republican. Paul is backed by both realistic
veterans and idealistic pacifists, Christians and atheists, John
Birchers and NORML members. It's a kaleidoscope campaign--not
of pandering or double-talking but of an honest commitment to
an array of deeply held American values. Liberty and peace are
popular. It's not a cult of personality like Obama.