NY Times Mag profiles Ron Paul

Supporters of US Rep. Ron Paul, our Favorite Son candidate for president, can no longer legitimately complain about the mainstream media ignoring their man.

The New York Times Magazine profiles him in Sunday's editions.

The piece opens in magazine style. Paul is in a limo, on his way to "The Daily Show," the Comedy Central program featuring Jon Stewart, but he has to be told who the heck Jon Stewart is.

Moreover, he's never heard of GQ Magazine, which wants to write about him.

In other words, the guy is the political world's Nuttiest Professor -- oblivious to the ephemeral, meaningless effluvia of daily life, but maybe, just maybe, a wise, wise man when it comes to the Big Picture stuff that's important: economic policy, The Constitution, freedom, etc.

But the magazine story is no caricature. It's goes to great length to tell us some things about Paul of which many of his supporters may not be aware.

For instance, did you know Timothy Leary once held a fund-raiser for him?

Some other stuff:

-- During one of his previous stints in Congress, he was among the few Republican officeholders to back Ronald Reagan for the presidency against incumbent Gerald Ford.

-- In 1995, after the 14th Congressional District was redrawn, he went to Washington to tell the Republican Party he could win the seat, but they didn't listen and backed party-jumper Greg Laughlin, the one-time Democrat from West Columbia; Nolan Ryan helped Paul win a runoff.

-- Save for US Sen. Barack Obama, he's the most-viewed presidential candidate on the YouTube.

The magazine story isn't entirely laudatory, which is as it should be be, eh?

Paul backers likely won't be thrilled with the tone of the following passage or the several paragraphs that follow that describe some of Paul's supporters working the electorate in New Hampshire:

Paul’s ideological easygoingness is like a black hole that attracts the whole universe of individuals and groups who don’t recognize themselves in the politics they see on TV. To hang around with his impressively large crowd of supporters before and after the CNN debate in Manchester, N.H., in June, was to be showered with privately printed newsletters full of exclamation points and capital letters, scribbled-down U.R.L.’s for Web sites about the Free State Project, which aims to turn New Hampshire into a libertarian enclave, and copies of the cult DVD “America: Freedom to Fascism.”

The magazine reporter, Christopher Caldwell, concludes his story thusly:

But what is “Ron’s message”? Whatever the campaign purports to be about, the main thing it has done thus far is to serve as a clearinghouse for voters who feel unrepresented by mainstream Republicans and Democrats. The antigovernment activists of the right and the antiwar activists of the left have many differences, maybe irreconcilable ones. But they have a lot of common beliefs too, and their numbers — and anger — are of a considerable magnitude. Ron Paul will not be the next president of the United States. But his candidacy gives us a good hint about the country the next president is going to have to knit back together.

While this may not sit well with some of you, you'd have to conclude that Rep. Paul's Sunday morning newspaper reading this week will be more enjoyable than usual.
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